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Sky vs. Virgin Media: it's getting dirty

BillieTheBotBillieTheBot Posts: 8,721 Bot
edited January 2023 in General Chat
So Rupert Murdoch, the man who would rule the world continues his bid to dominate everything by whichever means necessary.

Obviously anyone that presents a threat to his TV empire must not be tolerated, as the long-suffering BBC knows all too well. Now is the turn of Virgin Media to be the victim of the Dirty Digger's dirty tricks:

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

The old NTL was never much of a threat. But suddenly we have Virgin Media, with many innovate services and a digital recording box that is better than Sky+, and that cannot be allowed. Oh no.

Why would anyone want to watch the indescribably piss-poor Sky 1 is beyond me anyway. From time to time they use their massive wealth to snatch quality series from other channels- upon which most people stop watching them. I'd rather buy the DVD or even download Lost or 24 than line the pockets of that evil bastard.

I've never had Sky in my house and never will. Tomorrow I'm signing up for Virgin media though- by the sounds of it is better anyway, and my money won't end up in the pockets of one of the most nauseating men alive.
Beep boop. I'm a bot.
Post edited by JustV on
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Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yep, I was thinking of getting sky.

    But now Im going to get Virgin Media :D
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i love sky! They get slagged off a lot but ive never been anything short of happy with their service.

    Certainly their football coverage is miles ahead of anything else that is available. of course there is going to be slightly less football next year on sky owned channels, but i'll still be able to catch it all.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The thing is you can still get Sky Sports through Virgin Media... and according to them cheaper than what you'd pay to Sky itself... :D
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Aladdin wrote: »
    The thing is you can still get Sky Sports through Virgin Media... and according to them cheaper than what you'd pay to Sky itself... :D

    hmm from working it out on their website it appears to see about the same price....doesnt make no diff to me, no cable in my area anyway, so i'll be sticking with Sky.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I think freeview has destroyed Sky's stranglehold, and they'll be forced to become more competitive now, because the sports are now the only thing they have. The movies are more expensive than subscribing to a DVD rental service, and the films they show aren't exactly new. Thier combined internet and tv subscription does seem good value, but I think the days of them being able to charge whatever they want are over. When the analogue signal is switched off, there'll be even more bandwidth, so I reckon there'll be very little on Sky and cable that you can't get on freeview. Downloads will be the next battleground though.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Virgin Media was Telewest/NTL, and I used to be a subscriber. Whilst the Sky Sports package itself isn't cheaper on cable, it's about £25 a month on both, with cable you're not tied into a 12-month contract for the sports and you don't need to pay through the nose for all the other crap. That said, though, the cable company lied to me- they said that if I moved to an area without cable they would tear up the 12-month contract for the basic TV package (£4 a month), and when I moved to an area without cable three months later they denied all knowledge of that and kept my bond.

    They're all bastards, I suppose, and I don't think Virgin Media are the poor innocent victims the BBC are trying to portray them as (unbiased media reporting my foot). But they are cheaper.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Kermit wrote: »
    That said, though, the cable company lied to me- they said that if I moved to an area without cable they would tear up the 12-month contract for the basic TV package (£4 a month), and when I moved to an area without cable three months later they denied all knowledge of that and kept my bond.

    What? A lawyer and you didn't read the small print or get the agreement in writing? :p

    Yeah, Virgin Media does like a good option but I just went out and bought a Sky+ a couple of months ago - so I would have to wait a year anyway. :(
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Teagan wrote: »
    What? A lawyer and you didn't read the small print or get the agreement in writing? :p

    What agreement? They never sent one, they point-blank refused to. And they had my money. It'd have taken more time than it was worth to get £40 back.

    My point was that it isn't just Sky who play the dirty tricks, and I wouldn't trust Branson to tell me the time, if his collaboration with Cuntcoach is anything to go by.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    So far Virgin Media hasnt shown me anything worth switching away from sky+ with! So im staying with Sky and the wonderful Skyone channel, etc!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    On a slightly different issue, the government has asked Ofcom to investigate Sky's purchase of a 17.9% stake in ITV (done to sabotage Virgin's plans to acquire the channel).

