Regional viewers of Southern Cross 10 will finally see ONE HD in Queensland, New South Wales, the ACT and Victoria from 7pm July 2nd, it was announced today.
The addition of the channel follows months of complaints that that regional viewers could not access the 24 hour sports channel at the same time as metropolitan viewers, who have been accessing it since March.
Macquarie Southern Cross Media (MSCM) says it will launch ONE HD on Channel 50 to viewers who receive its HD service in three states, subject to digital coverage. Viewers will require a HD set top box or television to receive ONE HD.
TV Tonight can also confirm that Tasmanian viewers will also receive the channel from July 2nd.
Macquarie Southern Cross Media’s Chief Executive Officer, Rhys Holleran, said “We are thrilled to be able to bring ONE HD to our regional viewers who currently receive our HD service in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and the ACT.
“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 Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy said: “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.”
TV Tonight has previously made available maps of the four key regional markets, which will all receive ONE HD: in Queensland (Aggregate market A), Northern NSW (Aggregate market B), Southern NSW (Aggregate market C) and Victoria (Aggregate market D).
An official statement is expected on the Tasmanian market imminently following a board meeting today.
Greg Dodgson, Chief Operating Officer for Macquarie Southern Cross Media, told TV Tonight: “A Press Release will be coming out on Tasmania as soon as possible.
“It will come in at the same time: 2nd of July at 7:00,” he confirmed.
Darwin, Central Australia and regional South Australia, which are digital areas, will still miss out on receiving ONE HD.
“There’s no requirement for high definition broadcast in Central Australia and South Australia. Our Darwin component, because it’s a joint venture company with the Nine Network, hasn’t come to any landing yet on providing it into that area. We’re still working with our joint venture company, the Nine Network,” Dodgson said.
SC 10 indicates sport highlights will include:
AFL – the 2009 NAB Cup, home and away season, and finals including the Grand Final returning to the network in 2009
Netball – ANZ Championship Competition and all Test matches featuring the Australian Netball Diamonds,
exclusively for the next five years
Commonwealth Games – 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games
Formula 1 – every round of the F1 World Championship scope
Moto GP – extensive coverage of every round of the World Championship
NASCAR – live coverage of the Daytona 500 and other major Sprint Cup races, live coverage of the Nationwide Series, as well as Sprint Cup qualifying
Australian Rally Championship – exclusive coverage of every round
National Football League (NFL) – three games per week live, including the flagship Sunday and Monday night games, as well as live coverage of play-offs and the Super Bowl
Major League Baseball (MLB) – five games per week live, including prime time coverage of play-offs and
World Series National Basketball Association (NBA) – three games per week live
Golf – US Masters, US Open, World Golf Championships including the Accenture MatchPlay Championship, the CA Championship, the Bridgestone Invitational and the World Cup, Australian PGA, Ladies Masters, 2010 Ryder Cup, and 15 additional international and domestic events including the Johnnie Walker Classic, and the Asian tour’s flagship event the Singapore Open and the tour’s season ending Volvo Masters of Asia.
U.S. College sports – American football and basketball
Tennis – ATP and WTA tennis, details to be confirmed, approximately 11 tournaments during 2009.
Swimming – HD ONE is the exclusive broadcaster for Swimming Australia. This includes coverage of the
Australian Swimming Championships, Pan Pacific Championships, Australian Short Course Championships, FINA World Short Course, Swimmer of the Year – a minimum 109 hours per year for the next eight years.
For additional information on ONE HD please refer to the Network TEN website: http://ten.com.au/one-hd.htm
And while I’m at it, here is the blurb from the Ten/One website:
“How Do I Watch One?
ONE is available in High Definition on (digital) Channel 1 and Standard Definition on (digital) Channel 12. If you have a High Definition television all you need to do is flick to Channel 1. If you have a Standard Definition digital television simply turn to Channel 12.
If you are not sure if your TV is Digital, test it out by flicking to Channel 12 on your TV. If your television is not digital, head down to your local consumer electronics retailer and purchase a digital set-top box – this will mean you can view Channel 12 in Standard Definition. Alternatively buy yourself an HD television and watch all your favourite sport in glorious High Definition!”
Indeed their own press release reads, “The ONE SD channel will be separately badged and marketed, and used to promote the premium ONE HD service to SD viewers.”
Ten/One have discussed One SD themselves. How can you be so self-assured and yet so ignorant?
No need to be rude, David.
“Steve, if people are going to keep asking the same question, already answered, I guess I will have to close comments.”
