All Stories FeedNovember 22 for 72?
November 22.
That’s the date being tipped for Seven’s new digital channel after CEO David Leckie gave OzTAM formal notice of the launch last week.
Leckie reportedly sent a letter to OzTAM giving eight weeks’ notice of the launch on November 22 so that ratings would be available for the channel’s first broadcasts. GO! missed out breakout ratings in its first weeks because it failed to provide ample notice of the new channel.
While the signal would be located on channel 72, sources said it would not necessarily be called 72.
Seven’s corporate affairs spokesperson Simon Francis, said yesterday the network still intended to announce its plans for multi-channelling “soon.”
“While we can understand the speculation, we’ll maintain a polite silence until we choose to release our plans,” he said.
Sources said several media buyers had been briefed informally about a general entertainment channel that would feature programs previously shown on Seven, such as Ugly Betty and 24, as well as blocks of younger-skewed programming provided by Disney.
Official demographic details of the channel have not been revealed, but it is expected to program against the other free-to-air channels in a bid to split audiences for their popular shows, with some specualtion it could target a similar audience to GO!
Previous industry rumours have swirled about everything from lifestyle to movies and general entertainment.
Seven is also understood to have registered several names including PLUS7 and 7PLUS, amongst others.
Launching on November 22nd would give Seven just one week of extra audience in the official ratings year, which ends on November 28th.
Source: The Australian
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David, Kim Williams revealed on Media Week that Nov 24 would be the date for both GO and 7(2) starting on Foxtel cable, two days after 7(2) launches.
David, it appears Kim Williams has confirmed that both the new 7 and 9 channels will be on Foxtel cable Tues Nov 24, 2 days after 7(2) launches on Sun Nov 22. GO on ch 129, but no confirmed number yet for 7(2).
Well it doesn’t even exist yet, plus there are issues for Seven SD on Foxtel already. So it’s hard to see this year.
David, your best guess for the start of 7(2) on Foxtel cabel? This year or not until early 2010?
Jim, what i find amusing is that people like yourself, think that its just the way it is, and nothing can be changed.
Your the reason that government, large companies and others get away with sh?t that they do, no i dont think my comments alone did much, others on this site had said similar things about channel 7 not us alone did anything, and you think some exec at 7 dont have the office boy/girl check this and other sites,
probably advertisers, dcbde, other media even rival tv stations were wondering when. i bet even channel 7s own staff were, most of us were wondering when, but seemingly not you
never did i make this personal, but you have
TVfan,
7HD will similucast the 7SD channel from what I have seen in the advance guides for nextw eek I assume this is so they can prepare the second digital channel, similar to what Nine did?
But I had a look in the TV week guide today and next week they have a movie listed on 7HD in primetime, Disney’s Hercules, I think it’s a Tuesday or Wednesday night, can anyone confirm if the movie thing they’re doing on 7HD will still continue?
O yeah, forgot about the night cap! Too long ago to remember! But still, it was a 7HD program, which gives hope that 7 do invest in aussie productions for its multichannels. Hopefully though it’d be a scripted program as it’d prob have a better chance at survival in the long run.
Aus Open is all on the Anti Siphoning List so can’t be multi-channeled yet. That’s what FTA want.
This is Your Laugh was after The Night Cap.
Just checked the tv guide and it looks like from next week channel 7 is stopping showing different content on 7HD. It will just broadcast the same content from the 7SD to 7HD.
Can someone confirm this ?
great choice. Ch9 had a huge bookcase filled with great shows that we all wanted to see, and now have the chance. Ch7’s bookcase might be smaller, but i’d say the programs are way better! Commission a great aussie program for a Wednesday night staple, bring back all those ‘niche’ US programming that ch7 think dont have large appeal, and the channel could give GO! a run for its money. Also, launching right at the end of the year will help, as they wont be directly under the spotlight ratings wise. Even if it does overtake GO in audience share, its not going to happen in an instant, so letting it build over summer will make for an interesting Feb!
So is the Aussie Open as a whole on that anti-whatever list, or can some of it be shown on a mulichannel first? I wonder if this years open will be in HD?
i think its possible ‘ch72′ will commission aussie programming, or at least An aussie program . 7HD was the first commercial mulitchannel to commission its own program with This Is Your Laugh wasn’t it?
7 plus 2 = 9?????
If it is to be similar to Go that is really diappointing. Multichannelling was supposed to deliver more choice and a greater variety of programmes to viewers. We do not need another channel that will show almost exclusively American programmes, almost all of which have already been screened elsewhere. At least with One, Ten has sought to do something different, although at the moment it is full of sports no one in this country is interested in. SBS’s new offerings are pretty pathetic, but that’s really the government’s fault. As for the ABC, things were looking promising, but now we’re told all three channels will broadcast children’s programmes for much of the day.
There has been much speculation about why Seven has procrastinated with it’s second channel – the popular theory was that they were just waiting to see what TEN and Nine did and then go with whatever rated best.
TEN decided on the riskier all sports station and Nine played it very safe and just whipped out sitcoms from the past and shows that target the teen market exclusively.
No surprise that Seven has decided to go the “GO!” route. It’s cheaper than ONE and will give them the added 2-4% to really kick the other stations out of the stadium!
I for one would love to see shows like Ugly Betty, 24, Boston Legal, 30 Rock, Arrested Development, Golden Girls, Murder She Wrote etc – and this sort of programming will definitely give GO! some competition!
