Temporary Rebrands:
- 2 movie channels with promotional rebrands.
Wednesday 24 April 2024
Monday 22 April 2024
Channel Closure:
ID 471 BBC Radio 4 LW - End of Service.
- Hide flag combination changed to hide the service from the EPG
Technical note: Hide2 Flag removed, Hide1 Flag left in place.
Service removed from channel 911 on the EPG on Tivo / V6 boxes.
Presumably also removed from the TV360 Radio App and the BBC Sounds EPG link on Stream devices.
Renamed Service:
ID 464 BBC Radio 4
- Renamed from BBC Radio 4 FM to BBC Radio 4 (channel 904 on Tivo / V6 boxes).
- Short EPG Name changes from BBC R4FM to BBC R4.
The service name has been simplified after the removal of the old BBC Radio 4 LW service.
Temporary Rebrand:
- 1 movie channel reverting to its usual name following a promotional rebrand.
Tuesday 16 April 2024
End of a free to view period:
Channel 544 - ID 1816 Liverpool FC TV - Not available on Stream.
- Subscription Pack FTV Override Code removed.Marking the end of the free to view period.
FAST Channels - SDT Root Flags:
| ID-Ref | Service Name | Annotation | TSID | SID | Channel | |
| 2331 | Hell's Kitchen | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 802 | 233 | |
| 2332 | Egg Heads | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 806 | 253 | |
| 2333 | UKTV Play Laughs | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 809 | 241 |
Monday 15 April 2024
Start of a free to view period:
Channel 544 - ID 1816 Liverpool FC TV - Not available on Stream.
- Subscription Pack FTV Override Code applied, making this channel available to all customers.A return of the free to view for the anniversary of the Hillsborough Disaster.
Temporary Rebrands:
- 1 movie channel reverting to its usual name following a promotional rebrand.
- 3 movie channels with promotional rebrands.
Saturday 13 April 2024
FAST Channels - SDT Root Flags:
| ID-Ref | Service Name | Annotation | TSID | SID | Channel | |
| 2334 | UKTV Play Uncovered | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 820 | 227 | |
| 2335 | UKTV Play Heroes | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 823 | 228 | |
| 2336 | UKTVPlayFull Throttle | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 824 | 229 | |
| 2337 | Deal Masters | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 825 | 254 | |
| 2338 | History Hunters | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 826 | 234 | |
| 2339 | Real Crime | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 827 | 237 | |
| 2340 | Real Life | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 828 | 238 | |
| 2341 | Red Bull TV | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 829 | 556 | |
| 2342 | Trace Sports Stars | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 830 | 557 | |
| 2343 | VEVO '90s & '00s | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 831 | 297 | |
| 2344 | ZenLIFE | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 832 | 298 | |
| 2345 | Qello Concerts | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 833 | 299 |
The SDT Root Flags for these services changed from "not encrypted" to "encrypted".
Note:
| ID-Ref | Service Name | Annotation | TSID | SID | Channel | |
| 2331 | Hell's Kitchen | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 802 | 233 | |
| 2332 | Egg Heads | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 806 | 253 | |
| 2333 | UKTV Play Laughs | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 809 | 241 |
The services which had moved from the 89x SID range were still showing as "not encrypted" at the time of the analysis.
| ID-Ref | Service Name | Annotation | TSID | SID | Channel | |
| 2277 | CSI: New York | FAST Channel Portal - Not on V6 or Tivo | 8 | 837 | 246 | |
| 2279 | 5 Cops | FAST Channel Portal - Not on V6 or Tivo | 8 | 836 | 225 | |
| 2289 | Catfish | FAST Channel Portal - Not on V6 or Tivo | 8 | 838 | 226 |
The FAST services not available on the V6 remain as "not encrypted", which is to be expected as there are no longer any video slates to encrypt.
Temporary Rebrand:
1 movie channel with a promotional rebrand. Friday 12 April 2024
During the day:
Several changes to the FAST channels with renamed services, housekeeping changes and removal of the slates used for the Pluto TV based channels launching at service level. The last change appears to be Virgin TV giving up on any plans to bring the Pluto TV based channels to the V6.
Renamed Services:
ID 2333 Laughs renamed UKTV Play Laughs.
ID 2334 Uncovered renamed UKTV Play Uncovered.
ID 2335 Heroes renamed UKTV Play Heroes.
ID 2336 Full Throttle renamed UKTVPlayFull Throttle.