You are simply incorrect. Channel 12 in areas such as Melbourne is One and it is broadcast in SD on that channel. It was always advertised in regional Victoria that One would be broadcast on SD.
just a pity that in our area one spends more time off than on or out of synch. drops out at the slightest provocation or sound and pic don’t match
I’m sure they never said you could access ONE SD. It doesn’t matter where the ad was (SD, newspaper, radio) the product was always ONE HD. But yes they should have clarified you need a HD set top box.
In Reply to:David Knox says:
July 3, 2009 at 12:34 pm
The SD version was never promised, just ONE HD.
Then why have we been recieving adds for months on ‘SD’ that clearly state if you have a ‘Set Top Box’ You can Recieve ‘One’, We have a Set top box (sd), and i guess will now be waiting years for ‘One’, yet why do you keep recieving advertising on SD, that clearly state if you have a set top box, to turn over to ‘One’, if you cannot get HD, why advertise on SD, which you wouldn’t watch if you have HD, Why rub it in for those who were under the impression they would be able to recieve One under the ‘False Information’ Advertised?
Let’s face it. The previous Howard government made an absolute mess of TV in Australia. The whole system was designed to protect the status quo with little or no regard to the consumer.
Russell, who do you think you are? 90% is not enough and we who live in the country should expect to receive a television service which was promised to us by our wonderful government? Rural dwellers of Australia do have a purpose in this country you know, think about it next time you go to the grocery store! As for us expecting to have your so called high end entertainment at our doorstep, wouldn’t that be great, but we are prepared to travel 700kms+ once in awhile to get a taste of some of it. We have every right to receive the same services as you city people.
Once again we in the bush are forgotten. Southern Cross 10 should be made to provide One HD in all regional areas,after all we are part on the same country. This is why I have been advocating for years that a national tv license be implemented then everyone will have access to all channels.In Spencer Gulf Sa we would rather have channel nine than SC10, because of better programming.Guess the Federal Minister needs a few more emails about this.
Sorry no….
David, any word on Regional WA? We’re only 2 hours from Perth!
Any idea when Mildura Digital Television are looking at getting ONE HD? We’re basically the only region not to have it in Victoria, woe is me…woe is us. Well, it sucks.
Tassie update info here. So far no press release yet sorry.
One HD! Great, now how do i tune in. Aerial facing Barrow,retuned HD box . Alas no signal. Is one Hd in Tas a hoax?
Steve, if people are going to keep asking the same question, already answered, I guess I will have to close comments.
Julie check your area in the maps linked in the story. Any detailed tech questions should be directed to a tech blog or to Southern Cross. Thanks.
Just got back from Melbourne to Ballarat expecting to be able to see One HD on Channel 12 in SD format as you can down there. Still no broadcast. What is going on? When will it be available? Isn’t it July 3rd now? The advert promised June 2nd was the tee off time.
What do we have to have to get ONE HD in Gippsland?
If we buy a HD set top box will we get HD one?
The SD version was never promised, just ONE HD.
Does anyone know when Southern cross 10 will air One HD on SD!!! For the majority of viwers in regional areas that do not have HD, it is a disgrace that it was advertised we would get it on July 2, and yet again we do not have it !!!!!!! Is it really hard and/or expensive to achieve this?, or is Southern cross 10 just being lazy in letting down the viewers, Yet again!!!!!
The advert said we would have one on July 2nd at 7pm. We have a set top box and still can’t pick it up. Why?
No, ONE SD has not been on the drawing board.
I see that today (2 July) ONE HD is available to Southern Cross users (Illawara users, anyway) but what about ONE SD ? Does Southern Cross plan to broadcast ONE SD ? As the owner of an SD set top box, I’ll be less than pleased if they don’t. My set top box found ONE HD on channel 50, but doesn’t display any picture or sound.
This story was followed up here.
“TV Tonight can also confirm that Tasmanian viewers will also receive the channel from July 2nd.”
hmmm, no OneHD signal from Mt Barrow covering Launceston and the central north today. Any OneHD in Hobart?
So I will just have to assume that Darwin is not getting it on the July 2. I have assumed that for sometime. I assume that it will come eventually but don’t know when since that Darwin is included in the HD rules in the same manner as Tasmania.
No word on Darwin sorry.
In response to some areas getting ONE HD tomorrow will Darwin get ONE HD eventually or never? Is Darwin likely to miss out altogether never to get the channel?
So, does Tassie get One HD on July 2nd 2009 or not?. I guess its wait and see. I certainly know that I am looking forward to it. I never purchased a 50″ Plasma to watch any other station. I guess someone could compensate me on my expences getting ready to receive this 24/7 sports channel if it does not arrive here very shortly. Cheers & Good Luck to All …..
Gary I am chasing this up!! Stay tuned.
