Entertainment Interactive » Top Up TV

Sky Sports coming to terrestrial

Paul — Sun, 02 May 2010 23:28:18 +0000

Sky Sports is coming to digital terrestrial via IPTV service BT Vision and Top Up TV.

The Guardian report BT and Top Up TV “have confirmed they will launch cut-price subscriptions to Sky Sports channels in time for the new football season, making them available on digital terrestrial television for the first time since ITV Digital went bust in 2002… the telecoms company is understood to be planning to offer Sky Sports 1 to its existing broadband/DTT customers for about £15 a month, while Top Up TV is expected to offer Sky Sports 1 and 2 for about £20 a month.”.

It’s now possible to launch Sky Sports on the terrestrial platform after a ruling from Ofcom said they must make their channels more widely available and offer them at a more reasonable price.

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.

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.

ESPN UK to replace ESPN America

Paul — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:28:47 +0000

It’s been confirmed ESPN’s new UK channel won’t run side-by-side with ESPN America – it will replace ESPN America on Virgin Media, Sky and Top Up TV (digital terrestrial).

The new UK channel will be available in standard definition and high definition on Sky. There’s no word yet on whether it will be carried in HD on Virgin Media.

ESPN UK will launch on the 3rd August on Virgin Media channel 553 and Top Up TV (digital terrestrial) channel 34.

The new channel will air UK premier league football when the new season begins this year.

ESPN UK to launch 3rd August [Updated]

Paul — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:26:09 +0000

Updated: Further to our news post a few days ago, AGB Nielson have announced ESPN’s new UK channel will begin BARB reporting on the 4th August and BBC News says the channel will start broadcasting on the 3rd August. The new channel will be on DTT, Virgin Media and Sky. This will mean ESPN America on DTT (Top Up TV) – Setanta Sports 1′s old slot – will probably be removed in August to make way for ESPN UK. The new ESPN UK channel will air Premier League football as well as other sports.

ESPN America launches on Top Up TV and BT Vision

Paul — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 19:12:27 +0000

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.

Setanta ceases broadcasting in the UK

Paul — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 18:48:03 +0000

Setanta Sports has gone in to administration in Great Britain. All the Setanta channels have gone off air – Setanta Sports 1, Setanta Sports 2, Setanta Sports News and Setanta Golf have all gone. Celtic TV and Rangers TV are no longer available on Virgin Media. Racing UK – part of the Setanta package – will continue to broadcast, but as a standalone channel.

A message on Setanta.com – the official website for Setanta – says “Setanta Sports Customers from England, Wales, Scotland, Isle of Man and Channel Islands, please be advised that it is with great regret that Setanta GB is no longer trading. Setanta Sports is still operating in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland only. Customers from ROI and NI should go to www.setanta.com/ie for more information”.

Media website Digital Spy reports “Deloitte was appointed by Setanta at 2:30pm today after last-ditch efforts to secure a rescue package failed. 200 jobs have been lost with immediate effect as a result of the collapse” and Setanta chairman Sir Robin Miller says “This is a sad day for all concerned”.

ESPN has picked up the rights to air 46 matches that Setanta had for the 2009/2010 football season.

Digital terrestrial customers who subscribed to Setanta should visit the help pages on the Top Up TV website for further information regarding the closure of Setanta Sports 1.

Setanta continues to operate in Ireland. A message on the Ireland page for Setanta says “Setanta Sports Ireland will now cover broadcasting in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Please note that there are different levels of coverage available in Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland, and the full programme content will be advised in due course”.

BBC programmes in TV Favourites

Paul — Tue, 19 May 2009 20:23:15 +0000

BBC programmes will be added to Top Up TV Anytime’s “TV Favourites” section from June.