Short EPG Names were not changed.
Housekeeping Changes - SID Numbers:
| ID-Ref | Service Name | Annotation | TSID | Old SID | New SID | |
| 2277 | CSI: New York | FAST Channel Portal - Not on V6 or Tivo | 8 | 806 | 837 | |
| 2279 | 5 Cops | FAST Channel Portal - Not on V6 or Tivo | 8 | 802 | 836 | |
| 2289 | Catfish | FAST Channel Portal - Not on V6 or Tivo | 8 | 809 | 838 | |
| 2331 | Hell's Kitchen | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 892 | 802 | |
| 2332 | Egg Heads | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 896 | 806 | |
| 2333 | UKTV Play Laughs | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 899 | 809 |
- SID numbers changed with the FAST channels not available on the V6 moving to the 83x range.
- SID numbers in the 89x range moved to the normal range, taking the numbers vacated by the channels not available on the V6.
Technical Notes:
It has been pointed out in previous posts that the 89x range is outside the normal range used by Virgin TV. For example, with Virgin TV's house style, SID 899 would be allocated Video PID 9901. The allowable range of PID numbers runs from 32 to 8190, so 9901 would be beyond the range.
Housekeeping Changes - SDT Root:
ID 2277 CSI: New York - FAST Channel Portal -
Not on V6 or Tivo
ID 2279 5 Cops - FAST Channel Portal -
Not on V6 or Tivo
ID 2289 Catfish - FAST Channel Portal -
Not on V6 or Tivo
- SDT Root Flags were changed from "encrypted" to "not encrypted".
An interim stage while the FAST channels switch SID numbers.
Changes to Video Slates:
SID 802 - The slate on Video PID 201 changed from 5 Cops to Hell's Kitchen.
SID 806 - The slate on Video PID 601 changed from CSI: New York to Egg Heads.
SID 809 - The slate on Video PID 901 changed from Catfish to UKTV Play Laughs.
Old V6 Slates Revealed:
Slates captured while encryption was removed - images courtesy of Digitalbitrate.com.
As can be seen from the text on these slates, it appears that the solution for V6 users was to access the Pluto TV app and find or search for the services in the app's TV Guide. This would have made linking these FAST channels to the V6 EPG rather pointless.
As stated in previous posts, it appears that the V6 does not have access to the Pluto TV API at channel level. The V6 version of Pluto TV does seem to be rather dated, so that may have something to do with this.
The latest versions of the Pluto TV app on other platforms allow users to create and log into an account, which makes the service more flexible for watchlists etc.
Change of SDT EPG Flags:
| ID-Ref | Service Name | Annotation | TSID | SID | Channel | |
| 2331 | Hell's Kitchen | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 802 | 233 | |
| 2332 | Egg Heads | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 806 | 253 | |
| 2333 | UKTV Play Laughs | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 809 | 241 | |
| 2334 | UKTV Play Uncovered | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 820 | 227 | |
| 2335 | UKTV Play Heroes | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 823 | 228 | |
| 2336 | UKTVPlayFull Throttle | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 824 | 229 | |
| 2337 | Deal Masters | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 825 | 254 | |
| 2338 | History Hunters | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 826 | 234 | |
| 2339 | Real Crime | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 827 | 237 | |
| 2340 | Real Life | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 828 | 238 | |
| 2341 | Red Bull TV | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 829 | 556 | |
| 2342 | Trace Sports Stars | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 830 | 557 | |
| 2343 | VEVO '90s & '00s | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 831 | 297 | |
| 2344 | ZenLIFE | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 832 | 298 | |
| 2345 | Qello Concerts | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 833 | 299 |
- The Hide Flags have been removed for these services.
As the hide flags have been removed, these services should be visible on the EPG as soon as they are added to the NIT of customer facing networks.
