Yesterday UK viewers were graced with the latest episode of Lost after a lengthy hiatus. A hiatus is new to Brits. It comes in the middle of a season (or in Lost’s case, 6 eps in) and generally annoys the hell out of you. Just as you’re getting into the series you have to take a break which nearly always has to have a cliff-hanger. No show on television knows that better than Lost. As we’ve normally been so far behind the US and virtually everyone else on the world we’ve never had to endure the Hiatus.

Anyway, Lost was back and it was fairly good. A bit of drama, a bit of back story and a bit of eeriness. Just what you would expect from the show. We learnt that Juliet has been on the island for just over three years, she is a prisoner herself and we see in her flashbacks a glimpse of the Dharma initiative’s recruitment practises.

We nearly, soo nearly had a bit of information about the others’s operations. Jack asked Tom why if they could leave the island did they not get someone from outside the island to help Ben. Tom replies, “ever since the sky went purple…”
Then it stops, they’re interrupted and we get nothing.

But we’re used to nothing. Remember we still have tons of unexplained mysteries. Sun’s Pregnancy, Desmond’s ability to see the future, Hurley’s madness, the black smoke, what’s wrong with Aaron the baby and many more.

Hopefully one of these questions will be answered some time this series. And if a question is answered lets hope that it doesn’t raise another in its place.

A new Channel was released on Monday on Sky. The Baby TV channel which already broadcasts in the UK on NTL is aimed at children ages three and under.

The channel is privately owned and airs in more than forty countries and in ten languages. The channel is designed to provide “a safe, stimulating and educational environment for infants and toddlers, as well as a service for parents who are looking for effective ways of interacting with their children.”

The Baby channel can be found on channel 626.

Was anyone a little bit miffed with last Sunday’s double bill of 24? The Skyone show, which has been showing a double bill on Sundays for the last two weeks (and this week too), threw me off guard with the number of dramatic moments it had to offer. Some were appreciated whilst others i thought were a tad “off”.

Firstly (and this is the big spoiler) the terrorists managed to set off a Suitcase nuke. I thought this worked well. The terrorists rarely have such a dramatic “win” before. Its normally a small about of people who die, perhaps in the low hundreds, this time they’ve upped the ante to a few thousand. It made for good drama which will hopefully push the series along.

The second rather big event of the episodes was the death of agent Curtis at the hands of Jack. Now i can understand why Jack had to shoot Curtis but to me it seemed a little unbeliveable that Curtis would put himself in that position. What i didn’t like is how the character had to die in the way he did (being shot to save a valuable source). I did not like it one bit. It may have been sudden and dramatic but it didn’t feel right.

So the thousands that died from the nuke seemed “alright” whilst the death of one man just felt wrong as though the writers just did it to shock the viewers. Some TV deaths work, some clearly don’t…

Skyone have set a date for when one of its most successful and cryptic dramas will be returning to the channel. Lost, the story of the passengers of Oceanic Flight 815 which crashes on a mysterious island, returns on Sunday February 11th 2007.

Skyone already showed the first six episodes of season 3 late last year which focused on Jack, Kate and Sawyer who were abducted by “the others” and try to escape from their captors. In the remaining 18 episodes the focus will shift back to the other beach survivors and will explore (and hopefully explain) some of the mysteries that have been baffling fans.

The remaining episodes will air in the UK just days after each episode is broadcast in the US. Catch the hit TV show at 10pm Sunday February 11th.

Reference for posting: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk

Zone Thriller ( launched 3rd July 2006) launched on the EPG channel 333 on SKY Digital and shows thrillers (surprise surprise). The channel currently broadcasts for only three hours a day!
Tags: Zone Thriller

The Guardian Unlimited website, looks at a move Sky is making, by diversifying its product offering to retain customers and gain new ones, they write "Launching broadband has become de rigueur among media and communications companies trying to cope with maturing markets. With more and more people signed up to digital TV or mobile phone services, companies such as Sky, NTL/Telewest, Orange and Vodafone are moving away from a customer landgrab and instead are trying to make more out of their customers by providing extra products. Offering broadband - or in the case of cable, mobile services - is seen as a way of reducing customer "churn"." (more…)

Enn Reports on the increased demand for SKY Digital in the Republic of Ireland ( BSkyB added 64,000 new customers in Ireland in the past 12 months) they write " in recent months, Sky has added a number of new options for its customers, including Sky Mobile, HDTV, and Sky by Broadband, which allows customers to download films directly to their PC. It also offers a new Remote Record service to Sky+ customers which allows them to set their set-top box to record by mobile phone." (more…)

Channel M - TV for Manchester can now be seen on SKY Digital Channel 203.

Channel m is television exclusively for Greater Manchester, operated by the Guardian Media Group; the channel is a spearhead into local television broadcasting.

