TEN announces HD advertisers
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under News
With TEN HD due to launch on Sunday, the network has announced advertising deals with Sony, Dominos and KFC.
Seven recently signed Harvey Norman and Universal Music to 7HD.
TEN’s new channel officially begins at 5pm Sunday with Totally Wild- Antarctica Special.
On Sunday night it screens the movie Black Hawk Down followed by a Bon Jovi concert, Lost Highway.
Press Release:
Network Ten has secured a sponsorship agreement with Sony for TEN-HD, Australia’s newest free-to-air digital channel, launching this Sunday.
The deal between TEN and Sony, facilitated by their media agency Starcom, is the latest example of their commitment to provide consumers with the best possible entertainment experience at home and to further drive take up of High Definition in Australia.*
TEN’s chief executive officer, Grant Blackley, said: “After nearly a year of planning, we’re just 48 hours away from the launch of TEN-HD and the start of an exciting new era in Australian broadcasting.
“It’s great to have Sony, who share our commitment to HD, onboard to mark the occasion.
“We have long championed the virtues of HD and are working together to see HD take off in Australia.”
Sony’s group manager corporate marketing, Tim Rich, said: “Sony has just released its latest High Definition Benchmark Report, produced independently by GfK, which shows that consumers are spending more on HD products than ever before1. This partnership is a great fit for Sony as our BRAVIA LCD TVs offer the best way of enjoying HD content in the home.
“HD is the way the world is heading and this is evident by the support HD has from TEN, as well as the rise in sales of HD TVs, particularly in LCD TVs which made up 53% of all HD products sold in Q3 2007.”
Dominos and KFC, TEN’s longstanding advertising partners, have also been confirmed as
sponsors of TEN-HD. The network will be making further partnership announcements in the near future.
In only two days, the arrival of TEN-HD will provide viewers with:
• Exclusive programs not shown on the main TEN channel include block-buster movies Black Hawk Down and Snatch; award winning documentaries such as National Geographic’s
Amazing Planet; cult following sci-fi programs Battlestar Galactica and The 4400; and critically acclaimed dramas Veronica Mars, The Shield and Over There;
• Time-shifted TEN favourites including TEN News at 5pm, Sports Tonight early edition and The Bold and the Beautiful;
• More unique HD content with the network rolling out a host of new shows over the coming weeks.
With TEN-HD, the network is fulfilling its aim of providing as much choice as possible in the formats viewers want.
TEN-HD delivers pictures four times sharper than standard definition broadcasts and in 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound.
Mr Blackley added that while TEN-HD’s programming would differ from that on the main channel, it was aiming to attract additional viewers to TEN.
“We’ve got a lot of new HD content – sport, drama and documentaries – coming to TEN-HD over the next few weeks that will have broad appeal,” said Mr Blackley.
“We will continue to focus on our core 18-49 demographic on the main channel and look for opportunities to reach more viewers on TEN-HD.”
Starcom was also involved in the deal with TEN and Sony. The agency’s managing director, John Sintras, said: “We are committed to identifying innovative new opportunities for our clients that are truly relevant and engaging. The partnership between Sony and TEN-HD is a clear example of this.”
The Sony High Definition Benchmark Report reports the rapid rate at which Australian consumers are adopting HD technology.
Consumer spending on HD hardware now represents three quarters (73%) of the product
categories included in the Sony High Definition Benchmark for Q3 2007, up 20.6% on the same period a year ago.
By contrast, non-HD product sales actually fell by 28.4% compared to Q3 2006.
* In October, Sony and TEN partnered with News Limited Sunday newspapers in a national promotion to raise awareness of HD and give consumers the opportunity to win one of 100 Sony BRAVIA HD LCD TVs.
13 Responses
Please! Someone make them tone down that HD watermark! I just called the local brisbane office to register my complaint. Sounds crzy, but i’d rather watch 10 digital than 10 HD at the moment thanks to that ugly obtrusive watermark. Make sure you ring too!!! They might just listen if they get enough complaints!
The watermark wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would have been, but it is really distracting. TEN really need to tone it down.
The idents and the HD exclusive promos are nice though.
I saw the new watermark on HD today during Animalia and flipped back to SD just to avoid it. So I guess I won’t be watching HD channel! It was fine the way it was before (light ‘HD’ next to ten logo). And yes the Ten logo on SD is less transparent now esp. on dark backgrounds.
I believe the 10 SD digital watermark may be whiter/brighter and maybe even a little bigger too.
I’ve not yet seen a 10 HD logo, as it always seems to either be not broadcasting anything or mirroring the SD digital content when ever I look.
Why in the hell do they even need a watermark? I remember back when the HD version of Ten’s original channel didn’t even have a watermark. The video quality was amazing back then too, and after they added the watermark, I couldn’t help but to wonder if the video quality was compromised as it didn’t look nearly as good as it used to.
Hell, I was happy that TEN was one of few (if not, the ONLY) TV station back in the day not to have a watermark. I mean, for Christ’s sakes, it’s not like we don’t know what channel we’re watching. I say they do away with them. Seeing the TEN logo briefly after commercial breaks and in between programmes is enough. We don’t need it shoved down our throats.
If you are disgusted by the watermark, please let your voice be heard! Let TEN know. As far as I know the only way to contact your local station is by phone:
http://ten.com.au/ten/contact_us.html
Hopefully they can tone it done, and shrink it.
OMG. I just saw the 10HD watermark, on SC10 for the first time I think. It is ludicrous. None of the other watermarks bother me at all, but this is just ridiculous. Only saving grace is that is right at the left of screen.
Need to review it, TEN.
Bold and the Beautiful will still be on at 4:30pm on the standard Ten channel. It’ll just be repeated at 5:00pm on TEN HD, so if you miss it you can catch it again, or just watch it twice!
The watermark is on Ten HD right now, as far as I know it is on in Melbourne as well.
If you are near a HDTV, just go to 1 or 12 and you should see it in the top left hand corner – it is a shocker, too big and too bright.
So will Bold and beautiful still be on normal channel 10 at 4.30??
Haven’t seen the watermark yet.
I’m still waiting to speak with TEN HD experts. All the HD info has been too brief so far.
Whereas PrimeHD is emulating 7HD, there is absolutely no info. from SC10. I emailed them with not even an acknowledgement. Maybe we’ll know on Sunday.
I expect Sony will make a big effort to flog Blu-Ray on 10HD
David, have you seen the new Ten HD watermark? What do you think? I think it is way too big, and very distracting!