Connected TV and Online Streaming – All About Digital TV

Eurosport to Close in the UK

Warner Bros. Discovery, owers of both TNT Sports (formerley BT Sport) and Eurosport, have announced that the UK and Ireland version of Europort is to close. Content is moving over to TNT Sports, giving Warner Bros. Discovery a single sports brand for the UK.

More Music Channels Added to Sky Stream

Sky Glass and Sky Stream customers have gained additional music channels, further reducing the deficit of channels comapred to Sky’s satellite based offering. Viewers of the internet delivered platform now have access to five channels operated by Universal Music UK.

Al Jazeera English is Removed from Freeview

Egyptian news channel Al Jazeera English, a longstanding Freeview (terrestrial) channel is no longer available in the traditional sense, and has been removed from the COM6 commercial multipex. However, the channel remains available as a ‘streamed’ channel on channel number 251.

Great Real Relaunches

Despite having recently closed on traditional TV channels, Great Real from Narrative Entertainment has relaunched as an internet delivered channel. This time round, Great Real is available as a Free Ad-supported Streaming TV (FAST) channel, on the Netgem TV platform.

UKTV to Rebrand in 2024

UKTV, part of the commercial arm of the BBC, have announced a name to be introduced during the summer of next year (2024). The name will also roll out to its streaming service and as a prefix to its channel line up.

BBC Football Coverage to Resume

As covered in mainstream media, a high profile dispute between the BBC and Gary Lineker resulted in significant coverage to football coverage of the weekend (11th/12th March 2023). The dispute resulted from opinions expressed on the presenter’s personal social media account relating to current government policy.

ITV to Close CITV

ITV is to close it’s dedicated children’s TV channel in favour of moving content over to it’s new ITV X online streaming platform.

Government Changes Direction With Channel 4

The UK Government have (for now at least), scrapped the controversial move to privatise Channel 4 Television (Channel 4)corporation, abandoning the plan put forward by former culture secretary Nadine Dorries.

Freeview Turns 20

Freeview, the organisation which promotes and oversees terrestrial television in the UK has turned 20 years old. Terrestrial TV in the UK is home to around 80 channels (albeit not all are available in all areas).

Viaplay Confirms UK Launch

Following acquisition of the Premier Sports TV channels earlier this year, Viaplay Group has confirmed the upcoming launch of its own branded content.

Premier Sports 1 and 2 will continue largely unchanged, but will be rebranded to Viaplay Sports 1 and 2 respectively. Both will continue to be available to subscribers largely on both Sky (satellite) and Virgin Media (cable). Freesports, currently free-to-air on satellite (albeit not on Freesat EPG), will become Viaplay Extra and will broaden its programming beyond sports. It is likely that rebranded Freesports will become encrypted, following a brief period of encryption observed earlier in the year.

The re-brands will occur on the 1st November, coinciding with the launch of Viaplay’s streaming platform in the UK. This will include two packages, Films & Series which will be focused on Nordic storytelling with Viaplay and third-party content, and Total which adds the full sports line-up. These are priced at £3.99 per month and £14.99 per month respectively.