Changes to the Sky TV guide - October 2020

[Chris+in+Somerset]

Closing 'ITV+1 West' and replacing it with 'ITV+1 Central' makes no sense - we live in the 'West' region and have absolutely no interest in what's happening in 'Central'. Is this a temporary measure, and if so for how long? If we can't get 'ITV+1 West' back, then there are other regions which are closer and more logical that 'Central'.

I suspect this occurs elsewhere in the country as well, but have focused on where we live.

[Annie+UK]

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@Chris+in+Somerset wrote:

Closing 'ITV+1 West' and replacing it with 'ITV+1 Central' makes no sense - we live in the 'West' region and have absolutely no interest in what's happening in 'Central'. Is this a temporary measure, and if so for how long? If we can't get 'ITV+1 West' back, then there are other regions which are closer and more logical that 'Central'.

I suspect this occurs elsewhere in the country as well, but have focused on where we live.

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You'll have to ask ITV, Sky don't own or control ITVs channels they only provide the platform and their own Sky branded channels

[MRous]

It's because of advertising.

 ITV breaks the UK down into a number of different advertising regions called macros.

MACRO regions - This means  companies  pay a special set rate to have their adverts shown across 3 or 4 neighbouring regions at the same time, rather than in just one.

The West, Central, Wales and West Country regions are the MIdwest macro region. These regions generally always see the same adverts at the same time.

MICRO regions are the regions within regions- for example, smaller local companies could choose  to advertise on only the West MIdlands or only the East Midlands parts of the Central region.

You now receive Central on +1 because it is the biggest and 'main' region in your macro region - biggest in terms of how much it costs companies to advertise there. It was more cost effective for ITV to close the +1 channels of the less populated regions in the macro region, like West.

And now that they have closed the smaller regions' +1 channels, it frees up transponder space for new channels in the future.

It is complicated, but ITV will always care more about advertising and revenue than you 'wrongly' receiving Central News an hour after it was broadcast.

I am in the South East macro region, which is Meridian, London and Anglia.

[MRous]

[MRous]

https://redwoodadvertising.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/ITV-Map-MIDWEST-MACRO.pdf

https://redwoodadvertising.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/ITV-Map-SOUTH-EAST-MACRO.pdf

https://redwoodadvertising.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/ITV-Map-NORTH-MACRO.pdf

[yawler]

Further to the threads regarding the itv +1 channels changing (I am in west country) to Central, I now find that my itv current time channel has now also changed to Central?

Is there anything I can do to get my local channel back?

Thanks

[Annie+UK]

ITV have changed regions and nothing can be done at skys end

[pjhaahl]

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@yawler wrote:

Further to the threads regarding the itv +1 channels changing (I am in west country) to Central, I now find that my itv current time channel has now also changed to Central?

Is there anything I can do to get my local channel back?

Thanks

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Upgrade to HD

[yawler]

You are correct as just checked my hd box and that's ok. It's just that I usually watch the local itv news on my old non hd box in the kitchen but thanks for clarifying the situation.

[YellowSnow]

I have a Sky+ box...... firstly we noticed the ITV+1 (203) had changed from Yorkshire to Granada..... in the last couple of weeks, the ITV (103) has also changed from Yorkshire to Granada..... Although I am originally from Lancashire, & its lovely to see the news about that side of the country.... I have lived in the middle of West Yorkshire for 20yrs, so really do need to see the news about this side of the country.... its not like I live on the Lancashire/Yorkshire border.... its frustrating.... what on earth is going on?

[oj01]

@YellowSnow

Is 103 ITV (SD) or ITV HD for you?

ITV recently closed some SD variants including Yorkshire.

ITV HD should still be showing the correct region.

EDIT - If you have a Non-HD box, I don't think there's anything you can do, other than complain to ITV 

[YellowSnow]

Its SD.... we dont have a HD box

It must be a Sky thing... as we still get ITV Calendar (Yorkshire) on Freeview - both ITV & ITV+1

[xenon81]

ITV have discontinued a lot of SD regions on satellite, affecting Sky and Freesat.  As the vast majority of viewers on these platforms are using HD boxes the cost of broadcasting so many SD regions for a very limited audience is no longer worth it for ITV. 

[PATV+Scunthorpe]

Have a look further up this thread, some other posts can help explain why you don't receive the correct region on your Sky box.

It isn't an issue with Sky, it's ITV deciding to promote the push to HD by closing down most of their SD channels via satellite, the idea is that the ITV HD channels should be correct, but the SD version (which you receive on 103) will be a larger region that may not have the correct regional news, but will have regional advertising over a larger area instead.

The reason you still see the correct regions on your Freeview set up, is that it's mostly the opposite way around at the moment, due to the infrastructure in place, ITV cannot transmit every single region in HD on Freeview, so the SD variants with regional news are kept correct for now, with HD being the larger advertising regions. 

[YellowSnow]

Thanks... yes as I typed it, I realised that I meant it must be an Sky & ITV agreement (not purely Sky on its own)... as all is well on my freeview ...

So theyre all pushing for everyone to use HD.... so really I need to change my box to a HD one?.... or cancel & just stick to freeview?

I would move to Q.... but heard so many issues regarding your internet needs to be a really good signal or it doesnt work properly .... I only use Sky for my tv package.... I have a different provider that does my phone & internet