According to MediaGuardian, subscription-free service Freesat has passed the 2 million customer mark and revealed that almost half of its users have defected from BSkyB.
The three-year-old joint venture between the BBC and ITV, which aims to provide a free-to-air alternative to Sky's pay-TV digital satellite service, claims that 47% of Freesat customers are former Sky subscribers.
88k new homes took up Freesat during the second quarter of this year, compared with about 40k new Sky subscribers. (Virgin Media actually reported a loss of 36k customers that quarter.)
Freesat has kinda floundered as a service, but that doesn't appear to have stopped it picking up dish-endowed customers who are maybe cutting back on a few costs in these austere times.
For those interested, Freesat still only offers the HD versions of BBC1, BBC HD, ITV1 and C4, plus something called NHK World. Around 150 TV and radio channels in all, including a few that aren't on Virgin, notably the CBS quartet. What's odd though is that the service doesn't carry some that are on Freeview - 5*, Dave, 5 USA are the ones I noticed missing.There were questions about the quality of standard definition channels on the platform a while back, with many saying it looked even worse than Freeview. I don't know if this has been addressed, but it still looks very much a third-rate service to me. I guess for former Sky customers though who don't have an aerial Freesat is an easier install option than even VM's lowest priced offers. 2m customers makes it a significant player though - bigger than BT Vision and more than half of VM's TV customer base.
September 07, 2011
September 05, 2011
Freeview to get one more HD channel
OFCOM has announced that Freeview is to get a fifth HD channel and has invited the UK's commercial free-to-air channels - ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 - to bid. No BBC for this one as it already has BBC HD and BBC One HD on the platform. Freeview also has ITV1 HD and 4HD, so I would imagine the new slot will go to ITV2 HD, Five HD or maybe E4 HD.
September 04, 2011
TiVo EPG: an update from Virgin Media
From Virgin Media's official TiVo forum:
When we decided to partner with TiVo for our next generation TV service, we realised the quality of metadata (programme information) would be a key element to the success of the product. Quite simply, the features that make TiVo so great require better, more detailed schedule data than any other products on the market today.
So, we selected TiVo's long term partner, Tribune Media Services (TMS), as our provider of metadata. TMS has a really deep understanding of how metadata drives key parts of the TiVo service and the importance of getting it right.
But as you'd expect with the launch of any new product, we've had some unexpected challenges along the way which we have been working hard to resolve. I'd like to explain two of these and what we've done to fix them.
Challenge 1:
We're aware there have been some occurrences where a series has not recorded when a Series Link is set to NEW only. (It's worth pointing out right now that no other product attempts to offer such flexibility with a Series Link.) One of the key pieces of information TiVo uses to decide if a programme is NEW is something called the 'Original Air Date' (forever now referred to as the OAD!). The OAD is set as the first date that a particular episode of a programme was aired in the UK. TiVo describes a programme as NEW if it airs within 28 days of the OAD.
This situation threw up two issues. The first was caused by another feature of TiVo, the Episode Guide. To ensure the Episode Guide was as detailed as possible, we had to merge parts of TMS' US database with the one for the UK. To do this, we picked a historic date whereby the US OAD would take precedence over that of the UK. However, some US shows were inadvertently affected when there was a long gap between the US and the UK airing. As time has gone on, the number of shows that could be affected by this has reduced greatly.
The second was in relation to channels broadcast in Northern Ireland. That is, Virgin Media provides the RTE and TG4 channels to customers in N.I. However, some US shows are shown on both the Irish channels and on UK channels. Sometimes the 'Irish' airing is well in advance of the 'UK' airing. If that date difference is more than 28 days, TiVo would not apply a NEW tag to the 'UK' airing. TMS have been working hard to make sure their systems take this situation into account and any shows aired since July 1st should no longer suffer from this problem. Just as a tip and to ensure you don't miss any shows, you can also select 'NEW & reruns'.
Challenge 2:
We've discovered there are some challenges around 'Non-episodic programme information'. TiVo loves to know specific information about each and every programme, however some UK broadcasters aren't used to providing this for all shows.
This has lead us to use generic 'series information' for some shows and this causes the following issues:
1) all showings of a programme will be recorded regardless of the Series Link setting and 2) when a Catch-Up TV show is available in the reverse EPG, TiVo doesn't always know which episode to play. We're working with TMS and our channel providers to increase the amount of episodic information in the schedule.
So in summary, I hope this helps to clarify how we are dealing with some of the challenges we are facing. We're working closely with TMS to improve our operational compliance processes to ensure other mistakes don't slip through. We really appreciate your feedback and please continue to use the Survey Monkey link to report any problems so that we can resolve these as quickly as possible. We're also working on a better way for you to report issues directly to us and I'll be in touch once it's up and running.
