ONE HD Regional Australia

The snails pace roll out of digital channels to certain regional areas continues with the announcement that Ten Mildura will broadcast ONE HD and a standard definition simulcast of ONE from 6.30am December 1.

Mildura currently receives GO through WIN but not 7TWO as Prime still are yet to announce when 7TWO will start in their coverage area leaving regional viewers throughout NSW and Victoria without the new channel and falling behind in the series being shown on 7TWO.

Both Tasmania and Darwin will see 7TWO from December 1 as well but only Tasmania has ONE and GO at this stage with Darwin yet to start those two channels.

source: Media Spy

With all this talk of GO!99, I thought it time to look at the current situation with ONE HD.

As of July 2, Southern Cross Ten in Victoria, NSW and Queensland commenced offering the 24 hour psorts channel on their HD channel 50. The launch day was complete with the same countdown used on March 26 in the 5 main cities and even used the same half hour “ONE HD Infomercial” that was used on March 26 in the cities. That particular show “Welcome to ONE HD” in fact made reference to the ANZAC Day AFL match which by July 2 had well and truly passed. Surprised they did not update the welcome!

As the announcement came for ONE HD on SC10, it was reported that TDT in Tasmania would start ONE HD at the same time. That, of course, did not happen. ONE HD in Tasmania starts on Thursday July 30 at 7pm, no doubt with the same countdown and half hour welcome show already seen on the cities and SC10 in the eastern states. TDT in Tasmania is half owned by Southern Cross and half owned by WIN usually affiliated with 9 – perhaps this half – the 9 affiliation – caused the delay here.

If you see ONE HD in the cities, you will see that the commercial breaks are filled with ads typical of what you would see on commercial TV as well as some channel 10 ads promoting channel 10 programs. If you are watching ONE HD via SC10, sometimes you get ads, other times you get the traditional SC10 HD scenery that they have been broadcasting for years with a tacker message announcing “This is a ONE HD commercial break – we will return you to the regular program shortly”. This no doubt is the direct result of not all advertising space being sold on SC10’s ONE HD.

Which prompts me to ask the question, why was there a delay on ONE HD’s implementation on SC10 if they were not going to fill ad spots? Many reports had suggested the whole problem was the fact they had to insert regional ads into the ONE HD feed in order to re-broadcast the service to regional areas. The fact they are still showing scenery in the ad spaces suggests this was not the real reason and that there were other factors involved here.

As far back as two years ago – you could watch Rove in HD on SC10 HD but having the ads replaced with the scenery (this is based on my own experience with SC10 Newcastle and may not be the case everywhere). Now given this is now happening with ONE HD, then there really was no reason why they could not have had ONE HD up earlier and avoided all the fuss and confusion of those who wanted ONE HD in regional areas.

Finally, there is still no news about regional WA, SA and NT having ONE HD. Many of those areas only have 2 commercial networks and see little channel 10 programming. Apparently, from what I have read, WIN WA usually a 9 affiliate is starting to take on more 10 programs. Who can blame them with the way 9 is going. Regional WA will have a 3^rd commercial carrier some time in 2010. Maybe that will be their time for ONE HD.

ONE HD the 24 hour sports channel will be seen on Southern Cross Ten (SC10) – 10′s eastern state affiliate - in the eastern states of Australia from 7pm July 2.  The service will be seen on digital channel 50. A ticker on ch 50 also is announcing the news. This will bring all of eastern Australia into line with their capital city counterparts and will end months of frustration from regional viewers. 

Tasmanian viewers will see ONE HD from July 2 as well. As for the rest of Australia, there are still negotiations pending (that is Western Australia, South Australia and Northen Territory). At this stage, there is no mention of if SC10′s second SD channel will carry an SD version of ONE HD. There was a rumour that they may use their second SD channel for alternative programming to Ten and ONE, but that has not been confirmed. 

The CEO of Macquarie Southern Cross Media Rhys Holleran said, “The launch of this channel follows the significant investment program which was required to enable the broadcasting of HD television across 25 markets we have in these regions in eastern Australia ranging from far north Queensland down to southern Victoria.”

“The launch of high definition television in these markets in regional Australia will play an integral role in the transition from analogue to digital television in the coming years.”

“Digital television means better pictures, improved sound quality and new content. I welcome the continued rollout of additional digital television services and congratulate Macquarie Southern Cross Media for the further expansion of ONE HD,” Senator Conroy said.

*** Updated ***

ONE HD the 24 hour sports channel will be seen on Southern Cross Ten (SC10) – 10′s eastern state affiliate – in the eastern states of Australia from 7pm July 2. The service will be seen on digital channel 50. A ticker on ch 50 also is announcing the news. This will bring all of eastern Australia into line with their capital city counterparts and will end months of frustration from regional viewers.

Tasmanian viewers will see ONE HD from July 2 as well. As for the rest of Australia, there are still negotiations pending (that is Western Australia, South Australia and Northen Territory). At this stage, there is no mention of if SC10′s second SD channel will carry an SD version of ONE HD. There was a rumour that they may use their second SD channel for alternative programming to Ten and ONE, but that has not been confirmed.

*** Original Article ***

That will finally bring those viewers served by SC10 in line with the 5 major capital cities. Until now, though, there has been plenty of confusion resulting from the launch of ONE in regional Australia. There are stories of customers buying an HD enabled TV or set box just for the sole purpose of being able to watch ONE HD in areas where it is not even broadcast. This situation is compounded by the fact that SC10 in NSW carries Sydney’s Ten news bulletins that make constant reference to ONE whenever they talk about sport. While it is unrealistic to expect the Sydney news team to make mention of where ONE is available, SC10 should at least show a disclaimer stating the service is not yet available. Not to mention retailers in regional areas either not knowing about ONE HD’s availability or simply not caring in order to get a sale.

Prior to the message on SC10’s HD channel – a channel that shows country scenery 24 hours a day – there was no mention of ONE HD by SC10. Even on the day of the launch, 10 news were telling their viewers how they could receive ONE but with no mention of its availability in regional areas.

On the subject of digital TV in regional areas, NBN (9’s northern NSW affiliate) has indicated it has no plans in the near future to offer any of the increased 9HD offerings, which places a question mark over whether they will offer 9’s 2^nd standard definition channel tipped to be called GO99. Some areas served by 9’s other regional affiliate – WIN – are already seeing the HD break away service. Prime (7’s affiliate) currently shows all the 7HD break aways seen in the cities.

*** Updated ***

Channel 50 now displays a message indicating that ONE HD wil commence from 7pm on July 2.

*** Original ***

Southern Cross Tens’ (SC10) scenery HD channel is now displaying a message bar stating: “We are excited to announce that the 24 hours sports service ONE HD will be broadcast on this channel in coming months”. No indication of a date.

Coming months puts the launch of ONE HD on SC10 in line with what we hope to be a July start. Hopefully soon they will be able to tell us the date, and then to promote accordingly so that regional viewers can finally join their capital city counterparts in having the option to view the 24 hour sports channel.