Blogs - Cable TV

Friday, February 5th 2010

Valentine's Day is just around the corner and broadband and digital TV provider Virgin Media is giving couples the chance to get their hands on a range of romantic entertainment.

With many restaurants and hotels hiking up their prices around February 14th, and most places being packed with other couples, a cosy night in, in front of a rom-com could be the ideal way to enjoy a low-key Valentine's Day.

Virgin Media's on-demand service will be showing a number of romantically-themed TV episodes and films over the coming weeks, including Head Over Heels, Love Actually and episodes of Gossip Girl, Friends and ER.

Monday, November 23rd 2009

Fresh from launching new on-demand content on its digital TV platform, Virgin Media has revealed it is to showcase two US series from the start of next year.

Trauma and Warehouse 13 will be shown on the company's Virgin 1 channel, thanks to a new deal with NBC. So, what do fans of US TV have to look forward to from the programmes?

Created by producers behind series such as Monk, Dresden Files and Rescue Me, Warehouse 13 stars Saul Rubinek and Eddie McClintock.

Shown on the Syfy channel, the series focuses on the relationship between two chalk-and-cheese agents as they look to get their hands on supernatural items to take back to a government storage facility.

Friday, November 13th 2009

A new dimension is coming to digital TV, but it may not be coming from the company you were expecting.

While Sky was the first major provider to announce plans to launch 3D TV in the UK, Virgin Media has nudged ahead in the race to bring the new service to consumers. From November 17th, the company is to showcase a season of 3D content through its on-demand platform.

Broadband TV News reports that a range of shows are to be broadcast in proprietary anaglyph, a complicated sounding format which allows users to enjoy the content when wearing special glasses that will be available from Virgin Media stores and Sainsbury's.

Friday, October 9th 2009

Virgin Media's decision to trial the use of copper lines for delivering its digital TV and high-speed broadband is a relative departure for the company.

However, while the move will see the firm expand its services away from its own cable network, such pilots could be increasingly common as we move towards a Digital Britain.

According to The Register, the trial in collaboration with Vtesse Networks could be an example of the regional initiatives that will receive funding from the government's new fixed line tax.

Thursday, July 23rd 2009

The government's plans to rollout universal broadband access in the UK have raised many eyebrows and caused much debate since they were announced last month.

However, one expert has suggested that the growing number of people that use web-connected services via mobile phones and over technology means it is wrong to suggest internet access can only be provided through laptops or PCs.

In a speech at the Westminster eForum keynote seminar: Broadband for All?, Professor Frank Webster, head of sociology at City University London, claimed a so-called Digital Britain could emerge away from the humble computer.

Tuesday, July 21st 2009

While some people may have a mental block as far as the digital switchover goes, a new project has shown that the age of a TV is no obstacle to joining what more enthusiastic folk would describe as "the revolution".

Digital UK – the body behind the UK's switchover – has discovered a 73-year-old TV as part of a nationwide search to find the country's oldest working set.

However, as if to once more drill home the point that people who have not already done so need to prepare for the end of analogue services, the body has taken the Marconiphone model and hooked it up with a set-top box.

Thursday, June 25th 2009

Could a Formula One racing legend be single-handedly responsible for evidence that the use of online TV services is on the rise in the UK?

It certainly appears so, as the excitement that emerged as part of Top Gear's grand unveiling of its mysterious test driver The Stig as Michael Schumacher has translated strongly into the world of broadband usage.

According to internet service provider Plusnet, it experienced a record level of iPlayer streaming traffic between 22:00 and 23:00 BST on Sunday (21st June).

What could have caused such a spike? Well, the broadband firm thinks there is only one reason.