ONE HD bumps TEN HD into limbo
Fans asking about their favourite TEN HD shows are left in limbo as ONE HD takes over from April.
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under News
TEN’s “science fiction Thursday”, Neighbours catch-up, timeshifted News and documentaries on TEN HD could become a thing of the past with confirmation that there is no contingency plan announced alongside the launch of ONE HD.
TEN HD will continue on air until April when it is overtaken by TEN’s 24hr sports channel ONE HD. The current home of TEN HD, Channel 12, will broadcast the sports content in standard definition.
That leaves Smallville and other fan favourites in television limbo. Other shows including Torchwood, Battlestar Galactica, Eureka, One Tree Hill, Friday Night Lights and Monk have found a home on TEN HD after being snubbed by TEN’s analogue channel. While some will have concluded their run by April, a spokesperson could not confirm the future for shows that drop off analogue to TV Tonight.
“The reason we’ve gone with HD for ONE is because sport is something that is just so well suited to HD, because of the nature of the content,” said a spokesperson.
One of the current benefits of having the HD channel is to allow viewers to see favourite shows in high definition. Key shows including Australian Idol, Rove, Neighbours, Supernatural, NCIS, Rush, House, Life, 9AM with David and Kim, Oprah Winfrey and The Late Show with David Letterman can all be seen in high definition.
But the introduction of ONE HD viewers will see those programmes air in digital but not high definition.
The list of sports coming to ONE HD is not without some “jewels in the crown” but it doesnt mean TEN’s analogue channel will be sports-free. Some sports will air simultaneously on SD and HD. Others may even screen on SD first.
Press Release:
Network Ten today announced the first all-new commercial free-to-air television channel in almost 50
years, a dedicated sports channel to provide Australians 24-hour sports coverage from home and around the world.
As a free-to-air channel, it will be available to Australians who are widely acknowledged as the world’s
greatest sports enthusiasts. The new channel will allow Australians to share their unifying passion for
sport: and will be named ONE.
ONE will be broadcast from early in the second quarter of calendar 2009 in High Definition (HD) on
Channel 1 and it will also be available in Standard Definition (SD) on the network’s second SD channel
(Channel 12).
Network Ten CEO Grant Blackley said ONE’s all-sports programming format will appeal to Australians’
shared passion for sport and, also, ensure that Network Ten as a multi-channel broadcaster continues to build a new and more diverse audience.
“ONE’s appeal to Australia’s natural sports lovers will complement TEN’s seriously different programming
strategy – with each channel offering viewers and clients a unique and appealing programming format,”
Mr Blackley said.
“TEN continues to pursue its targeted strategy – that is, with a primary focus on building its competitive share in the strategically valuable 18-49s, and maintaining the leading position in 16-39s. TEN is also the number one network in day time in all key demos.
“In considering the opportunities for our new multi-channel, it became obvious very quickly that sport
would be a highly attractive genre for the Australian viewing public, of both genders and all ages. There is currently no dedicated free-to-air sports channel in this market, and Ten has existing relationships with key sports rights holders and a reputation for delivery of high quality sports broadcasts.
“Importantly, the network’s upgraded broadcast infrastructure means we are exceptionally well placed to provide these three digital channels, supporting our network’s – and the industry’s – move into a multichannel and multi-platform environment.
“We anticipate that ONE will add significant momentum to digital switchover by giving Australian viewers a compelling reason to purchase an HD or SD receiver,” Mr Blackley said The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, said Network Ten’s initiative heralded a new era in Australian free-to-air broadcasting.
“Innovations such as Network Ten’s digital sport channel will play an important part in Australia’s
transition from analogue to digital television,” Senator Conroy said.
“The Rudd Government is committed to ensuring Australia completes a smooth transition to digital
television and the availability of more diverse and broadly appealing free-to-air multi-channel
programming will assist that process.”
Network Ten’s general manager – sport, David White, said sport plays a prominent role in Australian
culture and identity, and it is uniquely suited to digital TV – with its emphasis on the best broadcast clarity of picture and sound.
“The programming schedule for ONE will showcase the sports Australians love, in a way they will enjoy
viewing them,” Mr White said.
“Live and exclusive will be a hallmark of the channel.”
“Broadcasting in digital means we will be able to most vividly capture the greatest sporting events and
achievements, along with the intimate details of the intense human dramas that play out in sport.
