The Top Up TV website has been given a new look, and it’s now live at www.topuptv.com. It looks a vast improvement on the previous layout.
Monthly Archive for October, 2007
Virgin Media has signed a deal with Channel 4 that will bring high definition content to the Channel 4 listings on Catch Up TV On Demand. HD content from Channel 4 will be available for up to seven days after original transmissions - the same as normal (SD) content. This new deal between Virgin Media and Channel 4 also means Virgin have the choice to add the Channel 4 HD TV channel to their lineup (in addition to the On Demand material), if they decide to.
A new section has been added to TV Choice On Demand - Paramount Comedy. Just press On Demand and go to TV Choice On Demand, then into All Channels.
(Originally posted on my other website - www.lateshowuk.com)
In a recent article on media news website Digital Spy, Diva TV have been quoted as saying “We are in mid-negotiations with Virgin Media and all being well we would hope to launch on Virgin Media within the next few weeks, but that is subject to the negotiations being successful. It’s great for us because the Hallmark Channel and the movie channel do really well on cable, so I think this one probably will too”. This is fantastic news as - if the negotiations are successful - this would bring the channel to all Sky and cable customers. Diva TV also speak about the Late Show on the channel - “Letterman and some of the movie shows we’ll be showing late night will be more general rather than specifically for women. I think men will be fully aware that it’s primarily aimed at at women, but we don’t want to exclude men from it”.
The placeholder for the now defunct channel ABC1 was removed from the Virgin Media EPG this week. Also, music channel Q has undergone some changes - Q now airs 24 hours a day, and the FHM TV strand that used to air from 4pm on the channel has ceased. It is thought this FHM TV strand may reappear on another EMAP channel at some stage - namely The Hits.
Freeview radio station Radio Music Shop is no longer broadcasting - their stream on Freeview is currently playing a tone and their website (here) is only showing their channel logo. Also, some more Freeview radio news - as planned, the main BBC Radio stations moved from multiplex A to B this week. This means in order to receive the main BBC Radio stations (BBC Radio 1, 2, 3 and 4) you will need to rescan your set top box.
Details of Sky’s proposed new premium/pay service on Digital Terrestrial emerged this week. The service would be branded ‘Picnic’ if it were to launch, following an OFCOM consultation. Sky have said the service will consist of three video streams - which would be home to various Sky pay TV channels - timesharing with each other. These channels would be Sky Sports 1, Sky One, Sky Movies SD1 and a couple of other channels to be confirmed. They would initially launch those channels and - if given approval to move to MPEG-4 (instead of the standard MPEG-2) they could then add Sky News to the package. It is thought Sky will make the TV package available as part of a TV, phone and broadband package. The newly-launched Sky Picnic website (here) lets you sign up for email alerts for when new information becomes available, and also reveals the Picnic logo for the first time. There will be official Sky Picnic set top boxes for the service (the service will probably only run if you are using one of those - but this is not 100% confirmed) which will be primarily be made by Sagem and will be capable of running MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 streams. OFCOM are currently running a public consultation into whether the service would be viable for the platform, and please contact them to let your thoughts known to them. The public consulation will last until the 14th December, and they can choose to deny it completely, request things are changed on the package before it can launch, or approve it as it is.
The website for new TV channel Virgin 1 has launched at www.virgin1.co.uk (redirects to virgin1.virginmedia.com). The website includes a login portal which allows users to upload content, amongst other things.
