NationStates Jolt Archive

Well I'm pissed off. As a Virgin Media digital subscriber I've lost Sky One and some other channels because Sky pulled these channels from Virgin. In my opnion this is just short of Sky trying to monopolise the local market as this is the choice I basically face:

Keep Virgin and don't get the channles or switch to Sky and then get the channels.

Sky is more expensive while Virgin is cheaper. So NSG what do you think of this situation? Fair play or sneaky shenanigans?! All I can say is so long 24 and Lost and Futurama and Simpsons.

Well I'm pissed off. As a Virgin Media digital subscriber I've lost Sky One and some other channels because Sky pulled these channels from Virgin. In my opnion this is just short of Sky trying to monopolise the local market as this is the choice I basically face:

Keep Virgin and don't get the channles or switch to Sky and then get the channels.

Sky is more expensive while Virgin is cheaper. So NSG what do you think of this situation? Fair play or sneaky shenanigans?! All I can say is so long 24 and Lost and Futurama and Simpsons.

They're all on Channel 4 as well, you know?

Well, except Futurama....

No Lost was bought by Sky as well as 24. They're not shown on Channel 4 anymore as Sky owns the rights to them.

No Lost was bought by Sky as well as 24. They're not shown on Channel 4 anymore as Sky owns the rights to them.

Odd... I'm sure they keep broadcasting previews for both shows on other channels as well here. I watch neither of them, so I can't really say what channels they were. Maybe More4?

Nope just Sky One. If I had to swirch to Sky to get this channel and others I'd have to change my phonle line as well and my broadband provider. I can't afford all that.

Stay with Virgin.

You can always download the episodes you miss.

Sky has been doing this for years my NTL bill jumps up every now and then because sky is charging more to use there channels

The thing is for the most part sky is utter junk but when its gone you have the moment where endless Simpson repeats is a good thing

Stay with Virgin.

You can always download the episodes you miss.

Downloading for the win! Seriously--that's how I watched the first season of Battlestar Galactica, and a lot of those shows will be available for download purchase soon if they're not already.

Sky's PoV (http://www.sky.com/portal/site/skycom/home/article?contentid=646110)

At Sky we're passionate about quality TV, whether it's award-winning news, up-to-the-minute sports headlines or the best entertainment from around the world.

We're committed to bringing you great shows like brand new Simpsons, Lost, 24, Nip/Tuck and Battlestar Galactica and we've made our own special commissions, like Terry Pratchett's Hogfather in HD. In fact we've increased our investment in channels and programmes by 68% in recent years. That's why Sky Channels have provided the top 25 most watched pay-channel programmes in cable homes this year*.

Competition keeps us on our toes. It pushes us to innovate so we can be first to bring you products such as Sky+ and HD as well as broadband and phone services that can save you hundreds of pounds a year over our competitors.

This is what Sky is all about.

You may be aware that we have been negotiating with Virgin Media to continue offering Sky One, Sky Sports News, Sky Travel and the RTS News Channel of the Year, Sky News. Unfortunately Virgin Media have decided to drop these channels from today. This was their decision. As a "closed network" only they can decide what to offer their customers. Up to the final hours we tried time and again to reach a solution, including proposing a way for Sky to retail channels directly to cable customers in a way that would cost Virgin Media nothing.

So, if you are a Virgin Media customer and would like to continue watching these programmes, it’s easy to join Sky and keep the TV you love. We want to do everything to make sure you can keep up with your favourite Sky programmes so we’re planning to run all our big shows over a catch up weekend. And we’ll make other shows available on our Anytime on demand service.

It's easy to join Sky. To find out more go to www.sky.com/switch.

From your fellow TV fans at Sky.


Virgin Medias PoV (http://allyours.virginmedia.com/fairplay/index.html)

Fair play
Hello,

Thanks for taking time to visit our site.

If you're wondering whats happened to your basic Sky channels, read on to find out more.

Got Sky Sports or Sky Movies?
Then you can relax, these services are not affected. So you can keep enjoying them - just as you've always done.

Whats happened to the basic channels?
As you may have heard, we've spent the last few weeks trying to make sure that all of Sky's channels remain on Virgin Media.
But Sky asked us to pay such an unrealistically high price that keeping them would mean asking you to pay the kind of increase that is simply unfair.
We refuse to stand by and see our customers get ripped off.
So thanks to Sky, some of their non-premium channels, like Sky One and Sky News have disappeared from our service.
Freeview customers set to lose channels too
Virgin Media customers are not the only people to feel the brunt of Sky's bullying tactics. Freeview customers are affected, too. Sky announced that it will be removing its channels from the Freeview service before the summer.

