HD Broadcasting

Sport should be on the main channel across Australia to maximise ratings. They can put the news on ONE, 9Gem,7Two, 9Go or 7mate in the future.

Yep, viewers who were so used to the GEM HD broadcasts on NRL will soon have the choice of watching it in SD live or waiting for the Fox Sports repeat. Something that viewers in NSW/ACT/QLD had the “pleasure” of experiencing for five years, so it’s payback time! :stuck_out_tongue:

We know all too well that Seven/Nine aren’t going to do that. Despite the attempts from each code to make their sport popular nationally, it will always be NRL that’s the preferred choice in NSW/ACT/QLD and AFL the preferred choice in the other five.

Potentially the same thing will happen with AFL if 7HD gets off the ground in time for the new season. I imagine that especially WA viewers who have been accustomed to 7Mate coverage in HD will be disappointed when that channel witches to SD. Obviously same in Queensland and NSW but with fewer watching it will have less of an impact.

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I think starting this year Fox Sports will be showing Nine’s games live in HD. So at least there’s an extra choice even if you have to pay for it. Adelaide viewers will be especially happy, considering NRL on Nine(GEM) is delayed.

Ten HD on March 2 is 100% confirmed by the Ten CEO in The Australian this morning. Also confirmed, no 4th channel offering from Ten. He says it would add costs and erode audiences and he believes they need focus on Ten, One and 11.

If a 4th channel is launched (but he sounds VERY against the idea in numerous quotes) its would be “something very different” to what is already out there.

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There is a new topic now for TEN HD.

If he is worried about costs and eroding audiences I’m assuming that is why they aren’t embracing full live streaming of their channels either.

Is 7’s online streaming of their channels on Plus7 Live in HD ? Looks very good quality.

No, the best quality they have is 504p (but could be lower depending on your connection). Using p instead of i makes big difference though, and they’ve also done very well with compression, so it is still looks better than on TV.

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I believe that there is a HD stream for Seven Sydney at least. Aside from that, I believe that the maximum resolution is 504p for the metro market streams and 360p for the Regional QLD streams on Plus7.

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Regional Qld gets a lower quality stream that seems strange.

Just noticed Darwin had 9HD but not 9Life on the Ninemsn tv guide website. How come they have the 9 HD channel but not the new lifestyle channel ?

Seven seems to have stalled on its HD channel? I wonder if seven is keeping quiet on it like last time?

They never really been huge on HD, they were 576p for ages. Seven always put multichannels before HD. Still expecting March now that 10HD is only a week away.

I reckon that Seven will eventually have no choice but to launch a HD channel. To say the least, it wouldn’t be a good look if Nine, Ten, SBS and the ABC (keep in mind that it’s been reported previously that the ABC does have plans to do a Nine/Ten-style switch by about mid year) all had HD channels while “Australia’s #1 network” didn’t.

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It’d be nice if it were to coincide with the start of the AFL Season :slight_smile:

How is Win able to keep Gem in HD when in regional Qld for example One cannot remain in HD once Ten HD launches in the capital cities? Or have I got it wrong again.

Because Nine still give WIN an HD version of Gem and WIN still use HD equipment to control it. It’s likely Nine will continue to produce Gem in HD for streaming and probably already produce Go! in HD too.

How do you actually know One in Southern Cross Ten regions will switch to SD once Ten HD is launched in metro areas? Think about it. Southern Cross will still have HD equipment controlling their One channels. At worst, they’ll be upscaled versions of One SD with HD commercials and occasional breakaway programming from Southern Cross. At best, Ten will still deliver One to Southern Cross in HD and nothing will change, just like WIN Gem.

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Wouldn’t surprise anyone though of course the more logical thing would be that at the point they’ll turn the SD simulcast into a new multi-channel - indeed that could be HD as HD MPEG4 roughly takes the same space as the primary channels in SD MPEG2.

I believe that SC gets a seperate feed of ten, Eleven and one. I assume that one will remain in HD in the sc 10 areas for the time being.

I also believe that SC also gets a seperate feed of 9, go and gem for its SA viewers and a seperate feed of 7 for Darwin, Tasmania, SA and central markets.

Is this the same Southern Cross?. I keep hearing about this profit they have made lately