FilmFour to go FTA, launch on Freeview

movingtables · 8 Feb 2006 at 17:14

Just a heads up for the films channel.

It goes free to freeview customers this july 2006

link: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds28928.html

Scam · 8 Feb 2006 at 18:49

Excellent news. I used to enjoy FF when it was free in the early days.

Sirrel Squirrel · 8 Feb 2006 at 19:19

I suppose they realised that with a larger audience they can make more from advertising, needless to say it's a good move because I've noticed they show a lot of good films, I just didn't want to pay them for a subscription

philio16 · 8 Feb 2006 at 20:29

Note to self - buy a freeview box

Been looking at them for a while.......another point for the pro freeview box side

TommoUK · 8 Feb 2006 at 21:11

I get FilmFour at the moment, and it's pretty great, but I don't like this:

Advert breaks during films will also be introduced for the first time.

Inevitable though, when they're making a move like this.

IceBus · 8 Feb 2006 at 21:14

TommoUK said:
Advert breaks during films will also be introduced for the first time.

I'd rather it stayed pay in that case.

Mr_L · 8 Feb 2006 at 21:27

IceBus said:
I'd rather it stayed pay in that case.

I have to agree with that.

I use to get it when ITV Digital were about, it was great and one of the best things about it was that you got to watch the films without adverts in them.

They have to make some money somehow though.

IceBus · 8 Feb 2006 at 22:20

I've been subscribing to FilmFour for about 3 years now, and I even shouldered the loss of FilmFour World and FilmFour Extreme to make way for the frankly usless FilmFour Weekly, tbh putting ads in is the final straw.

If they want a freeview channel, they should make it FilmFour Lite and have ads, but keep the original pay-channel for those of us who prefer to see 'Movies as the director intended them - no cuts, no ad breaks and in widescreen'. Seems FilmFour won't be able to use those ads again.

Memphis · 8 Feb 2006 at 23:12

C4 were only going to put up with the loss making channel for so long, was inevitable.

Bill101 · 9 Feb 2006 at 10:19

as long as they do not put the news on half way through the film it will still be better than BBC anf ITV (they really do hate us don't they?)

fatiain · 9 Feb 2006 at 12:30

£4.99 a month for films that ain't new. Not surprised it's finally going free.

Sirrel Squirrel · 9 Feb 2006 at 16:36

IceBus said:
I've been subscribing to FilmFour for about 3 years now, and I even shouldered the loss of FilmFour World and FilmFour Extreme to make way for the frankly usless FilmFour Weekly, tbh putting ads in is the final straw.

If they want a freeview channel, they should make it FilmFour Lite and have ads, but keep the original pay-channel for those of us who prefer to see 'Movies as the director intended them - no cuts, no ad breaks and in widescreen'. Seems FilmFour won't be able to use those ads again.

Just get Sky Movies then, it has 12 channels and the films are new, they also show the classics and films from the 80s/90s

HangTime · 9 Feb 2006 at 16:51

philio16 said:
Note to self - buy a freeview box

Been looking at them for a while.......another point for the pro freeview box side

To be honest ever since E4 went to freeview there's been a good case for getting one. Set top boxes are cheap now so it's a simple one-off payment, and you get a better picture than via an analog aerial (unless you had a perfect one already of course). For example it's made Channel5 a bit better for us. Then of course you get a built-in TV guide and 'interactive' stuff.

For sport it's also pretty good becuase having ITV2-4, BBC3-4 and the BBCi means that you get a bit more choice during big sporting events.... e.g. choosing which match to watch in the Champions League football, or which table to cover at the World Snooker.

Obvously Freeview isn't in the same class as Sky, but there's no subs. I don't watch a lot of telly, but it's worth the one-off £50 payment for people who don't want to get Sky or Cable IMO.

IceBus · 9 Feb 2006 at 19:57

Sirrel Squirrel said:
Just get Sky Movies then, it has 12 channels and the films are new, they also show the classics and films from the 80s/90s

I already have it, and they don't show half the independant stuff that FilmFour used to