9Rush

Fair point, but somehow I just can’t imagine there being much (if any) audience overlap between those watching all the repeated movies and dramas on 9Gem compared to the viewers who’d be watching the channel for coverage of the cricket or NRL in the Southern states.

9Gem does very well with sports coverage. Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t it hold the highest rated multi channel program so far for 2020?

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Rush? When i first saw the name i thought it was for a automoative channel. Seems like a weird name for a channel. Obviously we dont know all the details but why pick a name like Rush for a documentary channel?

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The first thing I thought of was Adrenaline Rush so I’m curious to see what the content will be.

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The first thing I thought of was the theme tune to a certain 1970s Australian drama series.

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Media Release:

Nine will launch 9Rush, the new home of high adventure, high octane and high adrenaline reality programming, in partnership with Discovery Inc. on April 5.

9Rush, Australia’s latest multi-channel, will be designated as Channel 96.

9Rush will commence at 7.00pm on Sunday, April 5 with the exclusive premiere of the new series of Top Gear UK, featuring Australia’s favourite British import, Freddie Flintoff (who is part of the commentary team on Australian Ninja Warrior).

For anyone with a taste for adventure, a need for speed or who enjoys the thrill of the chase, with Discovery’s extensive back catalogue of globally renowned, premium real-life entertainment content, this is the channel for you.

All titles are brand new, free-to-air-first programs that feature characters who must be seen to be believed.

Whether it’s digging for riches in Gold Rush: Parker’s Trail, street racing in Oklahoma with Street Outlaws, kicking in doors with the police in the USA on Live PD, transforming rusty wrecks into one-of-a-kind rides with Kindig Customs, or extreme survival off the grid in the wilderness with Alaskan Bush People, 9Rush will be your 24-hour male reality obsession.

It will also include free-to-air, premiere episodes of Running Wild with Bear Grylls, which documents the survival instructor’s return to the wilderness, battling the elements with a host of Hollywood celebrities, and Man vs Wild, Grylls’ breakout show – where he tackles seemingly impossible challenges in the most remote parts of the globe.

“At Discovery, we’re dedicated to powering the passions of our audiences with the best in real-life entertainment,” Rebecca Kent, General Manager, Discovery Australia, New Zealand & Pacific Islands, says of the extension of Nine and Discovery’s existing partnership.

“Action and adventure is a huge part of our DNA and we’re proud to be bringing our globally renowned and loved programming to 9Rush. We look forward to strengthening our partnership with Nine and connecting new viewers to Discovery’s powerhouse programs.”

“Nine are thrilled to partner with Discovery to deliver premium, free to air first content. As a global leader in real-life entertainment, Discovery’s dedication to serving audiences with content which inspires, informs and entertains is second to none,” said Nine’s Program Director, Hamish Turner.

“The deal will deliver Nine and 9Now thousands of free to air premiere episodes. 9Rush audiences will be spoilt for choice, with an extensive range of high action and adventure programming, available on Australia’s latest channel and available free on 9Now.”

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Don’t expect it to be on tv in sca9 areas. They said 9gem will be in hd and we are still waiting for it

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Few thoughts:

  • Judging by the announced programs, 9Rush has been designed to attract viewers away from 7mate. Will be interested to see whether they’re successful in doing that since if they are, it’ll only add to Seven’s current woes.

  • TV Cynic and/or others can correct me about this but hasn’t Nine & Seven demonstrated over the last few years that what a network having 3/4 multichannels does is those multichannels ‘canabalize’ each other’s ratings rather than grow the network’s overall share? If that’s the case, reckon 9Rush’s launch will impact 9Go the most

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They couldn’t have picked a better time to launch the channel, especially since many would be working/staying at home and most would be looking at streaming or FTA for entertainment. A new channel would give people more entertainment in times like this.

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If I was a gambler, I’d definitely be putting money on 9Rush being an MPEG4 channel…and less (but still some) on 9Life switching to MPEG4.

Content wise, probably the best thing I can say about 9Rush is that at least it’s not going to be another home shopping or food/cooking-themed channel. Although even so, I probably won’t be a regular viewer.

Yep, I agree.

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I’ll counter that with an assumption it’ll certainly be MPEG-2. Looking at what Nine broadcast now, they are able to air 9Life with only 1.75Mbps in MPEG-2, I’m going to guess - but can’t back up - that they are using the fact Life doesn’t show live programming to run a multi-pass encode to get better quality out of lower rates (Gem/Go/9SD are all ~3Mbps for comparison)

Nine could get that much data back by trimming back from 9 SD and 9Gem SD, and a small reduction from their HD channels.

I’d go against the other comments as well - I think this will be a poor time to launch a channel - ad revenues are going to dry up as consumers lose jobs and reduce discretionary spending. TV ads will be an easy thing for a business in decline to cut.

Cool name though.

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Are you joking or being serious? Can’t remember the last time a 9Life program made the Top 20 in multi-channels and regularly pulls 1% shares, a 2% is good when it occurs!

I think its only fan is Colin Vickery :wink:

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9Rush promos running in NBN land

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Not a fan of the logo. The slanted text doesn’t work alongside the Nine balls.

I also assume this will be broadcast in MPEG4 SD, but I do hope it is MPEG4 HD

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Welcome 9dotsRush!

So it looks like this will be a measured (for ratings) multi-channel, Nine able to target a demographic and sell to advertisers?

7food Network failed. Let’s see if this is more successful. Less than 1% share average is the benchmark.

Wonder if they’ll add movies (:heart_eyes:) to the line-up, of course tailored to its target audience, if ratings flail early? With this you theoretically could, unlike 9Life. That’s an advantage of Seven and 10’s suites, each channel (excluding Racing and Openshop) can air any content.

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7 mate has a font from the 70s so 9 RUSH picks a font from the 80s. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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V8 Supercars could be a good fit for the channel if Nine can get rights?

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Anyone else wondering if this is more a play to snare audience from 10Boss rather than 7Mate? Boss has gained significant share in the last year and don’t think that would go unnoticed at 9. They are very strategic and don’t want to give their competitors an inch.

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So is Rush Nine’s version of 7Mate?