BT TV loses Fox channel and The Walking Dead

Yesterday BT emailed customers alerting them to the imminent removal of the Fox channel, ahead of The Walking Dead mid-season premiere, from the company's TV lineup this March.

"From 1 March 2016, you’ll no longer be able to watch FOX and FOX HD on BT TV,” BT said in their email newsletter to customers. “That’s because Fox have changed the way they offer their TV channels to TV providers.”

“We’re sorry about this but we’ll keep bringing you great TV – including loads of top channels like Comedy Central, GOLD and Universal – as well as a number of ways to watch the latest and greatest US dramas," the email continued.

This is another indicator of the increased rivalry between competing companies, escalating sports rights and first-run exclusives, drivers of subscription uptake.

BT TV has first-run rights for The Walking Dead prequel series Fear the Walking Dead, which will be available on Amazon Prime later this year, and Sky Atlantic isn't available to Virgin Media subscribers who will miss the first-run of The Twin Peaks reboot next year.

However, The Walking Dead fans can subscribe to NOW TV for £6.99 per month, contract free, and never miss an episode of the series or Talking Dead. Marvel's Agent Carter and NCIS are back on Fox too.

Virgin Media pilots Netflix on TiVo

This week Virgin Media will invite 40,000 customers to trial the Netflix app prior to a full rollout of the streaming service on TiVo. Customers will need to sign-in or sign-up to Netflix.

Netflix is available on multiple platforms including PS3, Xbox 360 and iOS. The device limit is generous unlike competitors such as LOVEFiLM Instant or NOW TV.

Virgin Media already offers access to YouTube through TiVo, and has expressed an interest in bringing the Amazon-owned LOVEFiLM Instant to the set-top-box too.

Since Virgin Media was bought by Liberty Global there has been a sea change: a willingness to partner with competitors in a fickle market dictated by savvy consumers.

Bill Holmes, global head of business development, Netflix, said, "The U.K. has given Netflix a fantastic welcome and we're excited to be partnering with Virgin Media to bring an amazing Netflix experience to Virgin Media customers."

Going forward. Virgin Media offering a Netflix subscription, as part of a broadband bundle, would be a compelling added-value and no-brainer. For example I didn't hesitate to subscribe to Amazon Prime + LOVEFiLM Instant (saving money in the process) a few months ago.

Looks like TiVo owners get a chance to enjoy House of Cards and more...

Wonder what Andrew Lewin (my occasional blogging partner in crime) makes of this latest development?

Simplify Digital

Last night's edition of The Gadget Show featured Jon Bentley's guide to the best broadband deals on the market! The presenter suggested using Simplify Digital (The UK's leading digital TV, broadband and home phone comparison service. Free and impartial consultation accredited by Ofcom).

During The Gadget Show I tweeted that I was about to contact Virgin Media cancellations and investigate switching to an O2 or sky broadband package! Simplify Digital (Twitter link) followed me and sent a most helpful follow-up DM!

I was so impressed with Simplify Digital's friendly advice, that it was my duty to inform readers of this excellent service. You may wish to subscribe to the Simplify Digital Blog!

Again, Twitter proves itself invaluable.

Now, back to calling Virgin Media in the hopes of negotiating a faster broadband connection at no extra cost!

You should follow me on twitter here.

Sony PlayTV review

Sony's long-awaited Freeview dual-tuner adapter add-on has arrived in the somewhat functional form of the PlayStation-branded PlayTV! Will it transform the PS3 into a credible personal video recorder (PVR)?

The PlayTV pack-in includes a Blu-ray installation disc and mini USB cable! Be warned: PlayTV has no loop-through and there's no aerial splitter, a serious oversight! As my PS3 is conveniently placed near the sky+ box, I connected PlayTV directly into the RF2 output, which proved a useful workaround! I'd recommend using a high quality coaxial cable, to minimise signal loss, such as Profigold's BA-PGV8921!

Installation is a breeze and, following a system reboot, PlayTV is immediately accessible from the PS3's XMB! The GUI is intuitive and responsive with a luxurious 7-day electronic programme guide (EPG) that compares favourably with Apple TV and eclipses current offerings from sky and Virgin!

Scheduling recordings, with either the SIXAXIS controller or, more preferably, Sony Blu-ray remote, is the epitome of simplicity! I'd like to have seen a series link option and the ability to record two channels at once, but Sony assures customers that PlayTV will be continuously updated via PSN (a broadband connection is required)!

