Virgin Media shows some teeth
Monday, February 4th, 2008Virgin 1 to switch with Bravo on Sky EPG
Virgin Media TV’s recently-launched Virgin 1 and its timeshift counterpart channel is to trade places with Bravo and Bravo +1 ascend to the ranks of the second page on the Sky EPG.
“Our objective with these moves is to bring Virgin1 into a more prominent position for Sky viewers, and bolster the position of Bravo by creating a strong block of male-skewing entertainment,” said Claudia Rosencrantz, Virgin Media’s director of television.
Virgin 1 will become available on 121 on the Sky EPG, rubbing shoulders with the likes of BBC Three, Living and Dave. Bravo, which currently occupies 121 will move to 123, and Bravo+1 to 124. Challenge will move to 125. Challenge+1 and Bravo 2 will take Virgin 1 and Virgin 1+1’s old positions at 153 and 154.
Virgin 1 has also recently begun broadcasting the TV series of vampire-hybrid comic book hero Blade. The 13-episode series, filmed in HD, was greeted enthusiastically by fans and critics in 2006, but was cancelled at the end of the first series due to US cable network Spike TV unable to keep up with running costs.
Still, the acquisition of Blade: The Series is in keeping with the sci-fi action slant Virgin are running with for their flagship channel. “2008 is going to be a big year for Virgin 1 – especially with Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles launching this Spring,” says Rosencrantz.
Virgin 1 will make the move from 153 to 121 in just over two weeks time on Wednesday, the 20th of February.
February 5th, 2008 at 11:52 am
The Blade series is actually pretty good. It gets better when Stinky Fingaz stops trying to fill Wesley Snipes’ shoes and comes into his own. The series really starts to take off after episode 5.
Shame it got cancelled. I really don’t think there was any financial difficulty, it was backed by Warner Bros!