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Warner deal helps build new channel for Nine

Nine will have "hundreds of thousands of hours" of content for its new channel. And finally a comment from Seven.

9logo91Nine CEO David Gyngell says the network will draw on a very big pool of content, including output from Warners which it renewed for a staggering $500m over 5 years, plus Sony and Village Roadshow.

“We will have hundreds of thousands of hours (of programs) which will help us launch the second channel,” he said.

It surely has a backlog of programmes that have been removed off its primary channel: Survivor, Fringe, ER, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Nip / Tuck, Weeds, Hotel Babylon, Primeval…it will be interesting to see which makes the cut. Gossip Girl, Entourage and Sex and the City repeats have already been given the nod.

“And while it’s not ideal from a shareholder’s point of view, from an opportunity point of view we feel the best place to target advertisers is the younger demographic, so we will be launching a younger-focused entertainment channel.”

While the thrust of the Warner deal will be for new shows on its primary channel, the Nine CEO has previously talked down his enthusiasm for being forced to launch the new channel during tight economic times, even likening it to a network ‘tax.’ Now it’s a better fit to talk it up in the public domain.

Advertisers must first buy ads on Nine’s primary channel before they could buy ads on the new channel. Sales Director Peter Wiltshire has previously indicated long-term partners will be “automatically optimised” into its new secondary channel at no additional cost, for a launch period.

Gyngell also said that in previous years Nine had onsold some Warner programs to the TEN and Foxtel as there had not been room for them in Nine’s schedule.

“But now we can use these quality shows in prime time as we have two places to play them. And it’s complementary to our advertising commitments as we now have strength from 16 to 65-year-olds.”

The latest info on Seven’s secondary channel is a two sentence comment from a spokesperson in today’s Australian: “We’ve determined our approach. Next decision will be timing on launch.”

And there you have it.

Yes timing is very crucial, for both the announcement to advertisers, media and audience, followed by the arrival on screen.

It’s a funny world we live in. Five years ago who would have thought Nine would be skewing younger, and TEN older in the pursuit of TV glory?

Source: The Australian

41 Responses

  1. Thanks for the reply to my email Shane.

    i asked this because many people have commented that sevens second channel will be Lifestyle (I don’t mind)
    I guess we’ll find out in a few more months

  2. I have the same question as Johnson:

    Will Nine get Warner shows that are already on other channels such as Supernatural on TEN? If they do, then the other networks will lose some really good shows.

    Wow, this new channel sounds better than channel 7 and 9 put together. I agree with everyone else; Actually make a decent channel with episodes shown in order, and at the same time every week. Make sure the “look” of the network is also really good, as it will tell people that this network is serious, not just cheap rubbish.

  3. @Andrew
    “As a matter of interest, How does the lifestyle channel rate on Paytv”
    they rate very well on pay tv, alot better then i thought, not as good as sport but last time i checked they did better then the documents channels, kids channels and the music channels, 111HITS and TV1 also did very well, FOX8 was one of the highest ratings, but overall sport rates alot better then any other channel on foxtel.
    i cant put links in my reply but googleOzTAM

  4. David, do you know if the secondary channels require a certain percentage of Australian content?

    One HD has some Australian content (but not much), whereas all we have heard from the new Nine channel is about Warner Bros content?

    Unless the shows are being made at Movie World, I’m not sure how they would count as Australian content.

    1. There’s no requirement (which only applies to first run scripted drama/comedy/film/childrens/doco anyway). Also, they can’t shuffle shows off to secondary to win quota. It has to be primary channel.

  5. Michael says:
    June 22, 2009 at 5:50 pm

    Nein already have plenty of content they just need to actually run it. And I don’t mean at 2:45 am!

    Hey Michael, what is “Nein”? Don’t you mean Nine???

    1. Andrew: Off Topic is best in TV Lounge. Most of the Pay Channels are much of a muchness, but sport rules. If you check last week’s ratings you can download the week’s Top 100 to compare titles.

  6. All I have to say is that if I have to wait until 2012 for Season 7 of Curb Your Enthusiasm, I won’t be happy. With two channels for Nine to play with (and a second channel most likely being less affected by ratings) every cult/low rating show should have a timeslot on one of the channels in a half decent timeslot.

  7. The 500 million dollar deal includes deals for anything Warner up to 2015, including films, released during the period of now to 2015.

    The newspaper article omitted alot of details.

    Better source is Holylwood Reporter.

    Channel 7 was fighting for the Warner deal.

    Seinfeld is in 16:9 HD because during 04-05 Sony when back to the 35mm negatives and created HD copies for any future possible HD release and use.

    The 4:3 you always knew was just a video transfer from the 35mm print.

    If anything 4:3 is a crop from the 35mm to start with.

  8. I don’t hold by breath because the programming departments of all these stations have shown themselves to be little better than a herd of lemmings, but I think this a good stance by Nine.

    What needs to be done now if for them to blanket cover all competing stations shows with their own good programming and by this I do not mean “Two and a half men”

    Basically if they have enough good shows in their stable they should be able to put something good up in every alternating time slot and secure viewers glued to Nine
    P.S. – Sorry, forgot to tell you great post!

  9. ETA – Seinfeld – I’m waiting for Sony to re-release it on BlueRay or even normal DVD in 16:9 and yes it’s been remastered from the original film, wish they had done the same with Friends and other top shows.

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