VIRGIN Media boxes are receiving a number of channel changes that viewers need to be aware of.
And the shake-up starts first thing on Friday.
A special Men In Black channel is launching for a limited time[/caption]
Channels on the TV guide are regularly shifted around or rebranded, so it’s important to keep up-to-date to avoid missing your favourite shows.
This week, Virgin Media viewers can expect four channel changes.
Fortunately, there aren’t any new closures.
The most recently sad loss was Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2.
Eurosport’s content was largely merged with TNT Sports, which is owned by the same company, Warner Bros Discovery.
Some free sport coverage continues to be shown on Quest, which Virgin Media viewers can find on 172.
The Sun exclusively revealed last month that Eurosport fans on Virgin Media were offered a free upgrade to TNT Sports for the remainder of their subscription.
Following Eurosport’s closure, Virgin shuffled its sports channels around to fill the void.
As for Virgin’s latest TV changes, they only affect those who pay for Sky Cinema.
Sky Cinema channels often change branding for special themes or events.
On Friday, there are three to be aware of.
Firstly, Sky Cinema Action is disappearing for a short period.
It will become Sky Cinema Men In Black showing all the movies from the popular franchise on channel number 407.
Meanwhile on channel number 402, viewers can expect to see Sky Cinema Book To Screen instead of Sky Cinema Originals.
Finally, Sky Cinema Greats returns to 404 after a temporary switch to Sky Classics.
The only other overhaul Virgin customers need to be aware of comes on Sunday.
That’s when the temporary Sky Cinema Men In Black channel will disappear and revert to Sky Cinema Action once again.
Will more channels close soon?
Analysis by Jamie Harris, Assistant Technology and Science Editor at The Sun
The BBC announced in 2022 that CBBC and BBC Four would disappear as traditional linear channels in a few years and go digital only via iPlayer.
However, the pair may have had a bit of a reprieve for now, after the BBC’s head of children’s programmes, Patricia Hildago, recently said “it’s really important… that if children still need us on a linear network, we’re going to be there for them”.
When Channel 4 announced the closure of The Box and other music channels it owned in January, the broadcaster hinted that more could come.
At the time the company said it was proposing to “close small linear channels that no longer deliver revenues or public value at scale, including the Box channels in 2024 and others at the right time”.
So which could the “others” be? It really depends what Channel 4 considers “small” but its other channels include More4, E4, E4 Extra, Film4 and 4Seven.
