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Multichannelling: March update

It's March and ONE is coming. Just don't tell Seven and Nine.

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onehd-logo3We’re now into the third month of 2009, so it’s time to monitor that ongoing question….

We still have no clarity on Seven and Nine’s plans for multi-channelling.

January 1 was the date that our three commercial FTA networks could broadcast their secondary digital signal, but we’re still waiting to hear what plans they have. As we know they had an eternity to prepare for this.

With the launch of ONE on March 26, TEN arrives at its permanent set up of programming for two digital and one high definition channel (it’s four channels are in a transition period right now before it settles on 3). Enjoy the last few days of your favourite TEN shows in high def while you can, guys.

Meanwhile, Seven and Nine tell us nothing.

In February David Leckie said Seven would make its plans clearer “in the next month.” He indicated the network plans to get something up and running by mid year. Of course last year he also said Sunday Night would launch before the end of the year. So don’t hold your breath.

Meanwhile, opinions on Freeview continue to spiral into madness.

Check out this video to see what I mean…

50 Responses

  1. I think I might be in the minority when I say this, but I actually think Ten’s move to have their HD channel devoted to sports is a good move. Ten provides alternative programming on its normal channel as compared to 7 and 9 which simply copy each other and rarely come up with fresh programs. Ten has clearly seen a niche market for a FTA sports channel and I think it will pay off. The fact that Ten has been on top of it’s HD plans from very early on also show’s its confidence in its new brand. Yes some of the sports that ONE will be broadcasting will not be well-known, but how is that any different to sports which are broadcast on pay tv sports channels? Furthermore, sports generally rate pretty well and the advertising revenue for sports programs is there.

  5. Hahahaha that is a brilliant mockery of Freeview and just goes to show how much of a farce Freeview is. It’s also ridiculous for David Leckie to say how bad it is for Ten HD to broadcast so called truck racing from Idaho when Seven are mostly simulcasting their SD channel.

    If the networks are interested in bringing back viewers who have relocated to the internet to watch P2P TV or to download programs from Torrents etc. they should consider doing what SBS used to do which was to have no advertising during the programs, only between programs. They should start programs at the advertised time and to stop changing timeslots for some programs. It’s going to take a lot more than deceptive gimmicks for commercial networks to regain the confidence of viewers.

  6. Let’s hope Ch7 & Ch9 don’t do multichanneling like ch10 , because ever since ch10 HD PQ has been greatly reduced thanks to the extra channel

  7. Wow thanks guys lots of great comments. It was made by Marc Fennell and I for our comedy festival show Massage My Medium. It’s a show all about the death of the TV Networks. The voice was Nikos Andronicos, he’s all over heaps of tv and radio stuff, thanks to him for recording it at 1:30am this morn! Legend

  9. Andrew B: judging from a copy on YouTube the Ford ad has been around since at least September 08 while the Freeview campaign started in December IIRC. I think we only started seeing it in Australia after the Freeview ads started airing, which sure makes for a weird experience.

  11. Job well done that satirist. Onto a totally different tack, I’m a bit of a NASCAR fan I thought it was fascinating after sitting through about three hours of a five hours qualifying phase on TEN HD I suddenly found that there was only going to be highlights of the actual race on Tuesday or Wednesday early morning this week.

    Not a good look that, one would expect it to be vicky verka, highlights of the qualifying rounds and air the real race

  12. wonder if ten will advertise the upcomming hd ep of the simpsons as being in hd even though it will only be in sd cause tens hd channel will be an all sports channel by then.

  13. great ad, covers everything and really gives you the truth about free view, hope seven and nines sd channels will turn out a lot better than their hd channels did, after all the hype of promising loads of exclusive hd programming 7 and 9s hd channels have been reduced to black&white movies and repeats of old sd shows. of all the networks i think ten has been the best by far in termed of amounts of hd programming and with one hd will now have 24hrs a day of alternative hd programming, the bad thing though is now none of tens other shows will be in hd.

  14. That video is awesome. I had to laugh at the delivery on “crystal-clear Standard Definition”!

    With today’s ADSL2+ connections and reasonably high usage broadband plans by some carriers, downloading 720p H.264 rips of your favourite shows isn’t out of the question.

    We’ve already seen how Ch 7, 9, and 10 handled multichanneling on their HD channel. They aren’t interested in airing anything decent on the non-main channel for ratings reasons. Their second SD channels will be no different.

  16. I thought the Ford ad was made later than the FreeView ad. The big point to note on the Ford ad is that it says “This is now” which (rightly or wrongly!) I take as a dig at FreeView which is far from now.

  17. it is quite clear that the seven and nine do not care with freeview and want to stay in the 20th century. They way we have absorbed the digital age is an disgrace and the Australian networks should be ashamed of themselves. We should of launched freeview about 5 years ago. British Tv started multichannelling in the year 2000. We should not be 9 years behind everyone else on the technology front. It is also that the networks only care about Sydney and Melbourne. I live in cairns and will not ONE hd on its launch date. The people at SC10 are clueless and have no idea on its launch date. It is shocking

  20. Just switched over to 7HD. Running a 1942 “The Falcon’s Brother” movie. 4:3 in B&W. Thought it was shot in a snow storm then realised the white dandruf was due to a dirty negative when the print was made – probably in 1942. This is a preview of what we can expect from 7HD? TEN’s running wallpaper pics & music when TEN SD is running “The Doctors”, which they receive in HD (?). Nine’s running “Ellen” with wallpaper & music replacing commercials (why?), ABC1, ABC3 and ABCHD all have the same “National Press Club Lunch”. The HD channel is having a weird time handling the guy’s pinstripe suit. The pic. on ABC1SD is much better. SBSHD is running endless foreign news bulletins in a plethora of foreign languages that less than 1% of the population can understand. That “commercial” sums it all up very accurately.

  21. In regards to that video, I think Homer Simpson said it best: “It’s funny ’cause it’s true…” Every single line in that video really hit the nail on the head. It is more of the same, Nine always do show everything 20 minutes late, I’m sure most people will be going to the Internet and that Ford ad/Freeview connection has been bugging me for ages! Oh, and that picture of Kerri-Anne in HD was priceless.

    This whole Freeview idea just shows how out of touch the networks are with their viewers. ONE is a joke that caters for a minority group of viewers while making all other viewers of Ten unable to watch a show in HD. As for Seven and Nine, they simply twiddle their fingers. No doubt they are waiting to see how ONE goes and judge their own plans from there, but really, it just shows the lack of risks Australian networks make….

  23. Wow, I’ve been wondering which ad came first. Learn something new everyday I guess.

    Too bad that something is not about Freeview’s future plans though…

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