Recent changes on the VM Network

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  • I'd like 8 tuners. Mainly because I could add padding to my recording defaults again. I was much more comfortable with the way the V+ handled padding than the Tivo software.

    Most of the time 6 is more than enough, usually there's only 4 simultaneous recordings.

    Oh yes, same here, i'd forgotten about that. So, in order to pad out everything, i'd like about ten tuners :D

  • No, seems about right... 8o:evil:

    Nah, leave 'em. :evil::D

    Nah. Let the Scottish regional rivalries continue! ;)^^

    But seriously, several of the divisions reflect the STV news regions.

    Even though I can't think of reason not to merge my particular region, it's kinda nice it's separate. :love: 8)

    I suppose the Northern Ireland merger dealt with any local differences by making the Belfast local tv channel available to the former Derry region. Maybe it was already available there, it's ex-Langley so I don't see the NIT data.

    I doubt they would merge all of the Scottish regions. My point was that some of them carry a common group of channels, such as ex-Telewest Uddingston & ex-NTL Glasgow, and Edinburgh & Falkirk, also the Dundee & Perth regions.

    90 is far too many regions to have in a unified network. I would hope that, if they go that way, they'll cull a few regions first.

  • A few NIT linkage (Tivo download) changes overnight, with a different configuration. The new configuration is possibly due to the recent firmware upgrades but we have no track record for these changes so it's not obvious. One of the changes looks a bit odd so I won't attempt to summarise the changes. I'll wait and see if there are further changes today and over the weekend and summarise the changes after that.

    There will also be a summary of other recent changes which should be ready to post over the weekend.

  • Well it's not an exclusive problem, it's all TV services.

    True but this thread isn't about all TV services. I guess the newly launched streamers will be hit very hard and it could have an even bigger impact on those.. but that's a topic for another thread.

  • True but this thread isn't about all TV services. I guess the newly launched streamers will be hit very hard and it could have an even bigger impact on those.. but that's a topic for another thread.

    I know it isn't, but your post I was replying to wasn't either.

  • Not a recent change on the VM network but a very real indication of future changes to the content, which was the context of the post.

    I reread, and I think I need to point out I was talking about traditional TV platforms (e.g. Sky's satellite one) and broadcasters with various channels when I said TV Services.

    I was not referring to streaming services.

    Obviously that wasn't clear. Sorry.

  • It was clear.

    My original point was that, with production of new material halted, it's unlikely that there will be major changes to content over the next few months, with channels less likely to rebrand or refocus. You were right that other platforms will be affected too but my point, for this thread, is that the current situation will, possibly, have an impact on the number of changes on the VM network in the coming months. Similar points could, indeed, be made on the threads for other platforms.

    It will be interesting to see how the likes of Sky Witness differentiate themselves from the likes of CBS channels and the Channel 5 stable, if they all end up showing repeats of NCIS, Law & Order SVU etc. But that wasn't the focus of my comment, more the impact this will have on changes to the VM network over the next few months.

  • Just one change noted on the overnight scan log, it seems to be a correction of one of the NIT linkage changes from yesterday, the one that looked a bit odd. That said, no analysis has been done, so it could be something else on the same network - unlikely though.

    Analysis of recent events will be posted either today or tomorrow.

  • Apparently, 'Sky Players' and 'Sky Players HD' have reverted back to 'Sky Sp Golf' and 'SkySp Golf HD' three days earlier than planned, due to it being cancelled because of the current coronavirus pandemic.

  • Apparently, 'Sky Players' and 'Sky Players HD' have reverted back to 'Sky Sp Golf' and 'SkySp Golf HD' three days earlier than planned, due to it being cancelled because of the current coronavirus pandemic.

    That sort of thing was a nightmare for the analysts filling in the Dec 2018 - April 2019 gaps in the changelog. They compared the official changeover dates and the changelog dates of the Sky scans to get an approximate date for any actual changes on VM if a VM scan wasn't available.

