Free BT Sports and ESPN HD October 25 - 28th

BT Sport 1, 2 and ESPN channels including HD will be available to all Virgin TV customers for free from 6am Friday 25th October until 6am Monday 28th October.
There's quite a bit on the channels this weekend, including Crystal Palace v Arsenal, live German and Italian football, Aviva Premiership rugby and Major League Baseball.

Premier Sports on Virgin Media

Premier Sports in standard definition has appeared on channel 551 this morning, just in time for the Rugby League World Cup. More information on the channel can be found here.
Apparently it's free on all packages until the end of the year then £7.99 a month next year, but there's still no official word from either Virgin or Premier Sports on the deal - but the channel has been broadcasting since the early hours of this morning (25th).

Sherlock's return announced

My favourite UK show EVER (steady on, old chap) is returning soon, but for some reason the BBC has still to announce the actual broadcast dates for Sherlock season 3. But the US broadcaster PBS has let the cat out the bag by revealing that Sherlock will return to PBS Masterpiece on January 19th.
This is apparently the first time the mystery-thriller’s U. air date has been announced before the BBC reveals its UK premiere date (the BBC has the “first window” rights to air the show, so we can at least take heart in knowing they will almost certainly get season 3 sometime before January 19th). My money would be on the three feature length episodes appearing around Christmas and the New Year.
More details at Entertainment Weekly.

Netflix numbers up more than 30% globally

Netflix's investment into original programming has paid off, with global subscriber numbers jumping past 40 million and profits quadrupling from the same period last year.

"We are very pleased to have over 40 million members, up from less than 30 million just one year ago," Netflix said to shareholders. "The Netflix original series Orange is the New Black is a critical and popular success, and our earlier series House of Cardsis the first internet TV series to win a Primetime Emmy Award. We launched our 41st country and the Dutch seem to like Netflix."The online video streaming firm said its net profit was $32m in the three months to the end of September, compared to an $8m income in the same quarter of 2012.

The company said it was hoping to hit a net income of around $37m in the fourth quarter with an extra 3.3 million users.

Since original programming has done so much for the firm's fortunes, Netflix is now planning to double its investment in making new shows, although that will still be less than ten per cent of its overall content expenses

Netflix will be arriving on TiVo in the next month or two. The current pilot has now been rolled out to the Manchester area and it sounds like it is just about ready to go nationwide. Still no word on pricing through Virgin Media

Media Boy reports the following to appear before the end of the year

Media Boy's posted an amazing list of missing SD and HD channels and I'll be stunned if they all arrive in the next few months. I've not heard any confirmation on any of these, which are pretty much all that we're missing on Virgin Media worth having:

I can now reveal that the following channels should launch before 2014 on Virgin Media:
Sky Atlantic HD
Sky News HD
Sky Sports F1 HD
Sky Sports 3 HD
Sky Sports 4 HD
Sky Sports News HD
Channel 4 +1 HD
Disney Channel HD Disney XD HD
MGM HD
Universal Channel HD

Add in the confirmed BBC News, CBBC, CBeebies, BBC3 and BBC4 HD launches and that's an early Christmas present for all VM customers!

Bloody hell ITV4!

What's the point of having ITV4 in HD when they only show Scorsese's fab Casino in upscaled SD?!

Updates on the TiVo and Netflix pilot

If you want to keep tabs on how the pilot for the forthcoming update to TiVo, including the introduction of the Netflix App, is going, VM has a small public community board running at http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/TiVo-and-Netflix-Pilot/bd-p/tivopilot

TiVo update FAQ

Due in the next few weeks, along with the arrival of the Netflix App, is a major update to the TiVo software. Here's the VM FAQ for people who are in the trial areas:
 
So, what’s new with TiVo?
 
Even more great entertainment at your fingertips with Netflix
 
You can now watch Netflix using your TiVo box if you’re a Netflix customer already or by registering atwww.netflix.com/virginmedia. To see what’s on Netflix hit the Home button, go to Apps & Games > TV & Movies, and select the Netflix icon. You can also find Netflix films and shows using TiVo search.
 
A More energy efficient TiVo box

 

You can now save energy and money on your electricity bill by automatically setting your TiVo box to go into standby mode, this means you won’t have to switch off your box at the mains any more. Even when in standby mode your TiVo box won’t miss a show – it wakes itself up to make any recordings you’ve requested. 