“We believe ONE will appeal to a broad audience and very quickly become a regular and enjoyable part
of Australians’ sports viewing habit,” he said.
Some of the sports highlights that viewers can expect to enjoy on ONE include:
AFL – the 2009 NAB Cup, home and away season, and finals including the Grand Final returning to the
network in 2009
Netball – ANZ Championship Competition and all Test matches featuring the Australian Netball
Diamonds, exclusively for the next five years
Commonwealth Games – 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games
Cricket – Indian Premier League Cricket, the world’s premier annual Twenty20 cricket competition
Formula 1 – every round of the F1 World Championship
Moto GP – extensive coverage of every round of the World Championship
NASCAR – live coverage of the Daytona 500 and other major Sprint Cup races, live coverage of the
Nationwide Series, as well as Sprint Cup qualifying
Australian Rally Championship – exclusive coverage of every round
National Football League (NFL) – three games per week live, including the flagship Sunday and
Monday night games, as well as live coverage of play-offs and the Super Bowl
Major League Baseball (MLB) – five games per week live, including prime time coverage of play-offs and World Series National Basketball Association (NBA) – three games per week live
Golf – US Masters, US Open, World Golf Championships including the Accenture MatchPlay
Championship, the CA Championship, the Bridgestone Invitational and the World Cup, Australian PGA,
Ladies Masters, 2010 Ryder Cup, and 15 additional international and domestic events including the Johnnie Walker Classic, and the Asian tour’s flagship event the Singapore Open and the tour’s seasonending Volvo Masters of Asia.
U.S. College sports – American football and basketball
Tennis – ATP and WTA tennis, details to be confirmed, approximately 11 tournaments during 2009.
Swimming – Network Ten is delighted to announce that, from 2009, it is the exclusive broadcaster for
Swimming Australia. This includes coverage of the Australian Swimming Championships, Pan Pacific
Championships, Australian Short Course Championships, FINA World Short Course, Swimmer of the
Year – a minimum 109 hours per year for the next eight years.
According to rights agreements and current Federal Government anti-siphoning regulations, some of these sports and events will also be shown first or simultaneously on TEN.
To preview and review the week’s events and to continue the conversations about sport that Australians enjoy, there will also be a series of new programs dedicated to the sports Australians love. These will include a new live AFL show on Monday nights, weekly wrap shows for NFL, NBA, MLB, NASCAR Sprint Cup series and Nationwide series, Formula 1, Moto GP and US PGA Tour.
Every week night, ONE will also broadcast two expanded editions of Sports Tonight, bringing viewers
further in-depth news from both domestic and international sources.
From time to time, ONE will feature extreme sports, emerging sports and a range of sports-related
programming including documentaries.
BACKGROUND
The ONE SD channel will be separately badged and marketed, and used to promote the premium ONE
HD service to SD viewers.
ONE – Branding
The name ONE expresses the channel’s mission to share the greatness of sport with all Australians –
capturing the passion that unites us as one. It was inspired by the irrepressible response of the crowd toa classic goal and the sense of bonding we experience in that dramatic moment, an inspiring effect only great sport can deliver.
Breaking from sporting channel clichés, the logo communicates the fresher, more accessible approach
that is the essence of ONE. It shows that our goal is to capture the unique and much loved place that
sport has in everyday Australian life, beyond just the generic highlights and generic feeds of today’s
offerings.
Digital TV – Australian market penetration
Digital take-up in Australia is accelerating, and is following global trends. Currently, 42 per cent of
Australian households have a digital receiver and, at the time of the launch of ONE in 2009, this is
expected to be around 50 per cent.
Digital TV – multi-channelling policy and digital rollout
Under government legislation (Broadcasting Services Act) free-to-air commercial broadcasters will be
permitted to provide an additional SD digital multichannel each from January 2009 in addition to the HD
digital multichannel currently provided.
The Australian Government has announced that all free-to-air television broadcasters in Australia will
complete the switch from analogue transmission to digital-only transmission by the end of 2013.
REGIONAL VIEWERS: Please see information in comments and other stories on this site that indicate “mid year” for SC 10 and TDT. Please do not ask for further detail on when this will arrive as there is currently no news. For more recent stories on ONE HD kindly click on the show tag at end of story. Kindly read comments before asking repeat question. Thankyou.