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6396299.stm

    Methinks the Dirty Digger's papers will not be supporting Labour at the next election... :D
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Aladdin wrote: »

    Methinks the Dirty Digger's papers will not be supporting Labour at the next election... :D

    Good. It always suprises me how many people believe the shit wrote in the sun and NoW

    :thumb:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'm with virgin media too, anything to avoid Murdoch, he really would take over the world if he was allowed too.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    So would i, if i could, mwah ha ha ha!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Lol, I've just learnt about media moguls in my A2 lesson in college, so have learnt a bit about him and his empire!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Aladdin wrote: »
    Why would anyone want to watch the indescribably piss-poor Sky 1 is beyond me anyway. From time to time they use their massive wealth to snatch quality series from other channels- upon which most people stop watching them. I'd rather buy the DVD or even download Lost or 24 than line the pockets of that evil bastard.

    I've never had Sky in my house and never will. Tomorrow I'm signing up for Virgin media though- by the sounds of it is better anyway, and my money won't end up in the pockets of one of the most nauseating men alive.


    I'm looking at Sky vs Virgin Media atm and there's one specialist channel they want at home which is free on the basic Sky Package but and extra £10 on Virgin - making Virgin about 50% more expensive then Sky with internet included in both packages.

    I'm gonna wait until after 1st March cos Tiscalli is entering TV market as well with their own TV over broadband service.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    They are both just as bad as each other to be honest. That said my preference at a push would be Virgin media, formerly NTL:Telewest. As a long time Telewest customer they will ALWAYS be Telewest to me. They were utterly fantastic on their own but it's a given that they will go down hill now NTL have their claws into them which is a real shame.

    Sky really are a bunch of powermoneymad bunch of scoundrels. Murdoch thought he had it all until Virgin Media came along now he realises there really IS competition and he can't put up with that because he knows outright that they could trounce him in the longrun.

    Not only is he trying to screw over Virgin but he wants to take his Sky service onto the DTT platform by taking Sky Three/Travel/Sports News off of Freeview and charge people for subscribing to an alternative sky service that way. Yet again this is downright outrageous. Sky should NOT be allowed anywhere near the Freeview platform they will only serve to ruin that too, which, when you think about it, is probably their plan, and again, Sky already have Freesat From Sky which is a similar idea.

    Virgin has signed a deal with HBO to get exclusive progs from them for the On-Demand service and personally i see this as Virgins answer should they lose the Sky Basic package.

    At the end of the day what this whole thing points out is that they are thinking of no one but themselves and the money they can make off of the general public none of this is being done for our good. Yes they are a business but they make money by getting new customers, keeping exisiting ones and not driving them away.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I can't blame sky for wanting to protect their Business and their recent offer for free broadband or a pretty decent level of speed and download of upto 40GB per month for an extra £5 per month is a benefit for many consumers.

    I do think every single channel on Freeview should be free at least until the analogue signal is switched off and there become room for like another 30 channels or so. But for the time being Freeview should mean free and also those stupid quiz channels should be banned off the system, they're just a total waste of airspace.

    Sky are in too much of a powerful position but it's far more likely the new threat isn't from Virgin Media but from BT, Tiscalli and all the other internet companies that will soon be offering TV over your Broadband connection.

    To get cable Tv you need an engineer to come around and drill hole sin your wals, etc - Broadband TV over ADSL will mean you can have Tv in any room with a Telephone socket - could be even easier to install then freeview.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I've been with NTL for ages, and although you do hear the occasional horror story with them I've always found them to be decent.

    Plus their broadband is cable based, not telephone based, so its stupidly consistant and really good.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    We're changing from sky to virgin media.

    Have to agree with budda about NTL broadband, you can download at 400kb/s + non stop (I'm on a 4 meg line).
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Well we were with ntl and now its Virgin mdedia so we are with them.

    But they can't take Sky One off!!

    Nip/Tuck, 24, Lost, Bones, Futurama repeats, Hex if it ever coems back. One offs like The Lost Room and The Dresden Files.

    its a kick ass channel.

