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Pay TV’s upgrade to top Freeview

Less than 24 hours before major new services hit Pay TV screens, widely seen as a challenge to Freeview's new channels.

FOXTEL ngThere are less than 24 hours remaining before major new services hit Pay TV screens. The changes, amongst the biggest the subscription sector has seen, are a challenge to the upgrade of the Freeview suite of channels.

Tomorrow Foxtel subcribers will have access to 30 new channels consisting of brand new channels, High Definition channels, and timeshift channels.

Movies shift are categorised into in genre: action, comedy, drama, family and movie stars.

The new iQ TV Guide features iSuggest and Record Me will be available to all iQ and iQ2 subscribers.

SKY News Active will offer a city-based local news service, SKY News Local, with a loop of Australian capital city news. Weather Active will relaunch with over 16,000 suburbs to provide local weather information.

Channel Seven will be added to satellite subscribers in Melbourne and Brisbane. On November 24 it will add 7TWO to the East Coast (satellite) and 7TWO and GO! to cable subscribers. ABC3 will arrive in early December to all Foxtel viewers.

Meanwhile Austar will deliver 15 new standard definition channels and 13 new high definition channels while the MyStar HD also launches.

Foxtel summary:
* 30 new channel choices including themed movie channels, new sports and documentary channels, and tailored general entertainment channels.
* 12 new channels brands: LifeStyle You, 13TH Street The Style Network, Eurosport, KidsCo, FMC, STARPICS, showtime action, showtime comedy, showtime drama, Discovery Turbo MAX and Nat Geo Wild.
* Foxtel HD+ will be home to 15 High Definition channels – including four dedicated HD sports channels and six new HD movie channels.
* The 10 new HD channels are FOX SPORTS 1HD, 2HD and 3HD, FOX8 HD, W HD, MOVIE ONE HD, showcase HD, showtime action HD, showtime premiere HD, STARPICS 1HD and 2HD, and UKTV HD.
* A brand new movie service with 16 dedicated movie channels tailored by genre with no advertising interruptions to any movie, ever.
* Foxtel is also introducing eight new timeshift channels, these are 111 HITS +2, Discovery Channel +2, Discovery Turbo MAX +2, LifeStyle FOOD Channel +2, LifeStyle YOU +2, SCI FI +2, showcase two and STARPICS +2.
* New search functionality with an interactive TV Guide feature called iSuggest for iQ and iQ2 subscribers. iSuggest provides a poster for each program or movie, the summary, and a star rating which gives subscribers more detail than just the title helping them choose from 200 outstanding television programs and movies at any one time to watch or send to the Planner for record.
* Immediate recording details of favourite shows for iQ and iQ2 subscribers with Record Me, which sends shows straight to the iQ Planner simply by pressing the Green button on the remote during a show’s promo. Record Me is the ultimate convenience – subscribers see a promo for a show they love, press one button, and it’s sent to the Planner for record. This means subscribers will no longer have to go into the TV Guide to search for programs to record, but will simply press the green button on the Foxtel remote control during a promo with the Record Me icon and the program will appear instantly in their Planner for record.
* New SKY News Local Active screens for each of Australia’s five capital cities and improved Weather Active.
* Movies On Demand – A new Foxtel Box Office with up to 40 recent release movies to choose from at any one time.
* Free On Demand changes its name to Foxtel First airing the best of what’s new on Foxtel that week – big premieres, debuts of hot series and exclusive events. The 12 hours of new programming are refreshed every Monday and best of all, everything’s free to view on the iQ or iQ2.

27 Responses

  1. @Kathy, there was most certainly disruption for me. My iQ2 lost the first hour of a recording because of the forced reset. It should have been 320min instead it is now only 260min and labelled “Part Rec, Cancelled[6]”. This should not happen! At most it should be missing 5min while the reset takes place. Thankfully the reset didn’t happen much later in the recording, oh yeah and the “dumb” vcr happily kept everything it recorded.

  2. Yay!!! Foxtel finally has some new channels. Even better Showtime Horror, Movies 24, MTV Hits and TMF should also be launched as Foxtel channels. That would be to add on to Foxtel’s impressive range of channels.

  3. Chris says:
    Does anybody know if the upgrade will require an automatic reset to update the boxes? I’m not talking about a software update just a straight reboot.

    The change over was quick and simple with no disruption… Well done Foxtel.

    timmy says:
    Bah – I have to pay more for more channels I never asked for and don’t want. Thanks Foxtel.

    Not quite correct timmy.,.. you have, and have had for some time now, the ability to change this yourself i.e. pick your own package and pricing structure so if you are paying for something you don’t want then get onto Foxtel. Bah

    Well Done Foxtel… a very smooth change indeed, with some great new features and channels. I particularly like the iSuggest feature.

