All Stories Feed7TWO: TV’s “best kept secret”
When the Seven Network finally unveiled its new digital channel, 7TWO, last week, it sent a clear message to its rivals. It was not going niche.
Unlike the sports-mad ONE and the youth-skewed GO!, 7TWO is a defiantly broad entertainment channel.
As Programming chief Tim Worner told TV Tonight, he is happy to embrace anybody with ‘a set of eyeballs and a digital telly.’
“We’ve gone for a strategy that uses our main channel to sell our digital channel. We lead in the main channel stakes. Our aim is to grow the number of people watching Seven product over two channels and eventually over a portfolio of channels,” he said.
“I don’t tend to pay too much attention to what’s going on elsewhere. We set our course and sail to that.”
With its mix of largely British and US titles, 7TWO’s feature attractions are the promise of prime slots for favourite titles including Lost, 24, Ugly Betty and Heroes.
“The counterprogramming strategy is pretty simple. In its most obvious execution you’d have Desperate Housewives and Brothers and Sisters on Channel Seven and then over on 7TWO you might have, for argument’s sake, Ultimate Cage Fighting and Family Guy. That’s our thinking.
“We’re not steering away from our digital on the main channel. On the contrary you’ll see the digital channel promoted on Seven and you’ll see a heap of promotion for Seven on 7TWO.”
Already the channel has enjoyed promotions on Seven ahead of its launch this Sunday at 12pm with its politically-inspired “It’s Time” campaign song.
“One thing that’s annoyed us is this speculation that ‘they don’t know what they’re doing… they don’t have a plan!’ In fact we’ve known exactly what we’re doing for a very long time and it’s been like having a present under the tree, and not being able to unwrap it.”
In order to keep the industry guessing, Worner hints at some crafty manouvering.
“How well do you reckon the details of 7TWO have been kept secret?” he asks. “I’ve never known a better kept secret in Australian television. There were all sorts of moves to make sure things rolled that way.”
Channel Mate, 7PLUS and PLUS7 were amongst some names which appear to be red herrings.
“What about those bloody logos? I did them myself on the gestetner machine,” he laughs.
“When we sat down to work out the name of the channel 12 months ago, we were considering all these names. Red, Ruby, Bill, Dave, Tom, Dick, Harry,” he teases. “In the end we kept coming back to the power of that big, red 7 and the trust that’s been built in that brand over the last five years. And I know you bloggo people don’t like to admit it, but you know something? Heartland Australia sees that 7 and they trust it. They know that is going to have some good shows on it.”
7TWO is set up in such a way that it has the ability to include a number of genres, a particularly strategic move given the Anti-Siphoning list is under review.
“We wanted a brand that’s got utility,” he says.
“We want to be able to run sport, comfortably on the channel. We want to be able to run live breaking news on the channel, comfortably.”
While he hasn’t locked anything in, Worner expects that some titles, including the Heroes, Lost, 24 and Ugly Betty brands, may yet have a life on Seven, but on 7TWO they will run at 7:30 or 8:30. There are also reruns of HBO brands including The Sopranos and Six Feet Under, but Worner denies this is an indication of a 7-HBO distribution deal.
“No Free to Air has a deal with HBO. The Pacific is something we bought a long time ago. It’s extremely powerful. I’ve now seen 3 episodes of that show. You don’t watch that show, you feel that show. It is the last of the great miniseries because of the economic model in the US. There will never be another miniseries like that where they spend over $200m making it. It just won’t happen. And that’s why HBO have delayed and delayed the premiere until 2010. It is truly riveting television.”
From the LA screenings Worner also picked up the HBO drama, Hung, which it will air in Australia following its Showtime premiere.
“Essentially it’s a show about a bloke with a whopping schlonger and you think ‘That is going to be a ribald comedy.’ But when you see the show it is anything but that. It’s a very warm show with a real heart and it’s got a couple of great characters out in front that you identify with, you barrack for, it’s a great show.”
