Selling to the Enemy

The other day virgin announced it had finally sold its main channel portfolio to Sky, this included Virgin 1, Challenge, all Living and Bravo channels. Now considering the public spats between Sky and Virgin you'd think that this is rare indeed. Truth is Virgin has been trying to sell it's channel portfolio since it became Virgin Media. Sky was always in the frame, there were others but sky was always the only candidate to buy these channels.

Now the problem has always been the value of these channels, Sky didn't see much value to them and Virgin did. Hence the period when Sky pulled all its channels from Virgin over the price to show channels on respective platforms. This forced Virgin to regain its channels values. Living was already good but Virgin pushed its value that little bit more. They dropped teen channel Trouble, this in respect was the cheapest move but I'm a firm believer that the audience was there but the channel was stuck in the nineties.  Virgin then built the Virgin 1 brand which in a stroke of genius did 'Living on Virgin 1' this showcased the best of the Living format on a free platform. On top they made some smart purchases for the channel and created a good channel. They then began to turn their attention to Bravo and have pushed that to a new level. This was all backed up by the extra income from the challenge channels.

Now I'm a person who feels sad these channels are leaving Virgin and going to Sky as, Virgin were providing fresh programming. I wanted to see what they would do next, would they look at the Bravo 2 channel, would Trouble make a return, maybe Virgin 1 would have 'Bravo on Virgin 1'.

What next, well Sky have some decisions to make on the way the channels would run in their business. I have a few suggestions.

• Re-jig all Sky's programming across the new channels, Supernatural and 24 would fit perfect on Bravo.
• Living could benefit from Sky's funding to bring more glamor, not that it needs it.
• Bravo 2 could be made more female orientated, with shows like House and Supernatural. 
• Make Living 2 more male orientated with glamor and fashion shows aimed at men.
• Challenge is another income for Sky and Sky will make it more interactive, integrating it with Sky player.
• Virgin 1, will be re-named and should become a showcase channel. I suggest Sky Showcase so it can run 'Living on Sky Showcase' bringing more people to the sky pay channels via the Freeview platform.

So where does this sale leave virgin. Answer is in good place to build itself as a provider but also at risk if ever Sky pulls channels from the platform again.  Virgin still own half of UKTV, though this is being lined up to sell to Channel 4, they also own Film-flex their film on demand system.

Virgin though have to step up their game to be a provider against Sky and the growing IPTV market.

• They need to offer more HD content and a lot of it in their basic package.
• Video on demand needs improving and taking to the next level, a system they launched so well is now dying from lack of upgrades.
• Multi-room and a online offering needed. People have more than one TV and the business should reflect this.
• The program guide needs updating, their system is old clunky, unreliable and has many services that are so stuck in the nineties I'm surprised if anyone still uses them. They need a major and regular overhaul of how their system works. 
• Competitive on demand pricing. People won't hire a film for £4 is you can buy it for £3 or subscribe to several for £7 a month. They won't hire a TV series for more than it costs to buy.

I wish both companies luck but do point out that more channels are only as good as their new content. In today's market, consumers want new formats as quick as they are released globally and they one older content available on demand.

Not so problamatic Project Canvas

Many months ago a number of TV broadcasters got together to help standardize the future of TV and particularly VOD/IPTV.

Lets start this story at the beginning, many years ago TV was invented, it was all live broadcasts and it was all in Black and White. Many years later colour TV was introduced and with it pre-recorded programs became common place. Then VCR's were introduced much like cassettes had been for music players and people enjoyed their favorite programes at their own leisure as repeats were few and far between. TV trundled along for many years with pay TV stations on cable and satellite being introduced and a raft of programs from around the globe on our sets.

Then the digital age hit, DVD's gave us access to more of the programs and films long since forgotten, the government forced us to switch to digital, but for once it brought benefits like more channels (though not all good but we were used to that on cable and satellite) and more opportunities to access our favorite programs from around the globe. The internet then opened up more opportunity to share those videos we couldn't get on terrestrial TV, or on DVD, or in our own country. We now had access to all those old show and new internet only material, like we'd seen happen with music online, access to the content we wanted when we wanted.

The broadcasters pushed the government to bring HD to the terrestrial mold, the government dragged their heels for years until they saw the paid TV channels were leaving everyone else behind, then almost too late for the majority of people they created a new standard that was so individual people won't actually get HD for five more years, when they upgrade hardware again.

But the another standard was launched by the internet and cable companies in the form of Video on Demand, ways people could access vast amounts of legal video (not the bootleg copies) without buying lots of DVD's. It brought digital files more inline with the music industry.

So all the terrestrial broadcasters got together and tried to make their name in Video on Demand with a project called Kangaroo. It could have saved British TV from its own sliding figures and brought high quality programs back to another screen. Alas it wasn't to be (but that's another rant) instead it became another commercial operation. These broadcasters were not beaten they knew their next stage was to bring the internet video to the TV set so they launched Project Canvas.

What we know about canvas is little, the reason being, simple politics. BBC Trust, Office of Fair Trade, Competition Committee and anyone else you can think of won't just support a format that could possible bring money to the UK, no that would be silly when American companies do so well taking it out.So the project has had to be secretive until it can get over all these hurdles, but who can blame them after Project Kangaroo was so shamelessly knock down.

What we know about Canvas:

1. It's designed for freeview, freesat, IPTV - does this mean I only need one piece of equipment for all saving me, the consumer money to spend on paid services.
2. It brings Video on Demand to TV - meaning I can never miss a show, plus there will at last be something good on as older shows should be available, increasing my enjoyment and their life span. 
3. All the major terrestrial players are involved - great, at least I know it will work.
4. It will be up datable software- sorry up datable you mean I get new services without paying for new equipment, its too good to be true.

This all sounds good, if I can access all these services in one place and it can grow, then I can access paid content too I'm whatching TV how it should be right? Wrong.

While canvas will bring everything to a standard that will update and improve regularly over time, and whilst it will straighten out the random manufacture specific interfaces not everyone is happy. Mainly cable and satellite companies.

So lets ask why, satellite doesn't like it. Satellite doesn't like doing anything unless a) its profitable or b) it prevents others gaining on their market. Well I say wake up, this is an opportunity for you to help mold something very successful, that could increase your profitability and what have you got to loose, err stubbornness. Your a company who could make international profit from this by taking it out of the UK and making it a global standard, you could also make all your brands accessible to all countries, again being a profitable trend setter whilst saving you money.

With cable companies why are they moaning its mainly due to them making a new interface with Tivo. Lets be honest we hate Tivo in the UK, it never took off and I hate to say it, but it might never do again.  I'm a big fan of cable TV as they introduced me to Video on Demand and through friends, many weird and wonderful shows and guess what? I paid for content because of it. But you've been slow on moving on, you brought video on demand to the masses but never continued to push up with it, you brought forth HD, but now your only thinking about pushing it to viewers properly. You needed to do more sooner, your behind the times and loosing because of it.Canvas could help you catch up and push you forward quicker and cheaper.

So both of you just stop bloody moaning your the heavy waits in comparison and as we all know there is safety and more affect in numbers so how can you blame the project canvas group. Quit getting defensive and look at the possibility of joining the ranks of project canvas, if I could buy a box that meant just popping in cables and viewing cards to watch premium content then I'd be first to do it but I'm sure I wouldn't be the last. And if it was a familiar interface it just makes it easier for me to access it all.

I'm sure I'll talk more about project canvas in the future and I'm sure there will be things I will hate about it, but anything that will help me access more of the programs I love on my TV can only be a positive. Particularly if those are programs from long ago, rare or ones I've not seen since broadcast.

So bring on project canvas.