 

You can set to go into standby if you haven’t used your box for two or four hours. To change your default setting, go to Help & Settings > Settings > Devices > Power Saving Settings.

 

When your box is in standby mode, you’ll see a red light to the left on the front panel, but no picture or sound. Waking your box is easy, just press any of these buttons on your TiVo remote:

 

• Home
• TV
• Channel up/down
• Any number key
• Power

 

It’s easier to find the stars and shows you love with WishList™

We’ve made WishLists™ even easier to set up. Just let TiVo know the actors, directors or shows you can’t bear to miss and TiVo will automatically record anything that fits the bill. And you can do it without interrupting what you’re watching.

 

We’ve even redesigned the WishList™ menus in HD, so they look that little bit nicer.
 
Clever TiVo will make even better Suggestions for you

 

TiVo will suggest more of the shows and films you love based on the stuff you record and give the Thumbs Up. 
 
Discover your new Discovery Bar
 
Your brand new Discovery bar makes it much clearer why we’ve suggested films and programmes for you to watch, whether it’s a live sports event, it’s similar to other programmes you’ve enjoyed, or simply because our team have handpicked it for you to enjoy.
 
Accessibility
 
We’ve now introduced high contrast displays for some of our screens, these include our full screen guide, mini guide and channel banner.

 

To turn this on go to Home >Help & Settings > Settings > Display and Subtitles > High Contrast Display

 

Note: If you were part of the earlier phase of this pilot in Peterborough, Crawley, Andover, Londonderry and Swindon your TiVo box was set to automatically go into Standby if it is not used for four hours. To change the default to use of one the other energy saving modes or to switch this off go to Help & Settings > Settings > Devices > Power Saving Settings.
 
To wake your TiVo box up again just press the <Home>, <Power>, <TV>, <Channel up/down> or Any number key on your TiVo remote.

Live football - confirmed televised fixtures for December and New Year

BT Sport has confirmed coverage of the following games at the end of the year:

• Crystal Palace v West Ham - Tuesday December 3, 8pm
• Swansea v Newcastle - Wednesday December 4, 7.45pm
• Manchester United v Newcastle - Saturday December 7, 12.45pm
• Manchester City v Arsenal - Saturday December 14, 12.45pm
• Liverpool v Cardiff - Saturday December 21, 12.45pm
• West Ham v Arsenal - Boxing Day, 3pm
• Manchester City v Liverpool - Boxing Day, 5.30pm
• Southampton v Chelsea - New Year's Day, 3pm
• Manchester United v Tottenham - New Year's Day, 5.30pm

And here are the confirmed Sky Sports games for the same period:

• Sat 7: Sunderland v Tottenham (ko 5.30pm) 
• Sun 8: Fulham v Aston Villa (ko 1.30pm) 
• Sun 8: Arsenal v Everton (ko 4pm) 
• Mon 9: Swansea City v Hull City (ko 8pm) 
• Sat 14: Hull City v Stoke City (ko 5.30pm) 
• Sun 15: Aston Villa v Man Utd (ko 1.30pm) 
• Sun 15: Tottenham v Liverpool (ko 4pm) 
• Sun 22: Southampton v Tottenham (ko 1.30pm) 
• Sun 22: Swansea City v Everton (ko 4pm) 
• Mon 23: Arsenal v Chelsea (ko 8pm) 
• Thu 26: Hull City v Man Utd (ko 12.45pm) 
• Sat 28: West Ham v West Brom (ko 12.45pm) 
• Sat 28: Cardiff City v Sunderland (ko 5.30pm) 
• Sun 29: Newcastle United v Arsenal (ko 1.30pm) 
• Sun 29: Chelsea v Liverpool (ko 4pm) 
• Wed Jan 1: Swansea v Man City (ko 12.45pm)

Looking at this I think BT Sport has a few standout games (Man C v Arsenal, Man C v Liverpool, Man U v Spurs) which stacks up pretty well against the Sky headliners (Spurs v Liverpool, Arsenal v Chelsea, Chelsea v Liverpool). Good to see Sky getting a serious challenge after all this season.

Netflix

I'm thinking of starting a companion blog to VMHD, concentrating on the new Netflix service arriving on TiVo in the coming weeks. To this end I've set up a small poll (top right) to gauge interest in the new service. Let me know what you think.
Nialli