My Disgust at Blogger

Blogger has marked one of my blogs (Prequels, Sequels & Trilogies) as spam...

It will be deleted within 20 days if I do not lodge a review

WTF Blogger... I am seriously considering moving all my blogs to the more versatile Wordpress !

I am reposting this on ALL my other open blogs using the sidewikibar thingy!!!

in reference to: My Sony Ericsson Sucks: My Disgust at Blogger (view on Google Sidewiki)

Woke up this morning...

...to find my Vbox frozen on UK Gold (sad I know). I rebooted it and got a funny code on the display and a green TV screen.

Phoned "151" and was told I needed another new box (3rd in 3 years)! Virgin told me I would get an engineer on Wednesday PM

This time I hope I will get the 4 days credit for "no service"

"I hope the weather is monsoon quality on your 'private' island Mr Branson"

Sky Viewing Card...

BSkyB, under the guise of 'security' are forcing tens of thousands of 'ex' customers who use their own Sky box as a 'freeview' to buy a new card so that they can continue to do so.

At the moment, if you do not, then every hour a blue box appears telling you to contact Sky or Freesat to get one.

"What a fucking cheek. I purchased the satellite box and jumped through all the hoops and eventually opted for a cable TV/telephone/broadband supplier, but still used my own Sky box to receive freeview channels."

How very dare they...

Pixelated Picture on Sky Channels...

I have a Virgin box AND a SKY box. I was a SKY customer but following great reports about Virgin broadband, compared with BT and other phone line Internet providers, I switched in 2006.

Recently, Ive noticed that some channels (particularly the SKY family) have poor quality images during 90% of viewing, with pixelation during normal viewing.

I've also noticed that the pixelated images seem to miraculously disappear during adverts for SKY-HD and SKY-PLUS services.

Bob de Bilde's Comment:

How can this be so unless the pixelation is caused deliberately?

On the forums it seems I am not the only person to notice this, and some experts bend over backwards to blame VIRGIN MEDIA's system of re-transmitting a satellite feed via their own optical systems for the problem.

I repeat my last question with that response in mind: If the pixelation only occurs during programs and disappears during ads for SKY-HD and SKY-PLUS, how can it not be deliberate?

Sky and Virgin end cable TV row

BSkyB and Virgin Media have declared an end to their 20-month long public row with an agreement for Sky channels to return to cable television.

The satellite broadcaster, which shows hit programmes such as Lost and 24 on Sky One, went off air on Virgin Media in February 2007 following a long and costly dispute over how much BSkyB intended to charge Virgin Media to renew its distribution contract for the basic package.

The row had been widely seen as a burden on both companies, and Nasdaq-listed Virgin Media rose 13pc in early trading to $7.52 while BSkyB was 9pc higher at 425.75p.

The dispute between the rivals began as relations between the pair hit an all-time low following BSkyB's acquisition of a 17.9pc stake in ITV. It was claimed that BSkyB's intentions for acquiring the stake were purely to prevent NTL, now part of Virgin Media, from taking over ITV.

The new agreement, scheduled to begin on November 13, will see Sky's basic channels, such as Sky One, Sky Two and Sky Sports News, return to cable. A second agreement provides for the continued carriage of Virgin Media TV's basic channels - Living, Living Two, Bravo, Bravo Two, Trouble, Challenge and Virgin One - on Sky. Both deals will run concurrently until 12 June 2011.

As part of the agreements, both Sky and Virgin Media have agreed to terminate all High Court proceedings against each other relating to the channel carriage dispute. The agreement includes fixed annual carriage fees for the channels with both groups able to secure additional capped payments if their channels meet certain performance-related targets. The groups would not reveal the financial terms of the new contract.

Bob de Bilde's Comment:

I am glad this has been sorted, now, but I am still seething at Branson's arrogance last March. The only good thing to come out of all this is the speedy (if not hasty) introduction of Virgin's replayer and catch up service and the Virgin 1 channel.

Virgin Media loses basic Sky channels

The basic Sky channels stopped airing on Virgin Media (formerly ntl:Telewest) at midnight on February 28th after weeks of talks between the two companies failed to find a better solution.

According to Virgin Media, Sky had demanded double the previous fees for these channels, despite a 20 percent decline in performance of the programming (according to Virgin Media). Click here for more information on Sky TV and Virgin Media packages

What does this mean for Virgin Media customers?

If you’ve just signed up for Virgin Media or you’re a former ntl:Telewest subscriber, you’ll no longer receive the basic Sky channels: including Sky One, Sky Two, Sky Three and Sky News.

The Sky Sports and Sky Movies subscription channels are unaffected.

Chris Eagle, commercial manager at DigitalChoices.co.uk, says: “In the short term, this is bad news for Virgin Media customers, particularly those who signed up recently for big shows like Lost and are still bound by a 12-month contract. But Virgin Media is planning replacements for these channels which could be even better.”

I’m with Virgin Media – should I switch to Sky?

Unless you’re really fussed about particular Sky programmes or channels, don’t make any rash decisions right now. Virgin Media is using the money saved to acquire the rights to some major shows over the next 12 months, and will be more than doubling the amount of programming available on demand.

And bear in mind if you are a Virgin Media customer you risk losing your broadband connection if you choose to switch to a Sky bundle, and may have to pay £120 to reactivate BT line get broadband services.

Bob de Bilde's Comment:

I was SO pissed off this morning, watching Richard Branson being interviewed on GMTV from HIS PRIVATE ISLAND in the Pacific Ocean, telling dopey Fiona Phillips that he had to make a stand against SKY, when to the external observer, it was Branson's sheer greed that caused the problem.

As I see it, Virgin pay SKY a certain amount of money per customer for SKY basic channels, based on 2005 customer numbers. As the numbers had increased almost exponentially, recently, SKY were asking for a larger payment to reflect this. This was not a revision, but an appropriate and fair request at the regular contract negotiating time.

What is Branson playing at?

I will now be missing the final two episodes of Stargate SG-1 because of the greed of one already wealthy man...