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.
Showing posts with label Ireland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ireland. Show all posts
Tuesday, 24 July 2018
Sunday, 7 June 2009
Tuesday, 2 June 2009
Tuesday, 17 March 2009
Sunday, 18 November 2007
Home Internationals: Is it time they returned?
Sky Sports at the moment are showing a Home Nations Masters Football tournament, and it great fun to watch some of these great stars from football's past having fun in the indoor arena. But perhaps it is time we restarted an old tradition by bringing back the Home Internationals.
The Home Internationals was a mini tournament between the home nations in Football, much the Six Nations was originally for Rugby, before the introduction of France and Italy into the competition. Perhaps a five way tournament between England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland would be a great aid to helping sharpen our International sides for matches against other nations. What do you think?
The Home Internationals was a mini tournament between the home nations in Football, much the Six Nations was originally for Rugby, before the introduction of France and Italy into the competition. Perhaps a five way tournament between England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland would be a great aid to helping sharpen our International sides for matches against other nations. What do you think?
Friday, 24 August 2007
Ratings Review: JNLR year ending Jun 07
The Joint National Listenership Research (JNLR) figures for Jun 06-Jun 07 have been released by Ireland's media regulator, the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI). These are the figures for radio stations in Ireland.
Of interest to me is the fact that little has changed in the past 6 months. RTE Radio 1 still holds a 23% national reach with RTE 2FM just behind on 18%. RTE Lyric FM also holds a consistent 3% reach.
Commercial music station Today FM is only just behind 2FM with 16% reach, whilst commercial talk station NewsTalk 106-108 struggles with just 5%.
It is very interesting to note that the local stations in Ireland tend to have much larger reach than the national stations. Highland Radio has a 64% reach in their listneing area. By contrast, the two local Dublin stations 98FM and FM104, both score 12.7% in their area, which is lower than RTE Radio 1's equivalent number in Dublin (31%).
It will be interesting to look at the next set of numbers, when they next come out.
Of interest to me is the fact that little has changed in the past 6 months. RTE Radio 1 still holds a 23% national reach with RTE 2FM just behind on 18%. RTE Lyric FM also holds a consistent 3% reach.
Commercial music station Today FM is only just behind 2FM with 16% reach, whilst commercial talk station NewsTalk 106-108 struggles with just 5%.
It is very interesting to note that the local stations in Ireland tend to have much larger reach than the national stations. Highland Radio has a 64% reach in their listneing area. By contrast, the two local Dublin stations 98FM and FM104, both score 12.7% in their area, which is lower than RTE Radio 1's equivalent number in Dublin (31%).
It will be interesting to look at the next set of numbers, when they next come out.
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