January 31, 2011
TiVo - Virgin calling customers who have registered their interest
Stand by your phones - I've had a few folk contact the blog saying they've had a call this afternoon. Earliest TiVo install I've heard so far - this Wednesday.
Interesting Sky Atlantic article
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jan/31/sky-atlantic-new-tv-channel
Sky Atlantic HD launches on the Sky platform exclusively tomorrow.
Media analysts believe there's little evidence that people subscribe on the strength of a single channel. "Sky Atlantic is part of a chain of value, aimed at convincing people TV is worth paying for," says one analyst. "It's about [putting] clear blue water between pay and free TV. It's not so much a driver of dish sales as a retention tool … as well as justifying future price rises [...]
What does the launch mean for rival pay-TV providers? Virgin Media stresses that Sky has talked about "wholesaling" Sky Atlantic to other platforms, while also pointing to the continued availability of channels such as FX.
In fact the strongest short-term competitive impact of Sky Atlantic – when allied to Sky's acquisition of Living and an increased budget for Sky1 – may be on the acquisition strategies of other broadcasters; its lineup contains shows previously aired free-to-air, including Entourage (ITV2), Curb Your Enthusiasm (More4) and Big Love (Channel 5). "The fear for everyone else is how much other stuff Sky will hoover up," says one senior free-to-air broadcaster, who emphasises how vulnerable hit acquisitions are to poaching and price hikes. Sky, the executive suggests, is now the only UK broadcaster with the capacity to do sizeable studio output deals.The full article is worth a read. For one thing, it emphasises that the Sky strategy is to lure the Freeview/Freesat audience rather than the Virgin Media one, probably with the intention of upselling broadband and phone services once they are hooked with the TV.
Sky Atlantic HD launches on the Sky platform exclusively tomorrow.
January 29, 2011
The Sky Atlantic dilemma
I'm probably not alone with my frustrations here, so let me outline my dilemma and see what you think. It's not a "shall I get Sky TV?" dilemma as that particular avenue isn't open to me. This is different.
I pay Virgin Media and, indirectly, Sky, a considerable amount of money for TV services every year. I am prepared to do this as I want access to a wide range of movies and TV shows and enjoy live sports coverage as a high definition experience.
I am also a terrible hypocrite when it comes to copyright piracy: I abhor the sellers of pirated movie DVDs who haunt the local supermarket carparks on a Saturday afternoon and would no sooner copy a pirate CD than I would shoplift one from HMV. But I think nothing of loaning my CDs and DVDs to friends, or recording a DVD from broadcast TV and giving it to a friend to watch. So I'm a hypocrite. Who isn't?
But I now find myself going a step further: downloading US TV series is something I am reluctantly doing (Boardwalk Empire) and considering further (with Treme, the forthcoming Game of Thrones, series of Mad Men and whatever else Sky secures on its exclusive Sky Atlantic) because the content providers offer me no legal alternative. Boardwalk is not on iTunes or disc, nor is there an HBO online service I can subscribe to in the UK, nor is Sky offering Atlantic to other platforms at an affordable price.
So if I want to see these series there is no alternative, and the temptation is too great, and I'm even prepared to watch a sub-HD quality recording to see the TV I want to see (a 500mb hour ain't HD, no matter what the source and label says).
I would much, much rather watch is legitimately but I have no choice but to turn to the darker side of BT downloads, and, until the programme makers and broadcast companies wake up and realise that their profits can only be short-term whilst they seemingly inadvertently encourage such activity, I'm not alone I'm sure.
I pay Virgin Media and, indirectly, Sky, a considerable amount of money for TV services every year. I am prepared to do this as I want access to a wide range of movies and TV shows and enjoy live sports coverage as a high definition experience.
I am also a terrible hypocrite when it comes to copyright piracy: I abhor the sellers of pirated movie DVDs who haunt the local supermarket carparks on a Saturday afternoon and would no sooner copy a pirate CD than I would shoplift one from HMV. But I think nothing of loaning my CDs and DVDs to friends, or recording a DVD from broadcast TV and giving it to a friend to watch. So I'm a hypocrite. Who isn't?
But I now find myself going a step further: downloading US TV series is something I am reluctantly doing (Boardwalk Empire) and considering further (with Treme, the forthcoming Game of Thrones, series of Mad Men and whatever else Sky secures on its exclusive Sky Atlantic) because the content providers offer me no legal alternative. Boardwalk is not on iTunes or disc, nor is there an HBO online service I can subscribe to in the UK, nor is Sky offering Atlantic to other platforms at an affordable price.
