Pay TV History

Sports Australia from memory had a pretty good selection of sports for a while, but it was eroded away by Fox. Towards the end the offering wasn’t great (although they did have the AFL)

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yeah in the early 90’s they had both ARL and AFL as well as the pay tv rights for the sydney 2000 olympics.

the notes on wikipedia state:

C7 continued to provide its service to Optus and Austar, but its programming lineup near the end of its run was extremely weak. C7 was reduced to showing XFL games (on several weeks’ delay) and live woodchopping in prime time.

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Super League really killed Sports Australia.

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I’ve been wondering about a few things ever since I saw a couple of old Foxtel promo videos on YouTube. I hope you guys might be able to answer them:

  • What was Fox Soap and when did it shut down? (Ditto but for Fox Talk and Fox Travel)
  • Did Max play anything other than music?
  • Foxtel had TNT? Was it like the American one with WCW Nitro or the UK one with the classic movies?

It would be a huge help if I could get some answers. Thanks guys.

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Both. Mostly played classic movies but did show WCW Nitro live

i don’t belive they did - i never recall them playing any reality tv or anything

not sure when they shut down but the names are kind of self explanatory - fox soap played soapies, talk played talk shows and travel played travel doccos.

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“Max” and “ClassicMax” were children’s television channels on Galaxy and Foxtel when Pay TV first launched. Nickelodeon replaced them.

I recall the Max music channel played music themed docos when it was on air. I believe Behind The Music got a regular run on the channel.

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Fox Soap/Talk/Travel/History was a single channel from 1995-98. Fox Soap was weekdays 6am-6pm and had soaps such as General Hospital, As The World Turns and a few others; Fox Talk was weekdays 6pm-6am and had Jerry Springer, Maury Povich, Jenny Jones et al; Fox Travel was weekends 6am-6pm and Fox History (predecessor to the current The History Channel) weekends 6pm-6am. After Fox Soap/Talk/Travel/History disbanded the History Channel was a dedicated 24/7 channel, and selected soaps and talk shows were moved to a re-branded FX channel (as a female skewed channel) while Jerry Springer moved to Fox 8.

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Thanks guys!

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Hello, i’m new to this site, I have a collection of FOXTEL memorabilia from 1995 to when the first iQ box was released.

And looking forward to more station IDs of Galaxy Pay-TV channels like the New World TV ID from 1998 above -

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So here is a picture of ‘The Future’ promotional VHS tape from 1996

and here’s the link to the video - Foxtel 'Back to The Future' Launch 1995 - YouTube

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I wonder if somebody has old Red, Arena and TV1 station IDs from the Galaxy days,
If you do, please let me know by sending me the link. Thanks.

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Lockdown is leaving me with very little to do, so I’ve decided to start sharing caps out of some of the Foxtel-based recordings (as the FTA networks are already well documented) I have in my collection.

Nickelodeon Australia - February 2007

Watermark:

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Production endtag:

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“Clickhead” Idents:

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“Sarvo” Promo:

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Nickelodeon 30-sec Ident (some big names in this ident):

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Sponsor Billboard:

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If my memory serves me right, Nickelodeon had this on-air package between 2006-2008.

I like to jokingly label this era as being Nickelodeon’s ‘edgy’ phase, because of the whole rock schtick (e.g The Veronicas appearing in the ident and making the 'rock ‘n roll salute’) and the increased emphasis of black aesthetics. :stuck_out_tongue: I personally have the theory that emo had a strong influence on the overall presentation of the network (especially considering how popular it was around the same time), but i’m only speculating.

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Long post incoming, because I’m probably in the small minority of Australians who actually does remember watching Sarvo back in the day…

Ahh yes, that was a great “wraparound” segment on Nickelodeon Australia during the 2000s.

James Kerley would do various bits and pieces on TV after leaving Sarvo/Nickelodeon including a stint at Channel V, the shortlived 2008 Channel Ten gameshow “Taken Out” and more recently, Maxim TV on One and later 7mate. Think he also appeared in a Government ad for STIs at one point.