184 Responses
There’s a way around this. Ten Network could set up the digital channels to automatically switch over ONE-HD to the HD channel whenever there’s actually HD sport on, and vice-versa when ONE is showing sport which is only standard def.
During HD Sports
1______10_____11______12_____Analogue
OneSD__TenSD__OneHD__TenSD__TenSD(4:3)
During no HD sport
1______10_____11______12_____Analogue
OneSD__TenSD__OneSD__TenHD__TenSD(4:3)
If they don’t do this, then you’ll actually end up with occasions where the ONE-HD channel has a non-HD sport and Ten has an actual HD show that it can only broadcast in standard def.
CK.
Hear we go again………..ignorning the viewers, creating turmoil, and a lack of respect and thought for people who enjoy these shows.
Thank goodness for the internet……..fed up with all these changes.
All I want is for TEN to offer at least some alternative programming for us scifi geeks, I don’t care whether it’s in HD or SD (in fact, if it’s in SD I’ll be able to record it, so it would be even better). Sure, there is much more money to be made from sports affectionados than us, but we are people, too.
Wow, comments like viewing shows in SD on their 52 in LCD looks crap and that only non sports should be on HD is mind blowing. For so called die hard scifi, drama fans, there’s a lot of complaining about PQ instead of how shows aren’t shown. Sport might suck to you but no sports fan will / has begrudge any of your shows being on HD exclusively over sport or anything else before, now or even in the future if it turns out that way. You are asking for bugger all (in hours) drama content to be givien priority over sport content (mostly HD content) on the HD channel as it’s envisaged. US derived sport content on OneHD looks mostly like coming from ESPN (HD) and other HD content would be local (AFL, SPorts Tonight) and Euro (F1).
And why. No good reason just you want it in HD. Well, if your LCD cannot broadcast SD in good enough quality change panels or buy the Bluray versions and enjoy uninterrupted content. Sure anything in HD looks better than SD, but SD is better than nothing and if thats the choice in 2009 then leave this debate and hound 7 and 9 over their HD content less offerings at present.
Alienating huge segment of the target audience was quoted as a complaint. Imagine you wanted to see your show at the earliest time possible (e.g. live) and for years been delayed by programmers slotting it after midnight and starting 20 min late so the PVR misses the last part. Thats what motogp fans had for years until now but at least we watched and were thankful that Ten stuck with it.
Contrast the comments how some will “have” to resort to d/loading is a crock. Why, because it’s only in SD and not HD. If Ten will consistently broadcast your series will most resort to d/loading a compressed HD version – nope IMO. It’s access that will dictate d/loads not PQ so by all means pester Ten to put your shows on but leave the PQ debate behind.
Why one earth don’t they make channel 12 HD for their non sport HD programmes. HD is future proof.
Well Neon, Im an avid sports watcher and I can safely say we do want HD and we do give a rats arse about it, HD is not just for the American Dramas the couch potatoes watch, seeing the Footy or Basketball in HD (and blocky? most of us are watching a game not up at our screens with magnifying glasses) and also on a huge plasma screen with some friends and a BBQ is what its all about.
You guys get your American dramas on HD and DVD and the internet and ipods etc, and Sports fans who arent really interested in the adventures of American 20 somethings fighting the forces of evil get next to nothing in HD let alone on DVD etc etc
TV isnt just for the people who worship, its also for people who watch a little in between living life 🙂
i guess its Ch10’s right to focus their network primarily on sport but if they do that they should not be allowed to bid with the other networks for new drama shows as 10 clearly wont be able to deliver viewers the quality we deserve.
Wow. Yet MORE proof that Ten doesn’t give a shit about it’s Science-Fiction viewers.
Ten has chosen to go with a 24/7 sports channel and congratulations to them, I couldn’t be happier. It’s an excellent long term strategic move for the network and owners as they have future proofed the network; there will always be a demand for the broadcast of sport as long as TV and society exist. Crazes involving other genres like lifestyle, reality, current events, sitcoms etc will come and go, but there will always be a consistently popular demand for sport on television by the masses…if you are going to go for an all sports network then it may as well do it right and have it in full HD, the best way to watch sport, without a doubt.
