Virgin Media Community

[BillBrum]

Hi all

Sorry if this has already been answered elsewhere.  I would like to know which channels are in each package, and have been confused by the info on the Virgin website.  I am in Birmingham, and have a V6 box with Fun TV (L) and M100 fibre broadband.  No Virgin telephone line.  I have a Virgin mobile which I recently switched to a 20GB sim only deal for 24 months, so I don't want to go for an O2 Volt package.  I watch You Tube through the V6, so would like to keep that plus the catch up apps, but really don't need most of the channels I currently have.  I view maybe 15.

Any help with the channel lists would be appreciated.  Thanks.

[SCA1972 · Accepted solution]

There is a list of TV channels here:

https://www.virginmedia.com/virgin-tv-edit/tips-and-tricks/virgin-tv-channel-guide

The ones shown on that page in green (like your Fun TV) are legacy packages that are no longer available to choose.

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Scott

My setup: VM TV 360 box, M350 Fibre broadband with Hub 3 in modem mode connected to a Netgear R7000 router. Telewest/VM user since 2001.

[BillBrum]

Thank you for your help.  It looks like I could mostly get what I want from the Mixit option.  Maybe you or someone could help me to understand a bit more.

Any idea what price the Mixit would be, with just that plus the M100 broadband (no landline)?

The only channel I would like that is not there is Syfy - is it true that adding one channel costs £7 more?

I cannot see channel 266 in the channel guide - is that an error, and any idea if it is included in Mixit or would have to be a 'personal pick'?

Would this still allow me to have the You Tube and catch up options?

Thanks again.

[LittleMick73]

Hi all V6 boxes can access a selection of apps including YouTube Netflix iplayer etc, Press home on your remote scroll down to apps and games click okay select apps you will see all the apps available to you, as to the price you will need to phone to change your package and negotiate it with the call handler, and ask about the Syfy channel. Regards Micky

[japitts]

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@BillBrum wrote:

Any idea what price the Mixit would be, with just that plus the M100 broadband (no landline)?

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You'd have to call VM and ask them. You can get indicative "new customer" and standard pricing on the VM sales pages, but that price won't necessarily be what they offer you. Be aware the landline is often worth having, in order to benefit from multi-bundle discounts - those can often outweigh the additional "cost" of the LL.

You can't add single additional channels, you can only add Personal Picks as per https://www.virginmedia.com/content/dam/virginmedia/dotcom/documents/Redwood/Personal_Picks/Personal... - if you have preferences split across more than a couple of PP's then MaxIt can often become cost-effective.

YouTube, iPlayer and the other streaming apps are box functions without any dependency on which package you're on. "CatchUp" is inclusive on all packages, whereas box-sets are only inclusive on Maxit.

[BillBrum]

Thanks again to all who have kindly replied.

Re the landline, I am aware that the pricing is designed to encourage people to have all three services (four now, with mobiles) but I decided some years ago to retain my BT line in case I were to leave Virgin.  Also, in the flats where I live the existing cabling has all been tidied into the walls, and I cannot have an engineer running a line across the lobby walls and drilled through into my flat.

So, if I were to move to Mixit and wanted to add Syfy would I have to accept all 30 channels in the Entertainment & Drama list on the Personal Picks document (29 of which I don't want)?  That doesn't make it a very personal pick!  Would that be £7 more?

If I also wanted to add National Geographic, would that mean adding another whole group (although channel 266 is missing from the Personal Picks document as well as from the Channel Guide)?

Thanks again

[japitts]

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@BillBrum wrote:

So, if I were to move to Mixit and wanted to add Syfy would I have to accept all 30 channels in the Entertainment & Drama list on the Personal Picks document (29 of which I don't want)?  That doesn't make it a very personal pick!  Would that be £7 more?

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Yes to the questions I've put in bold. Pricing I'm not 100% sure on in recent weeks, but fairly sure the first pick is still £7, subsequent ones £5. Sorry say, but enabling indvidual & specific channel selection is not how pay-TV works. Many minority channels are only commercially viable because of the bundling model that all pay-TV platforms operate.