So where does the arrival of 7TWO leave 7HD? Worner says it will remain a simulcast of Seven for the time being.
“But our aim is very clear. We want to grow the number of viewers of Seven product. We make a lot of product ourselves, and we want to grow the number of people watching that product across two channels, and eventually, hopefully, all things going the way we’d like, across a portfolio of channels.
“Everything about our channel is broad. From the name, right through to the schedule, right through to the thinking. That is absolutely the way we’re going, and that’s different to the way the others have played their cards.”
When it launches on Sunday, 7TWO will be the final commecial channel to be added to the Freeview suite. It represents a growing confidence in the television sector and for Programmer Tim Worner, it’s a present to viewers and advertisers.
It may have taken some time to unwrap, but he points to a confluence of events that indicated 7TWO was ready to roll.
“There are big sporting events with a lot of eyeballs on the main channel. Possibly improving economic conditions, a bunch of things. A confluence of things. The timing is right. ‘It’s Time.’”
7TWO launches 12pm Sunday on Ch 72 and is accessible via a digital television or digital set top box.
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@bindi.
ive compaired GO! and 7two and GO! is better.
the difference in bitrate is nothing but iam surprised that even thou 7two is slightly higher(if thats is true) then they must have some problems with their equipment.
I think the picture quality of 7two is far better than GO!, especially compared to the quality of the promo loop that GO! first ran (it has improved since then) but 7two is getting a higher bitrate therefore the picture is better. 7two is 4.1Mbps and GO! is between 3-3.5Mbps from what I have been told by others who can measure this.
@ Paull
the quality of GO! is better than 7TWO.
but the trick to get good quality is to view the channels via HDMI or direct of a tv that has a built in digital tuner.
if your watching the channels via a set top box via composite or s-video into a dvd recorder then to a TV, the quality is not that great…therefore u will notice the poor quality.
but the winner of the picture quality of these 2 channels is GO!
@ vid: I was just about to say the same thing! It’s horrible. Why is it that ABC manages to have fine picture quality for ABC2? I feel like I’m watching youtube and am questioning why I have an HD tv. Both GO! and 72 seem to be only meant for CRT tvs.
So much for adding to the 7 brand.
Arrogant…….
i have to say the picture quality on 7TWO is worse than go! now thats funny!!
its GO for me!!
“Everything about our channel is broad” – no s**t, Tim. Even your alternative channel is as middle-of-the-road as they come. Did you ever toss the name Bland around at all…?
yep, TW is a complete tool. i think we all agree. and how clumsy is the channel name? if an 8 year old presented that to his school teacher, he would be told that it doesn’t make sense. 72 (seventy two) or 7.2 are logical. it pains me that someone got paid to come up with that. nevertheless, it looks ok,and we’re all getting more choice, which is fundamentally what these digi channels are all about.
I don’t get it doesnt Kerry Stokes own 15% of Prime, you think he would have a little push in th subject. (15% of a push anyway)
“… And I know you bloggo people don’t like to admit it, but you know something? Heartland Australia sees that ’7′ and they trust it. They know that is going to have some good shows on it.”
Pass me the bucket!
They just did a story on 7 news that the Brisbane launch was today (including worner saying that quote about cage fighting). They also said that 7TWO will have half the ads which I don’t think has been mentioned on here before. But I did see a link to an article posted on dtvforum where they said that there will be 6 mins of ads per hour. Lets hope this gets them to run on time hey.
There is so much negativity here so I will be positive, I’m really looking forward to this there are quite a few big name shows on in primetime that do well on dvd and have the potential to get a lot of viewers. If there is one thing that 7 does well it is advertising, I’ve always thought digital channels would do much better if they just advertised them on the main channel so that the general public actually has some awareness. I think this channel will do very well thanks to the cross promotion on both channels if nothing else. And don’t forget how many people on here were bagging out everything about GO! when it was first announced too, but it is still doing well in the ratings and is now being hailed as awesome.