Thursday 11 April 2024
Prospective FAST Channels:
| ID-Ref | Service Name | Annotation | TSID | SID | Channel | |
| 2331 | Hell's Kitchen | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 802 | 233 | |
| 2332 | Egg Heads | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 806 | 253 | |
| 2333 | Laughs | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 809 | 241 | |
| 2334 | Uncovered | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 820 | 227 | |
| 2335 | Heroes | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 823 | 228 | |
| 2336 | Full Throttle | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 824 | 229 | |
| 2337 | Deal Masters | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 825 | 254 | |
| 2338 | History Hunters | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 826 | 234 | |
| 2339 | Real Crime | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 827 | 237 | |
| 2340 | Real Life | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 828 | 238 | |
| 2341 | Red Bull TV | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 829 | 556 | |
| 2342 | Trace Sports Stars | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 830 | 557 | |
| 2343 | VEVO '90s & '00s | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 831 | 297 | |
| 2344 | ZenLIFE | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 832 | 298 | |
| 2345 | Qello Concerts | FAST Channel Portal - Internal Networks Only | 8 | 833 | 299 |
- Added to the NIT of 3 internal networks used for pre-launch configurations:
- Code Download Test (Portsmouth)
- NGRHEE Bromley
- TTA Knowsley DMC (Hayes_RHE)
New Services (System):
| ID-Ref | Service Name | Annotation | TSID | SID | Channel | |
| 2346 | Ch4 Tier | Subscription Level Check | 3 | 332 | 73 | |
| 2347 | STV Tier | Subscription Level Check | 3 | 340 | 75 |
- Internal 2 digit channel numbers as these services will not show up on the EPG.
- Both services assigned to a new subscription pack code.
- Flags added to hide these services from the EPG. - Hide1 Flag.
- Marked as running and not encrypted in the SDT Root - encryption would not be appropriate for this type of service.
- Added to the NIT of all networks.
New services, seemingly to check subscription levels - maybe to allow ad skipping etc. on related apps.
Change of Hide Flags with no overall change for customers:
| ID-Ref | Service Name | Annotation | TSID | SID | Channel | |
| 1340 | Tiny Pop | Placeholder - EoS | 4 | 412 | 737 | |
| 2277 | CSI: New York | FAST Channel Portal - Not on V6 or Tivo | 8 | 806 | 246 | |
| 2279 | 5 Cops | FAST Channel Portal - Not on V6 or Tivo | 8 | 802 | 225 | |
| 2289 | Catfish | FAST Channel Portal - Not on V6 or Tivo | 8 | 809 | 226 |
- Hide flags changed from Hide2 to Hide1.
Hide1 is the flag traditionally used to to hide services from the EPG.
It is difficult to see where Virgin TV is going with these flag changes.
No overall change for viewers, the Tiny Pop placeholder remains hidden from the EPG and the named FAST channels remains hidden from the V6 / Tivo EPGs.
Note that TV360 and Stream devices have bespoke EPGs which do not use these flags.
Tuesday 9 April 2024
Changes to Service Names - Change of Ownership:
Channel 551 - ID 1761 Premier Sports 1
- Service Name changed from Viaplay Sports 1 to Premier Sports 1.
- Short EPG Name changed from Viaplay 1 to Premier 1.
Channel 552 - ID 1961 Premier Sports 2
- Service Name changed from Viaplay Sports 2 to Premier Sports 2.
- Short EPG Name changed from Viaplay 2 to Premier 2.
Service names updated to reflect the change of ownership from the Viaplay Group to SSBL Limited (trading as Premier Sports).
Housekeeping - FAST Channels:
| ID-Ref | Service Name | Annotation | TSID | SID | Channel | |
| 2334 | Uncovered | FAST Channel Portal - SDT Only | 8 | 820 | 227 | |
| 2335 | Heroes | FAST Channel Portal - SDT Only | 8 | 823 | 228 | |
| 2336 | Full Throttle | FAST Channel Portal - SDT Only | 8 | 824 | 229 | |
| 2337 | Deal Masters | FAST Channel Portal - SDT Only | 8 | 825 | 254 | |
| 2338 | History Hunters | FAST Channel Portal - SDT Only | 8 | 826 | 234 | |
| 2339 | Real Crime | FAST Channel Portal - SDT Only | 8 | 827 | 237 | |
| 2340 | Real Life | FAST Channel Portal - SDT Only | 8 | 828 | 238 | |
| 2341 | Red Bull TV | FAST Channel Portal - SDT Only | 8 | 829 | 556 | |
| 2342 | Trace Sports Stars | FAST Channel Portal - SDT Only | 8 | 830 | 557 | |
| 2343 | VEVO '90s & '00s | FAST Channel Portal - SDT Only | 8 | 831 | 297 | |
| 2344 | ZenLIFE | FAST Channel Portal - SDT Only | 8 | 832 | 298 | |
| 2345 | Qello Concerts | FAST Channel Portal - SDT Only | 8 | 833 | 299 |
- A PMT and video stream was also added to SID 834 (which is not in the SDT) carrying a duplicate of the ZenLIFE slate.
