Gizmodo Australia » channel 7

Phew! Channel 7 Names Second SD Channel ‘7Two’

Nick Broughall — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:39:34 +0000

Praise the Gods! It looks like the rumour that Channel 7 was planning on calling their second digital channel “Channel Mate” was just that – a rumour. Today they confirmed that the second channel will be called 7Two, will be broadcast on channel 72 (of course) and will commence airing on November 1 from noon.

According to MediaHunter, the new channel will air The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Murphy Brown and new episodes of The Jay Leno Show five nights a week, with theme nights and family programming featuring heavily.

Of course, this announcement leaves us wondering – exactly what is Channel Mate then? Could it be a universal remote-like device like I guessed?

[MediaHunter]

Channel 7’s Second Digital Channel To Be Called ‘Mate’?

Nick Broughall — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:30:13 +0000

If this trademark application from Channel 7 is actually the name of their upcoming second SD digital channel, then I weep for free-to-air TV. Mediaspy has uncovered a heap of trademark applications from the network, which includes a number of images which all contain the words ‘Mate’ or ‘Channel Mate’.

Despite contacting the network, Mediaspy didn’t actually get confirmation that this is the name for Seven’s second channel, so this remains in the rumour camp for now. After all, it could be some new type of universal remote or something, or some TiVo related gadget. But if it is the name of the second channel, am I alone in thinking it’s the stupidest TV channel name ever?

[Mediaspy via AVHub]

TiVo Hopping Into Bed With Internode For Unmetered Movie Downloads

Nick Broughall — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 23:00:52 +0000

Well, this could be a very interesting proposition. According to Lara Sinclair over at The Australian, TiVo is shacking up with Internode to offer their own broadband plan in which TiVo downloads will be unmetered, meaning you can download and watch as many movies as you want without having to pay for bandwidth.The broadband service will launch alongside TiVo’s movie download service, which will offer more than 100 movies (most will be pay-per-view). It’s expected the broadband connection will cost between $79 and $99 a month on a two year contract, and includes the TiVo box, although there’s no word on what kind of data limits that will include. Marketing for the service is expected to begin around March 24.

We’re waiting on official word of this from either TiVo or Internode’s people, but in the meantime, it’s definitely worth checking out the Australian article, especially if youre thinking about getting a TiVo…

[The Australian]

Channel 7’s HD Channel Playing The Australian Open In SD

Nick Broughall — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 04:16:55 +0000

Maybe it’s just me, but if I were a TV network executive with a whole HD channel at my disposal, I’d make sure to fill it with HD content. After all, that ‘HD’ in the channel’s name does mean ‘High Definition’, not standard definition.

What I would not do is broadcast the exact same SD content on the HD channel, even if it was the Australian Open. But that’s exactly what Channel 7 are doing, starting today. Why? Because they hate you.Well, that and the fact that they don’t actually make any money off their HD channel with advertising, nor does it improve their ratings.

Considering how hard the FTA channels are pushing the upcoming FreeView service and its 15 channels (including the three HD channels), this is just another reason I’ll be sticking with Foxtel.

[TV Tonight]

Where Are Our Extra FTA Digital Channels?

Nick Broughall — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 00:55:40 +0000

Yesterday may have been the first day of 2009, but it was also the first day the Australian free-to-air TV networks could legally begin broadcasting a second digital SD channel. But here we are, 1.5 days into the new year, and none of the FTA networks have actually made good on their chance to launch a second channel and according to the Australian, aren’t likely to for several more months.

The Oz quotes Foxtel’s Adam Suckling, Director of policy and corporate affairs: “Seven, Nine and Ten have had more than two years to plan and launch one new digital channel each on January 1, 2009… But they have chosen not to do so.” And while this is just another barb in the war of words between FTA and Pay TV in this country, there is a very important point being made here: why haven’t we got extra channels today?

The answer is mostly economics, but if you go back a couple of years to the launch of the FTA HD channels, you’ll also see that there’s sure to be some unhealthy competition between the networks at play here. When HD launched, Ten announced its plans first, then Channel 7 launched their channel a few days before 10’s channel went live so they could claim to be “first”. Channel 9, meanwhile, refused to offer any comment about their plans for fear of letting the other networks know what they were doing. So far, only 10 has announced anything – they’ll be launching a dedicated HD sports channel in April. But expect Seven and Nine to try and pip them at the post.

Of course all of this wouldn’t matter, but for the fact that the networks are “trying” to work together for the FreeView market. Considering they’re already marketing FreeView to have 15 channels, yet that figure includes the new multichannel stations, the networks should really be working together, pro-actively, to try and launch and promote FTA TV. From personal experience, the new FreeView campaign is causing nothing but confusion in the marketplace, judging by the influx of questions I’ve been getting from non-techy friends and family.

