Telewest bought by Virgin

Dadaist · Post by **Dadaist** » 12 Feb 2007, 17:22

So we've been assimilated by Dick Branson?

Er - whatever, but has anyone seen the ads on Sky One which urge former Telewest/NTL customers to phone up Virgin and tell them they should keep Sky One, Sky News etc because Virgin are "questioning their value" .... ?

There must be some price war if it's spilled into the public arena - who knows if it's Virgin who are setting their price too low or Sky who are overpricing for their channels - interesting to see them spat in public.

Maybe Virgin came in and demanded things be re-negotiated, or Sky saw the opportunity - I'd love to know the inside track.

Anyone peeved that it's Virgin and thinking of ditching them?

Poppy · Post by **Poppy** » 12 Feb 2007, 19:09

Rather Virgin than Murdoch, perhaps!! Personally, I could do without Sky News and only watch Sky One for the Simpsons sometimes.

We've no choice re cable supplier anyway, have we, except to get a dish??

Maria · Post by **Maria** » 12 Feb 2007, 19:13

Haven't seen the ads, but did read something about plans for some Sky channels to be available on set top digi boxes.

ali · Post by **ali** » 12 Feb 2007, 19:26

Dadaist wrote:So we've been assimilated by Dick Branson?

Anyone peeved that it's Virgin and thinking of ditching them?

I'm peeved but I'm "wired in" to their cable so its difficult to see what the alternative is. I get the phone, TV and broadband from Branson now.

I believe that Virgin have beefed up customer support according to an article I was reading. We'll have to wait and see but there's something about that man that sets my teeth on edge..........

Poppy · Post by **Poppy** » 12 Feb 2007, 19:32

ali wrote:there's something about that man that sets my teeth on edge..........

At least, he doesn't come to your door to collect your subscription. Just don't think about him!!

SoupDragon · Post by **SoupDragon** » 12 Feb 2007, 20:33

A right Branson pickle!

Like Ali we've got phone, cable and broadband so there isn't much alternative. Back to BT? Sky dish ( shudder) Freeview but again no Sky on it as yet. Would miss my Stargate and the Clangers do like the Simpsons
The first I heard about them dropping Sky1 was the ad. Could it be a marketing ploy?

Poppy · Post by **Poppy** » 12 Feb 2007, 20:36

SoupDragon wrote:Could it be a marketing ploy?

It worked with Heinz Salad Cream...........

SoupDragon · Post by **SoupDragon** » 12 Feb 2007, 20:39

So true.
When I think about it we've been watching less Sky1 , mind you there's often not a lot to watch on any side

Poppy · Post by **Poppy** » 12 Feb 2007, 20:53

I listen to Oneword and BBC7 a lot these days. But the good news is that Life on Mars is back tomorrow night!! It's so interesting to see what it was like in the 1907s.

bellybabe · Post by **bellybabe** » 12 Feb 2007, 21:26

I'm peeved, and getting even more peeved every time I see the bloody adverts with the platinum woman on them, clearly assuming that all customers are straight men... Going back two decades to when only male customers mattered really doesn't make me like the fact I'm with a company I never wanted to be with in the first place.

Jamesie · Post by **Jamesie** » 12 Feb 2007, 21:35

No problems at all with Virgin, so long as my broadband stays as rock solid as it has been with Telewest. It has been about three years since it went down - a good service.

Maria · Post by **Maria** » 12 Feb 2007, 21:36

Poppy wrote: It's so interesting to see what it was like in the 1907s.

My dear Poppy, you are holding up well

Poppy · Post by **Poppy** » 12 Feb 2007, 22:15

Marya wrote:
Poppy wrote: It's so interesting to see what it was like in the 1907s.
My dear Poppy, you are holding up well

Sarky moo!

bearcub · Post by **bearcub** » 12 Feb 2007, 22:22

Dadaist wrote:Maybe Virgin came in and demanded things be re-negotiated, or Sky saw the opportunity - I'd love to know the inside track.

Googled it last night after seeing the Sky advert (propoganda

) and seems that Sky reduced the amount they were paying Virgin for some of their channels (LivingTV was the only one I recognised!) and Virgin wanted to renegotiate likewise for Sky channels like Sky One, etc.....hence the smell of blood in the water!

Could see this getting nasty, as doubt Dicky or Mr Murdoch are ones to back down, it's all or nothing for them.

Shame, as will be v disappointed if I can't get Sky One anymore.

bearcub · Post by **bearcub** » 12 Feb 2007, 22:23

ali wrote:but there's something about that man that sets my teeth on edge..........

