This must be way before I had Foxtel lol. I only ever remember the blank screen then the pop up message that would tell you to subscribe.
Adults Only, which previously time-shared with Main Event—and prior to that, the original Sky Racing service—operated on a similar transmission model. During the Sky Racing era, it was common for the feed to terminate mid-race, triggering an on-screen prompt such as ‘To continue watching.’ Main Event employed a comparable time-sharing arrangement, although it generally maintained its broadcast until approximately 10:00–11:00 PM each night before transitioning control.
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What i remember is it just had a black screen saying No Signal
So, when did this get updated? And the two Adults only channels start? There basically way before my time as well but I only ever remember the AO content on these channels.
The two channel Select service came in with digital, around a year or so after it’s launch. While they were duel-casting analogue and digital, there was actually 3 AO channels, the original analogue channel (by then sharing with Fashion TV, which ran approx. 4:15a-10:45p when there was no Main Event on) which was a monthly subscription, and the 2 Select channels, which were ordered in 2 hour blocks.
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Thank you. This brings back memories but I don’t remember working on this one specifically - definitely worked on the standard remote guide, that little “remote eye” thing (thats what we called it internally) and the component cable guide. So it makes sense I would have had some input into this one.
Looking at the PDF you published, the biggest thing we would have done with that one is changing the wording to say FOXTEL IQ and aligning the onscreen prompts to match whatever firmware was active at the time.
I was in the TST Team at the time in the call centre in Moonee Ponds. We had an awesome set up there. Every desk had one STU box (either cable or sat, all pace), we had 6 TVs that had different platforms (cable dig, cable dig IQ, cable analogue, sat IQ, sat pace, sat “darth vader” box), we had a plasma screen with component set up and a tech room with all other equipment we could go in there for training and play around.
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The 2 AO channels started when it went Digital.
Stuff from TNT via Optus Vision circa 1997:
Promos for other channels:
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Yes I remember TNT (later becoming Turner Classic Movies) it was mainly vintage movies from MGM and (pre-1948) Warner Bros Pictures. They also had WCW (rival wrestling federation to WWE) and a concert series (I recall watching one such episode featuring Ani DiFranco). Optus and Foxtel had TNT/TCM 24 hours a day while Galaxy/Austar had TNT split with Cartoon Network (in New Zealand time).
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I always thought that TNT time-shared with Cartoon Network, and that arrangement continued through the early days of TCM—until Cartoon Network began broadcasting 24 hours a day, which in turn allowed TCM to become a full 24-hour channel as well.
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Cartoon Network was, oddly, shared with Nat Geo on Austar microwave while that existed.
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there was another SportsVision Channel called Sports ESPN but it turned into ESPN around 1997-98
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Here is a lineup of the Channels on Galaxy that are on the air as of February 1996
There were going to be more Channels on the Service (The Channel for Comedy eventually launched in June of 1996) and the other channels were left behind and fell into the wayside
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Here’s a treasure Trove of Channel Lineups uploaded by HappySwordsman on the Internet Archive
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Is there any footage or TV listings of ESPN around this time. The earliest footage I have been able to find is from early 2000
There’s this promo from 1996 that shows the logo, but that’s about all I can find, cause not many people had Optus. There’s a bunch of old Optus AFL shows on there that might have other promos.
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What was the last time you recorded content from Foxtel onto a disc? I am trying to explain how some users here have uploaded Foxtel recordings, but i’m unsure.
I still remember when I was in high school a teacher recorded a Bondi rescue marathon on to DVD (i think) and brought it in. This was in 2009 so I’m not sure how much longer recording to external devices lasted after that. By the time I got Sat Foxtel it was shut down, and recording was to HDD only.
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When I traded in my IQ2 for a second IQ4, in about 2018.