Digital TV Blog

Exclusive US drama and free weekend football from Virgin

Virgin Media have rolled out the red carpet for their new soon to be launched flagship channel - Virgin 1. The logo, a red monolithic '1' surmounted by the traditional Virgin lipstick calligraphy, has been designed around a concept of capitalising on the brand strength of Virgin, or as Jon King of Virgin Media TV says, "reclaiming red", the "colour forever associated with the iconic Virgin brand".

This new channel, which will directly compete for ratings with Sky One, launches later this month on Freeview and Sky as well as cable. Since the carriage fees farce, Virgin have been busy shilling out for a range of entertainment and sci-fi to compete with Sky, and have so far racked up an impressive roster of shows including hotly anticipated Terminator spin-off The Sarah Connor Chronicles, the entirety of the Star Trek franchise to date, and all the Bond movies. LA-based legal drama Justice rubs shoulders with Las Vegas-based casino drama Viva Laughlin, itself based on the BBC3 show Viva Blackpool, and also making the line-up is The Riches, which stars Minnie Driver and Eddie Izzard as Irish con artists.

The worryingly titled Crime Invasion: Britain's New Underworld, which documents the rise of foreign gangs in the UK crime will also feature, and sounds like its set to milk people's intolerance glands into overdrive.

Virgin have also made a push for Sky territory with football allies Setanta at their side by allowing TV customers free access to selected Setanta channels (Setanta Sports 1, 2 and Setanta Golf) over the weekend. This is available to all Virgin Media TV customers regardless of which Size TV package they have. This weekend sees Manchester United take on Sunderland on Setanta, and hopefully will be a big draw for punters.

Digital telly for a tenner

Tesco are allowing customers to switchover to digital for peanuts; a Techwood set-top box available from Tesco superstores goes on sale today available to customers for a mere £10 one off fee.

The digital TV box is a no-frills standard receiver, providing access to the standard 40 Freeview digital terrestrial TV channels and numerous radio stations, at a pinch, when compared to some of the pricier set-top boxes currently doing the rounds.

Since its launch, Freeview has by far been the cheapest way to get ready for the switchover, and still remains the UK's most popular digital choice. This £10 deal from Tesco is perfect for anyone who wants straightforward no-nonsense access to terrestrial TV and reflects how quickly the digital market has grown – basic Freeview boxes went for £100 a pop when they were first available.

A Tesco spokesperson said: "We know that many of our customers aren't ready for the change in the way their TV programmes are transmitted, so to get them prepared for the switchover from analogue to digital, we're offering this digital TV technology at the lowest price ever."

Customers lured in by near-live broadcasts.

BT Vision has scored a small early victory against TV rivals Sky and Virgin by signing up an additional 24,000 customers to its IPTV service in the last two months – this growth has been attributed to the near-live broadcasts of Premiership games and the ability to subscribe to the Setanta Sports package.

This means that BT Vision's customer base will have doubled in size – official figures released at the end of June show that just over 20,000. Still, the combination of Freeview plus pay per view trimmings has much to play for throughout the remainder of the season. Sky boss James Murdoch said as much when quizzed about his thoughts on the IPTV player; "In respect to BT Vision it is pretty early days."

Commentators have high hopes for the IPTV market in the UK; the success of Homechoice, now owned by Tiscali, has proven that on-demand viewing can work within a market traditionally dominated by subscription TV.

Can I get a re-scan?

Part of the digital revolution means that customers will eventually be able to watch what they want when they want – with on-demand becoming more commonplace and with many major channels operating a '+1' catch-up service which allows viewers to watch a popular channel which is broadcast with a time delay of one hour.

So for example, commuters who now miss out on episodes of The Simpsons on Channel 4 due mostly to the woeful timekeeping abilities of UK rail operators should be able to keep up with the recently released 4+1 service available on Freeview.

