IceTV Resurrected

[hoadie]

Dave, this is great news, I'm really pleased to know the staff are being looked after. That's much more important than a TV guide.

That said I am glad that icetv will live on

[gibster]

Great news.

No problems with the new pricing, and PVR count. I've got a Toppy 2400 and a WMC PC. Think I might get a T4 now to replace the Skippa that I didn't receive.

Cheers and look forward to hearing (or reading) the whole sad saga one day soon.

gib

[RussellMathews]

HI Dave
I sent this message earlier but I think I sent it to the wrong thread so I am sending again
I believe that my Skippa was in the batch for shipment on the Tuesday before the plug was pulled.
As these units are gathering dust in a warehouse and have been paid for up front by loyal ICE TV supporters  every effort should be made to honor delivery to customers whose payment is matched to a unit held
Perhaps consideration could be given to charging a RELEASE FEE (say $50) so as people
who paid in advance can actually get what they paid for
By the way I am pleased that the GUIDE has been saved
I would be interested to see what others have to say on this
The more responses the more likely that something will happen
Regards
Russell

[RubberChicken]

Excellent news. I will be subscribing. Again.

[Eaglehawk]

How about a month's subscription for every year of lost fees from the previous entity? Keep us happy in my opinion and cash should still flow. If you're worried about the initial months, then rebate us later.

[2353]

Welcome back IceTV.  You would have been missed.

Ok well good to hear you guys are up and running again (EPG not Skippa).

however... 

I was really unimpressed that there was ZERO notification given to existing subscribers - all I received was the 3rd party Voluntary Administrator email which had news of our subscription $$ being lost quite literally buried 'in the fine print'. There was no information on when the service may be stopped/interrupted - although it stop getting updated on Tuesday. Short of staff/management here being banned from communicating with end users (which I doubt) - there's really no excuse for this behaviour - it just seemed like you guys decided 'stuff everyone, we're going under so why bother doing the right thing and letting people know what's going on'..  (PS: just posting stuff in the forum is not acceptable - you should have emailed at bare minimum).

Secondly, given it's basically all the same people/investors running IceTV v2 (whatever it's going to be called) - and essentially the same people who were holding the reigns - I think it's pretty unacceptable that you want to RECHARGE paid up subscribing customers a second time. I think all these users (including myself) should be given complimentary subscriptions for remainder of paid period + then you can start charging us again. If you go back and look at your records you'll see most of us have been subscribers for years (I think possibly 7 years or more for myself) - so it stands to reason that we'd resubscribe again as soon as paid period had expired (although monthly billing seems most sensible given risks to users).  While I understand the money has been swallowed in your Skippa fiasco (of which I have nothing to do with or a customer of) - it's about doing the right thing for goodwill and ongoing business - not doing a big short term money grab.

Once again sh*t happens, business goes stale, but it's about doing the 'right thing' no matter what. I try to support Aussie business where I can, but there's just a certain line that was crossed here. Anyhow - given the really poor behaviour/handling of what has happened (and the money regrab) - I'm now not sure if I've got the trust to resubscribe. There's plenty of working EIT + MHEG5 scrapers where I can just get the data myself - have all that working again now + was on verge of reconfiguring my setup to use it.

So I think it's in IceTV v2's court here, how about doing the right thing. You can start off by actually emailing everyone and telling them what's going on. Then have a good hard look at your recharge everyone business strategy - surely you can do better than that.

my 2 cents.

Niall

You clearly have no idea how company administration works.  Apart from that - put yourself in the IceTV staff and management shoes - whats more important a) working out a way to retain employment and provide a service or b) advising what the state of play is at a certain point, when the 'state of play' is rapidly evolving (AKA speculation based on incomplete information)

[Paul55]

As these units are gathering dust in a warehouse and have been paid for up front by loyal ICE TV supporters  every effort should be made to honor delivery to customers whose payment is matched to a unit held
Perhaps consideration could be given to charging a RELEASE FEE (say $50) so as people

From what I can gather, the units are still held by UEC (the manufacturer - operates under the brand Altech) not by IceTV.
Customers may have paid IceTV, but IceTV haven't paid UEC - otherwise the units would have been released. UEC won't care that you have paid IceTV, but they may be looking for a way to dispose of the Skippa units already manufactured. Keep in mind though that UEC is quite a large company - many times bigger than IceTV.
There may be some opportunity for the administrators to negotiate with UEC - or not.
The situation is complicated by a short notice structural change by UEC with regard to their Australian operations.

[michaelwho]

Great news indeed. I've never been a subscriber (I have an undelivered Skippa) but I love the way it goes down the page showing time slots and all programs on at that time. Recently got a Beyonwiz T2 and I love it. I will definitely be signing up. Will the smart phone apps be resurrected? The links are currently dead (if not the website is great).

[bodogbodog]

Will the smart phone apps be resurrected? The links are currently dead (if not the website is great).

The mobile apps on my iPhone and iPad are working fine - the guide is refreshing and populating with new data. Not sure what mobile device you are trying to use but wouldn't you download the app from the relevant Apps store?

[csutak40]

I just had a look at my app (rarely use it)  it is working.  When I first opened it, I got an empty page, but when I swiped left, I got the menu

[DeltaMikeCharlie]

IceTV v2 is excellent news, for subscribers and staff.

With the new monthly payment arrangements, can you please ensure that a notification email is sent each and every month when the subscription has been deducted?  This will avoid any credit card payments slipping through the cracks and earning my Bank any much loved late fees.

[Daniel Hall at IceTV]

Will the smart phone apps be resurrected? The links are currently dead (if not the website is great).

The mobile apps on my iPhone and iPad are working fine - the guide is refreshing and populating with new data. Not sure what mobile device you are trying to use but wouldn't you download the app from the relevant Apps store?

The apps are in the process of being re-listed now. Android and Windows Phone should be back shortly, it may take up to a week for the iOS app to come back.

[KenB]

Hi Dave and Staff,

I'm glad that you have worked hard to find an ongoing solution and at this stage we will be signing up for the new IceTV v2 subscription fee albeit we have lost 14 years worth of subscriptions for our two PVR's.

I have read most of the forum replies and have a simple request please?  Can you send out an email/s when you can on major milestones have been reached please?  I understand that you were in the hands of an administrator but they didn't send out emails to all subscribers, nor did they provide any updates and they don't reply to email questions so a black hole really.

I hope you don't encounter any new obstacles.

Cheers
Ken

[Andrew Smith]

Had been wanting to say "I'm sorry, Dave" (HAL) as the opportunity was too good to pass up.  :-)

From a business perspective, I would strongly encourage IceTV v2 to have the facility by which we can pay for 3 months, 6 months or even a year ahead.  Why?  Because I don't want to be handling $8 transactions every month and would rather do a "one transaction to rule them all" etc type of thing.

Hey, it's great to have you back, and I'm very understanding of what has happened via events that were outside of the control of IceTV v1.

Andrew

[prl]

I rather think the monthly subscription is a confidence-building exercise. I've seen plenty of posts saying that people would be unwilling to put any more than a months subscription at risk.

The $7.99 monthly subscription is actually a substantial discount on the old IceTV monthly rate ($13) and a small discount on the old full-price annual subscription ($95.88 vs $99).

Perhaps other subscription options will become available as the new(?) company gets off the ground.