What the hell happened to Granada Plus.........

[tim2969]

........all of a sudden it has ceased broadcasting because of the launch of ITV 3 no more On the Buses Not on you Nellie or Bless this house nor more Bullseye and no more WHEEL TAPPERS AND SHUNTERS CLUB this channel will be missed down here  in Sussex so any one have any clues why it went off today the website does not give much away.

[joughtib]

ITV has taken full control of the multi-channel operation Granada Sky Broadcasting (GSB) that operates Plus and Men & Motors

ITV has agreed to buy Sky Ventures' 49.5% share for �10m net of liabilities, from any potential sale of Men & Motors.

Plus has shut totally, with Men & Motors continuing broadcasting in its current form pending a review of its long term future.

[jennymac]

This is the official answer I got back from Granada.

After the recent acquisition of GSB by ITV, PLUS ceased broadcasting at
5pm on Monday 1st November.

You will be pleased to know that some of your favourite PLUS programmes
will be found in the future on ITV3.

We would like to thank all our viewers for their loyalty and support
over the past 8 years.

Regards,

Sophia Ellis
Presentation Co-Ordinator
Granada Sky Broadcasting

[greenday]

Well, I caught a bit of Bullseye last night when I flicked around at about 8.30 last night. Then later it was gone. Plus still has listings in all the magazines, so I'm still a bit confused. Will they be showing 'The Sweeney' on ITV3?

[peanut42]

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds16714.html

[Partygirl1]

I was totally flabbergasted this morning when there was no Classic Corrie etc. I can't believe they've done this. I thought ITV3 was just another channel. As for saying there will be U.S. programmes well we need this like a hole in the head, all the channels are full of U.S. rubbish. Is there anything we can do.

[rodant]

Could this be the start of the decline of Sky? I used to watch Plus a lot and ITV3 is not the same, it also claims to be on 24 hours when it turns into a shopping channel at 1.00am! The Discovery channel seems also to have lost the plot, so why should I give Sky �19 a month when I can have freeview? and if I subscribe to Top up tv I can have uk gold for �7. 

[Steyning]

We have had Sky then Sky+ for a long time.  Now Plus is no longer tranmitting Sky will soon be discontinued.  As usual it is the top executives who have made money out of the deal with no thought for the viewers.  So my disabled friend has lost all his classic sitcom viewing and TV is now the bottom of the barrel.  Obviously those at the top of Granada are complete ***** without even common courtesy to give the viewers a message and an apology.  What do others think?

Richard.

[sweepster]

What a shock I got yesterday morning when I switched on to watch Corrie and Emmerdale - it was gone! No warning, nothing. Its disgusting the way large organisations treat people. ITV3? What a joke that channel is! Can't they think of anything better? Bring back Granada Plus! I am sure there are hundreds if not thousands of us out there who are missing our beloved Granada Plus! 

[geffers1]

My disabled mother watched every day series like wycliffe, murder she wrote, taggart, PD james  etc - she loved these programmes - and apart from the original ITV/BBC channels she watched Granada Plus almost exclusively. Now it is gone she is stopping her subscription to sky. I feel desperately sorry for her and disgusted with those responsible who clearly have no thought for the viewers - I also agree with other respondent views about the  flat and dull american fare being touted. Lets have the decent progs back and not this ITV3 rubbish!

[jane1999]

I am disgusted at the way us loyal viewers were treated. No warning, no explanation, no apology, nothing. We are just insignificant rubbish to them. What rubbish ITV3 is! I think I just have to accept that I will have to live without my Corrie re-runs. Plus was the main reason I was keeping up my NTL subscription, don't know how much longer that will go on for, I might get a box for freeview instead. Does anyone know where we can complain to about this decision?

[aurelia]

It is apalling that this great channel has been removed with no prior warning or announcements - and having been running for 8 years you'd think they would have treated their loyal viwers better than this - the ITV3 lineup looks garbage - so much for syaing they would use some of the favourite plus programmes - how do they determine what the favourite ones are - it ran from first thing in the morning to late at night - ITV3 goes off about 1 - why - they could have more of original plus programmes through the night even if people could record it would be better thqn nothing - I thougth ITV3 was a new channel - Plus was my main viwing channel - for all the crime shows - Taggart, Poirot, Columbo, Blue Murder, Pie in the Sky - to name but a few - and my parents watched this on their Sky stellite - they are 65 and 70 - I can see them getting rid of their dish now - it's the fat cats deciding what we get to watch and taking all the cream

[BIGTUM]

There is a rumour that Sky wouldn't allocate a channel on the satellite for ITV3 so the decision was taken to drop Plus and use the bandwidth for ITV3. I have NTL Analogue (Digital isn't available in my part of SE London) and the channel has simply closed. It is unlikely that it will be replaced with ITV3 as it seems to be NTL's policy to run down the analogue service. We have lost a number of channels since the introduction of Digital cable which have not been replaced. The explanation from NTL is that 'the bandwidth is needed to expand the Digital sevice'. There has been no reduction in the price of course just increases and for no extra services.

[bigsweirurgu]

Along with all the others who've replied to this I am totally disgusted that Granada Plus has just been scrapped without any thought for its many thousands of viewers.  There are plenty of other absolutely abysmally dismal channels which could have been replaced by ITV3 without anyone even noticing - which total idiot decided that Plus was expendable?  If anyone out there is planning a protest /petition /uprising count me in!

[Old telly]

I was dismayed and angry at the sudden un announced demise of Plus. I really looked forward to my Saturday morning lie ins watching old Corrie. Also used to enjoy the old sit coms when I was on a day off.

Why was no notice given about this. I also thought ITV3 was a brand new channel. There was no mention during all the expensive advertising for ITV3 that this would be at the cost of losing Plus.

Whoever made this decision - it was unwise. If they scrap UK Gold that's it - the end of my subscription. I remember when UK Gold introduced UKG2 - it's nothing like UK Gold - dire I think sums it up!

[aurelia]

Old Telly - you're right UKG2 is pure garbage and after seeing Granada Plus was gone - you can imagine my delight at finding I now had been given UKG2 + 1 - I need that like a hole in the head and I'd be up for a petition too - and som would my 70 year old parents who watch Granada Plus and UKGold only

[ursula62]

I emailed thru the link on the GSB website and received the same stock reply the others got. So I replied back saying that I could have read that on the website and I expected at least the courtesy of a personalised reply. The person replied to me again, saying that the staff working on the PLUS channel hadn't found out until 4.30pm on the day that their channel was shutting down and she was only allowed to give the official answer.

I agree that all mention of ITV3 in advertising never specified it was at the sake of PLUS, but I don't think the Sky rumour mentioned above is correct. Sky customer services told me they didn't find out until 4.30 on the day - half an hour before PLUS went off air.

We are seriously considering stopping Sky when our first year's subscription runs out as PLUS was the only decent channel on it.

[ursula62]

My fiance found this update which might be nearer the truth:http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/entertainment/filmandtv/tv/s/135/135534_granadas_plus_turned_off_for_itv3.html

[j-ho]

ITV 3 is rubbish - supposed to be for the over 35's yet seems to have endless showings of who wants to be a millionaire.  Bring back the programmes which used to be shown on Plus - especially the Classic Crime shows from the 70's (how about a Channel for the over 40's?)

Let's hope UK GOld isn't next ...

 

[saphireblue]

ITV3 sucks.

Bring back the Granada plus crime programs.

[aurelia]

Sapphireblue - totally agree - there's a poirot on ITV3 fior next week and a Morse - lets hope this is just the beginning of bringing back our decent programmes - instead of their inane crap