Virgin reprograms the Terminator for 2008
Monday, June 25th, 2007Cable network unveils its TV acquisitions
Virgin Media have successfully inked a deal with Warner Bros. which will see the fledgling Virgin 1 channel have exclusive UK broadcast rights to hotly-anticipated Terminator spin-off, The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
The series, supposedly set between the movies Terminator 2 and 3 stars British actress Lena Headey - recently seen in historical romp 300 - as the titular heroine, and follows her and on-screen offspring John Connor - played Thomas Dekker, who was in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids - who are on the run from the law as well as another Skynet killing machine.
The deal also sees the entirety of the Star Trek franchise being beamed down to Virgin customers receivers – roughly 624 hours of content which includes everything from the original 1966 series to the fairly recent Enterprise prequel.
Following in the footsteps of Living’s highly successful Most Haunted, Virgin have also reportedly commissioned a series tentatively titled The Real Exorcist, which based around the exploits of Rev. Bob Larson, who once hosted the infamous “Talk Back” phone-in show in the US, and who has previously performed live exorcisms on TV.
Virgin 1, which will now compete directly with its Sky opposite number Sky One, will launch on its own platform and on Freeview this autumn. The Freeview exposure may be crucial to viewing figures, as it remains the most popular digital TV choice in the UK, and will go some way in realising MD of Virgin Media TV Jonathan Webb’s goal of: “Virgin 1 and the newly reinvigorated Living [becoming] two of the top television channels by switchover.”
There is still no firm news yet about a Virgin/Setanta sports news channel, but it is fairly safe to assume that it is going to happen, given that Setanta fought long and hard to pip the jewel in Sky’s pay-TV crown.
June 28th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
Its good that companies are starting to see the shift in how viewer want to watch programmes, however if they make it too limiting they will find other ways to get it.
If its going to be a success it needs to work with Linux. Think Tivo or MythTV
June 28th, 2007 at 2:27 pm
I can’t wait for Virgin One, hopefully it’ll more than replace Sky One.
Only watched Sky One for the Simpsons and Lost, and there won’t be any new episodes for a while now. So I’m not missing out.
June 28th, 2007 at 2:54 pm
I agree with you Dan. It’s got the grounding from the films so the Terminator shows should be good.
I’m a massive fan of Lost and can’t wait to see the new series. Noticed that it will end in 2010 with another 3 series to come.
July 2nd, 2007 at 3:48 pm
I’ve been wanting to leave Virgin ever since the whole Sky thing. I don’t really think that this new channel and rumours of a sports news bulletin is going to cut it for a lot of customers - it certainly doesnt for me.
I’m waiting until Tiscali/Homechoice becomes available in my area, then I’m switching.
It just so happens that Tiscali have managed to work out a deal with Sky which will allow me to watch Sky One…
Ho hum Virgin.