A further step towards launching these channels, although they have still not been added to the NIT.
| ID-Ref | Service Name | Annotation | TSID | SID | Channel | |
| 2331 | Hell's Kitchen | FAST Channel Portal - SDT Only | 8 | 891 | 233 | |
| 2332 | Egg Heads | FAST Channel Portal - SDT Only | 8 | 896 | 253 | |
| 2333 | Laughs | FAST Channel Portal - SDT Only | 8 | 899 | 241 |
- No changes.
PMTs and video streams have NOT been added for the above services, which is interesting as the SID numbers are unusual as they are outside Virgin TVs usual SID numbering range.
Sunday 7 April 2024
End 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 removed.
- Legacy Mix Pack codes have been left in place, making the UHD channel available to more viewers permanently.
UHD services are not compatible with original Tivo boxes.
Housekeeping:
Channel 233 - ID 2331 Hell's Kitchen - FAST Channel Portal - SDT Only.
- Moved from SID 891 to SID 892 on TSID 8.
Saturday 6 April 2024
Change of Genre - New FAST Channels:
| ID-Ref | Service Name | Annotation | Channel | Previous Genre | New Genre | ||
| 2341 | Red Bull TV | FAST Channel Portal - SDT Only | 556 | Entertainment | Sport | ||
| 2342 | Trace Sports Stars | FAST Channel Portal - SDT Only | 557 | Entertainment | Sport | ||
| 2343 | VEVO '90s & '00s | FAST Channel Portal - SDT Only | 297 | Entertainment | Music | ||
| 2344 | ZenLIFE | FAST Channel Portal - SDT Only | 298 | Entertainment | Music | ||
| 2345 | Qello Concerts | FAST Channel Portal - SDT Only | 299 | Entertainment | Music |
- The Genres of these channels have been updated from Entertainment to either Sport or Music as indicated in the above table.
Friday 5 April 2024
Service Removal - FAST Channel:
| ID-Ref | Service Name | Annotation | TSID | SID | Channel | |
| 2285 | Wicked Tuna | FAST Channel Portal - SDT Only | 8 | 820 | 225 |
It was probably a clue to its future demise when channel 225 was reissued to 5 Cops in the last batch of FAST channel launches.
New Services - FAST Channels:
| ID-Ref | Service Name | Annotation | TSID | SID | Channel | |
| 2331 | Hell's Kitchen | FAST Channel Portal - SDT Only | 8 | 891 | 233 | |
| 2332 | Egg Heads | FAST Channel Portal - SDT Only | 8 | 896 | 253 | |
| 2333 | Laughs | FAST Channel Portal - SDT Only | 8 | 899 | 241 | |
| 2334 | Uncovered | FAST Channel Portal - SDT Only | 8 | 820 | 227 | |
| 2335 | Heroes | FAST Channel Portal - SDT Only | 8 | 823 | 228 | |
| 2336 | Full Throttle | FAST Channel Portal - SDT Only | 8 | 824 | 229 | |
| 2337 | Deal Masters | FAST Channel Portal - SDT Only | 8 | 825 | 254 | |
| 2338 | History Hunters | FAST Channel Portal - SDT Only | 8 | 826 | 234 | |
| 2339 | Real Crime | FAST Channel Portal - SDT Only | 8 | 827 | 237 | |
| 2340 | Real Life | FAST Channel Portal - SDT Only | 8 | 828 | 238 | |
| 2341 | Red Bull TV | FAST Channel Portal - SDT Only | 8 | 829 | 556 | |
| 2342 | Trace Sports Stars | FAST Channel Portal - SDT Only | 8 | 830 | 557 | |
| 2343 | VEVO '90s & '00s | FAST Channel Portal - SDT Only | 8 | 831 | 297 | |
| 2344 | ZenLIFE | FAST Channel Portal - SDT Only | 8 | 832 | 298 | |
| 2345 | Qello Concerts | FAST Channel Portal - SDT Only | 8 | 833 | 299 |
- Channel numbers listed are only the initial allocation and could change before launch.
- All initially flagged as the Entertainment Genre.
- Not yet added to the NIT of any network.
- PMTs and elementary streams (video, audio etc) had still to be added at the time of the analysis.
It is interesting that SIDs in the 89x range have been chosen for some of these services as that is outside the range for allocating vPIDs / aPIDs etc following Virgin TV's house style. Something to keep a close eye on.
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