A message on the official Top Up TV website says “now you can catch the best of Drama, Comedy, and Factual from the BBC right here on Top Up TV… as of 3 June, you will be able to enjoy hit shows such as Life on Mars (series 1), Doctor Who (series 1), Bleak House, Spooks (series 5), Blue Planet, Himalaya with Michael Palin, Life in the Undergrowth, Little Britain (series 1), The League of Gentlemen, The Catherine Tate Show (series 1), and many more”.

UKTV Style rebrands as Home

Paul — Fri, 01 May 2009 12:35:13 +0000

UKTV Style has rebranded as Home. The channel rebranded yesterday – 30th April. Home is available on Top Up TV channel 26 and Virgin Media channel 265 (also, a +1 timeshift channel is available on Virgin Media channel 266).

The remaining UKTV-prefixed channels will rebrand shortly – UKTV Gardens will rebrand as Really on the 19th May and UKTV Food to rebrand soon.

Click here to visit the official UKTV website for Home

Eurosport removed from Top Up TV lineup

Paul — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 11:52:04 +0000

One of Top Up TV’s remaining linear pay channels – Eurosport – has been removed from the service. The channel is no longer available on DTT. It is rumoured though that this is only temporary until later this month when it’s thought it might change it’s timeslot to broadcast for longer hours in the daytime. Watch this space.

UKTV channel changes today

Paul — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 21:52:00 +0000

The changes to the UKTV channel lineup have taken place today.

Virgin TV: Watch is available on channel 124, Watch +1 is on channel 125, GOLD (the new name for UKTV Gold) on channel 126 and GOLD +1 is available on channel 127. Watch (and Watch +1) is only available in the XL package. Dave has moved to channel 128 and Dave +1 has moved to channel 129. Alibi (the new name for UKTV Drama) is on channel 130 and Alibi +1 is on channel 131. UKTV History +1 (from channel 204) and UKTV Documentary +1 (from channel 209) are both no longer available on Virgin TV.

Top Up TV: UKTV Gold is now broadcasting the new GOLD.

Post updated 8th October.

Teachers TV now 4pm-6pm & Top Up TV changes

Paul — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 14:21:56 +0000

Teachers TV now airs from 4pm-6pm every day on Freeview. UKTV Gold now airs from 6pm-11.30pm every evening (it’s lost one hour). UKTV Style now airs from 2pm-4pm every day (it’s lost one hour).

UKTV channels rebrand

Paul — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:46:57 +0000

To clarify, the following changes will take place on the 7th October;

UKTV Gold will become GOLD (same channel number) – Virgin and Top Up TV
UKTV Gold +1 will become GOLD +1 (same channel number) – Virgin TV only
UKTV Drama will become Alibi (same channel number) – Virgin TV only
UKTV Drama +1 will become Alibi +1 (same channel number) – Virgin TV only
Watch will launch (channel number unknown) – Virgin TV only
Watch +1 will launch (channel number unknown) – Virgin TV only

For more details of things coming soon to Virgin TV, click here.
For more details of things coming soon to DTT, click here.

Top Up TV Anytime 4 appears

Paul — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 08:57:51 +0000

The fourth Top Up TV Anytime “channel” has appeared on channel 41. This channel will be used in the same way as the other three Top Up TV Anytime download “channels”. Top Up TV Anytime 1-4 are used to download video content to Anytime set top boxes. Top Up TV Anytime is currently just testing, but it’s thought this fourth stream will run from 4am to 6am, in Film4′s off-air time.

Warner TV now on Top Up TV Anytime service

Paul — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 11:33:04 +0000

Warner TV content has been added to the Top Up TV Anytime service. Programmes such as The West Wing and Nip/Tuck will be available. Up to 14 hours worth of Warner TV content will be available on Top Up TV Anytime.

Teachers TV added to Anytime

Paul — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 22:51:42 +0000

Teachers TV programming can now be ‘subscribed’ to on Top Up TV Anytime. The short amount of time the channel broadcasts on Freeview will be automatically recorded to your Anytime box if you choose to do so. Teachers TV remains free, and still broadcasts on its normal channel.