More mind-numbing shows for a resource-rich country
Will be interesting to see what happens if Prime don’t launch simultaneously with 7.
Are they going to air catchup episodes of Heroes,Lost etc
It’s quite clear from the “deadly silence” emitting from Prime that regional viewers are facing another SC / 10 debacle.
At this point in time you would have to say Prime = fail.
There’s a story on the back of the front section of today’s Canberra Times that states a January launch for 7TWO on Prime.
Best thing about Tim Worner is that he consistently pi**es off the Ten and Nine fankids!
That snowboarding show on Go is from New Zealand, so that would count as local content. There’s also Shortland Street on Seven ‘s new channel. That is the kind of thing we would end up with if they introduced content rules for these multi-channels.
I have Foxtel, can I get these new stations? I can’t get GO! or the others
“the power of that big, red 7″ is that why it’s white and orange background now?
7TWO have started a promotional loop
@ Andrew
Well even if it’s not Australian, per say, it’s the closest thing to an Australian show on GO. I’m sure you understand where i’m coming from.
“I don’t tend to pay too much attention to what’s going on elsewhere” – Is that why you waited for TEN, Nine and SBS to launch their secondary channels first?
“In the end we kept coming back to the power of that big, red 7 and the trust that’s been built in that brand over the last five years. And I know you bloggo people don’t like to admit it, but you know something? Heartland Australia sees that 7 and they trust it.”
What an arrogant tool you are, Tim Worner. Seven is my least favourite and least watched commercial channel (excluding SBS) and believe it or not, I don’t happen to identify any “power” in two red trapezia, or even two white ones on an orange background for that matter, nor do I find them trustworthy. Not even when a moron expects me to believe his ludicrous rhetoric, which nobody is stupid enough to think is convincing anyone.
Local content rules must be applied to the new channels as without them there will be little incentive for networks to invest in local production. If a network is running three channels in a couple of years, two of which have no local content requirements, then they could make cheap low-grade programmes to fulfil the quota on one channel, whilst showing more expensive and popular foreign (almost certainly US) stuff on the other two channels. Now, they cannot afford to make rubbish as most watch their original analogue channel and this would drive viewers to other channels, by 2013 when everyone is watching digital this won’t be the case.
Yeah, it’s kinda hard to leak information that doesn’t exist yet. What a tool. Looks like Channel 7 is still the one…
You know what would be delight for free tv? The free tv premiere of True Blood on 7TWO…They say they don’t have a deal but if 7TWO like it already has with other series ‘fast tracks’ Season 3 of True Blood straight after playing Season 1 and 2, I think it might be a larger hit in Australia. The only audience for True Blood in Australia is either foxtel followers or by other means, It would be a ratings winner for 7…sorta like the channel 7′s dexter
@Peter, some STB/digital tv need to be re-scanned to pick new channels/EPG data up, but some don’t as well so it all depends.
In his defence, Mr. Worner was answering a question on disitribution deals not production.
“No Free to Air has a deal with HBO.”
im fair sure that the ABC has a deal with HBO to produce Chris Lilley’s new show ‘Angry Boys’!
@ vinnie – actually TV Week is an ACP mag, owned PBL who also own Nine.
ive never rescanned my stb since i got it over a year ago. the names ONE and GO! just appeared instead of TEN HD and Nine Guide one morrning, same with the EPG’s. i guess 7TWO will be the same. The EPG for sunday/monday next week is just blank for now, so i suppose that and the name will change over the next few days.
@Mark – an all Australian channel with really old shows – snore to the max! Who cares if the extra channels run aussie content or not. The more you expect from a channel, the more advertising they will need to sell, the more commercials you will have to watch. Whinge whinge whinge
Promos are now playing on 7TWO
Sport after midnight, well thats just plain wrong, im sure with all 7s politics type speak, they could of done better than that.
there is enough sport on tv as it is, pathetic seven pathetic.
