Those hotels abroad that pick a few random FTA channels are always interesting. I was in a place in Corfu last year with a crappy 14" crt that had BBC One HD, Sky News, CCTV Documentaries and I think CBS Reality.
I can imagine it won't be long before somebody setting up such a distribution system puts GBNews on thinking it's a news channel!
Write that down in your copybook now
I went to Tenerife a couple of years back and there was what I think was a Moroccan channel that showed pretty new English films, which was quite nice at the end of the night. Similarly when I went to Iceland I was surprised at just how much tv was in English with subtitles.
Was quite nice going to Denmark once and catching the TVF favourite TV Avisen on DR-1.
I was in Gran Canaria when Diana died so my experience of that was watching it in the hotel on CNN.
I’m sure I’m not the only one here whose first instinct when getting into a hotel room is to flick through the tv channels!
ITV Region: ITV News Central
BBC Region: BBC Midlands Today
I went to Majorca in recent years and we did have some English speaking channels such as Sky News, BBC World News, CNN if i recall.
One of the rooms in the resort did have BBC One on its telly but ours didn't. As for non-English channels, we had the main channels from Spain, La 1 and La 2, Antena 3, Cuatro, Telecinco and LaSexta. And we had the German-language version of Arte on there too.
The Spanish channels are very good at keeping the original English soundtrack as an option on dubbed imported programmes, so there is often more content available than it might seem.
Write that down in your copybook now
ITV Region: ITV News Central
BBC Region: BBC Midlands Today
When I stayed at a hotel in Spain, it's usually just the DTT channels as they have a good offering (the usual networks TVE, Antena 3, Telecinco etc. plus Energy, Neox, Boing, Disney Channel etc.) but I've also seen "Canal Digital Satelite" (now Movistar+) promoted at a hypermarket.
When I stayed at a hotel in Madeira in Portugal, they had every single TV channel available on MEO's IPTV service relayed via RF in every room in the hotel (including the premium movies and sports channels), a lot of the programming was in English but with Portuguese subtitles, some purely in English (including Sky News International, BBC World News and BBC Entertainment), and some purely in Portuguese (especially the main networks, RTP, SIC and TVI).
I've also experienced Sky Italia as well, but not at an hotel, but whilst staying at a relative's house, that was the first time I saw BBC Prime (now BBC Entertainment or rebranded as BBC Brit depending on the country).
ITV Region: ITV News London
BBC Region: BBC London News
Switzerland is the best place for international channels on hotel sets. You're likely to get not just the local Swiss channels, but also channels from France, Germany, Austria, Italy and the UK. It's very possible that you can be in a hotel in Geneva or Zurich and watch ITV News London at 7pm CET.
ITV Region: ---None Selected---
BBC Region: ---None Selected---
What amazed me when I was on holiday in America was how there were no idents or continuity announcers introducing the programmes. Literally one programme leads straight into the next one, with no ident package at all.
I remember being in Los Angeles for the first time back in 2006, and watching the 11pm News on KNBC 4, their NBC station. I was waiting to watch Jay Leno's Tonight Show, and literally the local news anchors ended their bulletin and it went straight into the start of the Tonight Show. No ident, no introduction at all.
Steve in Pudsey post_id=22843 time= user_id=942 Wrote:The Spanish channels are very good at keeping the original English soundtrack as an option on dubbed imported programmes, so there is often more content available than it might seem.
I utilised this option when I was in Ibiza a few years ago. On our last night at the hotel it was raining, the Disney Channel was showing Home Alone 2, I was able to change the audio track from Spanish to English. Obviously the ads and promos were in Spanish, I appreciated that this function was there.
ITV Region: ---None Selected---
BBC Region: ---None Selected---
Here is an example of how the US networks have no idents or continuity to introduce programming. This is a clip from WNBC 4 News in New York City, their 11pm bulletin ends, and it is straight into the Tonight Show - this is from 2010.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBux5Semooc
all new Phil post_id=22800 time= user_id=865 Wrote:I went to Tenerife a couple of years back and there was what I think was a Moroccan channel that showed pretty new English films, which was quite nice at the end of the night.
MBC2 perhaps? https://www.mbc.net/channels/mbc2
Ste post_id=22954 time= user_id=972 Wrote:all new Phil post_id=22800 time= user_id=865 Wrote:I went to Tenerife a couple of years back and there was what I think was a Moroccan channel that showed pretty new English films, which was quite nice at the end of the night.
MBC2 perhaps? https://www.mbc.net/channels/mbc2 That’s the one!
JK1985 post_id=22917 time= user_id=1347 Wrote:Here is an example of how the US networks have no idents or continuity to introduce programming. This is a clip from WNBC 4 News in New York City, their 11pm bulletin ends, and it is straight into the Tonight Show - this is from 2010. Not strictly true, it depends on the network and in the past few years The CW, CBS and NBC has 5 second idents. (I've posted about this in another thread)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_Xkipsorvk
https://youtu.be/deoNLfqu30c?t=45
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9_6Xp-C0XM
dbl post_id=22963 time= user_id=966 Wrote:JK1985 post_id=22917 time= user_id=1347 Wrote:Here is an example of how the US networks have no idents or continuity to introduce programming. This is a clip from WNBC 4 News in New York City, their 11pm bulletin ends, and it is straight into the Tonight Show - this is from 2010. Not strictly true, it depends on the network and in the past few years The CW, CBS and NBC has 5 second idents. (I've posted about this in another thread)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_Xkipsorvk
https://youtu.be/deoNLfqu30c?t=45
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9_6Xp-C0XM
For the large part, this is a more recent development (certainly newer than 2010) as a reaction to keeping their brands in mind when their shows land on streaming services more than any newfound appreciation for branding.
In my (only somewhat longer) experience, the closest we've gotten on a more consistent basis to an ident (at least among broadcast stations) is the FCC-mandated legal ID broadcast at or near the top of the hour (where the station's call sign and city of license are displayed); even then, those few seconds have been increasingly given over to local advertisements or a show promo (this latter case I've seen most often, if not invariably, amongst CW affiliates); though that assumes there's still a separate ident containing the legal ID at all, and it's not integrated as a small overlay at the start of a program.
The lack of idents and cohesive branding is probably the one thing I don't like about television here in America...
James Martin
Unregistered
When I was a holiday rep in Spain the hotel I lived in had BBC One, BBC Four and Channel 5, pumped round the hotel on UHF. I certainly wasn't able to tune anything else in (and no the menu wasn't locked down.)
When I went back a few years later on holiday they'd moved to an IPTV based setup with most BBC, ITV, C4 and C5 channels on it alongside Spanish and German ones.
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