Regards,
Stephen Featham
Director, Digital Entertainment Technical Operations, Virgin Media.
When we decided to partner with TiVo for our next generation TV service, we realised the quality of metadata (programme information) would be a key element to the success of the product. Quite simply, the features that make TiVo so great require better, more detailed schedule data than any other products on the market today.
So, we selected TiVo's long term partner, Tribune Media Services (TMS), as our provider of metadata. TMS has a really deep understanding of how metadata drives key parts of the TiVo service and the importance of getting it right.
But as you'd expect with the launch of any new product, we've had some unexpected challenges along the way which we have been working hard to resolve. I'd like to explain two of these and what we've done to fix them.
Challenge 1:
We're aware there have been some occurrences where a series has not recorded when a Series Link is set to NEW only. (It's worth pointing out right now that no other product attempts to offer such flexibility with a Series Link.) One of the key pieces of information TiVo uses to decide if a programme is NEW is something called the 'Original Air Date' (forever now referred to as the OAD!). The OAD is set as the first date that a particular episode of a programme was aired in the UK. TiVo describes a programme as NEW if it airs within 28 days of the OAD.
This situation threw up two issues. The first was caused by another feature of TiVo, the Episode Guide. To ensure the Episode Guide was as detailed as possible, we had to merge parts of TMS' US database with the one for the UK. To do this, we picked a historic date whereby the US OAD would take precedence over that of the UK. However, some US shows were inadvertently affected when there was a long gap between the US and the UK airing. As time has gone on, the number of shows that could be affected by this has reduced greatly.
The second was in relation to channels broadcast in Northern Ireland. That is, Virgin Media provides the RTE and TG4 channels to customers in N.I. However, some US shows are shown on both the Irish channels and on UK channels. Sometimes the 'Irish' airing is well in advance of the 'UK' airing. If that date difference is more than 28 days, TiVo would not apply a NEW tag to the 'UK' airing. TMS have been working hard to make sure their systems take this situation into account and any shows aired since July 1st should no longer suffer from this problem. Just as a tip and to ensure you don't miss any shows, you can also select 'NEW & reruns'.
Challenge 2:
We've discovered there are some challenges around 'Non-episodic programme information'. TiVo loves to know specific information about each and every programme, however some UK broadcasters aren't used to providing this for all shows.
This has lead us to use generic 'series information' for some shows and this causes the following issues:
1) all showings of a programme will be recorded regardless of the Series Link setting and 2) when a Catch-Up TV show is available in the reverse EPG, TiVo doesn't always know which episode to play. We're working with TMS and our channel providers to increase the amount of episodic information in the schedule.
So in summary, I hope this helps to clarify how we are dealing with some of the challenges we are facing. We're working closely with TMS to improve our operational compliance processes to ensure other mistakes don't slip through. We really appreciate your feedback and please continue to use the Survey Monkey link to report any problems so that we can resolve these as quickly as possible. We're also working on a better way for you to report issues directly to us and I'll be in touch once it's up and running.
Regards,
Stephen Featham
Director, Digital Entertainment Technical Operations, Virgin Media.
September 02, 2011
New and returning HD series
Is it me or is there bugger all on TV at the moment? I'm still catching up with stuff I recorded a few months ago (and thanks to my TiVo's 1Tb capacity they're all in HD) but it's good to know that the are some old favourites and interesting new shows on their way back:
- An Idiot Abroad 2 - September on Sky1
- Braquo - Sun, October 30 at 10pm on FX
- Celebrity Coach Trip S2 - September on Channel 4
- Downton Abbey S2 - September on ITV1
- Drop Dead Diva S3 - Fri, September 2 at 8pm on Sky Living
- Glee S3 - September 22 at 9pm on Sky1
- Happy Endings S1 - Thursday, September 8 at 9pm on E4
- Inspector George Gently - Sunday, September 4 at 9pm on BBC1
- Made In Chelsea S2 - September on E4
- Modern Family S3 - Friday, September 23 at 8pm on Sky1
- Strictly Come Dancing - Sat, September 10 on BBC1
- Terra Nova S1 - October on Sky1
- The Middle S3 - Fri, September 23 at 7pm on Sky1
- The Walking Dead S2 - Fri, October 21 at 10pm on FX
September 01, 2011
"A long wait for Sky Atlantic"?