@Quentin – I guess like Nine with GO! they figure they are better off having some people come from their main channel and watch 7TWO than going to the other networks, which IMO makes good business sense since they will cross promote the channels like SBS and ABC do.
@Quentin They are going to show opposite genres like warner said… im never going to be watching desperate houswives but id watch family guy
All Readers,
please ring Prime Tv Canberra every day until they are realise that Tv is for the viewers and not for their pockets.
With the exception of ABC2, all these channels are disappointing. Where is a 24 hour news/current affairs channel? Or how about a Classics channel showing nothing but popular old Aussie shows like Skippy, Homicide, The Sullivans, A Country Practice etc. Even old Australian crap has gotta be better than new American crap. Just a thought..
I am hoping that if they start airing Lost in Jan in the US. Ch 7 will “fasttrack” it to 7TWO. So we don’t have to wait until the Aus Open finishs to see it.
Brilliant. Hopefully shows like Lost/ 24 etc will now be shown (consistently) at a reasonable time and scheduled in the way that they were palnned to be shown (i.e. 2 hour season finales rather than 2 x 1 hours episodes over a fortnight).
@darthfyer: Nip/Tuck is considered “Australian”?? One Aussie actor does not make it qualify as “Australian” although I’m sure the networks would love to do so for the sake of quotas!
7TWO = Cannibalisation of audience from their main channel. Oh well, I guess they’re not as business savvy as other networks…=)
What an egotistical, smug fellow Tim Worner seems – oh well, it makes sense, he works for Seven; good to see all their programming so lauded in the pages of Seven Network Weekly, whoops, Home and Away Weekly, bugger, TV Week.
I heard it could be December 1 for Prime as well as Southern Cross and they might be rebranding it !
@ bindi: I think we’re all expected to have to run a re-scan at 11:30am Sunday and that the EPG will be updated at the same time. Pure guess, but as there’s been no official word, i can only expect that.
@ Neon Kitten; I’m sure glad i’m not the only one that sees through his ultra ego. Great comments BTW. I like the “trust” comments Worner makes. What “trust”? I’ve never watched channel 7 in the past 5+ years for many reasons. And what red 7? I get Prime and the Heartland of Australia most likely gets Prime also, you know the ‘big’ yellow Prime that seems to be ignored when it comes to 7TWO. I know i can Trust that 7/Prime will always run programs not on Time. Worner, perhaps Its Time to actually run programs on Time, then you may find that trust. Having said that, 7TWO or whatever Pirme call it, does seem like it will get me watching it. Can’t say much for the main channel though.
@ Pete: RE Australian Content on Freeview: I doubt it as GO (correct me if i’m wrong) only has Nip/Tuck at the moment. Everything else is from the US or abroad, but mainly US. I really am struggling to think of anything on GO that is Australian (other than Nip/Tuck). Mind you, that’s what sets it apart from the other FTA channels.
As for the alternate channel names, i think that they were waiting for the public’s reaction for each of them. Mate appeared to be a bad option, so they opted for one of their original ideas – 7TWO. And i’m sure you made those channel Mate logos, just like i designed the Sydney Harbor Bridge, not that those Mate logos were that great.
A gestetner machine… shouldn’t come as a surprise they use it at 7, they’re so far behind the times. I bet Tim is amazed to learn they now broadcast in colour.
So has there been any word on what ch 10/9 think about 7TWO?
@Janey, i agree, why are they so proud they were able to keep this a secret , at the end of the day people where desperate for info on this channel and seven refused to give them any which to me shows contempt for the viewer.
