virgibmedia missing channels

[Jimbo65]

I have without success been asking VM for information on my reduced number of ITV channels. I live in Scotland and my channel 103 is Scottish Television(STV). I tried some time ago to access an ITV programme as it had football as opposed to a local STV programme. These ITV channels used to be available and then they were cancelled by VM but were still available on the ITV Hub. The ITV hub, however, no longer exists so there is now no access for me to ITV programmes in England .When I called VM they said that ITV was available at channel 113, which I do not have. They said they would investigate why I did not have it and get back to me within 5 days which they did not. I phoned again and was told that channel 113 simply does not exist. I wrote to VM but so far they have not come back to me.

Can anyone tell me if channel 113 exists and if so what is it? Can anyone tell me if mainstream ITV channels are accessible or is it the case that we can now only access our local ITV channels, in my case STV.( This question has nothing to do with ITV2, ITV3or ITV4) Thank you.

[japitts · Accepted solution]

I've got a vague recollection that in Scotland, VM are bound by STV's carriage agreement to not allow access to ITV (rUK) content but restrict to only STV programmes.

Ch113 in rUK is ITV-SD where Ch103 is ITV-HD. Another VIP user @Ernie_C lives in Scotland also and may be able to confirm. I suspect @nodrogd can probably confirm the Scottish/rUK arrangements where ITV franchises are concerned. Hope they don't mind the tag.

[nodrogd]

Channel 113 (ITV London SD) is now the only surviving SD region of ITV, & as far as I am aware is only available in Virgins London area franchises.

The SD versions have also been removed from Sky, although Freesat still carries ITV London SD on 977. This is the feed Virgin uses, & I’m surprised this has not been removed, as the only reason it is still there is for the few remaining Freesat customers with non HD equipment.

All Virgin equipment is now HD & uses ITVs direct fibre feed to their TV master headend at Langley, so the SD versions are no longer needed.

[Ernie_C]

I can confirm that there is no access to any regional ITV channel in Scotland, other than STV.

If I understand correctly, this is not a Virgin Media issue.

[nodrogd]

ITV have never been keen on "out of region" reception, even within England. They could have taken additional Sky/Freesat guide slots to make all regions available across the UK on satellite as the BBC have done. But it is a further expence to do this amongst other things. They can be manually tuned & added that way by individual customers. If they did this on Virgin the cost would increase significantly, as even the BBC will only distribute the national BBC1 regions to the whole of the UK on Virgin.

And before you ask; no, you cannot manually tune Virgin cable boxes. The channel selection is controlled by the core network distribution & the local headend settings. The ITV1 channel does not exist on your part of the network.

[Jimbo65]

Thank you so much. That would explain it but we can get BBC regional and national channels on VM.

It does of course mean that for whatever reason VM are supplying many many customers with fewer channels for the same price as before

Thanks again

[Jimbo65]

Many thanks for your reply

There is no doubt at all that I used to get English ITV channels. I often watched football on ITV when STV were showing a local programme. I accept that it may have been years ago

[Adri_G]

Hi Jimbo65, thank you for your posts and replies on our help forum.

Sorry to hear of this issue with the channel missing from your TV box list, please check here for our updated channel guide to view more details.
Based on this guide, channel ITV HD (STV HD in Scotland) is on CH 103 and ITV is on CH 113 - are you able to access and view ITV player (TV box Apps), perhaps?

We're eager to best assist with your query and issue, however as we see you've been given some advice from our insightful forum members above - has this been of help?
Please, let us know if you have any questions regarding the TV box or channels and we'll be glad to help.

[Jimbo65]

Thank you. This is now the subject of a complaint (ref C-0911221938)with VM and so far the response has been appalling even though my letters were sent recorded delivery to Sunderland head office.They recently sent me a proposed resolution  which was so poorly worded that it made no sense

Initially when I asked about this they told me initially that they would investigate why I did not have ch113 and would get back to me within 5 days. They did not get back to me

When I called again I was told that ch113 simply did not exist and this was clearly an innocent error at best

I am becoming  sick of VM. 

ITV player is an app I simply do not have.I have the  STV player. I do not know why this is

The replies in the forum have been interesting and I am grateful for the help but ultimately,I still do not have ITV

[Jimbo65]

Adri

  I am not used to this site or the procedures so please forgive me if I am getting things wrong.

Firstly, do you work for VM and if so, can you help me?

VM are now sending me messages with wrong details of my complaint and offering  a resolution which makes no sense. They say that they will consider my complaint settled after 28 days. I have objected and will continue to do so but they are obsessed with getting the complaint off their books without bothering to settle it. I feel very frustrated at VM. They do not seem to care. 

Can you also advise me why no one from Head Office Sunderland will speak to me, even though I have sent 2 recorded delivery letters?

Any advice about how to get meaningful dialogue with VM would be appreciated

Thanks

Jimbo65