Great news that it will be a bit of an entertainment channel. Love also they are putting disney stuff on there. I wonder if they will get Kyle XY, Secret life of an American Teenager and Greek?
Also it will be fantastic to finally see Ugly Betty. I just hope they start off where they finished. I bet we will also see repeats of our favourites like Housewives, Greys, Prison Break, Heroes, Hopefully the final season of Stargate Atlantis as well.
if they have access to younger disney shows i hope they replay the cartoon “gargoyles”, this was one of my favourite cartoons as a child, i would love to watch it again.
i wanna see prisonbreak season 1, stargate atlantis season 4 and 5, ugly betty, samantha who, reaper, king of the hill and anything else they have the rights to that i can’t think of. do they have the rights to anything else that hasn’t been really announced or advertised? i remember seeing that they had the rights to kyle xy ages ago, if aired on foxtel but maybe they could re-run it?
Jim, you think it didn’t. lol
@ michael – I found it amusing that you seem to think that your comments have had any impact at all on seven’s plans to launch a second channel
pathetic michael pathetic
I for one liked Michael’s comments, it really is pathetic Seven haven’t launched anything before now. So much for encouraging people to make the digital switch when the country’s most successful commercial net refused for so long to do anything about multichannelling.
@ sammer
All stations are allowed to carry a digital sub channel, but seeing as the the Seven Media Group are the ones launching and owning this new network, I’d say it will be avail on Seven O&O stations at launch (Queensland, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide & Perth.
Seven affiliates like Prime and Southern Cross stations will likely sign up as affiliates of the new network and carry it too. Perhaps even from day 1 like Go! But that is really an assue for the affiliates, not Seven. I’m sure they’d love it to have national clearance from day 1 though.
Finally a start date for 72,i suppose after waiting all this time another 8 weeks won’t hurt.so long as we get alternative television,i don’t mind lifestyle or something similar to GO’s offering
I’d tip that Tasmania won’t be getting this channel.
@jed,
have multiple tuners on your computer, and buy a extra recorder for the tv. i have 3 tuners connected to my computer.
Will this channel be avaliable in regional areas? (Tasmania, etc, etc…)
Well since launching so late in the year that is a pretty reasonable time (6 months ago would have been nice though). They will have all summer to work out any kinks, possibly show some marathons of ugly betty, heroes, lost etc to catch people up with some new content. They can se it as a second tennis channel so people can watch all the games and promote the crap out of it. Launch fully in feb. Thats what i would do anyway.
It seems that you get everything if you have Foxtel cable inc the FTA HD channels, but with satellite, you don’t. Although not mentioned, hoping the new Foxtel channels include making sure they carry all FTA’s where ever possible. Bet ABC3 will be on Foxtel the day it launches though. ABC usually have all this sort of stuff sorted.
Jimmy: Nine of course…
Maybe they’ll finish off Stargate Universe >_>
(not that I haven’t seen it and have the DVDs but ey)
“the network still intended to announce its plans for multi-channelling soon.”…… “Yawn” …….
and industry speculation about chunks of Disney content on the new channel?? So it’s not enough that we’ll have huge blocks of children’s programming on ABC1, ABC2 and ABC3, we’re going to get large blocks of Disney on Seven as well..!?! *More yawn*
…announce its plans for multi-channelling “soon.”
= last March????
Well its about time something happened at 7 great news.
to all those upset or annoyed at my comments like, pathetic 7 pathetic and so on, bad luck as long as 7 got it loud and clear
Thank you David for you’re tolerance with my channel 7 comments and thank you on you’re excellent site.
Michael
Oh yay, they’re showing Ugly Betty on the new channel. Will definitely be watching then
what i want to know is if we’ll have to wait months for it to get on foxtel like with go… which according to the people in foxtel i talked to isn’t even coming to foxtel at all… i would love to know who told you about it coming in late october, let alone the exact channel number!
As long as Seven can commit to this being on Foxtel from day 1.
So long as we get a GO! competitor, I’m a happy man… Nine have done a really great thing by showing some decent TV shows on their secondary channel, so the last thing I want is for Seven to go Lifestyle.
i have been thinking that that would be a decent time to launch. everything will be settling down for the year on 7 without anything big to promote so they can really concentrate on the launch. as brodie stated it might be a week earlier than that i’d say for a soft launch, with the full launch next Feb. along with that 3rd channel they were talking about.
Good news for viewers if the go for something like GO! and ABC2 as apposed to ONE HD (which I love for the live F1) This means they can go head to head with Nine, but 8 weeks still puts it in around the end of November, a full 11 months after when they could have had it.
@JohnTV I don’t see ACA or TT doing that, maybe ABC could?
Whilst individual ratings for “7two” may not be compiled til November 22, the channel could very well launch prior to that date with the figures agregated with the main channel, much the same as Nine did with GO! for it’s first week or two.
Well hurry up with Seven and start giving us some details on what you will actually show. And i for one would be happy with a split of shows that don’t get a good enough run on Seven as well as some some old classics …please Hey Dad, Alf, Blue Heelers, would love to see these kinds of shows on tv. And 24 i missed all of last season so would like to see that again.
It’s getting really hard with so many shows on tv and i can only record one and watch one. What’s a man to do?
Great ! So basically Seven’s additional digital channel will be offering the same as GO!. So much for diversity in the digital landscape.
What I want to know is when is ACA or Today Tonight going to run a story exposing the lies of FreeTV campaign.