    I hope they ort it or else we could move to Sky...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Doomsday wrote: »
    Well we were with ntl and now its Virgin mdedia so we are with them.

    But they can't take Sky One off!!

    Nip/Tuck, 24, Lost, Bones, Futurama repeats, Hex if it ever coems back. One offs like The Lost Room and The Dresden Files.

    its a kick ass channel.

    I hope they ort it or else we could move to Sky...
    And that's exactly why the Dirty Digger has doubled its prices to Virgin. Because it's trying to ruin it.

    All I can say is this: once all the competition is eliminated and Rupert Murdoch controls 100% of non-terrestrial television, don't expect them to fork out any more money on such series as 24 or Lost. They'll already have a paying captive audience and will cease to care.

    And when that happens the schedule of Sky One on any given weekday will look thus:

    10:00 The Simpsons (repeat)
    10:30 The Simpsons (repeat)
    11:00 The Simpsons (repeat)
    11:30 The Simpsons (repeat)
    12:00 Ibiza Uncovered (repeat)
    13:00 Kirsty's Home Videos (repeat)
    13:30 The Simpsons (repeat)
    14:00 Hex Series 1 (repeat)
    15:00 Is Harry on the Boat (repeat)
    16:00 Dream Team (brand new episode- whoa!)
    17:00 The Race (repeat)
    18:00 The Simpsons (repeat)
    18:30 The Simpsons (repeat)
    19:00 Premiership Years- 1995
    20:00 Greece Uncovered (repeat)
    21:00 24 Series 1 (repeat)
    22:00 Lost Series 2 (repeat)
    23:00 Angel (repeat)
    00:00- 04:00 Australia Uncovered

    Though sometimes on a Sunday they will throw in a new episode of the Simpsons- so that's alright.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Aladdin wrote: »
    Though sometimes on a Sunday they will throw in a new episode of the Simpsons- so that's alright.

    No its not, they're crap.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yeah I know... I was being sarcastic :p
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Aladdin wrote: »
    Yeah I know... I was being sarcastic :p

    Arent you supposed to put one of those smilie things on the end if you are doing that?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Can't people stop complaining about Sky One and sky in general just because they hate Rupert Murdoch. I mean, At least be honest and say its nothing to do with the service or the shows or anything except a petty hatred of one man who likes to make money and does it via controlling the media. I mean, he wasnt the first bloke to do it, he wont be the last and Sky One will always show good shows or Sky will always control the showing of channels that show good shows, such as E4, Toonami, etc.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Let's be honest- Sky 1 is utter shite. It's all a mater of tastes of course, and those who enjoy the likes of Angel or Australia Uncovered will probably think it's great. But as far as I'm concerned it's one of the worst channels in existence. That ratings for series such as Lost decrease by more 95% when they are moved from terrestrial TV to Sky 1 tells you all you need to know.

    But there is more at stake here than what channel people like. Rupert Murdoch is not just a businessman trying to make money. He's a lot more than that. He's a power hungry far right nutcase whose aim is to control all TV in this country and to destroy- literally destroy- the BBC.

    Murdoch's idea of heaven, a Britain where the only choices are pay and satellite channels and where dumbed-down rubbish TV with endless ad breaks and hour after hour of brain-dead TV is broadcast, should be everybody else's idea of hell. It would be nothing short of a disaster for the country if Sky ends up having total dominance of the market- make no mistake about that.

    Those who have watched American TV will know what I'm talking about.

    As far as I'm concerned everyone who switches from Virgin to Sky because the uber piss-poor Sky 1 won't be shown is doing himself and the country no favours in the long run.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    *yawn*, ooops, dozed off abit there.

    So, he is out to destroy the BBC... Which makes such a good shows? Ok, i do like Doctor Who and Robin Hood and Strictly Come Dancing... but since Red Dwarf stopped and i could get family guy on other channels, it hasnt really done much for me, so if it dies, it is its own fault for not making enough good shows.

    The audience goes down for LOST when it moves to sky because not everyone has it... some people dont have Sky One, that doesnt mean it is a bad show, just some people are too stuck up themselves to get a decent channel.

