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A Prime concern

Regional viewers are not happy about the absence of 7TWO, available only in the big smoke. Here's what Prime TV had to say today.

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prime_logo_1Since its launch yesterday many angry readers have been asking about the absence of 7TWO on Prime Television and asking about its arrival date.

The issue mirrors the same problem when ONE was not initially available in regional viewers in March. The television sector appears to have learned little from this experience. Unfortunately, regional playouts are usually a lot more involved than metro cities.

TV Tonight today asked Prime for clarity but the answer was decidedly brief:

“Prime will announce its plans regarding our Multi channels in the near future.”

A Seven spokesperson previously advised it would be added to Prime with 7TWO branding, but no start-up date was promised. That would seem to still hold true.

No doubt the network is more than aware of the viewer fury that has gathered in the last 24 hours. As to affording ‘fault’ for its lateness that’s anyone’s guess. Suffice to say that Seven’s master plan to keep everything under wraps has been a challenge for some affiliate partners.

Southern Cross Tasmania will add the channel from December 1st. It will also be added to Foxtel cable from November 24th on Ch 127.

When it does arrive to Prime, viewers will potentially have missed out on key episodes of Ugly Betty, Reaper, Heroes and more, though this too is yet to be clarified.

56 Responses

  1. I wouldn’t want to be a Prime television receptionist for quids. Regional viewers would feel differently about the matter if there was a reason provided for the delay. Were they so in the dark about Seven’s plans that they could do nothing to prepare for the arrival of a new channel? Viewers have been expecting a new channel for months. All I can say is how appropriate it is that the old Prime logo still appears on the side of garbage bins throughout regional NSW.

    How about a bit of candor, Prime?

  4. Watching the Derby Day coverage on GWN and seeing constant promos for 7TWO – well, I laughed.
    Regional WA is still yet to get any love from the commercial stations in regards to digital TV.
    There supposed to be closing analogue in Regional WA in 2013 – best of luck with that. We’ll be lucky to have anything by then!

  5. Prime had month to preper for this and Prime is part of Freeview.
    It’s time for 7 to take over Prime and make it 7 canberra.
    Look at their Local News. 6 times a day we get 1 min updates and the whole night they have Infomercial.
    We had enough and this is our town and the public should decide who gets a TV Licence.

  6. My question is about those in the GWN coverage area. In WA, digital TV doesn’t need to be completed (and isn’t on schedule) until 2013.

    Family and friends in that region have been wondering if GWN will be able to play shows from 7TWO. Otherwise missing out on 24, Heroes, Lost etc….

    No response as yet from GWN.

  10. I am really dissapointed with televison networks, I live in Tasmania and sometimes I feel like we are not even a part of Australia along with many other regional viewers im sure the thing is Hobart is a capitol city we are still classed as regional. The other thing is when Tasmania does get it most shows will have started so we will not be able to catch up on the things we have missed. Im afraid 7TWO cared more about not letting any one know about Televison’s so called best kept secret, A lot of Australia still doesn’t know about it.

  11. Problem with using other methods to catch shows like Heroes is the areas affected don’t have the best Internet connections or are limited to wireless or satellite at higher cost.

    ITA this sucks and it’s a problem for new eps of shows like Heroes, lets hope they do some encore screening late night on Seven in 2010?

  14. When I grew up in country victoria, there was only two channels available.

    If missing out on a secondary channel is such a big issue for everyone, then maybe they should cast their minds back to the old days, and be thankful for what they have.

    So much hate on this page in the last few days.

    There is a fair chance that the big wigs at Prime were kept out of the loop on the 2nd channel – it has been one of the best kept secrets in Aussie TV for ages.

    Even David here (who seems to be able to sniff out most stories) did not have anything (aside from the rumors) until the press release hit.

    Give Prime a break people….it is free after all.

    Great update David.

  16. Southern Cross will also be extending 7TWO to Darwin from 1 December so seemingly Darwin will get it before Canberra and larger regional centres like Newcastle, Wollongong and Ballarat

  21. In August, it was announced that Prime was installing a Snell Morpheus automation and control system to upgrade their playout. Snell Group reported Lyndon Cox, network project manager with Prime TV as saying:
    “Morpheus’ ability to handle live format scheduling changes, like those with sporting events, will reduce the load on our operators — and we also expect big improvements in asset management with the ability to manage media across different brands from a single system.”
    Is the Morpheus installation completed? If not, that could explain the delay.

  23. Try living in the Riverland in S.A., only this month we finally have received ch9’s main channel with no hope of receiving any of the multi channels, ie One Ten, 7Two and Nines Go…

    It feels good to be treated like second class citizens, so much for modern technology…Thanks Win

  24. Oh, and they should change their slogan from “Bringing it home”, to “We may or may not be bringing it home at some unspecified time in the future but we don’t have any announcements to make at this stage”.

  25. I got almost the exact same response when I emailed them.

    October 27 – “Thank you for your enquiry. Prime hopes to make an announcement on its multi-channels in the near future.”

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