# Sky Back On Virgin Cable



## Automan (Oct 29, 2000)

Good news for you cable guys 

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/digitaltv/a134623/sky-basics-return-to-virgin-digital-cable.html

13th Nov BTW

Automan.


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## cwaring (Feb 12, 2002)

YES!  About time too.

Only just received the Press Release notification from VM.


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## Tim L (Jan 5, 2002)

Bit late - I dropped back to Virgin's free service a while ago and am happily feeding Tivo with Freeview instead.


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## cwaring (Feb 12, 2002)

The bad news is that you will need to get the L package (the middle one) to be able to watch Sky1&2.

*ETA:* I meant L and above of course


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## Tim L (Jan 5, 2002)

cwaring said:


> The bad news is that you will need to get the L package (the middle one) to be able to watch Sky1&2.
> 
> *ETA:* I meant L and above of course


I know - that's why I said it was a bit late. I'm happy letting Tivo control the Freeview box now, freeing up the cable box for on-demand duties. Frankly I can't say I've missed Sky at all.


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## SkiBore (Mar 17, 2002)

Tim L said:


> Frankly I can't say I've missed Sky at all.


Me too - When Sky One disappeared it taught me I could survive without Lost, SG Atlantis & 24 - I'll just extend that lesson to Bravo SF & Living and stick with Freeview.


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## geekspeak (Oct 1, 2002)

Tim L said:


> Frankly I can't say I've missed Sky at all.


Saves having to find lost elsewhere if you know what I mean (if you don't, don't worry) , in a few weeks time. I'm sure the subs will be going up as a result though.


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## nickf (Oct 12, 2001)

geekspeak said:


> I'm sure the subs will be going up as a result though.


I think it's tit for tat - Virgin 1, Living, Bravo, Trouble and Challenge have all signed with sky until 2011 (according to this discussion on Digital Spy).


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## Tim L (Jan 5, 2002)

geekspeak said:


> Saves having to find lost elsewhere if you know what I mean (if you don't, don't worry)


I know what you mean, and it's really no trouble at all.


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## Sherminator (Nov 24, 2004)

Is it going to have identical programming to Sky One as served by Satellite, or a slightly adulterated version like what was piped to ON/ITVdigital back in the day?


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## nickf (Oct 12, 2001)

I think the adulterated version was because Sky didn't have terrestrial rights for certain programmes. I presume nowadays (a) rights are negotiated more appropriately, and (b) cable is more likely to be covered along with satellite, rather than with terrestrial.


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## ericd121 (Dec 12, 2002)

This seems the appropriate thread to ask how many HD channels are available on the Virgin Cable system?

As far as I can see, only the BBC's.

Is ITV:HD or C4's simulcast available, or any other HD channels?


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## dbradbu3 (Dec 29, 2006)

cwaring said:


> The bad news is that you will need to get the L package (the middle one) to be able to watch Sky1&2.
> 
> *ETA:* I meant L and above of course


Does that mean just cus you had it before doesn't mean you will get it back with the same package?


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## Gavin (Jan 1, 2003)

Automan said:


> Good news for you cable guys


When we lost Sky I was bothered, now I'm not. I'm not paying £10 more for effectivly just Sky One and Two now, and when we move (read when the wife says) I doubt I'll even get anything from VM at all. Only reason I haven't dropped the M TV (it's "free" but phone and broadband alone is cheaper, go figure) is it means tying myself in for another 12 months, and as as we're planning to move i can't be bothered with the hassle of changing a contract mid flow.

They're not much cheaper than BT now, and theres no huge advantage to cable, Iplayer is nice for the few occasions we miss something but since we got the Freesat enabled TV (the Panasonic) I can't say we use NTL at all, other than a source for Tivo, and I can just get a cheap freeview box to do that.

I though it would be a loss to me but it's not really..


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## Gavin (Jan 1, 2003)

ericd121 said:


> Is ITV:HD or C4's simulcast available, or any other HD channels?


ON Freesat (and as they get the same signal) ITV:HD is simulcast, but they only do limited stuff. See
http://www.freesatadvice.co.uk/pages/itvhd/index.html
for details of what HD in ITV is, usually one item a night.