    Angel is on Sci-fi these days more then on Sky One, they just show it in the daytime when most people are at work or school. And Ibiza Uncovered is usually left for Sky Three and completely different channel.

    Murdoch should be able to charge what he likes for his channels to be shown on other companies providers, they are his channels. It isnt like he makes shows, he simply shows what he can afford to buy. It isnt his fault the channels that do make tv shows either, dont make good shows, or let the rights go to other channels, or happily share.

    Anyone who scrubs virgin media for sky if only to get good channels with good shows like Sky One are doing themselves a favour as they will get some good tv to watch!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Bullseye wrote: »
    *yawn*, ooops, dozed off abit there.
    So, he is out to destroy the BBC... Which makes such a good shows? Ok, i do like Doctor Who and Robin Hood and Strictly Come Dancing... but since Red Dwarf stopped and i could get family guy on other channels, it hasnt really done much for me, so if it dies, it is its own fault for not making enough good shows.
    It does it for tens of millions of others. It has the best news website in the world. In it has unsurpassed radio stations. All of which would dissapear or be greatly affected if the Dirty Digger succeeds in his attempts to eliminate the licence fee.
    The audience goes down for LOST when it moves to sky because not everyone has it... some people dont have Sky One, that doesnt mean it is a bad show, just some people are too stuck up themselves to get a decent channel.
    No it doesn't mean it's a bad show. It means that few people can bring themselves to watch it in that channel.

    More than 10m households can receive Sky 1 by the way.

    Murdoch should be able to charge what he likes for his channels to be shown on other companies providers, they are his channels.
    Really?

    I know it's unlikely since much of it comes from Fox but how would you like it the makers of series and programmes shown on Sky 1 decided to charge Sky twice as much as they charge other broadcasters around the world, and as a result your subscription doubled up in price?

    Murdoch is a cunt who is trying to strangle Virgin Media at birth. End of.
    Anyone who scrubs virgin media for sky if only to get good channels with good shows like Sky One are doing themselves a favour as they will get some good tv to watch!
    Depends on what they like. If they like Lost and 24, perhaps. Then again they could wait until August to watch the former on Virgin, or buy the DVD of the latter.

    Other than that, they can watch everything else on Virgin Media.

    Unless you're referring to the likes of Dream Team or Kirsty's Home Videos as 'good TV'.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Dream Team hasnt been good since season 2 and they only show Kirsty's home videos at late times now or on Sky Three.

    IF other show creators charged Sky lots more to show their channels, which they don't as sky shows tv shows not other channels, with the exception of FoxNews and CNBC then that would their choice.

    LOST and 24 will get shown on terrestrial at some point and other channels like Channel 5 are stepping up to replace BBC2 as the main channel for big shows, such as Prison Break and The Sheild, before sky ever a hold of them.

    If people are happy to have Virgin Media and then have to go and buy the dvds of some shows to see them before they get shown on terrestrial, then thats fine for them and they should do that. Whatever makes people happy is good for them... and i am happy with Sky and its awesome selection of channels, shows and variation :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Aladdin wrote: »

    And when that happens the schedule of Sky One on any given weekday will look thus:

    10:00 The Simpsons (repeat)
    10:30 The Simpsons (repeat)
    11:00 The Simpsons (repeat)
    11:30 The Simpsons (repeat)
    12:00 Ibiza Uncovered (repeat)
    13:00 Kirsty's Home Videos (repeat)
    13:30 The Simpsons (repeat)
    14:00 Hex Series 1 (repeat)
    15:00 Is Harry on the Boat (repeat)
    16:00 Dream Team (brand new episode- whoa!)
    17:00 The Race (repeat)
    18:00 The Simpsons (repeat)
    18:30 The Simpsons (repeat)
    19:00 Premiership Years- 1995
    20:00 Greece Uncovered (repeat)
    21:00 24 Series 1 (repeat)
    22:00 Lost Series 2 (repeat)
    23:00 Angel (repeat)
    00:00- 04:00 Australia Uncovered

    Though sometimes on a Sunday they will throw in a new episode of the Simpsons- so that's alright.

    WHAT THE FUCK NO STAR TREK :eek:

    down with murdock
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