[quote=“Moe, post:164, topic:784”]
What change!? HD simulcast never not been allowed, and having the extra channel Ten HD will be on was allowed since 2014.
The only change is Nine moved first so every other network looks backwards without it.[/quote]
Original legislation only allowed them to broadcast one HD channel and two SD channels. That’s why we ended up with the main channels going off HD in the first place and one of the HD channels being used as a multichannel One, Gem, 7mate.
The new legislation allows them to have more multi-channels so the HD channel is now being reintroduced as the main channel, led by Nine.
A New Era For TEN Viewers TEN HD Simulcast Set To Launch On 2 March
Network Ten will redefine how audiences watch their favourite shows on TEN when it launches Channel 13, a free-to-air high definition (HD) simulcast of its primary channel, at 3pm AEDT on Wednesday 2 March.
Yes, but if they kept using the HD channel for their main channel, they couldn’t have the extra digital channel. So we wouldn’t have had Gem, 7mate and 11 launched when they did.
The stupid thing is that the legislation should have been changed when the networks did this workaround from 2009, so we didn’t lose the HD channels in the first place. The government should have acted and forced the TV networks to keep broadcasting the main channel in HD and allow another channel in SD.
Not what I’m talking about. The lineup of channels they are about to have, SD main channel, two SD multichannels and an MPEG-4 HD channel has been allowed since 2014.
Clearly Ten are referring to the recent change to allow HD primary channels, but they are not doing that and didn’t need that law change to do what they are doing.
Which is a law allowing primary channels to be exclusively in HD without a simulcast, something no network is doing or planning to do.
Ten are doing something now that they could have fully legally done before that change. Pretending that laws were preventing them from launching Ten HD earlier than now is dishonest, and I wish that the lie was challenged rather than repeated in articles on this launch.
I completely agree, although clearly the removal of the SD main channel rule is making an impact even if networks are still running an SD version of the main channel alongside the HD one.
Personally, I think that it would’ve been an even worse look for the networks if they decided to do nothing and continue with the status quo of primary channels with plenty of HD-produced premium programing in SD while the HD multichannel airs upconverted repeats of 4.3 SD programs and even B&W movies.
Ten’s best bet would probably be to lease their fourth stream to another broadcaster currently not on Freeview - guaranteed income with none of the risk. That’s effectively what SBS have done.
There isn’t much evidence so far that a 4th channel delivers any more viewers. Look at Nine, that has its going the longest (as well as a HD simulcast). Despite have an advantage of offering four programs the network has had its worse start to the ratings year this century. So far, 7Flix has also had no impact on Seven’s share. About the only fourth channel to make an impact is SBS Food - even though it hasn’t set any records, SBS’s share was is low that it has had a proportionally bigger impact.
