But can’t you only get it on satellite as a general customer if your in a regional area and have limited access to internet?
Optus will try and steer you towards the streaming service in the first instance
nope. they will push you to streaming, but if you qualify (and pay) anyone can get it
If they’re doing that then why wouldn’t they just put it on Foxtel as a premium channel?
because first, its not just one channel. There’s six, so i imagine an access agreement is costly, especially when optus already own the satellite its an expense they don’t need. I agree, adding to foxtel and handing the billing themselves is a good idea but the economics probally don’t stack up
Their was 6 through Fetch now it’s down to 2. Optus Sports 3+ just redirects through the app not recordable and quality of the streams a lot poorer
There was originally 10 channels, then it was cut down to 6, now its just the two.
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A six minute commercial for Galaxy, designed to be displayed at video advertising kiosks in shopping centres.
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OMG this is fantastic mate! Thank you so much for uploading that!
Loved seeing station IDs of Red, Arena, Quest, Max and TV1
Very rare, but awesome to look at, keep up the good work!
If I’m not mistaken, this is what the original Galaxy channels were later replaced with:
*Quest > Discovery (July 1995, exact changeover date TBC)
*Max/Classic Max > Nickelodeon/Nick At Nite (23/10/1995, coinciding with the launch of Foxtel)
*Red > Channel V (18/4/1997)
…and some rebrands:
Premiere Sport Network > Fox Sports (1/3/1996)
Encore > Showtime Greats (from 1/3/2004 to 14/11/2009)
Showtime > Showtime Premiere (from 14/11/2009 to 31/12/2012, replaced by Foxtel Movies Premiere the following day)
TV1 continued until the end of 2013 when it was replaced by TV HITS, which itself got replaced by FOX CRIME on November 7, 2019. Arena very well may be the sole surviving brand from the Galaxy era…albeit, that channel has been known as FOX ARENA since July 1 of last year.
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Anyways, here’s an Arena postcard from the 90s, the idents were produced by Garner MacLennan Design (now RobotDNA)
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I wonder what happened to Quest?
I’ve done some further research and as it turns out, someone on Wikipedia probably should correct that “July 1995” date. The Quest > Discovery changeover actually happened on Monday September 18, 1995 if this SMH article from Saturday the 16th is anything to go by.
That same piece also pointed out that Nickelodeon had originally signed up with Australian Information Media (ABC/Fairfax/Cox Communications joint venture also behind TNC - the 24 hour news channel that wasn’t to be due to Foxtel/Optus signing deals for Sky News) to produce a children’s channel for Pay TV, but at that time looked set to do a deal with Foxtel…which seemed to be signed on Friday September 22, 1995 as per this SMH article from Saturday the 23rd.
It’s probably safe to presume the Max/Classic Max > Nickelodeon/Nick At Nite rebrand was one of the first things on the agenda after that deal with Foxtel had been signed, as by October 8 an advertising liftout for Galaxy in The Sun Herald’s “Now” magazine (including the weekly TV guide for FTA stations, this would’ve been read by many in '95) proclaimed that Nickelodeon would come to Galaxy on the 23rd - the most relevant part of that can be seen here!
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Although from around 2000 its format changed from “the art of television” (which had some decent content such as Tabitha presenting B-grade horror and sci-fi) to its current format of reality TV and female-skewed programming. 2004 saw Friends, the Sopranos and other WB programming come to Arena.
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and ANBC (Asia NBC) was part of the original Galaxy lineup, it was a mix of CNBC and non-news programming. It changed to CNBC by the end of 1995.
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Here’s a full episode of Cash Cab in 2008:
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Something like NBC Europe, I presume? Here’s a 1997 promo for the channel:
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If anybody has it, upload here or on YouTube
Interactive TV back in the day on Foxtel and Austar
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