Foxtel must have known in November that it would happen or could happen soon. From the Foxtel topic in early November:
The only FTA channels in the 200’s range on Foxtel set top boxes are HD channels. Thus for 7TWO to pop up on 256 rather than the previous 156 means that Foxtel must have expected 7TWO to be in HD in the near future.
I don’t remember where @EMTV was located, but it was happening here in Melbourne and presumably the other mainland state capitals as well.