So has the deal been agreed or not?

Nudge nudge wink

They appear to have agreed in principle, it's just the detail of the arrangements that need to be sorted out. Just watch this space!

Based on what information?

This is the only report I can see on the topic, dated 27th June 2013. The reports states that it is not thought to be imminent but Virgin will be looking for a replacement for the lose of ESPN, I think they may have found that in BT Sport.

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/b...057814.article

Virgin are believed to be paying more for BT Sport and the deal that has been struck is a great selling point to Virgin, why would Sky want to further strengthen Virgin's line up, unless Sky no longer place the same value on the channel that they once did or Virgin has increased the money they are willing to pay.

Not tying to be argumentative, makes no odds to me if it does launch or not but I don't understand where the optimism is coming from.

With the latest hit shows only being watched by 68,000 people when the channel is accessible by over 10 million, I don't think they can really justify it. If they had to propose it to shareholders right now, they would all say no!

There's no basis it's the same garbage from cableforum. All this "testing" patter, it's rubbish. They've been running a digital cable network for 15 years they know how to launch channels quickly if need be. Almost none of the posters have a track record for any "insider" knowledge even Meeja Boy had no information the day before BT Sports launched. It's a collective scattergun approach of (channel) + (time) with so many guesses eventually a couple are right.

Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

I also feel that Virgin is going push harder then in the past for channels as it has new owners that also have rights to channels and shows and sky is going have deal with the fact they are not longer the top growing platform as freesat are doing better then them by a long way and OFCOM can no longer look as to help sky like in the pass year as the MP's are now trying push them self away from the owners and other companies.
So I feel sky can not hold at to higher prices of the pass and also sky is said to be looking into bring on a new channel " Sky Bravo" and if that is the case it may have to deal with cable company in the USA that holds a name Bravo ?
If Sky is bring another channel in then sky Atlantic is going to look second hand and cheaper as sky will try to play the same game as they done in the pass.

Virgin does have trouble on the way with EPG space from 201 and lower, because there are only few spaces and with BBC giving more HD next spring then BBC Three HD & BBC Four HD will need two of the spaces below 201, so if some of listed channels are to come then were are they going to be placed to keep type of channel order ????

Sky already own the name Bravo after the purchase of Virgin Media Television (which originally ran Bravo)

The Sky Bravo channel has been reportedly put on ice until a carriage agreement with Virgin Media can be struck for it. This would suggest no exclusivity. However VM may be saying not unless we get Atlantic. It would also suggest sky need some money to set up this new channel after shelling out £6bn on EPL.

Without trying to sound too much like a Wikipedia page:

Reported (by who?)

Sky don't need money from Virgin to set up a channel, premium or otherwise. The FAPL rights increase is small compared to their profits and they have lovely price increases (passed on to VM customers as well) to soften the blow.

I apologise if this seems like a daft question but a number of posts refer to test channels. Are these test channels only viewable by a small number of people as I cannot see any test channels on the EPG?

The Guardian;
http://www.theguardian.com/media/201...nnel-itv4-dave


That to me would suggest they require the carriage deal in order to gain funds to launch.

Yes they may have a lot of money and yes they are getting a return through price increases, however you can just spend X amount of money on a new channel if you have no guarantee of that money coming back. Hence the requirement for the Virgin Media deal.

Most people are just making it up. They have no way of knowing what is or isn't testing on the network. Others are using DVB-C compatible equipment (many TVs for the European market are compatible these days to reduce costs of producing seperate models) and scanning to see what shows up. Sometimes it's encrypted, sometimes not. Other times it'll be under a 'test' channel name and others it will just outright tell you what channel it is.

Another Asian Channel Xclusive

Netflix to get its very own epg slot 414 the channel will show Netflix previews and it will have a press red feature......

Forgive the cynicism we are still waiting for your last one to come to fruition.

Yeh. I'm ignoring these so-called "insiders". Judging from the bs predictions from these people surrounding the BT Sports channels, I only listen to the official announcements from Virgin Media PR mouthpiece or Usain Bolt.

Doesn't sound made up to me, being very specific with channel number etc. Let's not put AsianChannel, or any other poster, off for putting "whispers" on here, some of them have been uncannily accurate. BT Sports 1 & 2HD being part of the XL package being an obvious example which most scoffed at. Remember all the false starts for ITV2 3 & 4 HD as well - not the fault of the crystal ball gazers even Virgin announced the wrong date - the channels coming over a week later.

For every poster stating a channel will launch there is another stating they don't think the channels will launch. It's basically a 50/50 so someone has to be right every time.

but this is plausible though, they did it with youtube....

whats to say they wont with netflix?

Thanks for the reply.

As mentioned on the changelog tread TiddlersTV has been added to the EPG on channel 700 showing a coming soon screen

The ONLY channels testing on Virgin Media network at the moment are

Fox+
More4 HD.

This is incorrect, Disney HD is also in testing.

The reliable source for this is ?

No in my area it isn't. If you could take a photograph of DVB-C hardware corroborating that it is testing I'm sure the forum would appreciate it.

I don't have a DVB-C set but over on Cable Forum it had been confirmed by Virgin Media, this is because all UPC channels that are broadcast over here will be on VM by 2014.