So if I want to see these series there is no alternative, and the temptation is too great, and I'm even prepared to watch a sub-HD quality recording to see the TV I want to see (a 500mb hour ain't HD, no matter what the source and label says).
I would much, much rather watch is legitimately but I have no choice but to turn to the darker side of BT downloads, and, until the programme makers and broadcast companies wake up and realise that their profits can only be short-term whilst they seemingly inadvertently encourage such activity, I'm not alone I'm sure.
January 27, 2011
New and returning HD series
Here are some of the new and returning HD series coming soon on Virgin Media channels:
- Bedlam s1 - Feb 8 at 9pm on Sky Living HD
- Cougar Town s2 - Feb 8 at 8pm on Sky Living HD
- Desperate Housewives second half of s7 - March on C4 HD
- Fringe second half of s3 - April on Sky1 HD (April??? It's already being shown in the US!!)
- Hawaii Five-0 s1 - Feb 6 at 9pm on Sky1 HD
- Hot In Cleveland s1 - Feb 15 at 8.30pm on Sky Living HD
- House second half of s7 - Feb 10 at 10pm on Sky1 HD
- Marchlands - Feb 3 at 9pm on ITV1 HD
- Mike & Molly second half s1 - Feb 7 at 10pm on Comedy Central HD
- Modern Family second half of the excellent s2 - Feb 25 at 8.30pm on Sky1 HD
- Raising Hope second half of s1 - Feb 25 at 9pm on Sky1 HD
- Ride-Along s1 - Feb on Sky1 HD
- Skins s5 - Jan 27 at 10pm on E4 HD
- Spartacus: Gods of the Arena s1 - Feb 7 at 10pm on Sky1 HD
- Two and a Half Men s8 - Feb 7 at 9pm on Comedy Central HD>
Sky adds 343k new HD customers
Sky added 343,000 new HD customers in the last quarter, taking the total number to 3.5m – up 68% year-on-year. The Guardian's full story on Sky's latest results: BSkyB spends £7m on News Corps Bid
January 24, 2011
Mad Men season 5 update - updated!
According to an Entertainment Weekly interview with series show runner Matthew Weiner, the return of Mad Men may not be as imminent as Sky Atlantic are suggesting:
UPDATE: Meanwhile, those nice BBC schedulers have season four repeating from Monday, Jan 31st at 11.20pm each night (Mon - Thurs) on BBC2. No showings on BBC HD that I've found though.
[Weiner] told EW exclusively that his new deal has yet to be finalised but he’s “not looking for a new job.” The show’s future is vague because [US cable network] AMC is still negotiating with both Weiner and [production company] Lionsgate, which produces the hit drama starring Jon Hamm.Hopefully Virgin will have Sky Atlantic HD by the time season five finally airs. But "we have not started writing"? Sounds like it may be quite a long wait.
“I think all of AMC’s decisions about their scheduling and so forth have nothing to do with me, and I don’t have a deal yet,” Weiner told EW, “I have every intention of making the show when they decide to work out their business with Lionsgate. But the truth is I don’t even know what their plans are. We have not started writing. I am not back at work. My contract expired. [...] It would be heartbreaking for me if they don’t work it out, horrifying really. It would be a shame for fans to never get to see what great stuff we have planned for Don and company.”
UPDATE: Meanwhile, those nice BBC schedulers have season four repeating from Monday, Jan 31st at 11.20pm each night (Mon - Thurs) on BBC2. No showings on BBC HD that I've found though.
January 23, 2011
New interview with Virgin Media Chief Executive Neil Berkett
There's an interesting in-depth interview with Virgin Media Chief Executive Neil Berkett in this week's Sunday Telegraph.
January 20, 2011
Boardwalk Empire
Just walked passed a massive poster promoting
Boardwalk Empire, directed by Martin Scorsese, free and exclusive to all Sky customersNot sure if the Advertising Standards Agency need a call - only the pilot episode is directed by Scorsese, the other eleven episodes in the first season are directed by less acclaimed directors. Scorsese's only an Exec Producer on the series, which is mainly the creation of HBO vet Terence Winter. Let's hope the "exclusive" piece of the promotion is similarly inaccurate after episode one - we can dream, anyway...
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