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Tassie viewers miss out on new channels

Tasmanian viewers won't be getting 7mate or Eleven at the same time as their mainland launch.

Tasmanian viewers won’t be getting 7mate or Eleven at the same time as their mainland launch.

Southern Cross Media’s Tasmanian general manager Craig Davies confirmed yesterday Tasmania would not be receiving the two new channels at the same time as mainland Australia.

7mate launches nationally on September 25 while Eleven arrives in early 2011.

“We are not sure of the timeframe because we haven’t got an agreement from Seven or Ten to bring these channels into Tasmania and we also do not have the capacity to broadcast these channels into Tasmania,” Mr Davies told The Mercury.

“It is within our best interests to get them on air as soon as we possibly can,” he said.

The delay follows the belated arrival of ONE HD to Tassie viewers, some six months after it was launched elsewhere. 7TWO followed a month after its national debut.

Southern Cross Media requires upgrades to accommodate the new channels. It expects to be in a better position to make announcements in the next few weeks.

Channel Nine, screened in Tasmania through WIN Television, is due to announce details of its third digital channel soon.

Source: The Mercury

25 Responses

  1. Sthn Cross should just onpass the dirty feed complete with metro ads from the relevant state capital channel ten for 11 when it starts on day one. And then over time when the extra play-out capacity is built in Canberra, then insert local ads over the top of the metro channel ten feeds for 11. That was how Prime started with 7two, albeit not at the same time as the metro markets started with 7two by 2 months or so, but not as long as Sthn Cross viewers had to wait for One to start which was nearly a year. Mind you, the Sthn Cross play-out facilty in Canberra is going to busy already providing the 7mate feeds for the 5 mainland Seven metro stations to start with as they did for 7two when it started last year.

    If it comes down to paying extra for the programming that is possibly not covered by existing affiliation agreements which cant be afforded, then the business case of aggregation has surely failed once again one would argue? It did with most incumbants that had 3rd rating TEN affiliation, as NQTV, NRTV (which did go broke), and Capital all got swallowed up by Sthn Cross being that they were easy takeover targets. And remember when Vision TV (DDQ/RTQ) had Ten affiliation just prior to QLD aggregation just starting, it was swallowed up cheaply by WIN as well as an easy takeover target and was quickly changed over to Nine affiliation thus making NQTV stranded and made into an easy takeover target by going to TEN affliliation only days before QLD aggregation started.

    One can only predict that alot of people will be getting VAST satellite recveivers/smart cards in for TAS/SA/WA etc purchased and installed in areas outside of those states that will recieve the full suite of digital channels and then illegally moving those receivers/smart cards into TAS/SA/WA areas to watch the extra channels thereby bypassing the local brodcasters almost entirely, further eroding local audience reach/relevance.

    ‘What a mess Mr Hart!’

  2. i can’t understand why Southern TV Tas carries AFL games on Saturday and delayed telecasts also on TDT same i think its a waste of TV time They should make a decision either work with the 7 network or the 10 network get real Southern TV Tasmania

  3. Yes, Johnson, I caught that report on Lateline Business too. All sounds pretty reasonable to me. I’d imagine Southern Cross just want to sit back & watch the numbers for SevenMate & Eleven before they splash millions at them – like they did with OneHD. But I’m sure the facts won’t get in the way of a good ol’ Facebook protest campaign.

  4. Just saw a report on Southern Cross Media’s annual results on Lateline Business on ABC News 24 tonight. SC said it could cost $13 million to bring Eleven to regional areas, and the digital channel would only be shown if there was a large enough audience. SC said it was only aware of Eleven shortly before it was unveiled last week and would now talk to Ten.

  5. I think the current and future schedule of DDT/TDT opens up opportunities for them to show some programs from Eleven when it starts next year. Southern Cross just needs to negotiate with Ten to pick up the best programs from the channel.
    On weekdays, both channels show Ten News at Five from Melbourne which, apart from some world news and sport, is of little relevance to people in NT and Tasmania. When Ten News expands to two hours in 2011, SC should only show the 6pm national bulletin, and air Neighbours at 6.30pm (as it currently does) and programs from Eleven at 5pm.
    On Saturdays and Sunday afternoons, when Ten normally shows movies that have been shown hundreds of times and documentaries, DDT/TDT should air premiere programs that aired on Eleven during the week, subject to classification guidelines. The fact Southern Cross owns the AFL rights in NT and Tasmania means Saturday matches can be shown live on SCTV (Seven affiliate) and delay on DDT/TDT plus ONE. Here is a Saturday night schedule on DDT/TDT could look like:
    6pm Ten News, 6.30pm All New Simpsons, 7pm Futurama, 7.30pm Smallville, 8.30pm 90210, 9.30pm Supernatural, 10.30pm Saturday night AFL replay.