He does grate a bit....but then I prefer him infinitely more than the Murdoch empire.

ifstar · Post by **ifstar** » 13 Feb 2007, 16:42

Much prefer that Virgin has bought in, will give the company a lot of stability I reckon. I did hear a lot of rumours about Telewest/NTL being in trouble over the last few years.

Would be quite upset if they lost Sky One, although to be fair the only shows I watch on that are The Simpsons, 24 and Lost and I could just as easy download them if Sky One vanished. If it did go then I would expect a reduction in charge though.

Speaking of reduction in charges....
A few weeks ago I managed to knock off Â£240 per year off my telewest bill. I have the supreme (or whatever it is now) tv package, tv drive box, phone with talk evenings and weekend and 10Mb internet - costs usually about Â£78 pm depending on calls.

Phoned up to try and get it reduced but the first person was only interested in me dropping my broadband speed down - so I declined.
Phoned up about 10 mins later and said I was wanting to cancel - got put on hold for about 20 mins but during this time I checked out Sky's and BT's website to find roughly equivalent packages.
Since I would be a new customer there were quite a few introductory offers so I did the math and worked out how much I would pay for the services on telewest compared to Sky/BT. The difference was quite a few hundred (think it was about Â£400 over 18months) so when I got to speak to someone I told them these figures and said if it had been a matter of Â£50 or something then I wouldn't have bothered but this difference was just far too much. The nice lady agreed and decided to reduce my internet fee to Â£15 as opposed to Â£35!

Not guaranteed to work for everyone but certainly worth a try. If you do have a go then make sure you have got figures to hand as otherwise they won't budge.

Maria · Post by **Maria** » 13 Feb 2007, 16:43

ifstar wrote:Much prefer that Virgin has bought in, will give the company a lot of stability I reckon. I did hear a lot of rumours about Telewest/NTL being in trouble over the last few years.

Their share price certainly bore that out, Ifstar.

Dadaist · Post by **Dadaist** » 23 Feb 2007, 13:44

bearcub wrote:
Dadaist wrote:Maybe Virgin came in and demanded things be re-negotiated, or Sky saw the opportunity - I'd love to know the inside track.
Googled it last night after seeing the Sky advert (propoganda ) and seems that Sky reduced the amount they were paying Virgin for some of their channels (LivingTV was the only one I recognised!) and Virgin wanted to renegotiate likewise for Sky channels like Sky One, etc.....hence the smell of blood in the water!

Could see this getting nasty, as doubt Dicky or Mr Murdoch are ones to back down, it's all or nothing for them.

Shame, as will be v disappointed if I can't get Sky One anymore.

Virgin slams BSkyB in TV dispute

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6389015.stm

From what I understand, that's it for the Sky channels at the centre of the row on Telewest, as of 1st March.

SoupDragon · Post by **SoupDragon** » 23 Feb 2007, 14:22

Wouldn't miss Sky News or Sky travel but Sky 1 shows Stargate

Though I'm in the huff with SG Atlantis as they killed of Scottish Dr Carson and maybe SG should have went out on a high with the defeat of the Goa'uld.

Do you think Virgin will drop the price of the packages if Sky is no longer available?

SoupDragon · Post by **SoupDragon** » 23 Feb 2007, 14:43

Virgin have a press release as well
http://allyours.virginmedia.com/fairplay/index.html

All sound nyah, nyah ,nyah,
Will just have to wait and see what happens

ifstar · Post by **ifstar** » 23 Feb 2007, 16:05

Story I read was that Sky were wanting double what is currently being paid for Sky One and Virgin have quite rightly told them to do one.

Sky obviously have got a bit of fear from Virgin, especially since apparently Virgin will be able to use ADSL lines shortly to reach new customers. Virgin also has proper on demand content unlike the stuff that Sky was talking about which would simply download to your box through the night. Looks like Sky want lot's of people to abandon Virgin and move to them but it would have to be a decent amount to offset the revenue they will lose for advertising as initially at least, there will be significantly less Sky One viewers.

bearcub · Post by **bearcub** » 23 Feb 2007, 20:17

SoupDragon wrote:Though I'm in the huff with SG Atlantis as they killed of Scottish Dr Carson

I've not seen that episode yet.

SoupDragon wrote:Do you think Virgin will drop the price of the packages if Sky is no longer available?

No. Although I do hope they decide to make a battle of it and start competing with Sky for the top shows.

