Fox channel closes June 30th

From 30th June, Disney owned The Fox Channel will no longer be available in the UK or Ireland, with many shows now expected to appear on Star as the company continues to transfer its content to the Disney+ streaming service.
Disney acquired The Fox Channel as part of its take over of 21st Century Fox in 2019 but the channel had been broadcasting in the UK, first as the FX Channel then as Fox, since 2004. A rebranding exercise by Disney has seen the legacy Fox name dropped from many of 21st Century Fox acquired film and TV studios and the removal of the Fox Channel in the UK is another round of scrubbing away the brand.
The move will affect viewers of Fox on the Sky/NOW, Talk Talk and Virgin Media linear TV platforms from June 30th.

Radioline app update

The Radioline app on the V6 appears to be working again. The app is showing version 3.7.1 on my boxes.

The 360 experience of one seriously unhappy customer

 Just had this feedback from one unhappy customer who's switched to Virgin's 360 TV experience:

Had an upgrade to my V6 box a few weeks ago and was the worst mistake I have made. AVOID!!! Cannot recover deleted programmes and is so easy to accidentally delete programmes. Can only use one remote per box (ordered a second remote and it worked for about a week but then just stopped and have now been informed only one can pair per box, but how did it work for a week???) Had two V6 remotes before (one upstairs and one downstairs) and both controlled one box with no issue. 

The menu system looks great but functions like it's stuck in 1999. Recorded programs are very difficult to find and seem to overwrite each other. Recorded a live sports event which disappeared and was replaced by highlights aired a few days later. Have also used the virtual remote on the app which is a joke. Has buttons that don't do anything and is missing the buttons that do all the work - what's the point!!! 

The old V6 Tivo system was amazing and this so called upgrade has put them back years. So many other small things which they had over Sky which have been lost...used to be a telly addict but now I just watch Freeview. Waiting for contract to end so can move to Sky. 

Virgin launching "new entertainment service"

Virgin Media is getting ready to launch a new entertainment service. According to the Virgin announcement the new service will eventually bring a variety of top streaming services together into one place. There's a trial underway but it's only open to Broadband-only customers. Not many more details here

It sounds like they're looking to launch a device similar to Sky's Now USB sticks. As always, late to the party, but the rumour is that the new service will include Disney+ and Britbox as well as Netflix et al. Not sure exactly who this will be aimed at but I'll keep an eye out for further news.

Elsewhere, Sky Q may gain Apple's TV+ service at some point. Speculation here

Virgin Media O2 merger update

From the BBC:

The proposed £31bn merger between mobile networks Virgin Media and O2 has been provisionally approved by the UK's competition watchdog.
It will create one of the UK's largest entertainment and telecoms firms, which could become a major rival to BT.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched an investigation into the proposals last December.

More details here.

Now TV is no more - it’s just “Now” now

 Details of the rebranding of Sky’s streaming service here.  

The good news - no price rises (yet)!

BritBox coming to Virgin Media - sort of

BritBox UK is to join Amazon’s Prime Video Channels, as an add on subscription, starting in the spring.

BritBox, which is backed by ITV and the BBC, is already available to BT TV, Freeview and Freesat homes and as Amazon Prime Video Channels are available on Virgin Media (and Sky) it means BritBox will be available on the V6 and 360 boxes too.

BritBox UK will be available to Prime members this spring, for an additional monthly fee, via the Prime Video app.

Starzplay

We signed up to Starzplay on my V6 at 7.30pm to watch Castle Rock and Virgin are still “processing” my order at 10pm! Whole evening wasted. Not exactly “On Demand” is it? More like “When Virgin Get Round To It”. Pathetic  

Virgin Media pricing comparison

An interesting post from 'Gaz82' on Cable Forum:

I just priced up a package on Sky's website to get it as close to Virgins Ultimate Oomph as possible:

• Sky Signature (Base Package) - £21
• HD & Ultra HD - £5
• Kids - £5
• Multiscreen - £13
• Sky Sports - £22
• BT Sport - £21
• Sky Cinema - £7
• Netflix - £4
• Broadband (Fastest speed available at my address 60mbs, a tenth of the speed!) - £18
• Sky Talk Anytime - £9
• 60GB SIM (Sky don’t offer an unlimited data option) - £30

Total: £155

For comparison:

• Ultimate Oomph - £89
• Netflix - £13.99

Total: £102.99

The extra £6 suddenly doesn't seem such a big deal.

Sky Entertainment and Sky Cinema in Ultra High Definition now available on Virgin TV

It's official and it's available now - more than 1,500 hours of top shows, box sets and movies in Ultra HD

From today (Thursday 25 February), all Virgin TV customers can add Sky Entertainment and Sky Cinema Ultra HD to their current package.

All new customers that sign up to Virgin Media’s Ultimate Oomph package  will be able to watch Sky Entertainment and Sky Cinema Ultra HD at no extra cost.

With the new service, customers will be able to watch more than 1,300 TV episodes and 250 films in Ultra HD. This includes top Sky TV shows such as The Blacklist and Seal Team and Hollywood blockbusters Birds of Prey and Twist. New TV series and films made available by Sky in Ultra HD will also be made available to watch.

All Sky Entertainment and Sky Cinema Ultra HD content will be available via a dedicated section in Box Sets and Movies so customers have the flexibility to watch at a time that suits them.

David Bouchier, Chief Digital Entertainment Officer at Virgin Media, said: “Unmissable telly deserves the ultimate in picture quality and Virgin TV customers can now enjoy top TV shows and films from Sky in Ultra HD. Our powerful Virgin TV 360 and V6 set top boxes allow our customers to watch the widest range of Ultra HD and High Dynamic Range content, all in one place, making us the true home of Ultra HD content.”

Sky Entertainment and Sky Cinema Ultra HD is available for £6 per month. For more information, visit  https://www.virginmedia.com/shop/tv/ultra-hd. (If you think this seems steep, remember that Sky customers have to pay an extra £9/m for HD and Ultra HD content)

No news on the promised UHD Sky Sports yet :(