  6. Do they really thing we are that stupid to belive this.
    The lack of capacity is crap. Already SC bring 3 channels into TAS – SC, SCHD and 7two. And the canberra playout centre was upgraded last year hence the delay for OneHD.
    And again TDT/Ten have months of notice to get an agreement in place.
    At least WIN and ABC have launched their multi channels at the same time in TAS as the mainland.

  7. for those tazzy readers if it makes you feel better I live in Griffith, NSW and we dont even have TEN, GO!, 7TWO, PRIME HD, WIN HD, ONE HD let alone any new channels coming. There is a good chance you will receive 7Mate and Eleven before we do =(

  8. Here in Regional South Australia in the South East / Riverland region we haven’t even got ONE HD, 7Two or GO! yet!, and the only HD Channels in the area are ABC News 24 and SBS ONE HD. WIN Television controls the 7,9 and 10 channels here and they are only in SD, so Regional SA may be waiting a long time to get 7 mate or Eleven as well as those other digital channels I mention earlier.

  9. Why wouldn’t all areas receive 7mate that currently receive 7HD/PrimeHD/SCTV HD? Just like when ABC HD became ABC News24 nationally at the same time.

  10. Personally, I think media ownership laws should change.

    Channels 7/9/10 should get control over the whole country. 1 brand, 1 set of promo’s, 1 release date.

    Aside from the football, Southern Cross is practically a simulcast of 7, while Win is a simulcast of 9. Hardly seems fair that anyone has to wait.

    Same applies to Prime too

  11. Darwin seems certain to receive the same treatment as Tasmania. I tip 7Mate to arrive in Darwin sometime next year and Channel 11 to come sometime in 2012.

    The only new channel for sure is coming to Darwin will be GO! due on October 1, but I am unsure about the debut date for Nine’s 3rd multichannel.

    It’s very difficult for a station to attract ads in a lot of multichannels in a short period of time in a small market like Darwin so I am tipping more delays in store for Darwin.

  12. ryaneco,
    Unlikely. The reason Tasmania is held up is because both Sth Cross Tas (7 affiliate) and TDT (10) are switched through Southern Cross Ten Canberra’s facility, the same facility as all east coast Southern Cross stations and Darwin’s DDT.
    Prime might do better on the rest of the coast with 7mate, only in Tas and NT are Sth Cross involved with that, but Eleven will almost certainly be available on the mainland regional network (including areas greater in population and advertising revenue than Tasmania) at the same time as Tasmania.

    And, yes, thesportsfreak, there are parts of the eastern states that are asking that same question.

  13. What “The Mercury” failed to mention is that nowhere outside the five metros received One or 7Two on time. They even claim that Hobart was the only capital not to do so, seemingly forgetting that Canberra and Darwin are also capitals.

    All this raises the question, when will regional NSW, Vic, Qld, WA the ACT, Tas and the NT actually get these new channels?
    Based on Southern Cross’ history, Eleven (and 7mate in Tas and NT where SThn Cross are 7 affiliate, as well as providers of Ten content via digital only joint venture channels) probably won’t arrive until 2013. Remember the told Ten HD, it was NEVER broadcast in these areas and then we all had to wait months for One when that replaced TenHD. Close to twp years after TenHD started we finally got something on that channel (the very delayed One).

  14. Tassie has my sympathies…What I dont understand is why the broadcasters who have known for a lonng time of the necessaties for digital, have not had the upgrades completed earlier or at least started sooner

  15. Eleven needs to be delivered in regional areas (i.e not just Tassie), close to, or on the same day as their metro cousins, simply, due to Neighbours.

    Neighbours probably has many fans in SC10 areas (possibly dating back to the days before aggregation), and the fact that most, if not all, SC10 feeds are relays of capital city 10’s and have few spaces to squeeze Neighbours into, if Eleven is delayed in those areas.

  16. I accept that commercial agreements require to be put in place but here we go tassie waiting again……I just hope we get this before the end of the year 🙁

    Would have been much better if Southern Cross was given an option to negoitate this in advance of 7’s announcement as it may have given them time to align all broadcasts Australia wide.

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