Entertainment Interactive

MTV changes today

Paul — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 11:59:25 +0000

Several changes have come into effect for MTV channels this morning. MTVR has been rebranded as MTV Shows, MTV Two has been rebranded as MTV Rocks and VH1 Classic has been renamed as MTV Classic. These changes have taken place on Sky and Virgin Media TV platforms.

Sky Movies rebranding

Paul — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 11:55:48 +0000

Sky Movies Screen 1 will rebrand as Sky Movies Showcase on the 26th March. The new Showcase channel will air box sets, collections and seasons. Other changes will include Sky Movies Action & Thriller becoming Sky Movies Action & Adventure, Sky Movies Drama becoming Sky Movies Drama & Romance and Sky Movies Screen 2 becoming Sky Movies Crime & Thriller. Changes will come into effect on Sky and Virgin Media TV platforms.

Eurosport HD and Discovery HD

Paul — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:05:59 +0000

Two new HD channels will be added to the Virgin Media lineup soon. Eurosport HD will be added in April and Discovery HD will be added in the spring. Both channels will be free for XL TV customers, as are the rest of the high definition channels on Virgin TV. Virgin Media have promised further HD channels will launch later this year in addition to Eurosport HD and Discovery HD.

ESPN free weekend starts tomorrow

Paul — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 20:16:49 +0000

ESPN will be free all this weekend from tomorrow ’til late on Sunday night. All channels in the ESPN family will be free for Top Up TV (digital terrestrial), Sky and Virgin Media customers.

Sky Sports Xtra rebranded

Paul — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 16:30:47 +0000

Sky Sports Xtra rebranded to Sky Sports 4 this week. The channel is available on Sky channel 404 and Virgin Media.

New HD channels added to Sky

Paul — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:28:48 +0000

Two new HD channels have started on Sky+ HD this week. E4 HD (channel 215) and MGM HD (channel 345) are both now available. E4 HD is only be available to viewers with an HD pack subscription. Sky 2 HD is expected to launch either later this month or January next year.

Sky Sports Xtra to become Sky Sports 4

Paul — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 23:56:44 +0000

Sky Sports Xtra will rebrand as Sky Sports 4 on Wednesday 6th January 2010.

E4 HD launching this Monday

Paul — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 09:12:34 +0000

E4 HD will launch on Sky this Monday (14th December). It will launch on channel 215 and is available to Sky customers who have a Sky+ HD box and subscribe to the HD pack. E4 HD will be a simulcast of the normal E4 channel – meaning it will have the same schedule and upscale any non-HD programmes. Click here for more information from the official E4 website.

BBC News Multiscreen and BBC Radio rollouts

Paul — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:00:18 +0000

The rollout of the BBC News Multiscreen red button service is taking place across the entire Virgin Media TV network – just press red on any BBC channel to see if your area has the new service. Previously the BBC News Multiscreen service was only available to ex-Telewest areas. Also the BBC London radio station and the BBC Radio 4 LW radio station have launched. BBC Radio 4 LW is available on channel 911 and BBC London is available on channel 937.

Sky Movies Christmas arrives

Paul — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 09:59:42 +0000

Sky Movies Screen 2 has temporarily rebranded as Sky Movies Christmas for the festive season. On Sky it has changed it’s EPG position – it can now be found on channel number 303. Sky Movies Christmas is available in HD if you have a valid Sky+ HD subscription and Sky+ HD box. The standard definition version of Sky Movies Christmas is available on Virgin Media in the Sky Movies Screen 2 channel slot.

Living 2 rebrands as Living It

Paul — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 09:53:11 +0000

Living 2 has rebranded as Living It. The channel is available on Sky and Virgin Media TV services. The channel has been rebranded to liven up the Living brand and make Living It a more separate channel from the main Living offering.

Teletext services to close 14th/15th December

Paul — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 09:51:19 +0000

Teletext services on terrestrial will cease from the 14th/15th December. More details are available on Page 139 on Freeview’s Teletext channel.

Sky coverage coming soon to Entertainment Interactive

Paul — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:06:49 +0000

This website will soon be providing Sky information, including news on the latest channel launches and changes as we already do for DTT and Virgin Media services. Sky coverage will begin from December.

Zone Reality rebranded as CBS Reality

Paul — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:42:09 +0000

Zone Reality has rebranded as CBS Reality on Virgin Media channel 148. Other Zone channels have also rebranded as CBS Action and but aren’t currently available on Virgin Media’s TV service. Zone Horror remains unchanged.

Living 2 to become Living It

Paul — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:27:15 +0000

Living 2 will rebrand as Living It later this month. Marketing Magazine says “the change is an attempt to address viewer misconceptions that the channel is a time-shifted version of sister channel Living… it will feature new idents and programming to make it stand out from its sister channel”.

TMF rebranded as VIVA

Paul — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:45:11 +0000

TMF was rebranded as VIVA yesterday. The new name change has come into effect on the Freeview EPG and on Virgin Media. You may need to rescan your Freeview box to get the new channel name, but you should continue to see the channel with the old TMF name without rescanning. VIVA is available on Freeview channel 21, Virgin Media channel 313 and Sky. VIVA is owned by MTV Networks so features many MTV programmes as well as music videos. Please see the official VIVA website for more information.

