Masthead
One of my photos

TVOD

May 1st, 2007 · Posted by Skuds in Technology · 1 Comment · Technology

Back in the 80s when Daniel Miller (AKA The Normal) sang about TVOD he was referring to television overdose, but now it is more likely to mean television on-demand which could end up being the same thing.

Its on my mind at the moment for a few reasons. First of all its now one week until my TV changes from Sky to Virgin and I will then have the option of TVOD. Secondly the BBC website is currently comparing the various on-demand options. Thirdly I have been reading in the business pages about the various goings-on with the multi-channel suppliers – they are all suffering from ‘churn’.

It looks like I am not the only one dumping Sky at the moment – see this photo from Tilgate this evening. Maybe they are not ditching Sky, but just have a newer, bigger dish or something, but I just liked the poignancy of the composition. (If Virgin want the photo for advertising purposes I’m sure we can come to some arrangement…)

I imagine a lot of people are switching one way or the other for the same reason as me – to get their TV, telephone and Internet in one package and reduce the cost considerably. Living as far as I do from the exchange, switching to a BT line-based ADSL was unthinkable, as was the hassle of losing the old e-mail address. Any new features which I get are a bonus and any channels I lose are a small price to pay for not having to communicate the loss of the old Blueyonder address to various contacts.

The only slight worry about Virgin is how often you see their equipment vandalised and looking like this: (also from Tilgate this evening)

When I got home I e-mailed Virgin about it. It will be interesting to compare their response to when I reported similarly knackered boxes to Telewest.

I really don’t understand how these boxes can sometimes stay like this for ages. You would have thought that someone living near it would realise that a few tugs on those cables would leave them without TV or Broadband or telephone or even all three.

I can understand the instinct to assume/hope someone else will deal with problems but I really would have thought a bit of self-interest would mean these boxes got reported sooner. I know one which was like this for months.

If the one opposite my house got vandalised I would be onto the cable company straight away and then every day until it was repaired – and if it was repaired with their normal gaffer tape method I would then be on at them for a proper fix – mindful of the hassle I would get from the kids if their constant flow of cartoons and soap operas was interrupted.

But talking about changing suppliers… when I called Sky to cancel my contract with them I thought the bloke who dealt with me was going to cry. He really seemed to take it personally that I would want to go, despite his assurances that Sky could match whatever offer Virgin had made. When I mentioned my aversion to ADSL he said that was not a problem as Sky would be laying their own cables to houses in the future – but as I am living in the present thats not much use to me.

I am expecting similar stroppiness from Norwich Union when I cancel the car insurance. Now that I have the log book from DVLA and have got it taxed I will be doing that as soon as I find the time.

Tags: ····

One Comment so far ↓

  • skud's sister

    I had a bundle of laughs when I wanted to move my bank account from Lloyds to Nat West. After about 5 weeks of waiting for Lloyds to transfer my details I went to the branch and closed the account down (moving a few standing orders couldn’t be as hard as they were making out) – and the cashier was straight into the ‘what can we do to keep you’ routine. Since their branch was 1/4 mile from my work & Nat West’s was next door, and since they had recent taken to closing two days a week I felt it unlikely they could win me back. When I pointed out, however, that Lloyds had just made my little sister redundant after 20 odd years they realised I was never coming back…..