General : Virgin TV (2024)

[ozsat]

I would expect OFCOM to allow them to ditch local content to an absolute minimum - just like ITV1 has now.
Local TV does not work in UK - except maybe London.

[RichardCoulter]

Originally Posted by ozsat

I would expect OFCOM to allow them to ditch local content to an absolute minimum - just like ITV1 has now.
Local TV does not work in UK - except maybe London.

They're now down to 4 x showings of 15 mins a day during the night and often show out of area news and try to make it apply to other areas by mentioning the in area name!

London Live is probably the best local channel, but even that has cut it's local news and I believe still loses money.

[ozsat]

So not much different to ITV1 regional news.

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

They're now down to 4 x showings of 15 mins a day during the night and often show out of area news and try to make it apply to other areas by mentioning the in area name!

London Live is probably the best local channel, but even that has cut it's local news and I believe still loses money.

[Media Boy UK]

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

They're now down to 4 x showings of 15 mins a day during the night and often show out of area news and try to make it apply to other areas by mentioning the in area name!

London Live is probably the best local channel, but even that has cut it's local news and I believe still loses money.

Here in Scotland STV is ITV1 in all but name.

Only the following are local.

Weekdays:
1.55pm STV News
6.00pm STV News
7.00pm What's on Scotland (Friday only)
8.30pm Scotland Tonight (Thursday only)
10.30pm STV News
10.45pm Scotland Tonight (Monday and Tuesday only)
TV: Night Vision - Best of STV News

Weekends:
TV: STV News
TV: STV News
TV: Night Vision - Best of STV News

TV = Times very

[Stephen]

Don't forgot different dramas and programs are sometimes shown too on STV. Or like BBC they show things at different times or days.

[Media Boy UK]

Originally Posted by Stephen

Don't forgot different dramas and programs are sometimes shown too on STV. Or like BBC they show things at different times or days.

I have any seen local news progammes.

[Itshim]

At least I have the option to watch English channels when BBC or itv do local programs. Which are in my view are boring , and amateurish . They can't even sort out having two weather forecasts , one straight after the other .

[Media Boy UK]

Originally Posted by Gavin-D

The FA and TNT have agreed a new four-year broadcast deal for the Emirates FA Cup, starting from the 2025/26 season

https://www.thefa.com/news/2024/feb/...unced-20240215

UPDATE:

TNT Sports signs deal with BBC to sublet FA Cup games from 2025/2026 season.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...ports-ITV.html

[epsilon]

Originally Posted by ozsat

I would expect OFCOM to allow them to ditch local content to an absolute minimum - just like ITV1 has now.
Local TV does not work in UK - except maybe London.

When stations licensed to produce local content don't want to produce local content, the licence is frustrated and they should be closed. Networking content is a waste of space. Assuming that Ofcom wishes to keep the local multiplexes, the space saved by removing the local channel could be used to add 2 or more extra "national" channels to the stat-mux.

The ITV situation is a bit different, they still have to produce a quota of local news / content and work within that quota. Going forward, ITV will be allowed to move some of the local content from ITV 1 to ITVX. ITV already makes local news bulletins available on ITVX, determined by postcode, with the ability to also watch bulletins from any other ITV region.

---------- Post added at 01:52 ---------- Previous post was at 01:46 ----------

Originally Posted by Itshim

At least I have the option to watch English channels when BBC or itv do local programs. Which are in my view are boring , and amateurish . They can't even sort out having two weather forecasts , one straight after the other .

The perceived quality will depend on the variety of content available. Largely urban regions with a lot of things happening will have more to bulk out their reports than more rural, sparsely populated regions. It's the same reason that national news in Ireland often seems more like a local news broadcast.

[Stephen]

Originally Posted by Media Boy UK

I have any seen local news progammes.

Well STV News and BBC Scotland news. That's as local as it gets. Reporting news across Scotland. Many years ago there was more localised news I think.

[Media Boy UK]

Originally Posted by Stephen

Well STV News and BBC Scotland news. That's as local as it gets. Reporting news across Scotland. Many years ago there was more localised news I think.

STV News in Central Scotland has been merge.

Reporting Scotland aka BBC News Scotland is the Scottish wide news show.

---------- Post added at 10:33 ---------- Previous post was at 10:31 ----------

I have try to watch That's Scotland for news it look very poor. Happy Virgin don't carry That's Scotland.

[epsilon]

Originally Posted by epsilon

Coming soon:
HobbyMaker HD - provisionally allocated EPG channel 754.
Yippee!!

https://ukcabletvchanges.blogspot.com/

This has now launched on channel 754.

[Itshim]

Originally Posted by epsilon

When stations licensed to produce local content don't want to produce local content, the licence is frustrated and they should be closed. Networking content is a waste of space. Assuming that Ofcom wishes to keep the local multiplexes, the space saved by removing the local channel could be used to add 2 or more extra "national" channels to the stat-mux.

The ITV situation is a bit different, they still have to produce a quota of local news / content and work within that quota. Going forward, ITV will be allowed to move some of the local content from ITV 1 to ITVX. ITV already makes local news bulletins available on ITVX, determined by postcode, with the ability to also watch bulletins from any other ITV region.

---------- Post added at 01:52 ---------- Previous post was at 01:46 ----------


The perceived quality will depend on the variety of content available. Largely urban regions with a lot of things happening will have more to bulk out their reports than more rural, sparsely populated regions. It's the same reason that national news in Ireland often seems more like a local news broadcast.

The news often have a report which turns out to be a lift from an show on later in the day .

[ozsat]

If the local muxes were emptied they could no doubt be sold off for 'phone use. A lot of the spectrum has already gone

Originally Posted by epsilon

When stations licensed to produce local content don't want to produce local content, the licence is frustrated and they should be closed. Networking content is a waste of space. Assuming that Ofcom wishes to keep the local multiplexes, the space saved by removing the local channel could be used to add 2 or more extra "national" channels to the stat-mux.

[epsilon]

Originally Posted by Itshim

The news often have a report which turns out to be a lift from an show on later in the day .

Sure but that applies to national news too.

---------- Post added at 17:39 ---------- Previous post was at 17:32 ----------

Originally Posted by ozsat

If the local muxes were emptied they could no doubt be sold off for 'phone use. A lot of the spectrum has already gone

Spectrum won't be released until there is an agreement to do that across the board. Releasing single frequencies in random areas wouldn't be useful to mobile providers. The licences are different though and there is no reason why the multiplex operator would lose its licence if the local channel did. Further spectrum will be lost when there is an international agreement to release it. If the UK decides not to use 5G Broadcast for TV distribution then UHF spectrum will eventually be lost to mobile operators.