So what are we going to do?
At Virgin Media we stand up for our customers, making sure you get a better deal and giving you more.

Get more back
We're going to give the money saved back to you in the form of even more of your favourite TV shows and films to watch whenever you want. For example, HBO will be joining the our on demand service in April with some great series including The Sopranos, Band of Brothers and Six Feet Under.

Watch the best shows for free
We've launched Virgin Central, our new free service on channel 119, which includes:

Nip/Tuck
The O.C.
Spooks
Grey's Anatomy
They all start and stop at whatever time you say so. We'll be adding heaps more, too. Just flick to channel 119 and take a look.

The very best in film, music and TV at your beck and call
The good stuff doesn't stop there. We've got over 500 films, 1000s of music videos and hundreds of other great TV shows at your beck and call, too – all through our on demand service.

Worried about losing Lost?
We're planning to add all 3 series of Lost to our revolutionary on demand service. Series 1 and 2 will be available soon and series 3 is coming your way later this year. What's more, since they're all available on demand, they'll be ready for you to watch anytime you like. Watch one, watch them all, back to back – without the ads.

Virgin Media is the only place to get these ground-breaking services and we want to put you in control.



Just so you can see the situation.

Downloading for the win! Seriously--that's how I watched the first season of Battlestar Galactica, and a lot of those shows will be available for download purchase soon if they're not already.

Yup.
And the second season.
And all of the third season so far.

God I love that show.

Do not succumb to the dark side of the TV force that is Sky. Just keep Virgin and download any Sky programmes you want to watch.

shit, have they gone through with that then? sky one's the only thing i watch on cable. apart from film 4.

i can't really comprehend the wheelings and dealings behind this. all i know is that sky was running adverts for a while saying that virgin were going to drop them and that we'd have to phone some 0845 number to complain. so as far as i'm aware this was virgin's doing.

Stay with Virgin.

You can always download the episodes you miss.

You know I was wondering where exactly do you download tv shows, like what are some sites, because I always hear about it but I never here about any specific sites and more importantly does it cost money?

You know I was wondering where exactly do you download tv shows, like what are some sites, because I always hear about it but I never here about any specific sites and more importantly does it cost money?

If you're willing to pay, iTunes sells a lot of them. If you aren't, then Bittorrent has most of them pretty quickly.

You know I was wondering where exactly do you download tv shows, like what are some sites, because I always hear about it but I never here about any specific sites and more importantly does it cost money?

If you were an evil, copyright-plundering pirate degenerate, say, you might go to your favourite local torrent site. There are even specific TV programme ones, but I've forgotten what they are.

Possibly you can download and pay for some of them legit, but I've never wanted to.

To the OP:
The optimal solution to the problem is just to get rid of Virgin and your telly, save money on the TV Licence and stop wasting time watching rubbish. Huzzah!

You know I was wondering where exactly do you download tv shows, like what are some sites, because I always hear about it but I never here about any specific sites and more importantly does it cost money?

If you're willing to pay, iTunes sells a lot of them. If you aren't, then Bittorrent has most of them pretty quickly.
Don't buy them from iTunes! You don't have to, as long as you have a fairly fast internet connection. If you do, then just go to abc.com after each episode airs and they'll have a free "encore" episode available to view. There is some advertising, yes, but hey, at least it's free...

i can't really comprehend the wheelings and dealings behind this. all i know is that sky was running adverts for a while saying that virgin were going to drop them and that we'd have to phone some 0845 number to complain. so as far as i'm aware this was virgin's doing.

Sky were demanding that Virgin pay twice as much as they were paying before for the same channels despite a drop in viewing figures on Sky channels. I'm holding Sky accountable for this - their claims that it is all Virgin's fault make me cringe.

Nope just Sky One. If I had to swirch to Sky to get this channel and others I'd have to change my phonle line as well and my broadband provider. I can't afford all that.
We have the same problem. Having said that, the only thing I used Sky for was endless, mind numbing repeats of Futurama and SG-1. Actually - the bastards, I was almost up to date with that!
Sky were demanding that Virgin pay twice as much as they were paying before for the same channels despite a drop in viewing figures on Sky channels. I'm holding Sky accountable for this - their claims that it is all Virgin's fault make me cringe.

This is the impression I got as well. To be honest, I don't care.
The only question is - do we get a reduction in price now Virgin don't have to pay for Sky? Somehow I doubt it...