    The first gap in scan data was Dec 27th to Jan 5th, no scans being taken between Dec 28th & Jan 4th, the official changeover date for Xmas Food to Good Food was Dec 26th, the Sky changelog showed changes to Food / Gold on Jan 2nd, so the analysts made a temporary entry for Jan 2nd. However, the VM Jan 7th scanlog showed that VM was still using the Xmas brands and VM didn't revert to the normal names until Jan 8th. Temporary rebrands are quite chaotic.

  • It was clear.

    My original point was that, with production of new material halted, it's unlikely that there will be major changes to content over the next few months, with channels less likely to rebrand or refocus. You were right that other platforms will be affected too but my point, for this thread, is that the current situation will, possibly, have an impact on the number of changes on the VM network in the coming months. Similar points could, indeed, be made on the threads for other platforms.

    It will be interesting to see how the likes of Sky Witness differentiate themselves from the likes of CBS channels and the Channel 5 stable, if they all end up showing repeats of NCIS, Law & Order SVU etc. But that wasn't the focus of my comment, more the impact this will have on changes to the VM network over the next few months.

    Fair enough. I thought you were saying VM were somehow different, but this clears things up. :)

  • Apparently, 'Sky Players' and 'Sky Players HD' have reverted back to 'Sky Sp Golf' and 'SkySp Golf HD' three days earlier than planned, due to it being cancelled because of the current coronavirus pandemic.

    That change happened overnight on VM. The summary will be posted along with the summary of other recent events in a few days time. The analysts found a problem with the current analysis during a system audit, hopefully, it won't take too long for them to sort it out.

  • I expect some of the minor channels to close as advertising drys up. What's the point in advertising a closed business? Some small businesses also say they will run out of funds within two to three weeks.

    I suppose only the likes of Netflix will want to advertise to keep peopke occupied at home and it doesn't require anyone coming into the home to install it.

    Sky & VM may also suspend installations (I know a guy who works for Openreach and he says that The Communications Union is pushing for only outside work to be carried out until further notice).

    Ironically, as people self isolate, I expect that viewing figures will shoot up!

  • Sky will now allow customers to 'pause' their Sky Sports subscription etc:


    Whilst we expect that many of the recently postponed sports events will go ahead, if you wish to pause your Sky Sports subscription in the meantime you will not be

    charged a fee to do so or be held to any notice period. Meanwhile we continue

    to provide high quality content across all of our 11 Sky Sports channels.

    https://www.sky.com/shop/covid19-c…HP-banner-COVID

    https://www.skygroup.sky/en-gb/article/…day-in-the-home

    Sky Ireland (ROI & NI) is to give pubs Sky Sports for free.

    Canal+ in France is to make it's subscription service free to air to all it's subscribers and anyone that has a receiver durning the COVID-19 outbreak. https://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2020/03/17/can…or-subscribers/

    Not heard anything about what/if VM are planning to do. If they follow suit, we might see a raft of pack code changes.

    Edit: All BT & Sky Sports commercial subscriptions have been suspended until further notice. This won't affect VM as they no longer do commercial TV contracts.

  • Overnight changes included

    Box Upfront (placeholder) - Moving from SID 522 to placeholder SID 550

    ZooMoo HD (placeholder) - Moving from SID 2006 to placeholder SID 2050

    New Channels

    SID 416 - Channel A SD (EPG 642)

    SID 522 - Channel B SD (EPG 644)

    SID 2006 - Channel B HD (EPG 643)

    SID 2507 - Channel A HD (EPG 641)

    So, umm... thanks go to VM for the mysterious names. ;)

    All of the above carry the Sky1 & Sky2 flags and genre flag 1 - Documentaries.

    I wonder what these could be... ^^

    Also further NIT Linkage changes.

    Level 3 and 4 updates for TTA Knowsley DMC (Hayes_RHE)

    Level 3 updates for Hayes.

    The analysts have suspended the old analysis routines used for the scanners logs and replaced it with the analysis they used to fill in the gaps from last year.

    Edited once, last by jj20x: Updated with further details of NIT Linkage updates. (March 20, 2020 at 2:33 PM).

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