According to Digital Spy this week:
Virgin Media subscribers are facing a long wait before they can get access to Sky's blockbuster entertainment channel Sky Atlantic, as the two firms are still in disagreement over the carriage price negotiations.Before you rush to the link to see how things have changed between the two companies, let me just warn you that there is absolutely nothing of any great revelation in this story - all the comments from Virgin Media and Sky date back to the launch of Sky Atlantic in February and there's nothing but speculation supporting the "long wait" assertion. It even refers to the time we lost Sky1 four years ago, but fails to note that relations between the two companies have considerably mellowed and we now have HD versions of all bar one of the Sky Movies channels, Sports 1 and 2, Arts 1 and 2 and even Sky1 HD. And the Sky Anytime+ deal is done and Red Button Sports is live too. Not the best reporting I've seen on the matter.
August 29, 2011
Sky Premium HD channels
Good news for folk subscribing to the Sky HD Sports and Movie channels with more than one box: Virgin Media are going to move Sky Premium HD Channels from £7 a month per box to £7 per account from October 1st. (Sky customers too will enjoy their HD on multiroom boxes for the single monthly charge of £10.25.)
August 24, 2011
Spotify offer until August 31st
Bainsy88 has left a new comment on the earlier post "Berkett talks about Spotify":
On the Spotify front it's already available! If you go to this page:
http://shop.virginmedia.com/existing-customers/spotify3. html
It invites you to fill in your details to claim a code for 12 months free unlimited Spotify. The best bit is that all codes for Spotify relate to premium so in fact you actually get 12 months premium for free, which is a nice saving of £120.
So VM seem to come through on this, maybe apart from the total lack of advertising on the offer and the lack of a link from there existing customers page. Anyway shouldn't grumble the offer ends on the 31/08/11 so enjoy your free Spotify.
BBC to phase out 'red button' video and launch more HD - after the Olympics
It is being reported that the BBC will probably wind down its existing red button video services following the Olympics in order to use the bandwidth to launch new high definition stations (Freeview being the bandwidth-constrained platform).What HD channels would that be? With both BBC3 and BBC4 undergoing major reviews my money would be on BBC2 HD and BBC News HD, with the current BBC HD channel becoming a mix of CBeebies and CBBC daytime, BBC3/4 in the evenings.
August 19, 2011
Sky Sports Red Button
Now on V+ boxes, TiVo to follow in the autumn. Virgin Media is now publishing the events available on the Sky Sports Red Button. Here are the events for the rest of August:
- Super League: 19th August, 10pm (Sky Sports 1/Sky Sports 1 HD)
- Football First: 20th August, 10:15pm (Sky Sports 1/Sky Sports 1 HD)
- Champions League: 23rd August, 7pm (Sky Sports 2/Sky Sports 2 HD)
- Champions League: 24th August, 7pm (Sky Sports 2/Sky Sports 2 HD)
- Euro Gold Johnnie Walker Highlights:25th August-5th September, 8.30pm (Sky Sports 3)
- Currie Cup: 27th August, 9pm (Sky Sports 3)
- Football First: 27th August, 10:15pm (Sky Sports 1/Sky Sports 1 HD)
- US Open: 29th August-11th September, 4pm (Sky Sports 2/Sky Sports 2 HD)
Competition Commission recommends pay-TV movie changes
Could the price of Sky Movies be coming down? There are two stings in the tail of the following report from MediaGuardian: the final report from the Competitions Commission isn't due for another year, and when we last had this kind of breakup on Sky's market dominance (with Premiership football) the consumer ended up worse off, having to be pay for ESPN without Sky's prices dropping. We'll have to see.
BSkyB will be ordered to weaken its stranglehold on Hollywood films on pay-TV after an investigation by the Competition Commission.
In a provisional decision published on Friday morning, the commission said BSkyB's contracts with the six major Hollywood studios present a significant barrier to entry to potential competitors, including BT and Virgin Media. The industry watchdog ruled that the prices charged by Sky to Virgin are too high, meaning Virgin cannot make a business selling films to its customers.
Among a number of recommendations from the commission, the regulator said Sky should be restricted from signing exclusivity deals with all of the major Hollywood film studios for movie rights in the so-called "first subscription pay television window".
The Competition Commission recommended that exclusivity deals with the film giants should be weakened so rival operators can buy the rights to other distribution methods, including video on demand.
Under recommendations put forward by the Competition Commission, BT and Virgin Media would be able to rival Sky Movies by offering their own selection of new releases.
The Virgin Media chief executive, Neil Berkett, said: "Virgin Media has long argued that there are deep rooted problems in the pay-TV movies market which have been severely hampering competition. We're pleased that the Competition Commission has provisionally recognised that consumers have suffered significant harm from Sky's stranglehold and are paying far too much to watch films at home.
"We hope today's findings will lead to a dramatic transformation of the market and allow new compelling services to flourish that give consumers much greater choice of innovative film services. We look forward to working with the commission to ensure that movie fans reap the benefits of a more competitive and dynamic market."
The Competition Commission will invite views on its recommendation before publishing a final decision in August 2012.
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