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ABC announces 24/7 News channel

The ABC has announced it will launch a 24-hour news channel in 2010, to air via its current ABC HD channel.

The ABC has announced it will launch a 24-hour television news channel in 2010.

To broadcast on the current ABC HD channel, the news service will effectively become a Free to Air competitor to Sky News, and launches without any additional funds from the Government.

With a with a new state-of-the-art studio in the foyer of the ABC’s Ultimo headquarters, the channel will provide live continuous news coverage of major breaking stories from Australia and around the world.

“No media organisation in the country is better equipped to deliver this channel than the national broadcaster,” Managing Director Mark Scott said.

“We can draw on the investment already made in the ABC, through its major newsrooms in every state and territory, 12 international bureaux and 60 regional newsrooms, to deliver to Australians a top-quality 24-hour news service that is comprehensive, independent and up to the minute.”

New programs are being developed in world news, national politics and business, while existing television news and current affairs programs will also feature.

Audiences in 44 countries will also benefit from the new channel via the Australia Network.

ABC News Director Kate Torney said,“ABC journalists around the country and around the world produce hours of original, quality content each day. The news channel will give Australians more flexible access to our best reporting and analysis, along with an opportunity to watch breaking news as it happens.”

ABC is yet to indicate how this impacts on current HD programming of other shows.

79 Responses

  1. OK so each network is giving 23mbps each(thats what they decided with the government when digital first started), ABC uses 21mbps for there channels, the other 2mbps is used for EPG data and the 2 DIG radio stations
    The bitrate of the other channels are(This was on the 4th dec 2009 so it could have changed) Both Min and Max
    ABCHD 7.7 – 10.2
    ABC 2 2.7 – 4.7
    ABC 3 1.6 – 6.0
    & ABC1 stays at 5.9mbps

    So if you add all the Max bit rates there they add up to more then max of 21 used by ABC, the bit rate goes up(the space needed to broadcast the channel) if there is fast moving images such as sport). Now the picture will look better in the next couple of months because “It is expected that sometime after March all ABC digital television channels will move to dynamic bit rates which may help to even out some of the discrepancies currently identified with some of our channels.”
    That is from a ABC email which was posted on dtvforum.info/index.php?showtopic=84677&st=140

    like i said each network has 23mbits each and there is one extra 23mbits that is used by the Digtal 44 trial in sydney which may go nationwide because Channel 31 would most likely be giving space there. Also when analog tv is switch off that will free up more space(But it may not be used for more tv) Also one analog tv channel i think takes up 23mbps so we are getting more channels then what one analog channel takes up

  2. Chris says:
    January 21, 2010 at 3:55 pm
    Excellent News…can’t ABC1 become ABCHD and ABC1 become the News Channel, you won’t need to show news on the main ABC channel if you have a channel dedicated to news. Will this make Ch 7 and 9 bring Sky News to Freeview (they own it don’t they?).

    ABC1 has to be seen in SD so it carn’t move to a HD only channel, and yes both Ch 7 and 9 own 33.3% each of sky news, But 7/9 & 10 are only allowed 2SD & 1HD channels so unless you want sky news to be available on 7 or 9HD(thats when sky news goes HD) or they could move GO or 7TWO to there HD channel and use there second SD channel for sky news, but who knows sky news may make a deal with the government to use some of the extra space available that Digital 44 trial is using in sydney to broadcast sky news and i guess A-PAC as well, like you i would also like to see sky news available on freeview, O yeah just to add they did just make a 9.1Million net profit in the last year so they could make a lot more over the air i guess but they may no longer get money for every foxtel subscribe then, but im not sure, and i hope the ABC well they should of had the money to do this when digital first launched

  3. I’m going to assume that ABC are going to be dropping Digital Channel 20 down to a SD stream to fit the new news channel on it, and obviously they’d broadcast the new news channel ON D20 so that people don’t have to rescan, but since ‘ABC4’ has been toted a fair bit, are ABC going to start broadcasting on Digital Channel 24 as well with the new channel?

    And like others have said, since they’re dropping ABCHD I hope they put the bitrate up on all the channels. Also, while we’re on the topic of multi-channeling here.. Is ABC2 ever going to become a 24/7 channel? It’s becoming more independant to ABC1 now (thankfully) but overnight they could have repeat screenings of some ABC1 shows overnight to fill the schedule..

  4. Have to say I really like the sound of it. Being Freeview channel 24, it means it is possible that they’ll base it off BBC News 24 (Upscaled, posh version of Sky). Hopefully they’ll link it to NewsRadio as well.

    There’s no need for it to be in HD though. SD will do, and easily allows for ABC5.

  5. Ok, now that the ABC has effectively created “ABC4” on it’s HD channel, could they drop the bitrate on it back to 6 or 8 and bring the bitrate UP on ABC2 and or ABC3.