Background recordings can be performed whilst watching Blu-ray discs such as Wall-E or playing video games! However, there is a caveat. The quality of recordings maybe adversely affected according to Sony! During gameplay tests (using Devil May Cry 4 and Soul Calibur IV amongst others) I've yet to note any detriment to playback.

The overall quality of recordings is excellent (contingent on compression and signal strength) and is upscaled to 1080p (if your television supports the resolution)! Incidentally, native 1080i support for Freeview HD will be added in the future.

Bear in mind that 1GB of HDD space roughly equates to an hour of recording time and there's no means to adjust the bit rate to trade-off picture quality against recording duration! Therefore the PS3 40GB model won't pass muster if you're going away for weeks at a time and recording every episode of EastEnders and Neighbours.

With disk space at a premium, I'd suggest going for the 80GB model or higher! Sony promises a limited edition 160GB model for the upcoming holiday season!

Going forward, the engineers at Sony Cambridge should consider picture-in-picture (PiP) and conditional access for subscription-based services such as Setanta Sports!

As it currently stands, PlayTV is an absolute "must-have" for anyone with a PS3 and PSP! I cancelled my sky+ subscription and PlayTV trumps it in almost every regard! Look no further for a scalable multimedia PVR that can be accessed (via PSP) from anywhere in the world!

Update
PlayTV crashes with alarming alacrity! Worst of all, it's a hard lock that necessitates a reboot of the PS3, stopping any ongoing recordings until the power's back on. Hopefully Sony will push a PSN patch ASAP!

Virgin Media's Medium Mollification

In April, during the height of the, as yet unresolved, spat between Sky and Virgin Media, Virgin Media's Customer Service team offered me a discount on their M Broadband package. The Medium package offers a leased modem, internet security, and up to 2Mb with no download limits within reason.

I noticed that the subsequent invoices did not reflect the promotion price and telephoned Virgin Media on Friday! Customer Services informed me that the offer had been withdrawn as I did not qualify for the discount - this was offered to customers registering online!

Virgin Media had not advised me, in writing, of the change and, therefore, this was possibly unlawful! To which I aver. The Customer Service representative was most helpful and gave me a free phone number, to call, to discuss the matter, further, if I so wished. Cancellation was really the last resort and canceling Sky (Music and Movies Mixes), in May, had freed-up income.

After several abortive attempts, one in which I was unceremoniously 'cut-off', I finally spoke to someone in their customer complaints department and was offered a significant reduction for the next 12 months. This was backdated to April. Well done Virgin Media, lets hope things go from strength to strength following the proposed buyout from private equity group Carlyle.

Fundamental Features and Core Self Expression

With all the PlayStation 3, sky and Virgin Media discourses, I'd overlooked to mention that this blog has undergone significant cosmetic changes, which you couldn't have failed to notice!

When this blog first launched, nearly three years ago, the TicTac template (blue variation) served an invaluable purpose! Thank you SimpleBits. And the look was tired and, frankly, too inflexible at this point of my online career. Hopefully the new layout is cleaner and more pleasing to the eye.

Wii Wins!

This afternoon I received a belated e-mail from Virgin Media in response to the BlogSpot issue. Here's an extract:

Thank you for contacting the Virgin Media Econtact Support Team.

I am sorry to hear you have been having issues with your broadband service.

This issue is happening due to a new address range being released to Virgin Media. Some sites filter out access attempts from addresses that are not currently in use. However, they need to update their filters when they are advised that a new range has been released, which some sites have not done. We are in touch with the hosts of BlogSpot to try to get them to update their filters, and until they do there is nothing further that we can do...

Virgin Media's explanation is congruent with Blogger's and therefore I wanted to post this for the purposes of balance and fairness. And to address any concerns that readers, also affected by this issue, may have had. For me, the matter is closed.

I can now connect a brand new Belkin High-Speed Mode Wireless G Router to my cable modem and update the Wii's firmware and download the latest addition to the burgeoning Virtual Console gallery - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. But first, I need to buy a 2000 Wii Points Card. A Wii Points Card is used, in much the same way as an iTunes Gift Certificate, for downloading extra features and content, including the greatest games from the NES, Super NES, N64, Sega Mega Drive and NEC TurboGrafx video game consoles.

