Commercial digital multichannelling to begin in Australia
Posted by Paul • Saturday, September 15. 2007 • Category: terrestrial tv
Since the beginning of 2007, commercial TV stations in Australia have been allowed to carry separate programming on their high-definition channel, but until now, none of them have made use of this to any great extent.
That will change in December, when the Ten Network launches significant departures from their regular programming, on the HD stream.
Billed as a new commercial free-to-air station, Ten HD will carry 50 hours of programs not seen on the main channel, and 10 hours of timeshifted programs, including the 5pm news.
This is likely to spur a greater uptake of digital TV in Australia, as until now, the only new stations on digital available to most of Australia have been the ABC's ABC2 station, which carries mostly timeshifted material, and SBS's foreign language news service. In the regioons that gained genuinely new stations, such as Tasmania and Mildura, the uptake of digital television was much greater than in metropolitan areas.
Ten's choice of "Ten HD" as the name for their new station may prove confusing to viewers, however. In most other countries where one company operates multiple stations, the stations have clearly separate names and identities.
That will change in December, when the Ten Network launches significant departures from their regular programming, on the HD stream.
Billed as a new commercial free-to-air station, Ten HD will carry 50 hours of programs not seen on the main channel, and 10 hours of timeshifted programs, including the 5pm news.
This is likely to spur a greater uptake of digital TV in Australia, as until now, the only new stations on digital available to most of Australia have been the ABC's ABC2 station, which carries mostly timeshifted material, and SBS's foreign language news service. In the regioons that gained genuinely new stations, such as Tasmania and Mildura, the uptake of digital television was much greater than in metropolitan areas.
Ten's choice of "Ten HD" as the name for their new station may prove confusing to viewers, however. In most other countries where one company operates multiple stations, the stations have clearly separate names and identities.