I don’t like 95% of what this channel is offering or the smarmy “pollie speak” Worner uses to sell 7TWO, but hats off to Seven for being able to keep plans secret and for keeping us all guessing. They’ve finally learned how to use media sites to promote themselves- setting up member accounts at media sites (Newsweary at MediaSpy), leaking a few crumbs while letting loose a few red herrings to keep us all talking and interested. Very clever. I’m sure all involved have been laughing they’re a*ses off down at Pyrmont as the theories and speculation have been spouted over the last few months.
I continue to pursue start dates for Prime and SC, but nothing to confirm yet.
Whats happening with Prime? Are we getting it because nothing is displayed on the website and the freeview site has no confirmation of regionals broadcasting SevenTWO yet
Worner is a tool; I agree with jay jay; Seven have turned into Nine when they were on top; displaying nothing but pure arrogance.
Hahahaha! “Schlonger”.
Really?
@Pete says:
October 27, 2009 at 8:22 am
I wonder if there are a certain amount of hours required for Australian content with the new Freeview channels?,
No there isn’t
Finally a digital channel that just doesn’t offer sport, dull sitcoms and tedious vampire shows.
Something for everyone!
The channel is a lot better than nothing, to those complaining. At the moment the schedule doesn’t have many (or any) shows that really interest me, but I trust over time that will change, considering 7 is my most watched commercial channel.
I just really, really hope that they have a higher bit rate than Nine does for GO!, Go!’s quality still looks so shockingly poor on an HD tv.
As for the mention of 7HD, I really do hope that it will eventually carry the best of both 7 channels, rather than Just simucast 7.
I am not going thru this again (I no doubt would) but lets just hope that they try a different angel next time for this “portfolio of channels”.
good interview david, it answered a lot of my questions. especially re: HBO output deal.
i knew that all these trademarks were red herrings maybe he got the idea when GO! was first announced as a possible name here. i guess this brings question to the feburary 2009 launch announcement and the november or Feb2010 decision. were they just pulling our leg there as well?
i think 7 have got it right with doing a broad audience instead of niche. makes sense to me.
I would say ABC3 would be unemployed children rather than working families. As someone who grew up watching a lot of ABC programming I think ABC3 will be fantastic for kids.
Looks like Seven kept it too secret and didn’t tell Prime about it.
Worner: Now 7Two’s done, fix 5:30 in Queensland. Deal has been on the highway to hell up here, since September. Seven’s reminding viewers of it’s past local content, in days. Put the two together, and BTQ’s “A’oK flu” will be cured with a dose of local content.
Apparently not coming to Prime until early 2010
So he was happy for Seven to waste shareholders money registering fake channel names he knew would not be used. Who is he kidding? No one.
Wow that’s one load of BS which in short means… We’re using this second channel to dump all the programs that don’t work on 7
And of course this was the best kept secret in Television, they only worked out which direction to go in last month when Go! staretd lifting 9′s share.
FFS… Industry spin has gotten bad.
By Dec 31, 2013 when analogue is switched off and we are 100% digital, these new digital networks should all have Australian content requirements.
Seven, Nine & Ten are all required to have 55% Australian content between 6am and midnight.
7TWO, Go! and One! should all be required to have at least 15% Australian content between 6am and midnight. That’s about 3 hours a day, and 2013 is 5 years from when the government allowed these new digital nets.
So 5 years to get 3 hours of original programming up a day is not a huge ask. I think it’s a little disturbing how little Australian programming there is.
@ Neon Kitten
You nailed it. He sits back while ONE and GO! are launched and then reveals his plan for digital domination?! What an arrogant w*nker.
At least there is some British as well as US programming on 7TWO, unlike Go. It would be good to see some more local stuff though. Anyone know if there are plans to impose an Australian/NZ content quota on the digital stations as there is on the analogue ones?
Worner makes such a big deal about the fact they were able to keep this new channel a big secret! Saying “I’ve never known a better kept secret in Australian television. There were all sorts of moves to make sure things rolled that way.”