Here it is only 3 days one hour till One HD supposedly starts in Tasmania but as yet TDT have not made a decision as to the start date.
A phone call this afternoon to TDT’s General Manager Stephen Giles said that he was working towards the 2nd of July but would not speculate. When questioned regarding Greg Dodgson comments to say it would be happening on the 2nd Mr Giles said he may have been misquoted “You know what the media is like”
Is that how you see it David?
Would just like to confirm the comment by ‘David’,
No ‘one SD’ in Canberra, I called SC10 this morning.
@ Russell – yes everyone should have the same and equal access no matter what their location.
The only thing stopping this from happening is incompetence.
Commercial reality check – why is the FTA audience leaving in droves to the internet and other services – because content is not being provided to them.
Guys this is a free sports TV network, not a national public health system. I don;t see why i limited appeal private commercial TV network should be made avail to people outside the major TV markets.
In a few weeks One will be avail to about 90% of Australians. That is 90% of all Australians in one of the world’s most thinly populated countries in the space of 3 months. What more do you want?
Should people in smaller cities and towns in WA, A and NT also demand access to world class theatre, high end luxury retail brands and international sports events too?
In the commercial reality of the world, certain things come with larger populations.
A limited appeal niche sports channel may be just one of those things.
be nice if digital tv roll out could be finished before all this extra crap is advertised.. our local xmitter has had the commercial stations “due” for abotu 6 years now… im totally disinterested (and tbh, slightly pi**ed off) everytime i see the one HD and ‘freeview’ bs ads come on telly..
just as a point of reference, we’re 2.5hrs drive west of sydney, and a major center in our area… funily enough, the outlying areas have full coverage, yet our own township, fed from a fart-powered xmitter who’s uplike comes from the major (digital transmitting) xmitter, is not…
figure that out…
Regional SA, WA, NT, and Darwin should all be able to get HD, OneHD or whatever HD. Full stop.
This is utter crap and inexcusable in 2009. I live in metro Melbourne, and I think that Australians slogging it hard in regional Australia should have the same access to Freeview as the rest of us.
i like 9HD its the only HD exclusive programming i watch right now, the old bewitched and i dream of jeanie eps are good. 10HD disappeared and i used to watch it heaps, no interest in ONE, 7HD has nothing worth watching anymore and 9HD only has the occasional show of interest, but it is still more than any of the others right now, in fact i don’t watch 9 at all so 9HD is even beating 9 for me. it was a very different story this time last year though.
Whats the go with Mildura? Will we get it too on that day?
lol at current SC10 HD service……….nothing but pictures of barns with ONE HD logo blazing across the base 24/7.
That’s one hell of a service!!!!!!!!
Andrew B
NBN is not a priority at channel 9 since the main network is slowly sliding down the ratings in an advertising downturn and the parent CVC has alot of debt to deal with. That’s why you see alot of cheap programming because they are tightening costs. The purpose was to do that and sell it off in a strong advertising market.
NBN is just a blip although 9HD is hardly providing extensive / quality alternate viewing for 9 viewers
thanks for the update David.
Any word whether Southern Cross’ 7 affiliates will launch 7HD on channel 60 at the same time as OneHD is launched?
Now they can include the ONE HD logo on the regional version of the FreeView ad (nth NSW) as it currently is a little light on with the channels. And they can use the statement “there’s even a 24 hour sports channel” like they do on the overplayed capital city ad.
And suggest they put in Prime HD logo as well (as they already do the same HD break aways as 7). That may pressure NBN to start offering the 9HD break aways. NBN will from July 2 be the only channel left in Nth NSW area that has no HD break away or secondary channel.
David: Ok, so MSCM/SC10 clearly have it wrong. For the record, and for the benefit of readers, Central Australia does not have commercial digital SD services. Just like regional WA.
“Viewers will require a HD set top box or television to receive ONE HD.”
You can also buy an HD TV Tuner card for your PC and watch it that way. Makes it nice if you are running a media center PC.
Excellent news! You’re a top bloke David.
Why do people in the country areas get such a shocking tv deal why dont they get metropolitan feeds from each state capital with there own regional ads inserted for each state ie adelaide – the rest of sa melbourne – the rest of victoria and so on or is this just way to simplistic ?
Thanks for all the help guys, I will defiantely check that out… Didn’t know that was the case, cheers.
gee dont get to excited , the channel isnt that great . only good thing about it is live f1
Brian, I’ve quoted the COO directly. Would it be better proof if the same quote was in a newspaper? Happy birthday.
11 tennis tourno’s in 2009?. Ain’t happening!!.
