Ian Beaumont reviews the first episode of World Of Sport Wrestling, talks Impact Wrestling Slammiversary 2018, and WWE Evolution on this episode of WrestlePod.
Sunday 29 July 2018
Tuesday 24 July 2018
Viewpoint: UKTV vs Virgin Media: Who do they think they're hurting?
So multichannel broadcaster UKTV is in the midle of a spat with platform provider Virgin Media over... something, something that ultimately doesn't really matter. I believe it might have to do in part with the fact that UKTV VOD (Video On Demand) is on Netflix and Amazon Prime, but not Virgin Media. I also hear that it might be in part due to the amount that UKTV charge Virgin Media for their channels, including ones that are available free to air on Freeview and Freesat.
As a result of this, all the UKTV channels, including the free ones, have been pulled from Virgin Media in both the UK & Ireland. If you go to where the channels are meant to be on the EPG (Electronic Programme Guide), you'll find different channels in their place, many of which do not offer similar programming to the channels they replaced.
One side effect of this is that in the UK, Premier Sports has been added to the XL pack, alongside the existing BT Sport and EuroSport channels, and the recently added FreeSports, which means for Virgin Media customers there is more live sport available without having to add the premium Sky Sports. If you include all the HD variants, there's 19 channels of sport available from around the world, including At The Races, Sky Sports Mix and Sky Sports News.
Neither side in this debacle looks good. Virgin Media have basically replaced a lot of channels that provided high quality programming, with a few channels that provide high quality programming and others that are not so high quality. And UKTV looks greedy for asking for probably more money than they should, for a product that whilst it is high quality, is far from a premium product. UKTV is mostly shows that have already been shown elsewhere, with a small sprinkling of original content.
Both sides are trying to hurt each other, but in doing so, the reality is they are only really hurting their loyal viewers, who are now unable to watch the channels on cable, and will now have to either subscribe to Sky for the UKTV channels, or will have to make do with the free channels on either Freeview, or ,if they're particularly sneaky like yours truly, on Freesat.
Not that I am particularly interested in watching anything that UKTV does currently. About the only thing I was remotely interested in was repeats of new Doctor Who from the 2005 series onwards. Oh, and the occassional live sport that was on Dave, and I can still get that on Freeview and Freesat, when they get the rights to show such events, but ITV4 gets more live sport than Dave does.
Overall, I am much happier that I now get Premier Sports as part of my subscription, which now means I have more accesss to live sport than ever before, which I think is an amazing bonus. This will probably end when UKTV finally agree a deal, but for now, I'm taking advantage of the situation, and enjoying the extra sports.
As a result of this, all the UKTV channels, including the free ones, have been pulled from Virgin Media in both the UK & Ireland. If you go to where the channels are meant to be on the EPG (Electronic Programme Guide), you'll find different channels in their place, many of which do not offer similar programming to the channels they replaced.
One side effect of this is that in the UK, Premier Sports has been added to the XL pack, alongside the existing BT Sport and EuroSport channels, and the recently added FreeSports, which means for Virgin Media customers there is more live sport available without having to add the premium Sky Sports. If you include all the HD variants, there's 19 channels of sport available from around the world, including At The Races, Sky Sports Mix and Sky Sports News.
Neither side in this debacle looks good. Virgin Media have basically replaced a lot of channels that provided high quality programming, with a few channels that provide high quality programming and others that are not so high quality. And UKTV looks greedy for asking for probably more money than they should, for a product that whilst it is high quality, is far from a premium product. UKTV is mostly shows that have already been shown elsewhere, with a small sprinkling of original content.
Both sides are trying to hurt each other, but in doing so, the reality is they are only really hurting their loyal viewers, who are now unable to watch the channels on cable, and will now have to either subscribe to Sky for the UKTV channels, or will have to make do with the free channels on either Freeview, or ,if they're particularly sneaky like yours truly, on Freesat.
Not that I am particularly interested in watching anything that UKTV does currently. About the only thing I was remotely interested in was repeats of new Doctor Who from the 2005 series onwards. Oh, and the occassional live sport that was on Dave, and I can still get that on Freeview and Freesat, when they get the rights to show such events, but ITV4 gets more live sport than Dave does.
Overall, I am much happier that I now get Premier Sports as part of my subscription, which now means I have more accesss to live sport than ever before, which I think is an amazing bonus. This will probably end when UKTV finally agree a deal, but for now, I'm taking advantage of the situation, and enjoying the extra sports.
Wednesday 4 July 2018
WrestlePod: WWE UK Championship Tournament & ROH Best In The World
Ian Beaumont reviews the 2018 WWE United Kingdom Championship Tournament, and Ring Of Honor's Best In The World pay-per-view, in this edition of WrestlePod.
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