111 Hits will target 24-54’s.
Lost, 24, ER, and Two and a Half Men are some of the shows due on the new 111 Hits channel.
- Published by David Knox
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111 HITS, which launches on November 1st will be aimed squarely at the lucrative advertiser-friendly 25-54 demographic, as a move to compete with the new standard definition digital channels by commercial networks.
It will program US hits primarily from the Warner Bros, Disney and 20th Century Fox studios, including Friends, Will & Grace, Ally McBeal, The Wonder Years, That 70s Show, ER, Murphy Brown, Alf, Lost, 24 and Baywatch.
The schedule from 6.30pm each weeknight begins with Murphy Brown, The King of Queens, That 70s Show, Dharma & Greg, Friends and Will & Grace. Nine’s major US hit this year, Two and a Half Men, will screen five nights a week (at the same time) in 2009.
“Collectively, our ambition is to take audience away from the free-to-airs,” Foxtel executive director of television and marketing Brian Walsh told The Australian.
“If anything, this will take audiences away from the three commercials.”
“It will be great to have a channel that shows programs consistently and reliably,” he said.
“We promise a dedicated schedule that won’t change.”
The channel will comprise part of the Get Started package and be run from the Comedy Channel base in Melbourne.
Press Release:
FOXTEL today announced the iconic programming line-up for its exciting new entertainment channel 111 HITS which launches on November 1, 2008. The channel comes from the FOXTEL Owned & Operated group which is behind the ASTRA Award winning channels FOX8, W., Arena and FOX Classics.
111 HITS will be the new home to television’s biggest hits and some of the most-loved programs in television history, including critically acclaimed dramas and award-winning comedies. It’s triple the stars, triple the memories and triple the hits.
Top-rating and ground-breaking series such as Friends’ Will & Grace, Ally McBeal, The Wonder Years, That ’70s Show, ER, Murphy Brown, Alf, Lost, 24 and Baywatch are just some of the programs that capture the energy, fun, heart and soul of this new channel.
FOXTEL Executive Director of Television and Marketing, Brian Walsh said: “The television you love now has a brand new home on 111 HITS, bringing the best of TV from the ’80s, ’90s and today, together at one FOXTEL destination.”
111 HITS will be presented to audiences in a new format offering blocks of programming across the day. For FOXTEL subscribers this means the best dramas are delivered as movie length double episodes and comedies are grouped together based on genre and audience profile.
Walsh continued: “The unique programming blocks on 111 HITS have been strategically targeted based on audience viewing habits of these programs gathered from FOXTEL’s research. It will ensure that once you arrive at 111 HITS you”ll never want to leave.
“111 HITS is a wonderful addition to FOXTEL’s stable of channels’ and provides an even wider range of sought after programming ensuring our subscribers will always love what’s on FOXTEL seven days a week.”
With the introduction of 111 HITS, viewer favourite FOX Classics will be re-positioned to celebrate the legendary television series’ from the ’60s and ’70s including Mash, Petticoat Junction, Lost In Space, as well as continuing its much-loved Bill Collins’ Golden Years of Hollywood with Mr Movies himself. FOX Classics will continue to honour the films of James Bond which have been ratings juggernauts for the channel throughout the 2008/09 summer season.
FOXTEL is also pleased to announce Alex Ristevski as the new Channel Manager for 111 HITS. As Group Channel Manager for 111 HITS and THE COMEDY CHANNEL, Ristevski will operate the channel from FOXTEL’s Melbourne studios.
111 HITS will be part of FOXTEL’s Get Started package, enabling all subscribers to enjoy watching the most successful shows in television history. Find 111 HITS at channel 111 on FOXTEL’s Electronic Program Guide.
On November 1, 2008 FOXTEL is also launching two new family-oriented channels exclusively to its subscribers – CBeebies, an ad free channel for pre-school children and BBC Knowledge which is a documentary channel. Both unique channels are from BBC Worldwide, FOXTEL’s subscription television partner in Australia.
Source: The Australian
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- Tagged with 24, Alf, Ally McBeal, Baywatch, Dharma & Greg, ER, Friends, Lost, Murphy Brown, That 70's Show, The King of Queens, The Wonder Years, Will & Grace
68 Responses
So what, is the channel just gonna be called 111 Hits or are they going to rename it into a decent channel? Id like to see how FOXTEL will manage when their customers switch to freeview next year. The programming on public television seems to be at a better standard, only thing they need to realise is that Nine doesn’t need an hour of friggin Two and a Half Men each night.
111 Hits advises it will be 16:9 and coming to Austar / Optus in coming months, to be confirmed.
I contacted Arena a few weeks ago about the 16×9 issue and they didn’t say the end of the year, they just said “In the Future” but I guess the end of the year is the future LOL. I doubt any now channel would be released in 4×3 any more, really what’s the point?