For those yet 2 see 1hd, don’t get 2 excited, it leaves a lot 2 be desired
Woo hoo! And on my birthday! What a birthday present!!!
@David, so your 100% on Tassie getting it?
Any proof?
TVFan: TEN dropped TEN HD for ONE HD which it saw as a better revenue driver.
SMacca: Regional SA and Central Aus are digital SD areas, not high def areas. The info is as per SC10 advice.
Great news for the country viewers finally.
I’m still confused, what happened to 10HD ?
I don’t understand why they had to rename 10HD to OneHD, how is this an extra channel ? Isn’t this a scam, am i the only one who feels cheated that Channel 10 is not broadcasting an extra channel.
I’m just a normal viewer, I’m not an expert in this, so perhaps someone can tell me why channel 10 is allowed to do this.
Oh, just fantastic. MSCM get the ball rolling on even more services for eastern state markets. Meanwhile, Western, Central and South Australia don’t even have basic digital services yet. Freeview is non-existant in 2/3rds of the country!
David, your article states that these markets are “digital ready” – you couldn’t be any further away from the truth.
finally, about time.
Still can not understand why SC10 was not able to relay the ONE-HD dirty feed from Sydney until they were able to get their own HD play-out system operational to insert local ad spots?
about time! glad my TV is HD otherwise I’d be pretty pi**ed off! Surely it would be dead simple for SC10 to run ONE SD on Channel 55, where that MyTalk waste of space used to be. Maybe they should have ran ONE SD from launch day on 55 to keep everybody happy while they worked on getting the HD facilities setup.
Although my PVR is SD so i won’t be able to record anything.
Dame it so we get ONE HD but we can’t record it unless we have a much more expensive HD recorder (or HD tuner to the old one) good going SC10! Who the hell is going to sit up at 3am to watch some of the live sports we will now get?
I guess we won’t get much use out of this service for now, good thing I’m moving at the end of the year closer to Brisbane and getting TEN and not SC10!
Ryan
it will be fine with a HD STB and SD TV. PQ will be SD even though received in HD
@Ryan: Check your setup but if you have an HD tuner, this should still work on a SD TV but it just means you won’t see the picture in high-definition. You can even plug in an HD tuner into an old-fashioned tube TV and watch in SD.
finally!!!
will there be any startup program like there was for metro viewers or just change to one hd
Ryan, your SD plasma with your HD decoder plugged-in, will be fine for ONE HD.
Ryan – It does not matter if your plasma is only SD, if you have a HD decoder, you can get HD from that to your tv by using HDMI/RGB/Comp leads. So you CAN have HD, no problems, and the most it will cost you is a few bucks for an AV lead.
Gremlin – Austar cannot do anything about HD Mystar until the new Optus D3 sat is in the sky, and that is not scheduled for at least mid August. I believe the box is nearing completion of of development so its a waiting game for the new sat now…
My plasma is like 5 years old so is only SD
my set top box is HD but I don’t have the money to upgrade right now; so with no HD complient TV I’m still in the same boat I was in before; which means I’m still stuck without ONE……WTF?!?
Some Kids WB being added to 9HD….
Same with 9′s SD.
Keep your eyes on Kids WB. Inbetween Omnitrixes and Scooby Doo, they have teased a announcement of a upcoming program involving the Kids WB team on a unknown new channel.
And won’t ONE be on Foxtel from July as well?
The ticker on SC10 HD ch 50 shows the announcement now as well.
About time
no requirement for central australia or regional sa pathetic that
now for seven to announce a start date for their second sd channel
I hope this announcement will kick Austar into gear in launching HD Mystar.
awesome – but are we sure its July 2 this year?
Shhhhhhhhhh! Don’t spoil the result of the 2009 NAB Cup for the regional viewers
No tennis one One HD David at all, they shafted it.
now if only NBN got off its backside and added the Nine HD breakaway channel I would be happy!
Add the NRL to that list of sports when rights are reviewed
thanks David.
Just confirming no plans to add ONE SD on SC10.
Even if they add a second digital, they may decide a better revenue model is to not run ONE SD.
David is there anything about retransmitting ONE on 55 as well, so those with SD only (the poor buggers) will get it, and thus Austar will be able to put it on their MyStar’s as well like they have in other regions that have it on SD?
Greg Dodgson said: “There’s no requirement for high definition broadcast in Central Australia and South Australia.” That’s silly. MSCM should immediately apply for additional digital channels in the regions, and the Federal Government must grant the additional spectrums so the channels can start ASAP. Central Australia, the northern part of SA and western Queensland has been missing out on Channel Ten programming since Imparja became a Nine affiliate in February 2008.
Well, I was bloody close – my site said a few weeks ago 7pm July 1!