However, we've received a number of emails from people concerning the launch of 4+1 this month; many Freeview customers have experienced significant audio visual problems which have seen them unable to get images or sound on channels such as BBC 3, BBC 4, and E4.

Channel 4's website says that in order to receive the new service, you will have to perform a quick rescan:

"If you are going to be accessing Channel 4+1 through Freeview, you may need to rescan your digital TV or box to update the NEW channel numbers."

This is a quick and easy procedure which involves you entering the set-up menu of your Freeview box via your remote and then selecting 'update', 'rescan', or any of the appropriate options – the next time you turn on your TV you may be prompted to

Below we have listed the current services available from Channel 4 and their new and old numbers on a standard Freeview EPG:

4+1 – 135

LE4 – 136 (formerly 138)
E4+1 – 137 (formerly 139)

More 4 – 138 (formerly 140)
More 4 +1 – 139 (formerly 172)

Film 4 and its timeshift counterpart Film4+1 remain unaffected and are available on Freeview channels 29 and 32 respectively.

Flatscreen proves to be a greener choice

Sales figures indicate that most of you are choosing to get HD Ready by shelling out for LCD flatscreen sets. The LCD and Plasma sales battle was one of the first format wars of the digital age, and like the old VHS/Betamax tussle of the past, it seems that the more affordable format is set to win out.

From day one, it was clear that Plasma screens certainly had the edge over LCDs in terms of colour fidelity and the sharpness of images – LCD screens with an interlaced scan function suffered from a visual effect known as 'ghosting' which looked particularly bad on live broadcasts, especially on football matches. Plasmas were always more expensive than their Liquid Crystal counterparts, and for a while it seemed that these were set to be the number one choice for UK homes.

Recent advances in design and technology mean that the old display problems of LCD screens have been corrected and most LCDs these days can rival similarly sized Plasma screens in terms of quality. This, coupled with the fact that an LCD is substantially cheaper and notably less power-hungry than your average Plasma has seen shoppers voting with their wallets over the last quarter.

Plasmas were also notorious for kicking out an immense amount of heat, and although recent Plasma screen models don't suffer as much as their sweatier ancestors, they still make a bit of a dent on the utility bill, making the LCD the choice for both the environmentally and economically conscious – LCD screens also use much less power than the older CRT models.

So the good news is that more and more UK homes can afford an HD Ready set in time for the switchover without contributing to a greater carbon footprint.

Defending champions Sky face a fresh challenge

This weekend saw the beginning of the new football season, and a fresh set of campaigns from the main players in the digital TV markets own premier league. Reigning pay-TV champions Sky face their toughest season yet, with both Virgin Media and BT rolling out coverage of the beautiful game to rival what has been the jewel in the satellite crown for over a decade.

BT Vision made the appropriate noises over its 'near-live' coverage of 242 Premier League matches, allowing for multiple repeat viewings of games, and Virgin unrolled a series of newspaper and poster ads, making the most of their partnership with relative newcomers Setanta. Virgin have also quietly made mention of exclusive online content only available to Virgin Media broadband customers, in an attempt to halt customer defection to Sky's See Speak Surf squad.

BT, who are sitting pretty at the top of the Broadband Champions League are hoping to cement that position by retaining customers in a more direct manner – a subscription to BT Broadband, not just any broadband connection, is required for BT Vision to work.

Adverts for Setanta's Sports Pack, available on practically every digital TV platform – Top-Up TV, Sky, Virgin, BT Vision and Freeview – has been doing the rounds on TV and DAB radio this week, with silver otter Des Lynam, punting the £9.99 a month subscription service from behind a burger van.

Sky was famously forced to cough up a portion of its exclusive Premiership broadcast rights by the EU – Setanta Sports was awarded the rights for the remaining matches, and looks to become as synonymous with football in British homes as Sky has. Setanta, based in Ireland also features coverage on GAA Gaelic Sports and regularly broadcasts coverage of European football matches and a whole range of American sports.