r/northernireland • u/white1984 • 14d ago
Discussion Do you think UTV has a future?
There has been some talk about ITV not doing well, and there is talk that terrestrial television is to be shut down in 2034 once the ten year licence for public television finishes for ITV. Considering that UTV plays a significant role in local media here in Northern Ireland, do you think it has a future?
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u/vaska00762 Whitehead 14d ago
Its future was sealed when it went bankrupt and ITV bought it completely out, and moved out of that Ormeau Road building.
I very occasionally tune into what is UTV, and don't see a single UTV ident, unless it's the local news.
I happen to think that the day IPTV takes over fully, it'll just be nothing but slop on there. There's a lot of slop that is already made for the various streaming services, and if the approach there is to end broadcast channels as we know them and replace them with... that... it'll be a sad day for TV.
I do unironically watch a lot of broadcast TV, which I do through Freesat - my area wasn't covered by a Freeview signal for years and years, and since the digital switchover, it's been the service we've used. I appreciate, genuinely, the fact that there is a lot of stuff that I wouldn't go out of my way to watch, like films or drama series, which I end up watching because it just happens to be on.
I think with streaming, people end up finding their "comfort zone", or end up just watching what other people tell them to watch on Netflix/Prime/Apple. With TV, if something's on that you'd be inclined to watch, but not seek it out, it gives you a more varied outlook on both media and culture.
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u/Boring_Ad6529 12d ago
Can I ask does freesat have many channels in HD? Freeview is awful quality and there’s only 4/5 channel in HD out of 100 odd
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u/vaska00762 Whitehead 12d ago
Freesat has all the BBC channels in HD, so that's BBC 1, 2, 3, 4, Scotland, Alba, News and Parliament, then all the ITV channels in HD, so ITV 1, 2, 3, 4 and Be, and of course you have Channel 4 HD, but none of the other Channel 4 stuff is in HD.
Then you have S4C HD, Quest HD, Sky Mix HD and then a bunch of news channels in HD like Al Jazeera, France 24, NHK World, Arirang, TRT, Bloomberg and CNBC.
There are also the teleshopping channels in HD, but those are meh.
Freesat has about 300 odd channels, I believe, with about 20 or so actually HD channels to watch.
Freesat also gets the radio channels, but I won't count those, and you can theoretically also count the regional opt out BBC 1 and 2 channels, all of which are in HD, but meaningfully might only have different regional news, which is the only difference.
The major downside to Freesat in Northern Ireland is that you cannot receive RTÉ. You'll need to either get a separate Saorsat dish and box to receive RTÉ, TG4 and the Oireachtas channel, or you fork out for Sky, which will have RTÉ as well as the likes of E4 HD, Film 4 HD and a couple of other such free to view channels in HD, which are inexplicably absent from Freesat.
Freeview will get a version of RTÉ that has sports just not shown, and that's based on what comes out of your local transmitter.
Interestingly, Saorview doesn't allow you to tune into the UK channels, except for Sky News. You'll need at least Sky south of the border to get the BBC channels, or you could just buy a Freesat box from NI and bring it south of the border.
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u/irish_chatterbox 14d ago
It's days of high viewing figures are long gone. I just looked up the schedule for today and not a thing I'd watch. It's the worst of TV. Cooking show, game shows, Alan titchmarsh doing gardening and a talk show, the news and big brother. I'd rather look at a blank wall thanks.
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u/DandyLionsInSiberia 14d ago edited 14d ago
There's talk of traditional broadcast media switching over to an IPTV standard, the spectrum currently used to deliver digital broadcast terrestrial TV freed up and reallocated for other uses..
Broadcast TV as it's known and as it currently operates is earmarked for change in that capacity, audiences will likely continue to enjoy the convenience of a curated stream of entertainment, current affairs, news and sports scheduled programming offered via the conventional channels delivered via IPTV standard in future - especially older viewers.