BBC red button changes next week

Paul — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:09:37 +0000

There will be several changes to the BBC red button services on Freeview next week.

From the 27th October, the interactive stream on channel 302 will be removed (please note the interactive stream on channel 301 will be staying) and the BBC News multiscreen service will also be removed from Freeview.

On the official BBC blog for the Press Red team, they say “in order to make space for HD broadcasts in the future we need to now switch off two of the three interactive streams we use to deliver BBC content on Freeview”. BBC News multiscreen is one stream and 302 is the other stream. The BBC News multiscreen service will continue on other platforms such as cable (some areas) and Sky. Click here to read more about the changes from the BBC’s Press Red team and click here for more details of the BBC News multiscreen switch-off.

Welcome changes or not?

TMF to rebrand as VIVA soon

Paul — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:48:03 +0000

MTV-owned channel TMF will rebrand as VIVA. The channel – available on Freeview, cable and Sky – will be available on Freeview channel 21, Virgin Media channel 313 and Sky channel 358. The official website for VIVA just states it’s “coming soon” with no launch date mentioned yet. Check out their official website for a (mildly annoying) promo video.

16th October update: The official website now says the launch date will be the 26th October.

Living HD has launched

Paul — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:21:49 +0000

Living HD has launched on Virgin channel 110 today as planned. The channel is available to all V+ XL TV customers.

CBS channels to launch 16th November

Paul — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 10:13:37 +0000

The first CBS-branded TV channels in the UK will launch on the 16th November. The three channels have been named as CBS Action, CBS Drama and CBS Reality.

As this is a deal with Chellomedia who own the Zone-branded channels Broadcast Now reports “Zone Reality and +1 will become CBS Reality and +1; Zone Romantica will become CBS Drama; and Zone Thriller will become CBS Action. The Zone Horror channel and its +1 will remain as it is for now”.

The new channels will air programming from the CBS Studios catalogue such as Dr Phil and Star Trek, as well as third-party programmes.

CBS Drama and CBS Action won’t be available on Virgin Media from launch, but CBS Reality will.

Quest has launched on channel 38

Paul — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 08:53:06 +0000

Quest – the new channel from Discovery – finally launched yesterday after having been put back from launching earlier this year. The channel airs programming from the Discovery catalogue and it’s on air 10am to midnight every day. Quest is available on channel 38.

National retune yesterday

Paul — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 08:50:23 +0000

The national retune took place yesterday afternoon – click here to see the current channel lineup now the changes have taken place. If you haven’t retuned your set top box yet, you may be missing out on some channels – click here for help retuning your equipment.

Further details for 30th Sept retune

Paul — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 18:20:26 +0000

It was confirmed earlier this month where channels will be moving to when the national retune takes place on the 30th September, but some channels were absent from the announcement – the Top Up TV download channels.

It’s been confirmed Top Up TV Anytime 1-4 will be moving from channel 38-41 to channel 307-310. Read the official retune briefing from Digital UK.

It’s also now been confirmed any HD channels when they launch on Freeview will appear from channel 50 upwards.

Living HD to launch 6th October

Paul — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 11:25:52 +0000

It has been announced that Living HD will launch on the 6th October. The announcement has been made on the promo video on Living HD’s placeholder channel – channel 110. Living HD will be available to all XL V+ customers for free.

National retune coming 30th September

Paul — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 09:53:44 +0000

There will be a national Freeview retune on the 30th September – your set top box will need to be fully rescanned in order to keep all your channels. The retune is necessary because of upgrades to the Freeview platform.

You will need to rescan at midday on the 30th September to ensure your viewing is not interrupted. The upgrades will allow HD channels to broadcast on Freeview in the future.

An on-screen overlay is currently appearing on the BBC channels, ITV1, Channel 4 and Five giving details of the retune. Freeview+ receivers should rescan automatically.

The following changes will take place;

- Five will be more widely available across the country (the official Freeview website says “more than 500,000 Freeview homes will be able to receive Five for the first time; and these improvements will ensure that Five will be available to all Freeview homes at the point of switchover”).

- Coverage of BBC1, BBC2, ITV1 and Channel 4 will be further improved.

- Quest (the new channel from Discovery) will launch on channel 38 after having been postponed earlier this year – the official Freeview site says “it will be available to the majority of Freeview homes”.

There will be some losses after the retune though;

- Some viewers won’t be able to receive ITV3 and ITV4 (the official Freeview website says “a small percentage of homes will find they lose these services after retuning”).

- Community Channel will no longer be available in areas that have already gone through digital switchover.

- Viewers in England and Wales will lose ITV2+1.

The retune is even more essential for BBC Radio listeners in Border, Westcountry and parts of Wales – you will lose BBC Radio services until you retune.

Several channels will change their channel numbers;

- Price-Drop TV will move from channel 43 to 37
- Quest will move from channel 47 to 38
- Super Casino will move from channel 48 to 39
- Rocks & Co will move from channel 49 to 40
- Smile TV 2 will move from channel 33 to 94
- Smile TV 3 will move from channel 37 to 95
- Babestation will move from channel 42 to 96
- Partyland will move from channel 50 to 97
- Television X will move from channel 97 to 98