The rebrand of MTV One has taken place today. The channel is now known as MTV – it’s original name prior to the 2007 rebrand to MTV One – and it’s timeshift channel is now known as MTV +1. MTV is available on Virgin Media channel 311, Sky and Tiscali TV. MTV +1 is available on Virgin Media channel 312 and Sky.
Tags: mtv, mtv one, Virgin Media
Russia Today has changed its timeslot on Freeview. It now airs on Freeview from 6pm through to 10pm every evening. Prior to today, it used to air 6am to 8am on Freeview. You may need to rescan your Freeview box.
Update 01/07/2009: The new hours for Russia Today will not come in to effect until next week now. This is probably because Create And Craft didn’t launch today as expected.
Update 02/07/2009: Russia Today’s new hours have now come in to effect. The channel is now on air 6am to 8am, and 6pm to 10pm.
Tags: Freeview, russia today
Create And Craft was supposed to launch on Freeview this morning, but it hasn’t appeared. The official Create And Craft website has also changed it’s “1st July” launch advertisement to say “Launching Soon”.
The advertisement on their website says it will launch on channel 36. However, the ticker underneath their logo says it will be on channel 22, which is Ideal World’s current channel number on Freeview.
Update 01/07/2009: According to a post on the CraftTelly message board, the launch of Create And Craft on Freeview has been delayed “for technical reasons” and will launch on the 6th July.
Update 02/07/2009: A placeholder for Create And Craft has now appeared on Freeview channel 36. The channel is yet to launch.
Tags: create and craft, Freeview
A new service will be added to Movies On Demand from July called PictureBox.
The official press release from Virgin Media says “Virgin Media (NASDAQ: VMED) and Universal Pictures today announce the launch of PictureBox, the leading movies-on-demand TV subscription service, on Virgin Media’s TV platform”.
The press release continues – “From July, the PictureBox service will be available to Virgin Media’s 3.6 million TV subscribers for £5 per month and provide a broad selection of recent and library feature films. Subscribers will be able to view films whenever they like from a selection of 28 films at any given time, with seven new titles being added to the line-up each Friday. Most of the PictureBox films will be available in HD and many will not yet have been seen on free-to-air television in the UK. Highlights of films that will be featured on PictureBox in the coming months include such hits as Hot Fuzz, The Bourne Ultimatum, Children of Men and The Holiday, as well as classic blockbusters such as Scarface, Total Recall, The Nutty Professor and E.T – The Extra Terrestrial. PictureBox is wholly owned by Universal Pictures Ltd”.
Tags: movies on demand, picturebox, Virgin Media
HD will start on Freeview from the 2nd December, it has been reported on Broadband TV News. The first area to get HD will be areas served by the Winter Hill transmitter (Liverpool and Manchester), followed by other areas who have already made it through digital switchover, then other regions once digital switchover has taken place there.
Broadband TV News reports “Graham Plumb, head of distribution technology, BBC Operations Group, said that although November had been originally stated as the launch date for Freeview HD, it was subsequently realised that Multiplex B that will be used for the transmissions would not switch over until December 2″.
Create And Craft – another channel from the same group as Ideal World – will be launching on Freeview next week. The channel will become available on Freeview from the 1st July.
The official website for Create And Craft says live programmes will be on Monday-Friday from 8am to 1pm on channel 36.
It’s not clear whether the channel will just air prerecorded segments and infomercials during weekends or whether they have simply only bought the channel space for Monday-Friday, and the other free capacity on that DTT stream will just go to another broadcaster.
The channel placeholder has not yet appeared on channel 36.
More news on this launch as we get it.
Tags: create and craft, Freeview
According to Broadcast Now, NBC Universal have decided to ditch the Hallmark brand in the UK and will rename the Hallmark channel to Universal Channel.
Broadcast Now say “Internal memos seen by Broadcast outline the plans, which could be announced between 13 July and 17 August, ahead of the channel launching in the UK in October. Universal Channel currently airs in parts of Europe, Latin America and South East Asia”.
Universal Channel logo
However, a quote on Broadcast Now’s website from an NBC spokesperson says “No decisions have been made with regard to rebranding NBCU channels. We are exploring various options and will make a decision in conjunction with our partners. No announcement is planned at this time”.
Tags: hallmark, universal channel, Virgin Media
ESPN America has launched on Top Up TV to take the place of recently-closed Setanta Sports 1. It’s also taken the place of Setanta Sports on IPTV service BT Vision.
Setanta went in to administration yesterday and its channels on DTT, BT Vision, Virgin and Sky were all closed down. ESPN America is available on Top Up TV (digital terrestrial) channel 34, and anyone with a valid Setanta card can watch it. It’s available on BT Vision channel 34 at no additional cost to all existing Setanta Sports customers.
ESPN will air Premier League football matches next season.
Tags: BT Vision, espn america, setanta, Top Up TV
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