Change of Active Hours - Start of British Summer Time:

Start of BST				30/03/2024	31/03/2024
ID-Ref		Service Name	Annotation	Active Hours	Active Hours
312		Television X		22:00:00-05:30:00	21:00:00-04:30:00
314		Adult Channel		22:00:00-05:30:00	21:00:00-04:30:00
1759		CBBC HD		05:31:00-18:58:00	04:31:00-17:58:00
1760		CBeebies HD		05:31:00-18:58:00	04:31:00-17:58:00
1959		XXX GirlGirl		22:00:00-05:30:00	21:00:00-04:30:00
2088		Nat Geo WILD HD		08:00:00-04:59:59	07:00:00-03:59:59
2240		BBC THREE HD	VM England	18:59:00-05:30:00	17:59:00-04:30:00
2241		BBC THREE HD	VM Wales	18:59:00-05:30:00	17:59:00-04:30:00
2242		BBC THREE HD	VM Scotland	18:59:00-05:30:00	17:59:00-04:30:00
2243		BBC THREE HD	VM Northern Ireland	18:59:00-05:30:00	17:59:00-04:30:00
2244		BBC FOUR HD	VM England	18:59:00-05:30:00	17:59:00-04:30:00
2245		BBC FOUR HD	VM Wales	18:59:00-05:30:00	17:59:00-04:30:00
2246		BBC FOUR HD	VM Scotland	18:59:00-05:30:00	17:59:00-04:30:00
2247		BBC FOUR HD	VM Northern Ireland	18:59:00-05:30:00	17:59:00-04:30:00

As broadcasting systems work in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the active hours have changed to reflect the change to BST.

- Active hours in UTC moved back by 1 hour to counteract the effect of the clocks moving forward by 1 hour for BST.

Channel Closure Slate Hidden From The EPG:

Channel 737  -  ID 1340 Tiny Pop  -  Placeholder - End of Service.

- Hide flags changed.

The changes have hidden the channel from the EPG, 9 days after the service was replaced by a slate informing viewers of the channel closure.

 

 

Temporary Rebrands:

4 movie channels with promotional rebrands. 

FAST Channel partial launch updates:

Channel 225  -  ID 2279 5 Cops  -  FAST Channel Portal.

Channel 226  -  ID 2289 Catfish  -  FAST Channel Portal.

Channel 246  -  ID 2277 CSI: New York  -  FAST Channel Portal.

- Hide flags changed.

- Added to the NIT of customer facing and other remaining networks.

- Launched on TV360 and Stream boxes only.

The current Hide flag combination means that these channels are still not visible to customers with V6 boxes, although they can still be selected from within the Pluto app. (FAST channels are not available on legacy Tivo boxes).

 

It seems that months after announcing that Pluto FAST channels were coming soon, Virgin still hasn't managed to sufficiently integrate the Pluto app with V6 boxes to allow individual channels to be selected from the EPG.

 

 

Start of a free to view period:

Channel 175  -  ID 2033 Virgin TV Ultra HD

Channel 999  -  ID 1989 Virgin TV Ultra HD

- Temporary subscription pack codes added to make these channels available to all customers.

Additional, temporary, subscription pack codes have been used rather than the Free To View Override Code. This is because UHD channels are incompatible with legacy Tivo boxes.

Update: The free to view period is scheduled to end on April 7th but is a permanent change for subscribers of the legacy Mix Pack.

 

 

Temporary Rebrand:

- 1 movie channel reverting to its usual name following a promotional rebrand.

End of a free to view period:

Channel 544  -  ID 1816 Liverpool FC TV

- Subscription Pack FTV Override Code removed.

Start of a free to view period:

Channel 544  -  ID 1816 Liverpool FC TV

- Subscription Pack FTV Override Code applied, making this channel available to all customers.

 

 

Change of Service Name:

Channel 715  -  ID  397  Nick Jr. HD

- Service Name changed from Nick Junior HD to Nick Jr. HD.

- Short EPG Name changed from Nick JnrHD to NickJr.HD.

Name stylised as Jr. in line with the official branding following the conversion to a HD service.

Note that the former SD channel was not stylised and used Nick Junior as the service name. 

 

 

Temporary Rebrand:

- 1 movie channel with a promotional rebrand.

Channel Closure:

Channel 737  -  ID 1340 Tiny Pop

- End of Service and Placeholder flags added.

This flag combination preserves any recordings for a short period following a channel closure. 

 

At 6am the channel closed and the broadcaster showed a looped video.

At 7.05am on traditional cable boxes, a Virgin Media slate cut in, informing viewers of the channel closure.

As with other recent channel closures, the slate has been routed to the original video PID and is not using a "Channel Update" service. 

Stream users, however, didn't immediately get the closure slate and continued to see the video loop. 

SD to HD Migration & Housekeeping:

 

Channel 622  -  ID 1673 Al Jazeera English

- HD flag added.

