It is pretty poor. While a couple of posters in the Meeja Boy thread on CF seemed to drum up interest it's very much a niche minority interest channel. Even relatively "big" channels with popular mainstream content like Setanta, ESPN and BT in turn realised they can't get the numbers from the Virgin subscriber base, I suspect Premier to be far less successful.

There's also a duplicate Bio testing and a duplicate BBCi stream for anyone interested.

Sweedish speedway and rugby league for me! get in!

finally they launched the damn channel!

£7.50 is not bad at all compared to box nation at £10 and racing uk at £20.

it's not to everyones taste but for those who like NHL, nascar, rugby league, speedway, and others, it's a great package.

shame it's not part of VIP bundle but hey you can't have it all.

I shall be subscribing for sure.

Im guessing the Bio duplicate is a test for Lifestyle, although I would of thought that would just take over the existing stream, so maybe Lifetime +1 or even Lifetime HD

The BBCi one though is interesting. Would BBC Three HD and CBBC HD share the same stream? It seems odd as they are closing one of the two streams down at the end of november.


I think for Setanta and ESPN it was a mix of things. ESPN were out-bidded by BT for Premier League rights and it kinda left them up **** creek without a paddle as they didn't have much rights which would draw the money in.

Setanta was more a general business failure, they tried something new and it worked in the short term, but not financially in the long term.

BT we are yet to see how well it does, but I guess we can't really judge how successful it is cause most of the 'subscribers' have the XL pack.

It won't be lifetime hd it's a sky exclusive for the foreseeable future

Virgin have tested duplicates before moving channels to new frequencies. With more frequencies going to 256QAM they may be experimenting with bitrates. Overall, if its a movement I'd guess it's planning for more HD channels which get grouped together on the same frequency for efficiency.


I not really commenting on the failure of the pre-BT channels just pointing out that none see value in being standalone on Virgin to the point a relatively low per subscriber offer moves them into wholesale deals.

You're suspicions are correct, you've hit the nail on the head


You could well be right about the bitrate tests as more HD (and SD) channels are on there way.

VM made an improved offer, which enabled PS to feel confident enough to believe that joining the platform would be a financial success. The performance of the channel over the coming months will be reviewed by both parties, before a long term pricing strategy is adopted.

They do (did?) a monthly magazine but it seemed (seems) to be only available in their stores.

Yes, something to read per month would be nice.


You mean in the Discovery Bar? Yes, I think therefore mine will too. But they need to make them more obvious to start with; like a pop-up message or something.

What about the Children Carl?!


WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN?!

"they're"


"their"

I can honestly say that I actively dislike each of those sports.

It'll be getting hidden from view when i get the tivo update.

No real reason to mock. Virgin have the capability of pop-up messages, emails and mailshots yet significant launches, like ITV 2 3 4 HD, go unmentioned.

I think many people, myself included would get pretty narked at being harassed about this kind of thing.

The info is made available via a range of mediums. I suspect their customer feedback indicates this is sufficient.

Considering how rare channels launch, especially when they are grouped, you can probably average less than one "launch" event per month on the DTV platform pop up messages would hardly be intrusive.

Equally a strapline on the bottom of their ads in newspapers wouldn't offend anyone.

I text people I knew when BT launched because of the football that weekend, and do doubt some of those I text would have known it was in XL that weekend had I not.

I take your point and think your latter comment sums it up - people are the best source of info -

"Jim - have a look at channel x on your tivo, be able to watch that game today afterall" and so on...

I did that for BT Sport. I wouldn't do it for More4 HD.

It wasn't even a good mocking

Such as and, if so, why do I never see any?

I only know More4HD has launched as I read about it on here. By which of these "range of mediums" has this info been disseminated, Geoff?

Yes, I agree I think with all this new features and channels coming to the TiVo like Netflix and the Premier Sport channel,
I think they should resurrect the Cable Guide or just make a smaller one

P.S. They did make a Virgin magazine recently but that too stopped a while back

It is time they brought out a third version, I think that people will find it quite useful

Talking about new channels, any idea that Virgin/Liberty Global will add the Fox News channel to their new channels line up in the UK or if it is at all likely?

We already have comedy channels.

oh no it wont, the update for us uk peeps wont have that setting.

They actually have done pop-ups for Premier Sports, saw some last night.

According to the adverts for it Lifetime will be on Channel 242

Just how does that work? Do you seek them out on TV then spend the entire event hurling abuse at the TV