Anger as Virgin Media UK Confirm Loss of Popular UKTV Channels

After some initial warnings last week, cable operator Virgin Media has over the weekend confirmed that “unfortunately no agreement has been reached” on the fate of their UKTV channels line-up (10 channels inc. the 5 free-to-air channels, such as Dave), which means that they’ve been pulled as of midnight on 22nd July 2018.

The dispute is typically centred around money (isn’t it always). On the one hand Virgin Media claims that UKTV wanted “inflated sums” for their channel line-up, while on the other UKTV has said that Virgin Media was seeking a “drastic price cut” for the content. In any case the result is that 10 TV channels including Alibi, Gold, W, Eden, Good Food, Dave, Yesterday, Drama, Really and Home have now been pulled.

UKTV added that it was “unreasonable to ask [them] to pay to be part of a product that Virgin Media sells to customers …. Virgin Media don’t offer a TV package to customers without some kind of subscription fee. In effect, they want UKTV to subsidise their business by paying to be part of a product that they sell for a minimum of £29 a month” (worth adding that the £29 example includes broadband and phone in a bundle). Check out UKTV’s full statement.

We additionally note that while UKTV’s FTA share of viewership has increased on Virgin TV, its paid-for channel share is said to have decreased.

Darren Childs, CEO of UKTV, said:

“We’re hugely disappointed for the many customers who are losing out because our channels are no longer available through Virgin Media. We completely understand their frustration and would love to continue to bring them the shows and channels that they’re so passionate about, but we need a fair price to support our growing investment in programmes. The reality is that we just can’t accept the drastic price cut that Virgin wants.

We remain completely committed to our viewers and appreciate the thousands of messages of support that we have received. We will continue to serve our viewers through our many platform partners.”

David Bouchier, Chief Digital Entertainment Officer, said:

“We are as disappointed as our customers that we have had to replace UKTV’s channels.

To be clear: we are ready to restore UKTV’s free channels for our customers immediately with UKTV’s permission.

We have been in extensive discussions with UKTV but we have not been able to reach an agreement which reflects the reality of how people are watching television in the 21st Century.

UKTV is insisting on holding back its channels, like Dave, which are freely available over the air and online, unless we pay inflated sums of money for its paid channels like Gold. On top of this, UKTV is unable to provide the extensive on-demand programming which is expected of a modern day broadcaster.

We have already replaced UKTV’s channels with a suite of high-quality programming. This includes the Paramount Network with shows like Suits and Designated Survivor; YourTV, a new channel which is home to Castle, Bones and Body of Proof; inclusive access to Premier Sports which has all of the football matches from the International Champions Cup and numerous new box sets available on-demand such as Shades of Blue, Supergirl and Madam Secretary.”

Disputes like the one above are uncommon, but they do occur and the pressure being place on traditional Pay TV providers by internet-only streaming firms like Netflix and Amazon Prime is one reason why we might see more of this in the future as the old model of broadcasting fights for survival.

However, it’s still at least possible to view UKTV’s 5 free-to-air channels via Terrestrial TV (Freeview and Freesat), as well as via Sky TV (Sky Broadband), BT and TalkTalk’s platform. Meanwhile Virgin Media has decided to compensate for the loss of UKTV by adding a bunch of new premium TV channels and content “at no extra cost” (listed below), although this may not placate the frustration being vented by some customers.

Virgin TV’s Replacement Channels

On-Demand/Box Sets