Digital TV News

PBS goes public on Virgin Media from tomorrow

Monday 31 October, 2011

By Kelvin Goodson

The US public service broadcast channel is to be made available to UK viewers for the first time by the digital TV provider.

PBS will be available to all Virgin Media digital TV customers at no extra cost on channel 243 from tomorrow.

It is the first time that the US public service channel has been made available to viewers in the UK, according to Virgin Media.

PBS, also known as Public Broadcasting Service, will offer Virgin Media’s digital TV customers a range of art, culture, current affairs, history and science programming.

The channel, which boasts it is “where television matters,” shows the likes of science series Nova, public affairs series Frontline and the Ken Burns-directed documentary series Prohibition.

Cindy Rose, executive director of digital entertainment at Virgin Media, said: “This new channel opens up a whole new world of fresh, high-quality programming that’s never before been seen in the UK.”

Richard Kingsbury, general manager of PBS in the UK, described Virgin Media’s digital TV service as an “innovative platform” which offers “new and exciting ways” for the channel to reach a new audience.

As well as being able to watch PBS “live”, those that subscribe to Virgin Media’s TV Choice L and TV Choice XL digital TV packages will also be able to watch PBS programmes via the provider’s TV On Demand services.

This includes the Virgin Media Player, which allows users to watch a selection of Virgin Media TV via their computers and mobile devices, like smartphones and tablet computers.

Virgin Media announced the availability of seven new channels on its digital TV service earlier this month, five of them high-definition (HD) channels - Alibi HD, Eden HD, Eden +1, Dave HD, Good Food HD, Watch HD and Yesterday +1.