At 7pm on Thursday March 26, 2009, ONE HD became the first full time commercial free to air digital multi channel in Australia. The launch date was chosen to coincide with that of the first AFL match of the 2009 season which aired on ONE that night. Initially, ONE was only seen in the five major captial cities with the eastern state regionals commencing the broadcast of ONE from July 2, 2009.
Despite initial criticism from concerned viewers over the fact that no more regular channel Ten programs would be seen in high definition, Ten made the bold move to use their HD signal for the 24 hour sports channel. For those who did not have HD available, ONE was simulcast in standard definition on Ten’s second standard definition digital channel 12.
Highlights of ONE include the National Swimming Championships, Indian Premier League Cricket, select AFL matches in HD, UFC Wired, Sports Tonight, ANZ Netball, F1, Nascar, American Football and more.
With an average audience share of around 1% ONE does not rate as well as the other two commercial digital multi channels GO and 7TWO. It is, however, the only niche free to air commercial digital channel as GO and 7TWO aim for more of a general audience. The Ten Network say they are pleased with the success of ONE and that the channel is profitable in its own right.
Later in the year, Ten will launch its third digital channel most likely to also be a general entertainment channel which should help network Ten claim some of the shares that mostly GO and to a lesser extent 7TWO have taken from their core audience share.