    ABC2 is almost unwatchable with it’s “new” lower bitrate.
    I’ve got better looking VCDs.

    I really don’t need to be watching a 24/7 news channel in “HD”, especially when most of it’s material won’t be.

  6. I’m happy with the move but it all depends on content. Will they have 24/7 live onair updates and breaking news? Or will it be block programming with only limited live content?

  7. ABCHD is already down to 720 instead of 1080 and ABC2 and 3 still look horrible, they need to get rid of ABCHD all together unless they are granted more bandwidth. this new channel should be on 20 but should not be in HD, if it is SD it will allow for better picture across the ABC suite and will give more viewers access to it.

  8. @tomothy

    That would actually be pretty good. BTN is the only hard news program on Oz TV that explains it’s stories well. It’d be great if the same approach was applied to non-breakfast and dinnertime ABC4.

    What the ABC really needs to make this work, is to win the next Australia Network contract, and get the extra funding for Asia Pacific beuraux it wants. Also, they would ideally find some money to film a few RN programs.

    All live recorded national news/current affairs programs should be shown live, along with the 2 semi-national editions of the Midday Report.

  9. @ Timmuh – “Sourcing of international content may be an issue, depending on the nature of contracts with other networks, especially Foxtel”. ABC already receives far more international content than it can use, from APTN, Reuters, CNN, BBC. SBS doesn’t have exclusive rights to anything. A lot of foreign news material is free of charge, especially to a non-commercial user. English content is available also from VOATV/PBS NewsHour, Al Jazeera, France24, CCTV, NHK, DWTV, TVNZ, and others. I think the only exclusive news contracts are between TEN & CBS and SEVEN & NBC. Even so, NBC content is available thru Reuters and ABCUS thru APTN.

  10. “As a news junkie myself, I’d love to see every state’s 7pm ABC News & Stateline (like ABC2 used to do) rebroadcast across the country, including every Australia Network bulletin too”
    I couldn’t agree more. Plenty of people who live outside their original state keep a keen interest in their “home” state and would appreciate getting Stateline from that state, and the news stories that currently only run locally. Its fin of you’re originally from NSW, everything of importance in NSW gets national coverage. From SA, Tas, or WA, there is nothing available on any traditional media.
    It would be just like how we used to watch Stateline and sport from our own states on ABC2, before somebody decided running nothing on that channel was better than running programming not of national interest.
    Sourcing of international content may be an issue, depending on the nature of contracts with other networks, especially Foxtel.

  11. See response from Sky News
    knowfirst.info/forums/showthread.php?t=30843

    Seems they don’t like the competion. Hillarious that he states that Sky have 14 24Hour News Channels.
    Hopefully this will inspire Sky to lift their game. I wonder what are the chances of Sky News coming to Freeview like it is in the UK.

  12. Great news! Can we now say Freeview has officially kicked Pay’s a*se?

    Anyway, I think everyone needs to read Timmy’s (4:06pm) comment, below. Beacuse it would make more sense for the picture quality on ABC1, 2 & 3 to be improved by dropping ABC HD altogether, thus freeing up more SD space for the new ABC4 service & the possibility of an ABC5 in the future. Of course, I understand HD viewers will be unhappy about this in addition to the axing of TenHD a year ago.

    May I make a few programming suggestions for the new ABC4? As a news junkie myself, I’d love to see every state’s 7pm ABC News & Stateline (like ABC2 used to do) rebroadcast across the country, including every Australia Network bulletin too! We get some of them streamed via ABC News Online, but not all of them.

    If ABC ever gets up somewhere near an ABC7, maybe Austin Powers owes us a re-working of his ‘BBC Heaven’ song? 🙂

  13. 100% happy with this. I personally do not care if it is in SD or HD, but the more variety the better.

    I would like ABC to broadcast BBC World News, even if only for overnight. For example, instead of closing ABC2 between 12 and 6, run BBC World News during this time. Still, I’m not complaining, I am really looking forward to this new station!

  14. Exciting News for free-to-air TV, I knew an announcement by the ABC to develop News Channel was bound to happen, and if any network is to develop a News Channel then ABC News is surely the best for that. They have Quality and Real News which is what we need. I hope it will be delivered in HD!

    Cant wait for the Launch!!!

  15. Full HD TVs are really designed for BluRay and games consoles. The quality of the HD signal that is pumped out by the FTA channels is poor.

    I will be interested to hear the bleating about this decision in the News Limited newspapers tomorrow. I bet there is very little coverage and lots of opinions about tax payers money being wasted.

  16. Interesting. Seems unlikely a news channel would be HD, but as I understand the digital transition rules they can’t make ABC1 HD until after analog broadcasts are switched off in 2013 (there has to be a an SD feed of the main analog channels until then) . I guess they could make ABC2 HD in the interim and thus preserve some ABC entertainment programming in HD.

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