As for Dave Lawson, I remember him appearing in some of those Toyota AFL commercials since he left Nickelodeon but that’s probably about it.

Taking over as “Sarvo” presenters following the departure of James & Dave were Maude Garrett (the niece of Midnight Oil frontman turned politician Peter…and had not long joined Nick as the host of Camp Orange) and singer Kyle Linahan - both would present Sarvo until it was quietly axed sometime in Late 2007/Early 2008.

I think Maude & Kyle stayed at Nick long enough to present the shortlived music program “The Go Show!”, but had left Nickelodeon Australia by the end of 2009. Maude has since done all sorts of bits and pieces on TV/radio. Kyle had a stint at Channel V in 2009, but I think that’s about the only TV presenting stint he had ​since leaving Nickelodeon.

Of course by the time the Nickelodeon logo had changed, I never really watched the channel anymore (despite starting to develop a more broader interest in TV/media) due to growing out of the target demographic. Certainly don’t think I’d recognise Nick if I were to tune in now!

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Yep. I used to watch “Sarvo” quite often after school and I can remember feeling disappointed when James & Dave left in early 2007. Maude & Kyle were okay, but I wasn’t really able to take to them and I stopped watching “Sarvo” as regularly once they joined.

From memory, I think it ended around March or April 2008, but i’m entirely confident on that. It definitely made it into early 2008 though.

Yeah, that’s similar to how it was for me as well. I was 11 when Nickelodeon phased out the “splat” logo back in 2010, so by that point, I was mostly starting to feel too old for ‘kid’ things. I occasionally watched late-night repeats of “Ren & Stimpy” and pre-movie “Spongebob” episodes on Nick during 2010, but that was it.

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While I continued to watch Sarvo after Maude & Kyle took over, the vibe was never quite the same as several popular segments (eg, Sarvo Suggestion Sack) had been dropped while their replacements never quite hit the same mark.

That said, I wouldn’t mind seeing any former Sarvo/Nick AU presenters - even Maude & Kyle - reunite one of these days for an appearance on one of those celebrity reality shows the commercial networks love. Better them than some of the other alleged “celebrities” we’ve seen on a ballroom/in a jungle recently anyway! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Were the presented segments still running by then or just the branding/shows? My memory is a bit patchy now, but I don’t remember Maude & Kyle doing a proper on-air “farewell” to Sarvo as such.

Either way…the demise of Sarvo was probably the beginning of the end for locally presented shows/content on Nickelodeon Australia. Going by the info I can find online, the final proper Australian Kids Choice Awards was held over a decade ago, while the most recent series of Camp Orange played out in 2015.

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He’s been in heaps of things though I probably recognise him most from Utopia

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Kearly was on the edge of blowing up at once stage. Not sure what happened.

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I think there may have been a week or two where the “Sarvo” branding was still used for the afternoon block of programs, but the “wraparound” segments had ended. There definitely wasn’t a proper farewell. Maude & Kyle continued to present the segments 'till near the very end, but it wasn’t a sudden axing from what I remember. I’m not 100% certain, but if i’m not mistaken, the presented-segments ended before the “Sarvo” branding itself was retired.

I’ve found this video by a user named GreenYoshi93 and it is a compilation of promos which went to air on Nick during March, April and May 2008. Interestingly, there’s a “First Look” preview segment with Maude & Kyle at 14:40, but none of the promos in this video have the “Sarvo” branding.

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That sounds like how Cheez TV ended, The final show with segments was December 31 2004 but the Cheez TV branding was used into mid-2005 when Toasted TV replaced it altogether.

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*14:40.

As for the show being previewed, Fairly Odd Baby…let’s just say it was the beginning of the end for that particular program and probably the point where I started to move on from the channel.

I reckon by the point in time those recordings were made, the “Sarvo” branding had been phased out entirely even though Maude & Kyle were still doing bits and pieces on Nickelodeon.