removal of plus 1 channels & shutting down channels in favour of access via PIN

[equestrian261167]

Hiya

Its Sara Brown here-Ive not been around for a bit - so not sure if Im in the right forum 

I'd  like to ask a couple of questions

Firstly Why have some plus 1 channels been removed  Examples are Really (142) -which would be 242 had it been there

Pick Channel -Channel 151 (used to be accessible on a plus 1 channel ) 

There are many others  but those are a couple of examples

Secondly why have some channels suddenly been accessible one time  then all of a sudden it is shut down in favour of  access via a PIN no

Examples of these would be Sky Showcase (106) Sky Witness (107) Sky Atlantic (108)

Its in my humble opinion & pardon me for putting it in this way  Bang out of order to suddenly put these amendments in )even if the removals of plus 1 channells have been going for a while  its still bang out of order

Im paying whatever my monthly is (i cant remember off by heart) & all channels should be available - if (in this case me)  I miss a programme I would like to watch it on plus one

Would you please explain why sky saw it fit to suddenly shut down che channels mentioned & others & the only access is via a password

I have to request that Sky make their minds up & one or the other -You either allow me (& of course other customers) full access regularly chose channels  (without the use of a password

Or you close them all down with password protect only

Its unfair to have both actions in place - there has been times when Ive been watching something & half way though it sky suddenly decide to shut it down & say put in pasword to continue it

Can you please reply to me

Or if Im in the wrong forum please pass my query onto the write forum

Thanks

[Daniel0210]

@equestrian261167 

The operators of these channels will have removed them, not necessarily Sky who's platform these companies use and it's probably down to cost in view of the viewing figures these +1 channels achieve. 

[TimmyBGood]

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@equestrian261167 wrote:

Firstly Why have some plus 1 channels been removed  Examples are Really (142) -which would be 242 had it been there

Pick Channel -Channel 151 (used to be accessible on a plus 1 channel ) 

Those are not Sky-owned channels.  If the owners have chosen to remove their +1 service, this is probably because it is not economically viable to keep these going: satellite data transit has a considerable cost and requires a minimum audience level (which has a direct relationship with advertising income) to be sustainable.

Secondly why have some channels suddenly been accessible one time  then all of a sudden it is shut down in favour of  access via a PIN no

Examples of these would be Sky Showcase (106) Sky Witness (107) Sky Atlantic (108)

Atlantic carries some post-watershed content before 21:00, and the Broadcasting Code requires this to be behind a Mandatory Daytime Protection PIN.  Such content is also carried on Sky Comedy and Sky Documentaries 

PIN challenges on Showcase and Witness are probably errors, but these channels could decide to do the same thing if they wish.  Generally this is seen as increasing audience choice: it's assumed that the adults who are the intended audience for PIN protected content will know their PIN number.

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[oj01]

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@equestrian261167 wrote:

Hiya

Its Sara Brown here-Ive not been around for a bit - so not sure if Im in the right forum 

I'd  like to ask a couple of questions

Firstly Why have some plus 1 channels been removed  Examples are Really (142) -which would be 242 had it been there

Pick Channel -Channel 151 (used to be accessible on a plus 1 channel ) 

There are many others  but those are a couple of examples

Secondly why have some channels suddenly been accessible one time  then all of a sudden it is shut down in favour of  access via a PIN no

Examples of these would be Sky Showcase (106) Sky Witness (107) Sky Atlantic (108)

Its in my humble opinion & pardon me for putting it in this way  Bang out of order to suddenly put these amendments in )even if the removals of plus 1 channells have been going for a while  its still bang out of order

Im paying whatever my monthly is (i cant remember off by heart) & all channels should be available - if (in this case me)  I miss a programme I would like to watch it on plus one

Would you please explain why sky saw it fit to suddenly shut down che channels mentioned & others & the only access is via a password

I have to request that Sky make their minds up & one or the other -You either allow me (& of course other customers) full access regularly chose channels  (without the use of a password

Or you close them all down with password protect only

Its unfair to have both actions in place - there has been times when Ive been watching something & half way though it sky suddenly decide to shut it down & say put in pasword to continue it

Can you please reply to me

Or if Im in the wrong forum please pass my query onto the write forum

Thanks

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@equestrian261167 You're aware that you can simply put your Pin in to watch?

By default, your Pin is the last 4 digits of your viewing card but can be changed to anything you want. 

[Timelord2018]

Sky choose to shut down Pick+1 , long term it I think Sky will close their remaining +1 channels.

[Mark39]

With the ability to make multiple recordings simultaneously, and the presence of On Demand, there's less need for the +1 channels now.

[Doc5907]

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@equestrian261167 wrote:

Secondly why have some channels suddenly been accessible one time  then all of a sudden it is shut down in favour of  access via a PIN no

Examples of these would be Sky Showcase (106) Sky Witness (107) Sky Atlantic (108)

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@equestrian261167 

I would hardly call it 'shutting down'.

As mentioned, all you have to do is enter your 4-digit PIN to access these channels.

In the interest of ease of access, I personally changed my PIN to 1111 so its fast and easy to enter. See below...

https://www.sky.com/help/articles/your-pin-sky-q-change

[nolte]

On plus 1 channels pick was closed down in March 2022 according to Wikipedia.

This is probably due to not enough viewers for the plus 1 timeshift channel due to changing viewer habits, 

Being able to stream and download content on demand basically makes timeshift channel commercially unviable.

Between being able to record and access content on demand, the viewer levels for timeshift channels have suffered

The pin on some programmes is due to age and parental guidance requirements set by ofcom

If you have sky q, I have noticed on most programmes they give the age guidance for these on the Sky branded channels (sky Atlantic, sky max, sky documentaries etc etc) in the information box .

[RobertS83]

@equestrian261167 Discovery Plus has a free app, so you could check to see if you can get Really content from there, usually there can be box sets etc.

The PIN is if it is content that would not be advisable for younger viewers to watch.