At no additional cost to the viewer, the channel is available free to air throughout a large part of Greater Manchester without the need for a dish, cable or decoder as well as digitally on the ntl cable network.

Transmitting 19 hours a day, 7 days a week, Channel m has a varied schedule including music, entertainment and fashion and at the forefront of the schedule is Channel m’s daily news bulletin - exclusively for and about Greater Manchester.

Channel m News is broadcast from Urbis in city centre Manchester and shown at 5.00pm every weekday evening with repeats at 5.30pm, 6.00pm and 6.30pm, providing the people of Greater Manchester with their first ever, truly local television news service.

DO

cable network, city centre manchester, sky digital

On Sky One in Ireland, the green Button reminder, a new feature on Sky Digital Boxes does not seem to work, although Digital Orbit, has reported the issue to Sky through one of its reporter’s a week or so ago, the issue still seems unresolved. Digital Orbit will keep you up to date on any developments on this issue. You can of course watch out for comments from visitors in our forums. DO

ESPN is set to launch on SKY in Ireland and the UK, it has been confirmed.

ESPN Classic, launching on 13th March as part of Sky’s ‘News and Events Mix’, will be the only sports channel in the UK devoted entirely to the greatest moments and legends of sport with a mix of all-time classic highlights, matches, movies, interviews, profiles and documentaries. ESPN Classic, part of ESPN Inc., the world’s leading multinational, multimedia sports entertainment company, will be available 24/7 on channel 442. Launch night alone will include Borg vs. McEnroe - the Great Wimbledon Rivalry, England’s 2003 Rugby World Cup Final victory over Australia and the 1984 European Cup Final between Liverpool and AS Roma.

Disney will also be adding a new Channel called Disney Cinemagic , which will be a premium channel, however the other Disney Channels will no longer be premium channels.

Disney Channel and Playhouse Disney will be available to Sky digital customers as part of the ‘Kids Mix’ of basic channels. Disney Channel will be even more kid-focussed, complementing Cinemagic, and offering live action favourites like That’s So Raven, popular animation series and Disney Channel Original Movies, including High School Musical which is currently taking the States by storm. Playhouse Disney, a channel targeted to preschoolers, will premiere the new CG animated, learning-focussed series, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, in May.

Source BSKYB

It has been reported that Channel 6, the new channel coming soon to Ireland, will not be on Sky Digital. This is apparently because of a dispute over the Channels location on the service. The Channel wants to be on position 105 (following on from the location of all current Irish Channels. 101 RTE 1, 102 RTE 2 , 103 TV3, 104 TG4.

However Sky offered the channel a position at the end of the EPG! The channel will be on Chorus Digital and Cable, and NTL. DO

The New SKY EPG reshuffle will take place in late February. Will ‘tidy up’ the channels, for a more uniform look. The most notable changes is music is now on channel 340, and radio now gets four digits starting at 0101. (click read more to continue) (more…)

In a letter sent to Sky Plus Customers with their SKY magazine January edition. It stated that “ we’ll be streamlining the way sky remote works, so you can get to your Sky+ Planner faster". As predicted in previous Internet reports, you will now be able to access Sky Plus from the ‘TV Guide’ and pressing the ‘green button’, rather than the old way of scrolling to the on-screen option. As well as this the ‘yellow button’ will give access to the ‘A-Z’ listings. The biggest change to the SKY EPG system is the additional categories which will be added, the idea is to tidy up the already cluttered system, especially the Religion channels, Shopping Networks and the Dating services which now have an exploding numerd of channels on Sky. In addition the letter promises that we will now be able to store up to 50 channels in our favorites, the ‘blue button’ on the TV Guide menu will allow access to see what’s on your favorite channels at the same time! DO

ITV has confirmed that it will close its news channel ‘ITV NEWS CHANNEL’ on Friday the 23rd December. The channel has been having difficulties keeping its audience, with stiff competition from channels like Sky News and BBC News 24. The news channel’s executive said "Following ITV’s announcement last week of a £2m investment in other areas of ITV’s news service we will be looking at the opportunities created by the expansion of our news gathering operation to re deploy as many staff as possible in the New Year." The channels existing staff are expected to be re-deployed to facilitate, news bulletins for ITVs ITV3, and ITV4 channels. DO

British Sky Broadcasting (BSB) has announced that it has passed the eight million mark, surpassing its own target! The Chief executive said: “Sky is achieving strong growth. Nearly one in three homes and counting have chosen Sky and we are especially well placed to broaden Sky’s appeal as entertainment and communications come together. We thank our current and future Sky customers for joining in and for helping to make Britain one of the world’s leading digital TV
marketplaces.” Source: BSKYB. DO