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7TWO is on the air

Australia officially has a new television channel as Seven's new entertainment-based digital channel 7TWO hits the air.

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7twoAustralia officially has a new television channel: 7TWO.

Seven’s new digital channel hit screens at 12pm today beginning with a one minute countdown, followed by an animation of 7’s mascot, a Tom Williams preview promo, the “It’s Time” theme song, a music clip from Hugh Sheridan, and a sneak peek of this week’s Packed to the Rafters wedding episode. In the switch from its promo loops to on air it was also preceded by a black screen.

7a7TWO’s first full programme is Michael Jackson: His Latest Televised Concert, followed by movies and episodes of Scrubs. An advertistement for This is It was the first advertisement followed by a Sony CD ad for Jessica Mauboy and Harvey Norman.

As the last of the commercial network’s digital channels to arrive, it is a broad entertainment channel offering themed nights of movies, action, mystery, lifestyle and more.

7bIt’s key attractions will be first run episodes of Ugly Betty, Heroes and next year Lost and 24.

The channel will be rated by OzTAM from today, giving Seven a nice boost to its ratings figures.

It is due to be added to Foxtel cable from November 24th, but so far Prime Television is yet to declare a start date. Viewers in those markets will likely be behind key episodes of some series that begin this week.

The channel is already enjoying cross-promotion on Seven.

56 Responses

  1. @Cookie – the list is endless. ONE HD and GO! were not everywhere when they launched and are still not available in all areas. 50 years after Seven started it’s still not in places like Alice Springs.

  2. Thanks David for the reply.
    However I must say that it wasn’t announced to Any Tasmanian media (I should know I’m one of them) – It would appear the Dec 1 start date only made it into the news on the mainland … The news item came through to Tasmania via AAP and appeared in all three Tasmanian newspapers last Saturday (I think it was Saturday, maybe Friday). Southern Cross has made no announcement here that it would be delayed until Dec 1.
    After the ONE debacle I wonder why? (yes I’m being sarcastic).

  4. How can you launch a new TV station that doesn’t start screening everywhere at the same time yet features shows that loyal Seven/Prime viewers still want to watch? We live in a Prime regional area But Prime didn’t start 7TWO today. So how and when do we ever catch up on seeing this week’s episodes of Ugly Betty and Heroes? Thanks Prime! How hard is it to flick a switch and take what is coming from Sydney anyway?????

  6. No i’m stupid but I’m assuming from what everyone is saying that Tasmania is not receiving 7TWO?????
    I’m also assuming it’s not just Tassie, it’s all regional centres. Can anyone actually Confirm something?
    David do you know anything?
    What a complete farce this entire digital television roll-out has been.
    Freeview, Free Television Australia and the Federal Government are all duds. Not one of them had the cahoonies to at least come clean and tell these people (including myself) beforehand. What a joke these people are.

    1. Tas has been reported in the press as Dec 1 via Southern Cross along with Darwin & Alice Springs (SCTV Central).

      The Canberra Times reported that 7TWO will not start on Prime until at least January. I have heard talk of Dec 1 but it is not confirmed.

      Daniel, as the article indicates it is likely these affiliates will pick up eps mid-season wherever they are on 7TWO but we’ll need confirmation of that once a date is announced.

  7. Like many others, I’m an in regional Victoria, so making do with Prime. When Prime does start to broadcast 7TWO, will they make up the episodes they missed, or start part-way through the season?

  8. The bit-rate looks higher than it was the other day, which is good to see, now if only GO! would follow suit.

    The water mark is pretty big though, and comes in quite a bit from the right.

  11. Well my ugly nasty letter of complaint is under way. I will have it finished and sent off to Prime in the morning. Prime you are a disgrace to FTA TV. At least SC gave its viewers information. You give us a blackout. NBN is better than you now because they let GO! come when it was launched. Unfortunately i will still watch your dreadful network because you carry the Channel Seven shows i love to watch. Shame on you Prime. Shame.

    We dont want re-branding we just want it as is.

  12. A couple of questions for Prime and their advertisers – when are the new seasons of Heroes,Lost etc released on DVD /Blu-Ray?What’s that internet address where you can download these episodes?

    Bizarrely the Fed Government is more concerned with the Anti – Siphoning list than delivering services to all Australians.

    No new service should start in this country until it can be broadcast to all regions with no exceptions from launch.

    Wonder what freeview have to say on this…..2 out of 3 new digital channels that have failed to launch for regional viewers simultaneously with capital cities.

    Prime = fail.

  14. Prime – everyone knows you are really “Seven” with “Prime” promos & IDs. what’s the big deal. You are already transmitting the same programming on four different channels in southern NSW (well at least Wollongong-south) and you used to carry a straight-through feed of 7HD, so what’s the problem? Your silence is deafening.

  15. Prime is really stuffing this up for us. When all the 7TWO-exclusive shows air, we are going to miss out! And Prime even advertised 7TWO! Not directly in advertisements, but in cross-promotions on Seven News and that sort of stuff.

    Get your act together, Prime, or people are going to source their TV shows from somewhere else.

  16. Currently watching the Jackson concert on 7TWO. Having seen the Whitney Houston recent interviews, one has to wonder how many drugs she was on during the opening number!

  17. Apart from Lost, this channel offers nothing in the way of entertainment to me, and many people I’ve spoken to. It’s too broad.

    It’s a shame they weren’t a little [read: a great deal] more creative with the name. GO!, as silly as it sounds, at least rolls off the tongue and has a unique name and people know what you are talking about. 7TWO does not.

  20. I am receiving the channel through my DVR tuner, but I can’t get it through my Austar MyStar terrestrial tuner? Why won’t Austar allow us to watch the channel from the start? It was the same thing for GO!. Although, they allowed us ONE. It doesn’t make sense.

  22. 😆 About bloody time!

    Should have been here 11 months ago….

    What I did notice in the time before 12 noon they endless ran the promo loop and then the intro included the same loop! really if you didn’t see it in the previous hours!

    BTW was it just me or did anyone else notice Robert Carlyle from the new StarGate Universe or was he on there for another 7TWO show? Or could 7 be planning to air SG: U at a later date?

    One thing GO! is lacking is much cross promotion with the main Nine channel.

  24. Prime you have pretty much ruined all the new season shows and others by this delay. Viewers will pretty much see this as Un-forgivable considering how long you have already had to put in place the neccessary measures for this channel to go to air. And yet it’s been 2 weeks and we still have nothing? So what if you want to brand it your own, let the channel through for now and make the changes you need and put them into play later on. Doesn’t mean you have to cut the entire channel… Grrrrr

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