Meanwhile, according to the Australian’s article, Foxtel are planning on launching another 20 digital channels this year. Hopefully the majority of them are in HD…

[The Australian]

YouTube’s Beijing Channel Not Available In Australia

Nick Broughall — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 00:34:39 +0000

The Olympics start tomorrow, and if you’re not yet excited by the idea of athletes pushing themselves to the limit in a country where the cabs are bugged and the towns are filled with gadget refuse, then you never will be.

Because of the similarity in time zones between China and Australia, there are going to be a lot of people wasting their work day watching the games. Telstra have an agreement with Channel 7 to show Olympic coverage over their NextG mobiles, Yahoo7 will also have online video streaming of the games.

If, however, you got excited by the Reuters article detailing the IOCs decision to showcase games highlights on YouTube, you’re destined for disappointment – the YouTube channel isn’t available to Australians, thanks to the Yahoo!7 deal.

Let’s just hope that Yahoo!7 doesn’t drop the ball when it comes to their Olympic video coverage – Channel 7 have never been known for their willingness to offer users what they want, when they want it…

Hulu Coming To Australia?

Nick Broughall — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 02:51:42 +0000

Just a little over a week since the ABC launched their iView service for video on demand, executives from Hulu, the NBC/News Corp video streaming service from the US, have flown into Australia to meet with all the Australian networks to try and launch Hulu down under.

According to the SMH, all three free-to-air networks have met with Hulu, and seem to be fairly optimistic about the proposition, although whether or not we see an Australian version could come down to what kind of business deals are offered to the local networks.

But most interesting is the fact that network executives are also considering using the ABC’s iView to do the same thing – act as a central content hub for programming from all the Australian networks.

New TiVo Ad Seems Vaguely Familiar

Nick Broughall — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:59:59 +0000

Channel 7’s new ad for TiVo has hit the airwaves (and YouTube), and it’s not too bad an effort – towers made from videos build up around an animated TiVo icon, which then sucks them all down inside it at the end of the ad.

The problem is, like Sony’s bunny ad before it, this one borrows pretty heavily from someone else’s work. In this case though, it’s not some obscure artist that’s been ripped off, it’s Apple.

The similarities are pretty obvious when you look at them one after the other, aren’t they? I wonder whether Apple will unleash the ~~hounds~~ lawyers, or if they’ve got too much to deal with at the moment to really care.

TiVo Gets Announced… Does Anybody Care?

Nick Broughall — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:02:41 +0000

We knew it was happening, but Channel 7 today officially launched the Australian version of TiVo. We weren’t there, but we’ve grabbed a copy of the press release and had a read of Asher Moses’ piece on SMH, and have to say that we’re not inspired.

For a start, the press release is full of smacktalk. Now, I know Channel 7 enjoys the smacktalk, but in a press release? Have a read for your self:

“The TiVo HD DVR brings you all the features, and more, that until now were only available to pay television customers. Why pay monthly fees for pay television when 56% of pay television viewing is on the free channels anyway?”

But the real disappointment isn’t in the press release. It’s in the details. Like the fact that some of TiVo’s core features will be gimped at launch, only to be switched on at a later date for a fee in the “tens of dollars”.

TiVo To Land In Mid-July At Harvey Norman, Cost $700

Nick Broughall — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 22:58:47 +0000

If reports from the Financial Review are correct, we’ll soon be able to play with our very own peanut controller when TiVo launches in Australia in mid-July.

Aside from the obvious dilemma of where to spend your money (there’s some new phone launching on July 11, remember?), the mid-July timeframe does work with the previous announcements that Channel 7 made about it launching before the Olympics.

The box itself is likely to cost somewhere around the $700 mark, which isn’t exactly cheap for a DVR. Seven are likely to promote the box’s superior EPG functionality in order to justify that price, although we’ll wait to see how it’s implemented ourselves before we recommend on whether you should spend the money.

The other interesting point made in the Fin’s article is that Harvey Norman are likely to have an exclusive distribution arrangement for 3 months, before it will be available in JB Hi-Fi and Dick Smith’s shops.

I’m sure there are important factors influencing that decision, like scratching the backs of old mates and heavy advertisers, but I think Channel 7 may be overestimating TiVo’s appeal in Australia. Personally – I’m very intrigued, but I would need to see some obvious advantages in TiVo’s local implementation before I dropped 700 big ones. Especially now that Foxtel’s iQ2 is on the market.

UPDATE: Pete Blasina over at GadgetGuy.com.au is reporting that the launch date is officially July 15. Considering his relationship with Channel 7, I reckon this is pretty much guaranteed.

[MIS Australia and GadgetGuy]