As you know our customers in Leeds, Harrogate and York have been busy swapping their TV viewing cards over the last few weeks so the time has now arrived today, Tuesday 1 December, to switch off the first set of channels (Sky Sports 1 / Sky Movies Premier +1 and Zee TV) and start the transition over to the new platform. After we've had a chance to review the impact a further set of channels will switch off tomorrow at 2pm (All premiums including Sky Sports and Movies, ESPN channels and all plus 1's).
The impact of this upon Sales is that we expect to see an increase in calls and sales enquiries from this area of those people that have been viewing our TV for free by fraudulent means but have now decided to buy our TV service legitimately.
This group of people won't have received a new card to swap and will therefore be unable to switch back on those channels which are being switched off on the old platform.
There is a high likelihood that these customers will choose to buy on-line, however many will call in or visit one of our stores; they are also unlikely to admit to previously taking our services for free.
Please be aware though that some people may mention that they have lost some of their channels, if this is the case then check to see if they are a TV customer and if they aren't then explain that we don't have them recorded as a customer and that you are able to arrange for them to receive our TV service (some customers may want to up-sell too if they have been fraudulently taking additional channels on top of their M TV service).
What we are doingAs part of the smartcard swap pilot for the Leeds region we will be making a number of channel drops to 'switch off' channels on the old platform. This will result in a loss of some channels for any Virgin Media TV subscriber in the Leeds region who has not successfully swapped their old card for the new one.
What the customer will see
Customers who have not swapped their smartcard after the scheduled channel drops may see one or both of the on screen pop-up messages:
Swap your card now! Your old TV Smart Card will stop working any day now. To keep watching TV, insert your new TV Smart Card now. If you don't have your new TV Smart Card, call us now on 0800 052 0056. This is not a fault with your TV.
Lost some channels? If you don't have a valid subscription you may have lost some channels. To keep enjoying Virgin TV call us on 0800 408 9305 or go to Virgin TV - Digital TV - Virgin Media (we won't ask where you got access to Virgin TV from.) This message is not a fault.
Expected Errors
Customers may see the following error messages/codes on all channels on their TV:
-1202, 1203, 1204
The customer will see a blank screen - this is on ALL box types
Once the customer has swapped their card, these should disappear. Please be aware, the card swap process can take up to 20 minutes to complete - please ensure that you take this into account when dealing with the customer.
Please follow the FDT resolution.
When are the channel drops taking place?
-1st Dec - 'Channel Drop 1a' (02:00 am)
We will then assess the impact of the drop on the 1st to see if we can continue with further drops on the 2nd.
-2nd Dec - Channel Drop 1b (14:00)
Which channels are being dropped?
1st Dec : Sky Sports 1 / Sky Movies Premier +1 and Zee TV will be dropped at around 2am.
Then, pending review we will look to continue with the below:
2nd Dec : All premiums including sky sports and movies, espn channels and all plus 1's will be dropped at around 2pm.
The impact of this upon Sales is that we expect to see an increase in calls and sales enquiries from this area of those people that have been viewing our TV for free by fraudulent means but have now decided to buy our TV service legitimately.
This group of people won't have received a new card to swap and will therefore be unable to switch back on those channels which are being switched off on the old platform.
There is a high likelihood that these customers will choose to buy on-line, however many will call in or visit one of our stores; they are also unlikely to admit to previously taking our services for free.
Please be aware though that some people may mention that they have lost some of their channels, if this is the case then check to see if they are a TV customer and if they aren't then explain that we don't have them recorded as a customer and that you are able to arrange for them to receive our TV service (some customers may want to up-sell too if they have been fraudulently taking additional channels on top of their M TV service).
What we are doingAs part of the smartcard swap pilot for the Leeds region we will be making a number of channel drops to 'switch off' channels on the old platform. This will result in a loss of some channels for any Virgin Media TV subscriber in the Leeds region who has not successfully swapped their old card for the new one.
What the customer will see
Customers who have not swapped their smartcard after the scheduled channel drops may see one or both of the on screen pop-up messages:
Swap your card now! Your old TV Smart Card will stop working any day now. To keep watching TV, insert your new TV Smart Card now. If you don't have your new TV Smart Card, call us now on 0800 052 0056. This is not a fault with your TV.
Lost some channels? If you don't have a valid subscription you may have lost some channels. To keep enjoying Virgin TV call us on 0800 408 9305 or go to Virgin TV - Digital TV - Virgin Media (we won't ask where you got access to Virgin TV from.) This message is not a fault.
Expected Errors
Customers may see the following error messages/codes on all channels on their TV:
-1202, 1203, 1204
The customer will see a blank screen - this is on ALL box types
Once the customer has swapped their card, these should disappear. Please be aware, the card swap process can take up to 20 minutes to complete - please ensure that you take this into account when dealing with the customer.
Please follow the FDT resolution.
When are the channel drops taking place?
-1st Dec - 'Channel Drop 1a' (02:00 am)
We will then assess the impact of the drop on the 1st to see if we can continue with further drops on the 2nd.
-2nd Dec - Channel Drop 1b (14:00)
Which channels are being dropped?
1st Dec : Sky Sports 1 / Sky Movies Premier +1 and Zee TV will be dropped at around 2am.
Then, pending review we will look to continue with the below:
2nd Dec : All premiums including sky sports and movies, espn channels and all plus 1's will be dropped at around 2pm.