Oh well, guess I'm going to have to go down my previous "Lost" route to watch some of my faves, and unfortunately I had a lot on Sky One....Lost, 24, Stargate(s), Battlestar

. Still, at least they haven't got LOM or Prison Break....yet.

bearcub · Post by **bearcub** » 23 Feb 2007, 20:23

ifstar wrote:Sky obviously have got a bit of fear from Virgin

Think that hits the nail on the head, so they're going down the Tesco root of dealing with (any) competition.

SoupDragon · Post by **SoupDragon** » 23 Feb 2007, 21:00

Sincere apologies,. Bearcub.

I thought Tues. was the only day they broadcast SG Atlantis.
I had come across spoilers for that episode but didn't mean to act as one on POL.
Sorry

It's the Clangers who'd miss Sky 1 the most for the Simpsons etc. Mr Soupy says the only thing they've had worth watching recently was the Hogfather.

My mum had a Sky dish( telewest/virgin not an option out her way ) but she got fed up paying for stuff she didn't watch and got a freeview box. Seems really happy with it.
Funnily enough not everyone in Portobello had the option of Telewest

bearcub · Post by **bearcub** » 23 Feb 2007, 22:39

SoupDragon wrote:Sincere apologies,. Bearcub.
I thought Tues. was the only day they broadcast SG Atlantis.

Think it is, but I'd V+'ed it cos it clashed with a show S watches...oh well, makes this episode definitely worth watching!

It's a pity, as he along with McKay and Sheppard were my favourite characters. Thought at first his Scottish accent was a bit put on in an American way, until I found out he actually was from Scotland...Paisley to be precise.

SoupDragon · Post by **SoupDragon** » 23 Feb 2007, 23:57

Sorry again , Bearcub , completly forgot there would be folk recording SG Atlantis for later. (On Wednesday, SG1 is Tues. Got that wrong as well)

I'd wondered about the wee Scots doctor as well, but at least his accent was consistant unlike Star Treks Scotty. Was glad he was Scottish all be it raised in Canada
This is supposed to be the last season of SG1 so it would be nice to see it to the end though I've heard there may be a couple of tv movies to tie up some loose ends, still think they should have ended it 2 or was it 3 seasons ago when it looked like O'Neil and Carter were finally getting together.

bellybabe · Post by **bellybabe** » 25 Feb 2007, 00:10

Anyone else having problems with their email from Blueyonder/Virgin since the takeover? I've had a few emails not arrive that people have definitely sent, and today one of my trainers said she's having the same problem. Of course, if people don't tell you they've emailed you, you won't know if you're not getting them, which makes it hard to tell! So I know of some which have gone missing but what about the ones where I think people are just ignoring me?

ifstar · Post by **ifstar** » 25 Feb 2007, 11:28

Mine has been fine.
Stick delivery and read receipts on your emails, this way you will know when they are getting there and if they have read them (provided they don't click No to sending you the read receipt).

bellybabe · Post by **bellybabe** » 25 Feb 2007, 23:13

The problem seems to be me not receiving, rather than my emails out not being delivered...

Maria · Post by **Maria** » 26 Feb 2007, 12:46

I'm getting even more spam than ever

Maria · Post by **Maria** » 27 Feb 2007, 10:19

Well, Sky have 'picked up their ball and gone home' according to the email sent out by Virgin earlier today.

bellybabe · Post by **bellybabe** » 27 Feb 2007, 10:39

Sky and Virgin were both supposed to be interviewed on the Today programme this morning but Sky pulled out and sent an email response instead, so that they couldn't be asked any difficult questions - not the best bit of PR. Their email said completely different things to what the Virgin guy said they were offering, but it's harder to believe Sky's version when they won't be interviewed.

Dadaist · Post by **Dadaist** » 27 Feb 2007, 10:42

Marya wrote:Well, Sky have 'picked up their ball and gone home' according to the email sent out by Virgin earlier today.

I saw that. There's been some really sharp rhetoric in these pronouncements. Do you think that their executives are still chums down at the club or do you think the fall-out is for real?

SoupDragon · Post by **SoupDragon** » 27 Feb 2007, 14:46

We've got more spam I've noticed. We also had problems with emails getting through last weekend.
Try sending one to yourself and see how long it takes

Poppy · Post by **Poppy** » 01 Mar 2007, 08:37

Just heard through half-shut ears that Virgin customers have lost their Sky channels.................

Talk Porty ~ Portobello

Telewest bought by Virgin

Telewest bought by Virgin

Re: Telewest bought by Virgin

Re: Telewest bought by Virgin

Re: Telewest bought by Virgin

Re: Telewest bought by Virgin

Re: Telewest bought by Virgin