[David_Ayling]

Media website BroadcastNow is reporting that Viacom is looking to acquire a second Freeview slot for children's programmes. The company already operates music and entertainment channel Viva on the platform.

http://www.a516digital.com/2013/02/n...-freeview.html

[wallace howitt]

This would be great for FV, but doesnt sky have a 50% steak in Nick and Comedy Central? a time share with Nick & CC would be awsome.

[Bangers]

Aye. Just like when ONdigital was around. On channel 39 we had Nickelodeon from 06:00 to 19:00 and Paramount Comedy (now Comedy Central) from 19:00 to 04:00.

Would love to see a Nickelodeon/Comedy Central timeshare on Freeview, but who knows? Viacom might only be able to obtain a limited hours slot in the daytime.

However, if Nickelodeon did come to DTT, would that wake-up Turner in to thinking of a free to air Cartoon Network on DTT?

[tompayne]

VIVA show a lot of old Comedy Central shows at the moment like South Park, Fresh Prince, etc as well as some MTV things like Punk'd. (I have never watched the channel, except for the occasional music so I am just going by a quick glance at the EPG).

If Nick and Comedy Central did launch as a timeshare, perhaps it would free up VIVA to show heaven forbid some music in the evenings!?! Or more likely more MTV dross.

But the fact that I dont watch, it would still be an excellent addition to Freeview, and my children would be happy having Nick.

[omnidirectional]

They'd probably launch a Freeview specific channel with a different name, like 'Noggin' which used to be on TMF/Viva from 6am-8am.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noggin_(Viva_UK_block)

[David_Ayling]

with talk about Argos TV to close. could they have there eye on that slot. unless there is a 24 hour slot up for sale

[grimtales1]

I'd love to see a comedy/Noggin channel with classic kids shows in the evening, great idea!

[jj20x]

Originally Posted by David_Ayling

with talk about Argos TV to close. could they have there eye on that slot. unless there is a 24 hour slot up for sale

Wales has E4 as a 13th stream on SDN, that capacity is free outside Wales. As SDN can squeeze 13 channels onto a multiplex, it should be technically possible for Arqiva to do the same.

Capacity is potentially available if the demand is high enough.

There's also the question of what will happen to the ESPN and Sky Sports streams should they be removed from DTT.

[popeye13]

Prefer Comedy Central myself, not a kids channel but then, im not a kid so why would i want Nickelodeon?

[Hayley_baby]

Do part time channels even work though? Usually when I tell someone that a channel is on freeview they assume its 24 hours, although Nick during the day and comedy central at night does sound like it could work.

[a516]

Originally Posted by Hayley_baby

Do part time channels even work though? Usually when I tell someone that a channel is on freeview they assume its 24 hours, although Nick during the day and comedy central at night does sound like it could work.

Part time news channels are obviously not ideal, because of the rolling news nature of content but I see no problem in a part time Freeview slot for a children's service from Viacom. CBBC and CBeebies are part time and are very successful in their field.

[chrisy]

Originally Posted by a516

CBBC and CBeebies are part time and are very successful in their field.

CITV is part-time too, even though it could be 24 hours.

There's not much call for kids' channels late into the evening, for obvious reasons, and I'd imagine a Nick/CC timeshare would be more viable than Nick 24 hours.

There's some assumption here that Viacom are even trying to get a 24hr slot, they might be planning a daytime-only channel.

[jj20x]

Originally Posted by chrisy

There's some assumption here that Viacom are even trying to get a 24hr slot, they might be planning a daytime-only channel.

Or a 24hr slot for Nickelodeon, which is 24hr with teleshopping between midnight & 3am.

[tompayne]

Originally Posted by chrisy

There's not much call for kids' channels late into the evening, for obvious reasons, and I'd imagine a Nick/CC timeshare would be more viable than Nick 24 hours.

Aren't most of the children's channels available until late into the evening?

Similarly, for obvious reasons (ie. they are all at school), there can not be much demand for children's channels during the day time.

[tompayne]

Perhaps Nick (if it does launch) will timeshare with a reduced VIVA, scrapping the music during the daytimes and only having VIVA as a 'comedy/enterainment' evening only channel.

[linkinpark875]

It would make sense to have Nickeoden during the day and put a Comedy Central Lite on on in the evening with VIVA programming.

Ditch VIVA and air MTV Hits or MTV Music instead. If they won't want the MTV brand there's always VH1 which would be
a good addition.

[freetoview33]

Maybe Viacom are reassessing there position in the UK

[jj20x]

Originally Posted by linkinpark875

Ditch VIVA and air MTV Hits or MTV Music instead. If they won't want the MTV brand there's always VH1 which would be a good addition.

VIVA is the FTA brand across Europe, so that's unlikely to change.

[wallace howitt]

Could the slot be for one of the CBS channels Drama, Action or Reality?

[jj20x]

Originally Posted by wallace howitt

Could the slot be for one of the CBS channels Drama, Action or Reality?

They aren't Viacom channels.

[TV Time Mike]

Anyone Heard anything new on whether this is going to happen or is it just Chinese Whispers?

[Bangers]

If anyone heard something don't you think they'd have posted it here already?

[daniel99]

it would be good if Nicklelodeon were FTA after all Nickelodeon is FTA in most of Europe

[jj20x]

Originally Posted by daniel99

it would be good if Nicklelodeon were FTA after all Nickelodeon is FTA in most of Europe

The problem here is that Nickelodeon UK is a joint operation between MTV Networks Europe (Viacom) and Sky. Sky might not want the channel to be FTA. That shouldn't prevent Viacom from putting FTA content on DTT, but probably means it will use another name.

[mseven1]

If Viacom were to put a channel on freeview it would be MTV because they own the whole channel. Nickelodeon UK is 40% owned by BSKYB. Comedy Central is 25% owned by BSKYB so it would get complicated and both would probably need to be as a time share or individual because of the difference in percentages between the two channels unless they even out the ownership to more equal.