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Foxtel channels widescreen by 2011

Foxtel plans to convert its remaining 4:3 channels to widescreen within the next 12 months.

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widescreenFollowing questions from readers, Foxtel has supplied TV Tonight with a full list of its current widescreen channels.

It advised the remainder of channels are planned to convert in the course of the next 12 months.

Meanwhile all is on track for GO! and 7TWO on cable on November 24th, and 7TWO on satellite for the East Coast.

ABC3 goes up on cable and satellite on the 4th of December.

FOXTEL WIDESCREEN CHANNELS
13th Street
111 Hits
111 Hits +2
A-Pac
AO Select
Aurora
Australian Christian Channel
BBC World
Biography
CBeeBies
CMC
Crime & Investigation
Discovery Turbo
Discovery Turbo +2
Disney
Euro Sports
Expo
FMC
FBO
FBO Main Event
FBO Preview
FOX 8
FOX 8 +2
Fox Classics
Fox Classics +2
FOX News
FOX Sports I
FOX Sports II
FOX sports III
FOX Sport News
Fuel
Help
How To
Knowledge
LifeStyle Channel
LifeStyle Channel +2
LifeStyle Food
LifeStyle Food +2
LifeStyle You
LifeStyle You +2
Max
Movie One
Movie One +2
Movie Extra
Movie Greats
Nat Geo
Nickelodeon
Nick jr
NITV
Olympics Preview Channel
Ovation
Playhouse Disney
Sci-Fi
Sci-Fi +2
Sky Business
Sky News
Sky Racing
Showcase
Showcase +2
Showtime
Showtime +2
Showtime Action
Showtime Comedy
Showtime Drama
Starpics
Starpics +2
Style Network
The Weather Channel
TVN
TVSN
UKTV
UKTV +2
W
W+2
V
V Hits
World Movies
Channel 9
Go!
ABC
ABC 2
SBS
SBS 2
Channel 7
Channel 72
Channel 10

SD CHANNEL NAMES
ABC HD
Discovery HD
ESPN HD
FOX Sports 1 HD
FOX Sports 2 HD
FOX Sports 3 HD
FOX8
Movie One HD
Nat Geo HD
Nine HD
One HD
SBS HD
Seven HD
Showtime HD
Showcase HD
Showtime Action HD
Starpics HD
Starpics HD +2
UKTV HD
W HD

21 Responses

  2. I just got an email from Arena saying they will be going widescreen on June 1st =D! Thumbs up to Arena, fastest response i have ever gotten from a tv company =).

  3. hey can someone tell me when E! went widescreen?? I checked it the other day as i was curious about it being 4:3 and when i saw it was 16:9 i was shocked that it wasnt on the list above or wasnt talked about earlier.

  4. Today Comedy went 16:9…one more off the list =). Now 8 stations (including +2 channels) to go widescreen in the 100’s, 1 in the 400’s (but i doubt they will make TCM widescreen seems though all its programming is 4:3) 1 in the 500’s, 13 in the 600’s, 2 in the 700’s, 1 in 800’s and then 2 in the 900’s.
    Now seriously why do they need to leave a month inbetween making them 16:9!! Today Comedy went 16:9 but there is no date for the next! Hopefully Arena and VH1 will be next.
    And to Nick, 111 Hits is widescreen, its programs are filmed in 4:3 thats why they look cropped.

  5. Even on 111 hits the shows are in 4:3 and most not if all the shows are originally 16:9!! And this is a new station..also TV1 should go widescreen as well as arena and comedy! If they did this then upgrading to HD would me worth itt to me!!

  6. Does everyone else think this Foxtel New Generation is a bit disappointing! As for Sky News active, try reading it from say 4 metres away! And the further downgrading of Sky News UK which should be a separate channel instead of an ever decreasing video screen. It’s so shocking to watch that I refer to it as an audio channel now and just wait for them to stuff that up as well!

  7. @Russell – even on the HD channels we have now, not much of the content truly is in HD. Less than half of FOX8 HD’s content is true HD, W HD has even less, the older movies on the movie HD channels are not in true HD.

    You can tell as they show an “HD” symbol in the program information.

    I agree with getting more channels onto HD but it is not worth the extra money when much of the content is simply SD on HD or possibly upscaled in some cases.

  9. What is the point of stretching and squishing a 4:3 picture into 16:9 widescreen?? You end up losing some of the picture a la Seinfeld on GO! Leave 4:3 programs the way they are please.

  10. following on from Warwicks comment….

    when I watch Sky News I noctice the corners (bottom) are chopped and even though I chaged the config. it screws up all the other chns and I aint gonna watch everything “letterbox” style

  12. Ummm when I watch ABC2 news breakfast every morning through fox the station ID is chopped in half no matter what I do with the monitor aspect ratio, so how is that widescreen ??

  17. Thanks David

    I think Foxtel had known that viewers have been continuously asking about Widescreen conversion. Then more of the Frequently Asked Question sections have been updated to ask this question.

  20. Cable channels providers and Foxtel should now be working together to convert many more channels to HD, and increase HD content on the existing just launched HD channels.

    Fox8 should now start producing The Contender and Australia’s Next Top Model in HD.

    Other channels that are good candidates to go HD in the next 12 months:

    Arena – most of their shows are sourced from Barvo in the US, and Bravo now produces all their shows in HD. Project Runway Oz could also be HD
    Biography – again, most shows from Bio in the US are now HD
    Crime & Investigation
    Disney
    FMC – movies in HD
    History – almost all US History programming now done in HD
    FOX Sport News – studio based – easy HD convert
    LifeStyle Channel
    LifeStyle Food
    Sci-Fi – Most US SyFy programming in HD now
    Sky Business – studio based – easy HD camera convert
    Sky News – Nine News Syd, Melb, Seven news syd now HD. Sky News UK going HD. Upgrade studio cameras and graphics to HD. Most of the channel could be in HD
    The Weather Channel – again studio and graphics based, easy HD convert
    TV1 – most Universal, Sony, Columbia Tristar programming now in HD

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