VIRGIN Media customers face losing another channel from their TV boxes in mere hours as part of the company’s latest shake-up.
Fortunately, some new channels have burst onto the scene recently to fill the void.
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The latest channel closure follows a number of high-profile departures in broadcasting over the last 12 months.
Last year, five long-running music channels operated by Channel 4 were shut down, including 4Music, The Box, Kiss, Kerrang and Magic.
Then London Live ceased broadcasting after ten years on air.
More recently, Eurosport bowed out after 35 years on UK screens.
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This latest channel closure is a lot smaller, only serving as a streamed TV channel on Virgin Media for a few years.
Virgin TV has been offering a growing number of internet-based channels to fill the gaps from wider closures.
Tastemade was among the first FAST – free ad-supported TV – channels to be added to Virgin boxes at no extra cost, which are beamed onto screens thanks to your broadband connection instead of the usual cable.
It’s a channel aimed at cooking and food enthusiasts.
But tomorrow is Tastemade’s last day on air via Virgin Media, leaving channel number 232.
A spokesperson told The Sun: “We regularly review our streaming channel line-up so it might change from time to time to ensure it works best for our customers.”
But it’s not all bad news – Virgin Media has been adding more of these streamed channels lately.
Over on 233 you can find a Hell’s Kitchen channel still.
Just a couple of weeks ago Redbull TV was added at 556, as well as Wonder at 238.
For sports fans, Virgin Media recently announced a brand new main channel that’s available at no extra cost for selected customers.
Premier Sports Rugby is the UK’s first channel devoted to rugby 24/7.
It will show events including the Investec Champions Cup, EPCR Challenge Cup, the United Rugby Championship and some of the biggest games from the TOP14.
Two live games from every round of the topflight Japanese Rugby League One competition will be broadcast on the channel too, as well as the best games from the Major League Rugby competition in the United States.
Premier Sports subscribers who already pay £15.99 per month receive it as a free upgrade.
Are more channels facing the chop?
Analysis by Jamie Harris, Assistant Technology and Science Editor at The Sun
Tastemade was a relatively minor channel but it further demonstrates how uncertain the broadcasting sector is at the moment.
Sky has just lost some channels on satellite in the latest shake-up to affect Sky Q.
But more big name channels could end in future.
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.
