Recent changes on the VM Network

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  • That would seem to indicate the HD versions are on the way, if they're putting SD channels into lower packs.

    I think they are slowly turning Mix into Fun so they can get rid of Mix, and then do the same with Fun so that it turns into Maxit, therefore l meaning everyone's on the 2 same tiers eventually.

  • To be more specific, they updated their post to say that the channels are Nickelodeon, Nick Jr. Nicktoons and Nick Jr. Too. There was no mention of Nick HD or any other HD content from them.

  • I think they are slowly turning Mix into Fun so they can get rid of Mix, and then do the same with Fun so that it turns into Maxit, therefore l meaning everyone's on the 2 same tiers eventually.

    So do you think their end game is to have everyone on either the Player Pack, with the option to add on genres, or on Maxit?

    If so, I think you could well be right.

    A bit of a dangerous game to play though, starting customers off on Player could well lead them to find that it suits their needs without them upgrading.

  • So do you think their end game is to have everyone on either the Player Pack, with the option to add on genres, or on Maxit?

    If so, I think you could well be right.

    A bit of a dangerous game to play though, starting customers off on Player could well lead them to find that it suits their needs without them upgrading.

    They aren't starting the existing customers on Mixit (which is basically Player rebranded before you start adding Personal Picks) so gradual additions will give them a taste of them and only when price rises make customers question the continued value will they look at the options.

    VM has the problem of keeping broadcasters on-side as they make these changes, it's not just about customer-facing side of business.

    Arguably it's working as I'm valuing the HD additions at the moment.

  • They aren't starting the existing customers on Mixit (which is basically Player rebranded before you start adding Personal Picks) so gradual additions will give them a taste of them and only when price rises make customers question the continued value will they look at the options.

    VM has the problem of keeping broadcasters on-side as they make these changes, it's not just about customer-facing side of business.

    Arguably it's working as I'm valuing the HD additions at the moment.

    Technically the same pack code, which VM still calls "M".

    Hopefully they will add the Kids Tier into Maxim because the current system is not good.

  • Technically the same pack code, which VM still calls "M".

    Hopefully they will add the Kids Tier into Maxim because the current system is not good.

    I forgot Player/Mixit was M.

    Given they deliberately removed the Kids Pay TV from Full House to make Maxit I can't see it happening.

  • I forgot Player/Mixit was M.

    Given they deliberately removed the Kids Pay TV from Full House to make Maxit I can't see it happening.

    The old pack flags were added to all channels in the pack but the new tiers are incremental. Maxim doesn't exist as a pack code it is M Pack Tier 1 + Entertainment Tier + Drama Tier + Reality Tier + Documentaries Tier + Full House Excl Tier + Full House Excl Tier (4K). They didn't add the Kids Tier but with Nickelodeon etc moving into different legacy packs, that might suggest that the broadcasters prefer to make the channels available to a wider audience. If Viacom want their channels to be more widely available and, with the possibility of Disney withholding content after the existing contracts expire, the Kids Tier could become unviable.

    Full House Excl Tier (4K) isn't enabled for legacy Tivo users as trying to decode 4K content would crash the box. Similarly the legacy packs had separate SD and HD pack codes to stop the older SD only boxes from crashing if a HD channel was selected. Legacy packs still have SD & HD codes, even though the SD only boxes have been removed from the network.

    Full House Excl Tier is completely different to the legacy "XL Pack Tier 5" pack.

  • Wowser that's complicated. :)

    I'm not surprised by that last line, as original Full House, as I understand it, was just a rebranding of XL, whereas New Full House was XL minus the Kids Pay channels.

    New Full House was a short lived disaster, also being called Full House it seemed to result in lots of customer complaints from people looking for new better deals as they didn't realise it wasn't the same pack as it had the same same. A stupid and easily avoidable mistake by VM.

  • The new Full House "tier" is basically BT Sport channels plus Comcast HD channels with a couple of extras such as Virgin UHD & heyu content. Everything else in Maxim is from the other tiers.

  • Indeed.^^ I'll have to read it about ten times to absorb it all, but at least jj understands VM's inner workings, so well done to him!:)

    The pack code analysis is horrendous in that there are so many columns of data, it makes it difficult to read. So it is being split into 2, one comparing the pack codes and the other comparing the actual packs. The conversion is why the analysis database has been in maintenance mode for most of the week. That and the fact that bulk analysed data between last Christmas and mid April has to be properly analysed before the changes can go live.

  • The pack code analysis is horrendous in that there are so many columns of data, it makes it difficult to read. So it is being split into 2, one comparing the pack codes and the other comparing the actual packs. The conversion is why the analysis database has been in maintenance mode for most of the week. That and the fact that bulk analysed data between last Christmas and mid April has to be properly analysed before the changes can go live.

    That sounds like quite a job. :P=O

  • Not surprising given the output quality of the channel right now. Crackling, random white specks, picture jumping. Like a very worn VHS tape. And it's still in 4:3

  • Not surprising given the output quality of the channel right now. Crackling, random white specks, picture jumping. Like a very worn VHS tape. And it's still in 4:3

    Out of curiousity I just looked. It literally must be using tape to produce that. =O

    I can't see any news of closure in a basic web search, no prior warning like with the Zee channels. Maybe VM are ending it due to this poor service being in breach of a contract?

  • Out of curiousity I just looked. It literally must be using tape to produce that. =O

    I can't see any news of closure in a basic web search, no prior warning like with the Zee channels. Maybe VM are ending it due to this poor service being in breach of a contract?

    I suspect that it's just closing on VM as, if a channel is closing on all platforms, they like to make that clear. This closure will be described as 'Channel no longer available', which suggests to me that this closure only affects VM.

    Maybe jj will see a closedown slate in the scans along the lines of 'This channel is no longer available, but don't worry, similar content can be found on....'. This is what they usually do.

  • I suspect that it's just closing on VM as, if a channel is closing on all platforms, they like to make that clear. This closure will be described as 'Channel no longer available', which suggests to me that this closure only affects VM.

    Maybe jj will see a closedown slate in the scans along the lines of 'This channel is no longer available, but don't worry, similar content can be found on....'. This is what they usually do.

    The normal way of handling one off closures is to replace the existing video stream with a slate. In which case, it won't appear until the channel ends and will, most likely, be encrypted using the original video stream config.

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