Oct 02
I couldn’t quite believe it when I saw an ad in the tube announcing a new channel: Channel 4 + 1:
That’s right. It is the SAME channel, with a one hour delay. I guess we have kinda the same thing in the US with HBO East and West, but that is a touch different. The entire UK is on the same timezone!
I love how instead of using something like TiVo, you should have another channel that gives you ONE more chance to watch a show. Of course, many people have Sky+ which has PVR functionality. I can’t wait for Channel 4 + 2.
It was also funny to see a couple of yanks taking pics in the tube…. and then take a second look and realize it was Matt Mullenweg and Om Malik (who are both speaking at the Future of Web Apps).
October 2nd, 2007 at 1:01 pm
This is getting pretty common now on Sky Digital – most of the popular channels now have a “plus one” varient.
PVRs, even Sky+ aren’t as proliferant in the UK as Tivo is in the US.
October 2nd, 2007 at 1:51 pm
The +1 channels can be really useful even with a PVR. With many new shows being plonked in primetime, the time when 3 programmes clash becomes more regular. If one of the clashes is on a +1 you can record that one….
October 2nd, 2007 at 5:01 pm
I use the +1 trick all the time. Mostly, I watch the last half of the program, and then switch to the +1 channel to see the start!
During the last Winter Olympics, BBC were offering 4 different sub-channels on BBC1. And about a year ago for the final few episodes of 24, Sky were broadcasting it every 15 minutes. So you could start watching at any of about 12 different times. Of course, as more and more people get Sky+/Tivo, it will become less necessary. In fact, just today I received the offer of a free PVR with NTL (a cable company in Ireland).
Of course, there is always my law of television:
Regardless of the number of TV channels, there is still the same number of quality shows. so we don’t get more choice of what to watch, rather when to watch it.
October 3rd, 2007 at 10:46 am
It was good running into you on the train, but be careful calling someone from Texas a Yank. ;)