- Moved from TSID 4 SID 416 to TSID 17 SID 1710 on legacy cable networks. 

 

Channel 715  -  ID  397 Nick Junior HD

- Service Name changed from Nick Junior to Nick Junior HD.

- HD flag added.

- Moved from TSID 6 SID 604 to TSID 24 SID 2407 on legacy cable networks.

 

Channel 831  -  ID 1674 Al Jazeera Arabic

- HD flag added.

- Moved from TSID 3 SID 311 to TSID 25 SID 2508 on legacy cable networks. 

 

Note that the function of the HD flag is to allow the channels to appear in the HD "genre" of the "Show Channels" filter of the EPG. The extra flag is used as HD is not a true genre.

 

- Conditional access flags for all of the above changed to "not encrypted" in the SDT root.

This is a transitional stage during housekeeping changes and will change back to "encrypted" shortly.

Changes to pre launch EPG Slots (FAST channels):

 

ID 2277 CSI: New York  -  FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only.

- Moved from channel 217 to channel 246.

ID 2279 5 Cops  -  FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only.

- Moved from channel 216 to channel 225.

Channel 225 has also been allocated to ID 2285 Wicked Tuna, which is also yet to launch. So a clash of allocated EPG slots.

 

ID 2289 Catfish  -  FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only.

- Moved from channel 218 to channel 226.

 

Still no indication of when these FAST channels will actually launch.

 

 

Update: 

- The conditional access flags for the channels listed in the SD to HD Migration above were changed back to "encrypted" in the SDT root.

Temporary Rebrands:

- 2 movie channels reverting to their usual names following promotional rebrands.

- 1 movie channel with a promotional rebrand.

Temporary Rebrand:

1 movie channels with a promotional rebrand. 

Service Removals:

 

ID-Ref		Service Name	Annotation	Days Held	TSID	SID
2302		Sky Spts Tennis HD 1	Pop Up Service - Inactive	186	7	701
2303		Sky Spts Tennis HD 2	Pop Up Service - Inactive	186	7	702
2304		Sky Spts Tennis HD 3	Pop Up Service - Inactive	186	7	703
2305		Sky Spts Tennis HD 4	Pop Up Service - Inactive	186	7	704
2306		Sky Spts Tennis HD 5	Pop Up Service - Inactive	186	7	705
2307		Sky Spts Tennis HD 6	Pop Up Service - Inactive	186	7	706
2308		Sky Spts Tennis HD 7	Pop Up Service - Inactive	186	7	707
2309		Sky Spts Tennis HD 8	Pop Up Service - Inactive	186	7	708
2310		Sky Spts Tennis HD 9	Pop Up Service - Inactive	186	7	709
2311		Sky Spts Tennis HD 10	Pop Up Service - Inactive	186	7	710
2314		Sky Spts Tennis HD 13	Pop Up Service - Inactive	186	17	1751
2315		Sky Spts Tennis HD 14	Pop Up Service - Inactive	186	24	2407
2316		Sky Spts Tennis HD 15	Pop Up Service - Inactive	186	24	2408
2317		Sky Spts Tennis HD 16	Pop Up Service - Inactive	186	24	2409

 

- Sky Sports Tennis pop-up channels removed after 6 months of inactivity.

- Sky Spts Tennis HD 11 & 12 were removed previously when their SID numbers were reallocated.

These services weren't flagged as placeholder services, so any recordings probably hadn't been preserved.

 

 

Subscription Pack Code Removals: 

ID-Ref		EPG		Service Name	Annotation	TSID	SID
138		998		Virgin TV Highlights	Barker Channel	513	1308
452		870		ITV1 Anglia HD	ITV Anglia - West	102	10239
453		870		ITV1 Yorkshire HD	ITV Yorkshire - Calendar South	102	10234
455		870		ITV1 London HD	ITV London	102	10240
456		870		ITV1 Meridian HD	ITV Meridian - West (South Coast)	102	10241
457		875		RTE One	Northern Ireland	101	10136
458		876		RTE Two	Northern Ireland	101	10137
460		159		That's TV Humber	Grimsby	101	10139
1091		870		ITV1 Anglia HD	ITV Anglia - East	102	10236
1094		871		ITV1 Meridian HD	ITV Meridian - East (South East)	102	10235
1301		877		TG4	Northern Ireland	102	10250
1316		304		Channel 4 +1	South (including Wales) Macro	102	10229
1322		304		Channel 4 +1	London Macro	102	10228
1328		304		Channel 4 +1	Northern Ireland Macro	102	10232
1329		304		Channel 4 +1	Midlands Macro	102	10230
1330		304		Channel 4 +1	North Macro	102	10231
1332		304		Channel 4 +1	Scotland (including Cumbria) Macro - VM Scotland Only	102	10233
1431		858		BBC ONE YorksLincs HD	East Yorkshire & Lincolnshire	101	10123
1432		858		BBC ONE East HD	East Anglia - West	101	10124
1763		858		BBC ONE South HD	South	101	10125
1865		100		Virgin TV Highlights	Barker Channel	513	1302
2144		104		Channel 4HD	South (including Wales) Macro - VM South England Only	102	10268
2146		108		Channel 4HD	South (including Wales) Macro - VM Wales Only	102	10270
2150		161		BBC ALBA HD	VM Except Scotland	513	1306
2151		120		BBC ALBA HD	VM Scotland	513	1312
2199		858		BBC ONE South East HD	South East - VM Basildon 1/3/4	101	10129
2233		858		BBC ONE South East HD	South East - VM Crawley & Croydon	101	10130