Bravo Ten! Bravo!
why not have 3 sd channels mirrored with 3 hd channels makes sense to me
one sd, one hd,
ten sd, ten hd,
ten2 sd, ten2 hd
most of australia does get the SD broadcast don’t they? even if they don’t get HD, so southern cross people should get the channel 12 which will be an SD simulcast of ONE so i’d say regional areas do get the sport channel, just maybe not in HD?
although they do get the HD station and then a demo loop indicating that being able to broadcast the signal isn’t the problem they have. i did notice in the audio of the media briefing that they mentioned being able to do region specific advertising, which is what was stopping southern cross from going with the HD only broadcasts i’ve heard. so maybe 10 have worked on a way to make sure all of australia can get this sport channel?
The re-screening of One HD on Ch 12 will allow those outside TEN’s signal area to see the sports in SD.
TEN’s own site also says: Southern Cross, our main affiliate in the eastern parts of Australia, is working hard to get TenHD to you by the middle of next year. This is unfortunate however as these regional stations aren’t owned by Network Ten, it’s out of our control.
Does anyone know if this will extend to Southern Cross Ten? Or do we get the year of TenHD shows we have missed out on while waiting for SC10 to get their act together, only to get the One HD in April…..2010!!
i think hd sport is really quite special.. I hope OneHD swaps over to OneSciFi on Thursday nights.. although it isn’t gonna happen!
I just want to watch old analogue-filmed Xfiles episodes on an HD channel rebroadcast in 1080i because it is a waste of bandwidth and I find that amusing.
David any word as to what Southern Cross are going to do?
This is the best idea ever, I am sick of Foxtel buying every decent sport on tv so if you want to watch it you have to have Foxtel or Austar, this is the best thing Ten has come up with!!!!
Get over it people!!!!
I to am a Sci Fi Fan, but be thankful Ten is doing anything, 10 do more than 7HD and dont get me started on channel 9 HD effort. They have led the way so far. Before we all get upset, let see what happens with the shows we love.
Boooooooooo!!! x2!!!!!
stupid sport only channel…..
bye bye ratings to ten!! u deserve it after all
for all those shifting of time slots, removing shows and removing then even more off 10HD
i thing left to do… download!
Talk about polishing a turd…….
– TEN’s PR release claims ONE will be ‘the first all-new commercial free-to-air television channel in almost 50 years’…No its not, it’s just a change of programming for one of its existing digital streams as all the networks have the ability to do.
– Says it’s aimed at ‘a new and more diverse audience’……yeah, one single genre is really diverse and sport has never been televised before.
– They even claim its part of ‘TEN’s seriously different programming Strategy’….That would be?….Dumping anything for HD that’s not sport?
What a crock! All TEN has really done is changed the genre of its HD stream to a very narrow single topic, thereby alienating a huge segment of its target audience.
I agree andy. TEN you suck! If you want to have a 24/7 sports channel… then be my guest, but there should be no sport on the original TEN. You guys suck and all you think about is yourself.
I loved this network, but you treat your viewers like crap.
One word: booooooooo
Groan, if it wasn’t bad enough that there was nothing to watch but sports on the weekend, this will make it even worse!!!
Don’t get me wrong, I like watching sport. Just not constantly and without the choice to watch something else.
Ten should definitely continue with the 10HD alongside ONE. They can take the sport of 10HD and replace it with other shows that don’t get normal timeslights on the analogue channel.
We need HD to be part of the rating scheme, it’s the only time we will be able to get anything worth watching on these channels!
Sigh, guess I better start stocking up on DVDs!
I have to say that I am super pissed that I won’t be able to watch shows like Aus Idol in HD anymore!!! It’s a fricken joke! On my 52′ HD LCD the SD channels look like crap – with Idol the difference b/w SD and HD is huge! So annoyed!!!!
I agree with Ellis – to not see any programs other than sport in HD will be a great disappointment.
And correct me if I am wrong, but the “I can see clearly now” promo for Ten HD that has been played for many months promotes movies and tv shows other than sport in HD quality. “Clearly” the original intent was to telecast a range of material in HD, not just sport. This is a major change in direction, and one that I think is very unfortunate.
I’m not sure I understand how the multi-channel rules work. At the moment, can’t the networks effectively have two separate channels, one SD and one HD. With multichanneling available from next year, aren’t they allowed to start up a separate channel for a total of three?
So in theory, couldn’t Channel 10 create One HD for sport, keep using Ten SD and also have another Ten SD channel from next year for sci-fi etc?