A couple of little mysteries for Pres fans. A fortnight ago a UTV break bumper suddenly appeared. It featured the modified ITV branding introduced last summer and was shown, roughly, in every fourth ad break – usually the one just before the hour.
Now it has gone. So what was the reason for this little revival of UTV branding?
Was it a conscious marketing campaign? Perhaps to help ensure the connection between UTV and ITV is explicit? (The bumper included the tagline “Part of ITV”).
Or was it operational? Maybe linked to the move of UTV’s SD service on satellite to a different transponder. Or maybe the two were connected in some way?
Or – dare I say it – was this a cock up? Though that would seem highly unlikely.
The other ongoing mystery concerns ITV’s transponder changes.
ITV has cleared space on its satellite transponders with, it is presumed, a view to moving more of its HD regions on to them. Three currently operate on leased capacity elsewhere and the obvious assumption is that ITV simply wants to do some housekeeping and move existing services to its own capacity.
But a new stream – showing Meridian SE HD – has now appeared on another transponder. Why has this capacity been leased?
Is the game of “musical chairs” on satellite pointing towards something? The inevitable question is whether there may be a possibility of Border Scotland and Channel finally becoming available in HD.
If this does happen, it would be a remarkable development. On satellite, ITV in SD would simply be a legacy.
Watch this space.
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