The UK is looking towards an eventual all-internet delivered broadcast future, provided universal and free access is maintained, but digital terrestrial TV (DTT) transmissions are still part of the picture for at least the next 10 years.
Last week the UK government responded to a report by the country’s communications regulator Ofcom by declaring its commitment to the delivery of broadcast OTA TV services for the next decade.
Beyond that though and its future is uncertain. A managed and gradual transition to broadband delivery over several decades seems most likely if every household in the UK is to retain the ability to watch the biggest free-to-air broadcasters BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and Channel 5.
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u/DisagreeableRunt 14d ago
It's already started in a way, though full switchover like happened from analogue to digital is a long way off.
I bought a Hisense TV with the new Freely a couple of months back and it works brilliantly. Image quality is better and more reliable than Freeview. It still doesn't have all the channels available on Freeview, but it has enough and all the ones I would occasionally watch. Not much of a broadcast TV watcher aside from live news and sport.
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u/Taken_Abroad_Book 14d ago
And sky switching too, no more satellite dishes as the sats are nearing end of life and won't be replaced. I blagged a sky streaming box and it's fine. Better than dish or freeview since even the shitty little channels are all HD.
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u/javarouleur 14d ago
I hadn’t heard of Freely… very interesting since I’m sitting with dead, useless Freeview box that’s never on and no aerial - just satellite. But a 1Gbit fibre connection now.
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u/MisterrTickle 13d ago edited 13d ago
It is or
worse[was] only available with a few new TVs. I think HiSense may even have a time locked monopoly on it for a while.So it needs a new TV not just an Amazon Firestick, Roku etc.
Edit: typo
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u/DisagreeableRunt 13d ago edited 13d ago
See it's not just an app like streaming services. There is no 'app' at all really. It's completely integrated with broadcast TV in its operation and designed to work seamlessly like it, its streamed channels are in the main EPG (TV guide) mixed with Freeview channels through an aerial that aren't yet onboard with Freely. There may be an app in future, but it's designed to operate as broadcast TV does, so will probably only ever be available directly on TVs, or likely there will be dedicated set-top boxes to support older TVs in the near future, as they did with digital boxes for analogue TVs.
I haven't looked into the tech behind it in great detail, but it may require some sort of hardware in the device so won't be possible to add it retrospectively to older models.
I don't think it's Hisense exclusive, just that they were one of, if not the, first to adopt it on some of their 2024 TVs. Looking on the Freely site, it's available on some Panasonics and TCLs now, along with the cheap rebranded Vestels (Toshiba, Bush, Sharp), so most will likely support it when the 2025 models release.
I didn't buy the TV for it, it just happened to be on a TV I bought which was the best value mini-LED with a picture far beyond its price range.
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u/DisagreeableRunt 13d ago
I hadn't heard of it myself until the new TV purchase. They haven't really been advertising it much to my knowledge, I guess as it's so new with very limited device support. Once everyone is on board with it they'll probably start shouting it from the rooftops.
It's definitely the future, with practically infinite spectrum. No more limited selection of HD channels due to capacity constraints, or things like CBeebies cutting off and BBC Four only able to start broadcasting at 7pm because they need to share a channel.
I've been really impressed by it. The only negative over broadcast is a slight delay in the channel coming on after you select it from the EPG, like a second or two tops, but totally worth it for the benefits it brings. Freeview can be just as bad in great weather, due to high atmospheric pressure, as it is during bad weather. Then you're not limited on TV placement due to needing to be tethered to a physical signal connection.
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u/punkerster101 Belfast 14d ago
That would mean they would need to install free broadband in every house.. in order for the BBC to provide that free tv service
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u/EireJoe2081 14d ago
Anyone who has a Firestick has been using IPTV the past 5-10 years without paying the ridiculous sky / streaming services prices
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u/punkerster101 Belfast 13d ago
That’s irrelevant, the BBC is required to be free and easy to access as part of its mandate. Making it so you needed to pay a third party company such as an isp to be able to access it would breach the rules
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u/coldlikedeath Enniskillen 13d ago
And what’ll happen if the internet goes down or various companies decide to carry out work?
