History Top Up TV

1 history

1.1 2004–06: launch , years
1.2 2006–13: on-demand , premium sports
1.3 2013: loss of sports , closure

history

the company founded 2 former bskyb executives, david chance , ian west. management team consists of chance chairman , nick markham chief executive officer. top tv 20% owned channel 5 , restructured during 2006, original company liquidated under members voluntary liquidation under name minds1. owner of access industries, len blavatnik, said have purchased 70% stake in january 2007.

according official registre de commerce et des sociétés of grand duchy of luxembourg, recent accounts lodged top tv europe s.a.r.l. in 2010 indicated costs of €38 million, debts of €23 million , ongoing losses of €21 million.

2004–06: launch , years

top tv, newincco 166 ltd, attempted make application multiplex licence bid multiplex d on dtt service in 2002 joint application carlton, granada , channel 4, trading digital terrestrial alliance (dta). company prepared offer viable , lite-pay service, have provided large number of free air channels , few pay-tv ones. bid unsuccessful, , licence instead awarded bbc, bskyb , crown castle, later became national grid wireless.

after turn-down of multiplex bid, top tv turned public service broadcasters channel 5 , channel 4 gain capacity on platform. on multiplex a, top tv granted 4 long-term streams (one of hosted tv travel shop), , on multiplex 2, granted 1 short-term stream channel 4. came time-shared system allowed 10 pay-tv channels broadcast in space of 5 television streams, 2 of allotted empty space, later became abc1 , teachers tv. sixth stream used temporary measure (as of short-term contract channel 4), , hosted pay-per-view channels xtraview , red hot.

top tv focused less on premium services prominent of itv digital prior 2002. 2005, eleven channels available on service timeshared. overnight dropped few 2 channels (from main package), in order make space premium adult entertainment channels.

from launch in 2004, alice beer ran information programme viewable channel placeholders , top tv sampler channel @ time service. march 2004 top tv provided package of 10 timeshared tv channels, joined eleventh in 2005: uktv gold, uktv style, uktv food, discovery channel, discovery home & leisure, tcm, e4, bloomberg, cartoon network , boomerang. on 27 may 2005, e4 left top tv become free-to-air channel , replaced british eurosport began broadcasting on platform on 1 june 2005. toonami joined line-up. discovery home & leisure rebranded discovery real time. in first year of operation, company made losses of £7 million. original service broke @ 250,000 subscribers according sources around time top tv anytime announced. figure fell short of claimed potential subscriber numbers of 650,000 set out in original freeview plus proposal document, due differing market in 2004 , increasing temptation sky, acquired itv digital s customer details , cable tv companies.

top tv provided additional services such xtraview offered top tv channels on per day basis closed down after channel 4 wanted stream own use. replaced top tv pay go since closed. top tv active interactive advertising service replace off-air mheg screens on channel 107, featured audio version of quizworld.

in august 2005, setanta sports broadcast live pay-per-view scottish premier league matches in conjunction top tv. service used top tv s xtraview technology. available viewers in scotland, later made available nationwide in 2006.

since 9 february 2007, 2 live channels on service had been replaced push video on demand service, original package being phased out. however, premium sports can still accessed on live basis. xtraview access control system still in use today televisionx.

2006–13: on-demand , premium sports

on 30 august 2006, top tv announced launch new service known top tv anytime. new service required top tv anytime dtr, digital terrestrial television recorder allows access on demand , encrypted channels. original service, since anytime s launch, has been phased out, having been reduced 2 live non-sport channels, gold , home, , probable replaced tv favourites (with exception of premium sports) sometime in 2012. existing channels of original service @ launch closed down or had hours reduced before being phased out completely. existing channels along new channels such living , disney channel joined new service , began offering content on over demand basis. picturebox movies launched premium movies add-on in october 2006.

also in 2006 inview technology launched world’s first push-vod service top tv.

on 11 february 2007, top tv s per-per-view scottish premier league matches discontinued, when setanta sports channel made available on top tv separate subscription, until setanta sports channel ceased broadcasting in june 2009 after company went bust.

in 2009, top tv anytime rebranded tv favourites, spawning picturebox , newly launched espn viewing packs available part of tv favourites or available separately. monday 2 august 2010 saw sky sports 1 , sky sports 2 launch through top tv.

originally, 4 streams used distribute tv favourites service, fourth stream taken off air on 11 january 2010. third stream pulled air ten months later. first stream under name of top tv anytime 1 in epg timeshares espn, , second stream under name of top tv anytime 3 in epg timeshares home, gold, , television x.

2013: loss of sports , closure

in june 2013, following acquisition of espn bt , announcement of removal of sky sports 1 & 2 digital terrestrial television (dtt) network bt, top tv began sending letters customers stating premium sports package(s) discontinued. sky sports 1 & 2 removed on 1 july , espn on 1 august.

in september top tv sent customers on tv favourites , picturebox packages letters informing them service cease broadcasting on 31 october 2013 , remaining subscriptions cease automatically. tutv advised hardware continue work freeview decoder. brought period of uncertainty tutv s future end.

on 31 october, top tv placed notice on website stating had ceased broadcasting. company sold subscriber business sky new subscribers sky 50% off year if go through top tv, continued run conditional access freeview platform bt uses broadcast bt sports 1 , 2 ended in june 2015.