Hmmm….no mention of 111 on the Austar website. Looks like regional Australia misses out. Would have loved to see Alf and Dhama & Greg. My favourite show of all time is ER so would happily watch any episode.
There are so many old TV shows that this channel could offer.
Is it just me or should they change the name of TV1 to Law & Order channel??? I think there’s a Will & Grace channel too!!!!
David, what’s your best guess at the chances of Austar getting this channel?
Triple the fun, triple the replays is more like it I think…
I see what Foxtel are trying to do here. It’s abit like a small house with a growing family living in it. The Foxtel family have some kids, they name them FOX8, TV1, Arena and the Comedy Channel. The house gets crowded. They have another child called 111 Hits and they need to extend the house to cope with all the baggage. You get what I mean.
To sum it up, Channel 111 is the “extra bedroom” where all the ‘junk’ which does not belong on the four channels mentioned above goes, which leaves the other channels with more room to show more programming which is skewed to the other channels demographics.
I’d love to see Good Times again – but last time I checked TV1 has the rights – so expect to see it uh never, TV1 is now a hollow – a repurposing channel for NBC Universal.
“We promise a dedicated schedule that won’t change.”
Probably means they will still be re-cycling these shows for the next 111 years.
Good one RichardH we need more JJ! Anyway like everyones said a lot of these shows are on Fox8 or TV1 already nothing new. And we get all the Friends and 2.5Men we need on FTA. Out of the ones listed that I haven’t seen in ages are Murphy Brown & The Wonder Years as these are almost never repeated on FTA.
They have said that Arena (and other channels) will go widescreen by the end of the year, so I reckon 111 will be widescreen.
Foxtel never advertised it as a channel with new content – they are basically splitting up FOX8 so that shows get a better run (eg. LOST only being shown early in the mornings). I’d love to see them doing this even more when the new satellite goes up (of course I want new content as well), but I’d love to see as many shows as possible getting a good daily or weekly timeslot.
Hate the name though, they should have moved arena to 111, put the new channel at 106 and call it FOX6. Or just call it FX.
How many more repeats of Will & Grace must we endure? I don’t even watch it with sound anymore because I can recite the dialogue word for word.
@Peter,
I don’t know what ratio it is going to be, but considering that some of the shows are P&S already, and that there are a few channels on Foxtel like TV1, Arena and SCI-FI that are also not WS, it would not surprise me if this “New”channel was also not WS.
ANYWAY, the channel looks like it is going to suck….. a repeats channel this is all it is going to be.
@Matt
Where are you getting your information from that 111 Hits will be in 4:3? I’ve heard from a number of sources that the channel would be in 16:9…
i say bring back good times! DYNOMITE!
It would be great if CSI aired on this channel especially since it has not aired on pay tv before. Would also be nice to see some rarely repeated or rarely seen shown shows.
Great to see the new channel coming along.
They should really use the abysmal state of fta as a point of difference. ‘Tired of shows running late, never staying in same timeslot, etc etc, get foxtel’. I’m not advocating foxtel, and i don’t even have it, but anything to take fta down a notch is welcome.
What a joke!! But not surprising, this channel 111, I knew it was going to be a regurtated- of shows- from -other- channels -and- that-have -already -been repeated-to- death.
PLUS, it will be in glorious pan and scan, like most of there channels already(TV1, Sci-Fi channel).
Foxtel….. what a joke you are!!
Some of these ALF, Murphy Brown are only available on the Entertainment Tier, As I get the Kids/Music Tier instead I’ll be happy to have them move to the new channel.
Also Lost is currently on Fox8 if you’re able to set your VCR for 3.50 in the morning – I caught about 5 eps before I missed one and gave up! So an earlier slot will be a good thing.
Isn’t this channel just a combination of Fox8 and TV1?!?
I don’t know how Foxtel can justify an increase in price when they just find more space to recycle shows.
Not the mama!
So what about some different content too? This channel is just a mix of the other foxtel owned channels, thrown together! Its one big Repeat Channel of shows that have already had thier 1000th repeat run!
The only show ill be watching is ALF. Wheres Dinosaurs foxtel?!!
Will Everwood, Joan of Arcadia or Gilmore Girls be no the new channel?
I have noticed some shows doing double duty on 2 different pay channels.
Is that for real?… Every program they’ve mentioned is already on an existing Foxtel channel…this is a joke, Foxtel – you’ve done it again!
I surely hope Austar take this channel, otherwise I’m going to be pissed.
“It will be great to have a channel that shows programs consistently and reliably,” he said.
“We promise a dedicated schedule that won’t change.”
This sounds great. If they follow through with this I can see them actually presenting a superior alternative. Plus, LOST and 24 are awesome, so they’ve already made some good choices there. Now they should work on getting some better comedies…