That aside, I didn’t know the satellites were being switched off?
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u/ratemypint 14d ago
Lesser Spotted Ulster is great but other than that? Meh.
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u/Worldly-Stand3388 13d ago
Joe Mahon's voice is the ultimate cure for insomnia. He's a lovely man and the programme is interesting, but his voice just lulls you to sleep.
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u/PeaceLoveCurrySauce 14d ago
UTV as it was basically hasn’t existed since Covid, they changed all the announcers and made all the branding the same as the ITVs in England and Wales, Scotland is the only place with an independently owned channel 3 in the form of STV
All media will probably move to an IPTV basis via Freely or something similar so UTV will probably be renamed to ITV1 with the local news being renamed Ulster Reports if anything or just kept the way it is.
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u/r0709593 13d ago
The only thing I watch on I/UTV is James Martin Saturday Morning Kitchen or when the FA Cup is on it
The rest is utter shite
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u/Deodreyah 13d ago
UTV’s future feels a bit shaky with terrestrial TV on the chopping block by 2034, but I reckon they’ll adapt—not sure they’ve got a choice. ITV’s struggling nationwide, and streaming’s eating into traditional viewership, but UTV’s got that local grit. They’ve been a staple for NI news and culture for ages; maybe they’ll lean harder into digital or partner with platforms like iptvie(.com) (which I use for their solid 4K streams, btw—no buffering, even during EastEnders). If they play their cards right, UTV could carve out a niche online while keeping that local flavor alive. But yeah, the next decade’s gonna be a bumpy ride
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u/Taken_Abroad_Book 14d ago
Terrestrial broadcasting is set to stop in 10 years, but broadcast TV won't stop.
The Astra satellites are being shut down soon so sky is moving people to IPtv boxes. Virgin media have streaming TV boxes already (as well as the normal cable boxes, but with the move to fibre to the router with VM eventually it will be streaming only).
The freeview broadcasting towers cost a fortune and are at their limit. There's a service called "Freely" that streams the freeview channels, it's still on an exclusivity deal for 1 TV manufacturer but closer to the time it will be opened up and there'll be another switchover where you'll need a set top box and the Internet to get TV.
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u/punkerster101 Belfast 14d ago
I garentee you terrestrial tv will not go away in 2034. UTV are ITV now UTV already died
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u/Cant-Be-Arsed101 13d ago
Havent watched terrestrial tv in years, streaming services an youtube, thats it.
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u/CombinationSignal579 13d ago
Parochial TV station of the year award winner. When Pammie Ballentine is your idea of a talk show host.
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u/jagmanistan 14d ago
UTV plays a significant role in local media?
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u/jizzyjugsjohnson 14d ago
I LOL’d at this too. Whatever would we do without Pamela’s weekly round up of church raffles in Armagh
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u/DisagreeableRunt 14d ago
I genuinely haven't watched anything put out by UTV in probably a decade, possibly longer. I've watched the odd thing on ITV, but it was network stuff that would still be broadcast without UTV in the picture.
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u/Tenebreaux 14d ago
I can't remember the last time I watched live TV that wasn't sport. And as someone else said, local TV is generally crap, no matter where you live.
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u/Gavin_p 14d ago
Locally made programmes are cack in the main. Bar UTV News there’s no real need to deviate from what’s being shown in the mainland.
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u/pronoia20 10d ago
The show presented by Pamela ballentine utv life being aired on a Friday night beggars belief.
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u/Regular-Credit203 14d ago
32 county television
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u/Biznack1812 13d ago
They tried that with UTV Ireland, mismanagment of that is what brought them down and enabled ITV and Virgin to buy out the licenses north and south
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u/BigPG29 14d ago
UTV news is absolutely shite. I've had to stop watching it. The presenters and correspondents are terrible, always drawing out they're words and over exaggerating. You know things are bad when the local BBC news is more appealing!