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Three new HD channels are now available to Virgin Media customers. In addition to the BBC HD channel, Virgin subscribers can now get FX HD (Channel 158), National Geographic HD (Channel 232) and music channel MTVN HD (Channel 310).
Channel 4 HD and Living HD are expected to join the Virgin Media line-up very soon.
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From 3rd August 2009, Virgin Media will be carrying the ESPN channel, which will show the 2009/10 Premier League matches originally intended to be shown by Setanta.
Earlier this month, ESPN came to an agreement with Sky to carry the Premier League matches on a new ESPN channel – now Virgin has signed up too. Both Virgin and Sky will also offer HD coverage of Premier League matches.
ESPN will be free to those on the Virgin Media TV XL package. It’s also available to ‘M’ and ‘L’ package customers for £10 (or £8 if you also subscribe to Sky Sports).
More information on our ESPN UK page
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It would appear that Sky’s Pay Once, Watch Forever service is no longer being sold in the UK.
The service launched in 2007, offering Sky installation for £75, with access to around 200 free-to-view channels. For the last few months, Pay Once, Watch Forever was being offered for sale on the Tesco Direct website, but today (27 July 2009), the product appears to have been removed.
Sky is still offering its “Freesat from Sky” service, but at £147, it;s not the bargain that the Pay Once service was.
More details: Freesat from Sky
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Two new pages added to our site today. One page offers help for those looking to reduce outgoings by getting subscription-free TV. The other provides guidance for Freeview users that need to split or boost their aerial feed.
Pages can be found here:
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Another Quiz channel has joined the Freeview lineup. The channel, Big Deal appeared on Freeview channel 37 today, 15th July.
It appears that the channel will be on-air from 10pm to 5am, sharing time with the new hobby channel Create & Craft.
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Up until now, Virgin’s lineup of HD channels has looked pretty poor, certainly when compared to the 30 or so HD channels offered by Sky. Now, it seems Virgin are keen to catch up by offering 4 new HD channels:
The first of these channels to come online is likely to be Living HD, by the end of July. The HD channels will be available free to Virgin Media customers on the XL TV package.
This follows last month’s announcement that the movie service Picturebox, will soon be offering their film content (28 Universal Pictures movies a month) in HD on Virgin.
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Since the failure of Setanta in June, former Setanta subscribers have been wondering what will happen next, and what will happen to the 46 Premier League matches that Setanta was scheduled to show. As we’ve reported before, Disney-owned ESPN has snapped up the coverage, and we now have some more detail on next steps.
From the 3rd of August, ESPN will be broadcasting the Premier League matches over Sky. The ESPN channel is expected to be on Sky channel 417, with a high def version on Sky channel 443. Sky Sports subscribers will be able to get ESPN for £9 a month, otherwise the channel will be £12 a month. International sports and premium US sports previously provided on ESPN America, will also be shown on these channels.
No news as yet on ESPN’s plans for carriage on Virgin, BT Vision or Top Up TV, but we understand discussions are ongoing
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We’ve had a couple of mails from site visitors asking out coverage of the UFC 100, now that Setanta Sports is no more.
We understand that tonight’s Ultimate Fighting Championship event will be shown on Sky in the UK tonight on Racing World, channel 433. Programming starts from 9pm, with the main event starting at 3am UK time on Sunday.
For details of Sky’s sporting content, go to packages.sky.com/see/SportsMix.aspx.
The event will not be available on terrestrial TV, Freeview or Virgin Media. If you don’t have Sky, you can access tonight’s event at UK.UFC.com.
Discussions are ongoing for a permanent home for UFC in the UK.
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Into Peep Show? We’ve found a service that lets you watch Peep Show online for free (you have to watch a couple of short ads).
You can watch Peep Show online, plus a bunch of movies and TV shows from www.blinkbox.com.
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Content from Discovery and Discovery Real Time has been removed from the Top Up TV Anytime service as of 7th July 2009. Top Up customers have also recently seen the departure of content from Living, as well as Setanta. Extra content from National Geographic is being provided to fill the Discovery gap.
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FrequencyCast Show 41 has been released today.
In show 41 of the UK’s TV and Technology podcast, Carl and Pete look at broadband in the UK and how to get a faster connection. We also look at the latest on Setanta and ESPN, find out that there’s a Freeview HD date on the table, and get ready for the FM radio switch-off.
You can download Show 41 direct to your MP3 player or listen online at http://www.frequencycast.co.uk/latest.html.
If you have an iPod or iPhone, then you can get us via iTunes FrequencyCast on iTunes.
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Create and Craft will reportedly go live on Freeview channel 36 in July. It’ll be on from 8am to 1pm Monday to Friday.
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