  4. Just got the new channels and they rock!!! Good on you Foxtel!! But I’m still pi**ed off that I have to pay the new amount for November when I only get the new channels for half the month. Not happy Jan!!!

  5. Still nothing that interests me on Pay TV. Compared to overseas Foxtel is rubbish. People in the US get hundreds of channels for what people pay here to get the basic pack. I’m sticking with Freeview, there is always something on that I want to watch with the 10 channels … when I was over my sisters for a week I spent most of my time watching BBC World News or CNN because nothing else interested me on Foxtel

  6. When are they going to start transmitting the FTA channels on Satelite from the country areas its a bitch\
    I had NIne Sydney when i first got satelite then after a couple of months they realised the mistake and away it went
    Cant wait for tomorrow

  7. Don’t you mean, stop Freeview! But seriously, I’d say a third of Foxtel’s customer base in Brissie has to be satellite, as Seven’s been plugging for the last few days on their news that “Seven’s coming to Foxtel Satellite”

    My feeling, on the 7Two decision is, that Seven needed to make a bold statement, that if it got on the satellite bandwagon first, surely Ten and Nine would follow suit.

  8. Pay TV’s upgrade to top Freeview?
    I would sure hope so. Freeview cost me a one-off joining fee of about $80 (purchasing a digital set-top box) while people who subscribe to the new are paying more for Foxtel each month.

  9. I dont know if i’m alone here, and it may be a bit knit-picky, but I really want the program guide to list all the FTA channels in one list, with SBS2, ABC2, 7TWO, and GO included. It would just make life easier if the freeview channels were bulked together. Who’s with me?

  10. @Leon, Craig & mac, thanks for the replies. I’m aware that Foxtel can and do remotely reboot the stb’s, my concern is whether they have to in order to remap the new channel numbers etc. Like you guys, I strongly suspect that they will, but it would be nice to know.

    As an iQ2 subscriber I don’t want to lose the recordings I have scheduled for late tonight. If the iQ platform handled resets/power outages better then it would not be such an issue. IMO it is ridiculous that it doesn’t preserve what had been recording up to the interruption, but I believe it has been this way from day one of the original iQ so I’m not holding my breathe for it to be fixed. It’s one of the biggest flaws of an otherwise stellar platform.

    @David, what’s this Freeview thing that you speak of? I can’t see it for all the vapour 😉

  11. @Chris I think from past experience it will be done automatically, Foxtel/Austar have the ability to control your STB. I haven’t heard otherwise.

    But if I’m wrong please someone let us know…

  12. I would imagine it would be Automatic sometime from 11pm (aedst) tonight at earliest because according to the Foxtel EPG.. Showtime Greats: Dude, Where’s my Car? will only go for 30mins..

  13. I think one of the top selling points of Foxtel is the new HD channels. High Def is so unreliable and shabby on free to air these days – it’s unbelievable!

    Not to mention more and more content that is original and not just repeats. They just need to lower their ludicrous prices! That’s one of the main reasons people don’t subscribe!

  14. Does anybody know if the upgrade will require an automatic reset to update the boxes? I’m not talking about a software update just a straight reboot.

    It seems quite possible to me but Foxtel were unable to advise if they were going to send a reboot command or not. If they do and you have recordings in progress on your iQ1/2 then what was recording up to the restart will be lost! If you’ve ever experienced this you’ll know how frustrating it can be (I lost 5 hours of live coverage a month ago). I’ll be reconnecting my VCR and recording the old fashioned way as well tonight, just in case.

  15. Widescreen: * 13th Street * The Style Network (also watermark-free) * LifeStyle You (incl. +2) * LifeStyle Food +2 * Discovery Turbo Max (incl. +2) * Star Pics 1 & 2 * Showtime Action, Comedy and Drama (also watermark-free) * Showcase 2 (also watermark-free) * Family Movie Channel * Eurosport * Olympic Games Preview

    Not in widescreen: * Nat Geo Wild * Discovery +2 * KidsCo * Sci-Fi +2

    Dumped: * Showtime Greats

  16. Fiiiiiinallly!! Channel 7 comes to Foxtel sattelite. That was the only reason my Mother and Grandmother needed a terrestrial antenna. Now they can just use Foxtel and not have to bother with switching remotes. And with Seven2 reported above to be launched on Foxtel sattelite (East Coast) later this month. That will top things off. Lets just hope Go! and One follw suit soon for sattelite customers.

  17. YAY while FTA can’t get their act together and still ‘fine tuning’ there line up on a couple of new channels we get 15 new channels on Austar without doing a thing (depending on your package) Okay some are time-shift channels but still it means you have more choice in what and when you watch your shows.

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