It's also accessed on Freesat by the red button it's not a seperate channel like the BBC HD is. C4 HD isn't on Freesat yet and theres no date for it to be so (tied to the Sky platform at the moment)


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## OzSat (Feb 15, 2001)

ericd121 said:


> This seems the appropriate thread to ask how many HD channels are available on the Virgin Cable system?
> 
> As far as I can see, only the BBC's.


Spot on!

There is a selection of HD VoD stuff - but not a great selection and not renewed much either.


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## ericd121 (Dec 12, 2002)

I've been looking at HD channel availability today, and frankly, the situation is ridiculous.

Virgin only has the BBC HD channel
Sky has its own HD channels plus BBC and C4 but not ITV and
FreeSat has the BBC HD channel and ITV but not C4.

So in order to receive BBC, ITV and C4's HD channels, you would have to have both Sky and FreeSat.

If I had the V+ box from Virgin, I'd be feeling a bit short changed at only one channel. 

Or do they have C4's HD programmes (Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty) in HD on VOD?


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## OzSat (Feb 15, 2001)

ericd121 said:


> Or do they have C4's HD programmes (Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty) in HD on VOD?


VM's C4OD is SD.


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## mikerr (Jun 2, 2005)

Wikipedia links...
(list of sky HD channels)

List of HD channels and how to receive them Freesat/Sky/VM

While VM does only have ONE HD channel (BBC HD),
it does have a quite a bit of on-demand HD content, and this is what they will be concentrating on apparently.

VM is really perfectly placed for video-on-demand, but just aren't populating it as much as they might. Although we do have iPlayer and "500 movies on filmflex for instant viewing" as it always being advertised 

Its down to problems with licensing - many of the shows they buy in are licensed for a limited time only , not to be held on VoD forever.
So you get a situation where things like Lost are only available on-demand for a few weeks/months. - you can't rely on everything staying available for instance.


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## cwaring (Feb 12, 2002)

I'm not 100&#37; certain, but I have a feeling (and the rumour is) that next year will see some big changes to VM's TV service, including more HD channels/stuff. This is because they are only now finally switching off their remaining analogue services, thus freeing up space for more TV channels.


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## amh15 (Jan 5, 2002)

Has anyone seen their TiVo update with the new Sky channels on VM yet? I want to enable them ASAP so that my wish lists pick up programmes on Sky while I'm away from home.


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## cwaring (Feb 12, 2002)

Not yet, but I am hoping that mine will with the next call which is due juat after 6am.


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## ColinYounger (Aug 9, 2006)

No change here.


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## OzSat (Feb 15, 2001)

amh15 said:


> Has anyone seen their TiVo update with the new Sky channels on VM yet? I want to enable them ASAP so that my wish lists pick up programmes on Sky while I'm away from home.


They will be available in Wednesday evening's update - the channels launch Thursday am.


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## cwaring (Feb 12, 2002)

However, it looks like VM have _already_ moved V1/+1 so if you have anything recorded off that channel yesterday or today, you might not _actually_ have it recorded 

Oz. If I force a call around midnight, should that pick up the changes? Thanks.


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## OzSat (Feb 15, 2001)

cwaring said:


> However, it looks like VM have _already_ moved V1/+1 so if you have anything recorded off that channel yesterday or today, you might not _actually_ have it recorded
> 
> Oz. If I force a call around midnight, should that pick up the changes? Thanks.


Yes


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## mindwhip (May 17, 2002)

cwaring said:


> However, it looks like VM have _already_ moved V1/+1 so if you have anything recorded off that channel yesterday or today, you might not _actually_ have it recorded


It's worse than that... if you tried to record something off V1 and hit a channel that you won't get anyway due to subscription level the cable box popped up a call to subscribe... press OK message  This locked my box from further channel changes... I failed to record anything at all this evening other than that stupid message.


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## mikerr (Jun 2, 2005)

Click yes to "send enter" after channel change in the tivo remote settings.
Most cable boxes see the "enter" key as "ok", so it removes the message.

At least you only lose 1-2 recordings that way, not a whole day/week !
(You can also put the cable box on a mains timer switch to reset it onc per day)


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## cwaring (Feb 12, 2002)

mikerr said:


> Click yes to "send enter" after channel change in the tivo remote settings. Most cable boxes see the "enter" key as "ok", so it removes the message.


Okay. Why the heck didn't I think of that


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## ...coolstream (Dec 10, 2005)

Thanks for the suggestion. It doesn't seem to work with the Samsung VM box.

Fingers crossed for the scheduled update.


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