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.
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!
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 () 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.
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.
) 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.