Lost Connection

During the past week I've been unable to view any site hosted on BlogSpot! Suffice to say that I contacted my ISP, Virgin Media, to report a possible DNS issue and, initially, thought that the matter would be resolved in a timely matter. However, their Technical Support team did not follow-up my complaint via telephone or e-mail. Therefore I decided to start threads on Apple Support Discussions, Digital Spy and Google Groups.

Thankfully someone at Blogger picked up the bait and investigated the matter; there was a network issue affecting certain UK-based ISPs. A workaround is in place whilst further investigations are carried out.

Due to this negative experience with Virgin Media's Technical Support, I will no longer be recommending the company. I've already started encouraging family, friends and acquaintances, caught on the receiving end of the sky/Virgin Media battle, to switch!



And don't think of Virgin Media as the underdog! It's tantamount to Manchester United vs Chelsea FC!

TiVo for Sky Anytime?

I have a love-hate relationship with Sky Digital, the digital satellite service part-owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation! Their customer service has, for the most part, been excellent. However, I've bemoaned the absence of functionality enjoyed by our TiVo-owning cousins across the pond! And have pondered why Sky hasn't either licensed TiVo Suggestions or introduced a similar product feature?

Belatedly, due to increasing competition within the digital broadcasting market, Sky is on the eve of launching Anytime TV, comparable to TiVo Suggestions, and landing a knockout punch in the direction of its video on-demand rival Virgin Media (the new name for NTL and Telewest)!

The question that has been asked for the last year or so by many Sky+ and Sky HD users is, "when will the reserved space on my hard disk be used?" The answer is sometime in March, when users of Sky’s PVR3 and Sky HD boxes will get access to Sky Anytime TV. This will be about 1 million of the 2.1 million Sky+ subscribers.

Once the new software is released there will be a new layout to the EPG. As some users have already seen, the "HD Channels" group will move to option 2 on the EPG and the red button will become "Anytime TV".

On pushing the red button the user will be presented with a list of programmes that have been downloaded via the satellite overnight – there will be about 5 hours of programming a night downloaded for a total of 35 hours total on the box (HD users might have a slightly different set of numbers depending on the quantity of HD material). Content on the service will include Sky Movies (from the movie channels not, at launch, from the Box Office service), programmes from Sky One, Artsworld, Disney, Turner Classic Movies, Cartoon Network, The History Channel (and its siblings Biography, Crime and Investigation) and National Geographic (and its siblings).

The programmes that are downloaded will be a "best of" – they have employed an editor to choose what the programmes will be, and the content will be “editorialised” – so the information about the show will be more than in the current "info" offering.

For example, they might download the first episodes of a new show on Sky One so that if you miss it (or forget to record it) you can catch up with it at your leisure. In the case of hit series like 24 or Lost Sky can even download it to your box prior to transmission time and hide it until it is transmitted at which time it would become available.

Similarly the plan is to download the latest premiere movies and some other things you might not have otherwise watched. Part of the remit of the editor is to try to surprise and find interesting programming across the channels that are part of the service to attract new viewers to those programmes and linear channels. For channels lower down the EPG it provides an interesting advertising window for their programming.

At launch, there will be no adverts within the downloaded programmes.

Once on your disk, you will see a preview window in the top right hand side and a description on the top left hand side changing as you cursor down the programmes that are on the hard disk. The layout also has a date at which the programme will be deleted but just hit the record button and the programme will be saved to your planner to keep for the future. Beware: if you then delete it from the planner it will be gone from the Anytime TV list as well.

Overall this seems like it is a potentially excellent addition to Sky’s offerings. The overnight download will happen automatically and if you have recordings running yours will take preference. To deal with the issue of missed recordings Sky will be retransmitting programmes a number of times to ensure that when your box is inactive it will get all the programming.

So roll on March, if you don’t have a PVR3 or Sky HD box then come March there is a plan to send customers what Sky’s marketing people described as an attractive offer (I assume to upgrade).

The unused 80Gb of space had been a point of heated debate and some controversy, since the PVR3 was launched. But this seems to be a good offering that I really welcome. The only caveat is that Sky Anytime TV appears to be a one-way conversation: users can't indicate which shows they love or hate. The rumour mill suggests a further, and more substantial upgrade, will be released in Q4 2007.

On a related note. Sky Digi Online suggests that Sky+ will be free to all users from February 12th! I'll most certainly downgrade my package to Movies, Entertainment and Music mix!