Why would they want to keep it a secret? Wouldn’t they want their advertisers and viewers to know what they were planning? And it’s not as if the end result was such a huge shock anyway. Seven are terrified of losing any of the audience from their main channel, so they are going to try to target a different audience with 7Two. Good luck with that! They already have a huge share of the 50+ audience on Seven, and it looks like most of the shows (like all the British product) will target exactly that audience, so the nights they do have a younger skewing show, it will be hard to get that younger audience to tune in because their scheduling will be all over the place.
Can’t believe it’s taken them this long to come up with such a boring, unimaginative and unfocused channel. Just more of the same…except when it’s not.
Yeah David can you supply an update on Prime with this channel?
Also the longest kept secret with the worst ads. Should have had a channel months ago Seven so don’t go trying to make yourselves sound good, all you’re doing is trying to catch up. That said a lot of good shows on offer and i’ll prob watch this more than GO!
any word from Prime for the regionals?
That would have to be the biggest load of hogwash that I’ve ever heard. They’ve made 7Two exactly like Channel 7. Where’s the variety in that? At least I can confidently turn on either One or Go! and know that I will get something completrely different to what is on their main channel.
Why would Tim Worner want to be able to run live breaking news on 7Two? Thats what the main channel is for!!
7Two; more like what a pile of No 2′s!!
what arrogance. I think 7 need to take a step back and learn from the mistakes 9 made 5 years ago. They are at the top of their game at the moment and don’t they know it. Anyone would believe Tim Worner has changed the face of TV with the above quotes.
I completely agree with Neon Kitten.
I wonder if there are a certain amount of hours required for Australian content with the new Freeview channels?
I’m more impressed with his brave use of the word ‘schlonger’ than anything else he spouted here! Not all Australians were as gullible as you thought mate.
I like the fact the Seven has kept it’s branding across the two channels rather than invent a new name like GO or ONE…. and it’s upcoming programming looks very exciting indeed.
Good on Seven. They’ve clearly thought this through. Hopefully Seven Two is added to the Foxtel EPG as soon as it launched midday Sunday.
Greta interview.
I never saw GO! as youth orientated but I guess it just comes down to the shows you want to watch. 7TWO will be strong competition from GO! in 2010 and it’s good to heard Lost and others may not be restricted to the the channel, even if viewers may have to wait a little longer to see them on their old analogue TVs.
the way worner works and speaks reminds me to steve jobs and his strategies for apple. take this tablet that’s coming out soon (the apple slate, apparently in its working title). you wait and wait and wait, but when it finally comes out, its usually 99% awesome (yes, apple does has bad days as well).
counter-programming was the keyword in this article. and it rings true and strong. in fact, when you think about it, seven is doing what ABC did with 2 & 3, and the BBC in the UK. Not only will it be a network of stations, but a network of channels.
Yeah, sure. It was all a master plan from the genius mind of Worner. Fake channel names, logos copied on a hand-cranked duplicator, grand statements, arrogance and ego.
The reality, of course, is that Seven’s waited to see what everyone else was doing before deciding where they’d take their second channel, and then had to go into panic mode after Nine showed them how it’s done.
Never trust anyone whose main vocabulary is marketing-wank. Sailing analogies (!). “Grow” the audience. “Portfolio”. “Trust”. “Utility”. And oh, the nausea of “Heartland Australia”! What’s next, Tim, “working families”? Oh, sorry, that’s ABC3.
Careful, buddy. Australians can always spot a man spouting bull.
And “Ultimate Cage Fighting”?? Classy.
By the way, “The Pacific” is hardly going to be the last high-budget mini-seris from US cable. But then, Seven has a financial stake in the actual production of this one, so any claims of greatness are rendered kinda invalid from this source. Oh, and HBO delayed the premiere until 2010 not because it’s the mini-series to end them all, but because, well, it’s not actually finished yet.
A portfolio of channels, when?
did he give any indication of when the EPG will be uploaded? or the channel name changed so that I can run a re-scan?