December 15, 2017

Sky Atlantic to Virgin Media at last?

From a Sky press release this morning:
Sky has concluded an agreement with BT which means Sky customers will have their choice of the best sports all through a single Sky TV subscription, while also broadening the reach of Sky’s leading entertainment channel brands to all major Pay-TV services in the UK for the first time.
Under the agreement, Sky will receive wholesale supply of the BT Sport channels enabling it to offer its customers access to every single match of the Premier League, the UEFA Champions League and Europa League shown on Sky and BT channels through one simple Sky contract. This will be the first time Sky is able to provide BT Sport to its customers directly as part of a Sky bundle or on a standalone basis and across all Sky platforms including Sky Go. BT Sport will also be available as an app on NOW TV boxes.
Sky will make its NOW TV streaming service available on the BT TV set-top-box. As retail agent, BT will sell NOW TV on Sky’s behalf, offering BT TV customers access to Now TV’s most popular content including Sky Atlantic, Sky One, Sky Living, Sky Sports and Sky Cinema.
This agreement is a further step in Sky’s strategy to maximise distribution of key channel brands and to monetise its content investment further across all TV platforms. By adding Now TV to the heart of BT’s TV offering, Sky’s portfolio of TV entertainment brands will be available to all UK consumers through each major Pay-TV service, reaching new customers and expanding the appeal of our channels to advertisers.
So far, so mildly interesting, but Sky Chief Exec Jeremy Darroch is quoted as saying:
"UK consumers will have even more ways to watch great Sky entertainment content with our leading portfolio of channels – Sky Atlantic, Sky One and Sky Living – available on all major Pay-TV platforms for the first time.
"This is all part of our stated strategy to enhance our customer offering, to broaden our appeal and to open up new revenue streams for our business.” 
Run that passed me again…did the boss at Sky just say that 'our leading portfolio of channels – Sky Atlantic, Sky One and Sky Living – available on ALL major Pay-TV platforms for the first time'??? There's no arguing that Virgin's TV pay-TV platform is a major one (6m households using VM's services in the UK and Ireland) and Darroch can't tell big fibs on these announcements, so I can only conclude that Sky Atlantic, either as a channel or as part of a VM Now TV offering, is on the way any day now.
(Either that, or Sky reckon that this BT deal and the Sky Q over internet service launching next year will kill Virgin TV once and for all…)

December 04, 2017

Two new Virgin Media Apps to launch on December 7th.


Virgin Media has announced that the existing Virgin TV Anywhere service will soon be replaced by two new apps on Apple iOS and Android: Virgin TV Go and Virgin TV Control.
Virgin TV Go
Lets you watch telly, at home or on the go anywhere in the UK. You can now watch selected live TV channels (including BT Sport), On Demand and Box Sets on 3G/4G as well as on Wifi, on two of your mobile devices (compatible mobiles, tablets or web browsers).
Virgin TV Control
Manage and set recordings on your Virgin TV V6 or TiVo® box  from anywhere in the world with Wifi, 3G or 4G. Plus, turn your mobile or tablet into a handy extra remote to browse the TV Guide or change channel when you’re at home. With a Virgin TV V6 box, you can even stream selected recordings to a mobile or tablet around the home.
When the new apps launch on Dec 7th your Virgin TV Anywhere app should automatically update to Virgin TV Control when it’s connected to WiFi. If this doesn’t happen, open your Virgin TV Anywhere app and follow the on-screen instructions to update it.
The new TV Go app is a big step forward from what we've had with the limited TV Anywhere app. Both apps are long overdue and, much like the V6, finally make the VM service comparable to Sky Q.
(Just don't mention the lack of 4k programming on Virgin…)

UPDATE, 9.40am 7 Dec


Both apps are now available. From what I can see, Virgin TV Control is just a re-badged Virgin TV Anywhere with the playback facility removed. I have two iOS devices (an iPad Air 2 and an iPhone 6, both running iOS 11.2). Neither updated to the TV Control App automatically but I deleted the old App and manually downloaded the new (it's in the App store - search for Virgin Media and you'll find it). Works fine, but if you try to watch anything it points you to the Virgin TV Go app.
Virgin TV Go app is also available for download.