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@BillBrum wrote:

If I also wanted to add National Geographic, would that mean adding another whole group (although channel 266 is missing from the Personal Picks document as well as from the Channel Guide)?

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National Geographic HD is listed under Entertainment & Documentaries, although you make a good observation that the SD variant isn't.

So you will need 2 personal picks if you want these channels, yes. You'd be as wise to consider the price differential compared with Maxit - where you'll get all the personal picks, plus a few extra goodies.

[newapollo]

When you say can't see Channel 266 in the channel guide are you referring to the onscreen EPG?

That's been empty for a while now due to individual broadcasters removing and/or re-organising their channels.

There may be some confusion with the online Channels guides

The National Geographic HD is on channel 266 on the 360 box, however it's on channel 268 on the older TIVO and V6 boxes. The SD variant was dropped from all boxes a while ago.

ChannelGuide_360_Apr_22.pdf 

TIVO and V6 ChannelGuide_Apr_22.pdf 

The Personal_Picks_Apr_2022.pdf  states channel 268 (it  doesn't differentiate from the 266 channel number on the 360) but it would still be available as a part of the Entertainment & Documentaries Personal Pick on all 3 box types.

If you do decide to elect for both groups of Personal Pick add ons then as per japitts, the first one you add is an extra £7 a month, any additional ones are £5 a month extra. You can cancel the Personal Pick at any time by giving 30 days notice. It won't affect your contract or any discounts you have.

[BillBrum]

Thanks Japitts, you are indeed very insightful.  And thanks Newapollo.

Japitts - I do understand how how most channels aren't worth a light, which is why they have to get 'bundled'.  In fact, I used to work for Birmingham Cable (Telewest) so I know a bit about that.  It used to be that a customer could add whichever channel he wanted, for (I think) one pound per channel.  Happy days, but at that time the corporate message was that almost none of the services made money, whilst the pay-per-view sporting events attracted the real revenue.  Now that I am just a paying customer (rather than getting it free as a member of staff) I find it all very expensive.  I don't want most of what I get 'bundled' to me, and I find the Virgin website descriptions of services oblique as they refer to names of bundles which don't relate to the names of options in the channel guides - which also change too frequently.

Newapollo - On my V6 box channel 266 is Nat Geo, showing Car SOS.  That channel is not listed in the Channel Guide PDF and is not shown in the Personal Picks document.  It has not been dropped from my box.

I suppose that, overall, I am disappointed about a few things:

That I cannot pick what I really want without having to pay for such a lot that I don't want (don't they realise that we all have increased costs of living now to deal with).

That the web info is oblique to say the least (bundles in some settings, channel lists in others).

That prices are not clear online - or anywhere.  I don't know why companies can't be honest about pricing, as customers shouldn't have to negotiate.

That existing customers seem to have to threaten to leave in order to get 'retained' with discounts.

[japitts]

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@BillBrum wrote:

On my V6 box channel 266 is Nat Geo, showing Car SOS.  That channel is not listed in the Channel Guide PDF and is not shown in the Personal Picks document.  It has not been dropped from my box.

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There is a complication here, where the TV360 is concerned. When you have access to both the SD & HD versions of a particular channel, the TV360 replaces the SD version with HD - something the V6 doesn't do. So if you have both, Ch266 on a TV360 is NatGeo-HD, Ch267 is NatGeoSD+1.

On a TiVo/V6, 266 is NatGeo SD, 267 is NatGeo+1, 268 is NatGeo HD

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@BillBrum wrote:

That the web info is oblique to say the least (bundles in some settings, channel lists in others).

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I'm not sure what you mean by "bundles in some settings, channel lists in others", but there's only 2 basic TV tiers now. There's numerous older TV tiers that are no longer sold. VM's marketing sorts do then create all manner of colourful names for their bundles - all of which will have Mixit or Maxit as the TV-element, along with different combinations of broadband & phone options.

As for the pricing, "if I had a pound for every time".....