 

- Removal of a legacy subscription code which sat below the M / Player / Mixit pack on traditional cable boxes.

The code was internally labelled "PSB", the tier wasn't listed in the Virgin TV channel guides. 

Initially thought to preserve some PSB channels on otherwise deactivated set top boxes for customers keeping broadband services. Probably made redundant by more recent changes. 

Note that the main PSB channels on 101 to 103, some 104 and channel 105 weren't using the code, it has possibly been deprecated for some time.

Housekeeping:

ID 2059 E! HD  -  Placeholder - End of Service.

- Moved from SID 1710 to placeholder SID 1760.

The move to a placeholder SID frees up SID 1710 for re-use.

The placeholder is due to be deleted at the end of the month if the traditional retention period applies.

This change taking place with such a short time left for the placeholder could indicate that Virgin TV has plans for a new service to use SID 1710 imminently.  

Temporary Rebrands:

2 movie channels with promotional rebrands.

Temporary Rebrands: 

- 4 movie channels reverting to their usual names following promotional rebrands.

Temporary Rebrand - Correction to Service Name:

The only change noted is a correction to a typo in the service name of one of yesterday's rebrands.

Channel Launch:

ID 2330 HobbyMaker HD 

- Hide and Hide Reversal Flags Added

- Added to the NIT of customer facing and other remaining networks.

The channel should now be visible to all customers on the EPG at channel 754.

The short EPG Name is HM HD - perhaps, not the best way of introducing the channel to new viewers.

The Hide / Hide Reversal combination was historically used to hide HD channels from devices which couldn't display MPEG-4 services. More recently the flag combination has progressively been removed from many services and not used for new services, so the reversion to using the combination is unusual.

Temporary Rebrands:

2 movie channels with promotional rebrands.

During The Day:

 

Normal Active Hours Restored:

ID 1865 Virgin TV Highlights  -  Barker Channel

Active hours changed to 03:00:00-02:59:59.

- Normal hours restored following yesterday's "Showcase".

During The Day:

 

Temporary Change of Active Hours:

ID 1865 Virgin TV Highlights  -  Barker Channel

Active hours changed to 22:00:00-21:00:00.

- Allowing the channel to switch to TSID 514 SID 1403 TuneAway HD Hidden from 21:00:00-22:00:00 using SDT Linkage.

- The "TuneAway" channel substitute service being used to showcase "Mary & George" on channel 100 from 9pm to 10pm.

Temporary Rebrands:

- 1 movie channel reverting to its usual name following a promotional rebrand.

- 1 movie channel with a promotional rebrand.

Housekeeping: 

ID 1960 Viaplay Xtra  -  Placeholder - End of Service.

- Moved from SID 1603 to placeholder SID 1650.

 

 

New Service: 

ID 2330 HobbyMaker HD  -  Internal Networks Only.

- Flagged as being in the Shopping genre.

- Provisionally allocated EPG channel 754.

- Subscription pack codes added for M / Player / Mixit packages and above.

- Subscription pack codes added for Inclusive Channel for Stream devices.

- Added to TSID 16 SID 1603 on traditional cable networks, taking the SID number previously used by Viaplay Xtra.

- Added to the NIT of 5 internal networks used for pre-launch configurations:

   - Code Download Test (Portsmouth)

   - NGRHEE Bromley

   - NGRHEE Knowsley

   - TTA Bromley DMC (Bromley RHE)

   - TTA Knowsley DMC (Hayes_RHE)

This service will not be visible to customers until it is added to the NIT of customer networks. 

Elementary streams (video & audio) were added during the day on March 1st.

 

 

Unique Identifier Series:

IDs 2318 to 2322, 2325 & 2328 to 2329 are currently unallocated.

FAST Channel Launch:

ID 2290 DAZN Women's Football  -   FAST Channel Portal.

- Added to the NIT of customer facing and all other remaining networks.

- Now visible to customers on channel 554.

Temporary Rebrands:

- 3 movie channel promotional rebrands.

- 2 kids channel promotional rebrands.

 

 

During the day:

 

New Service: 

TSID 16 SID 1603 - A PMT & Elementary streams (video & audio) were added in preparation for a new service (HobbyMaker HD).