TEN to launch new channel

By David Knox on October 28, 2009 / Filed Under News 106

tencThe TEN Network will launch a new digital channel in 2010, reports the Courier Mail.

A third digital channel will launch sometime in the next 12 months, it reports.

Commercial networks are currently allowed two SD channels and one HD channel. Currently TEN has TEN, ONE HD and ONE SD which retransmits the feed from the 24 hour sports channel. But as GO! and 7TWO offer entertainment formats they potentially erode TEN’s market share. And as half the country is now on digital it makes the ONE SD channel less viable -except for viewers who have a standard digital rather than an high definition, of course.

It would also presume TEN is eyeing a makeover of its second SD channel rather than ONE HD itself. Many viewers are still lamenting the loss of key entertainment formats in high definition by TEN: MasterChef, So You Think You Can Dance, Rove, Neighbours, Australian Idol, Merlin and more. When TEN opted for high definition sports, it did so at the expense of its other brands.

TEN made the announcement of the new digital channel at its 2010 Program Launch last night in Brisbane.

It also announced a new Junior MasterChef to follow MasterChef next year. This idea has been floated by Programmer David Mott before.

He told TV Tonight in July, “We might do a professionals version or a teen version. We’ll always do one other shorter run but it might not be celebrities.”

TEN also confirmed The 7PM Project would run through summer and into the new year (hopefully with a few tweaks?).

TEN rolls its Program Launch into Melbourne tonight and Sydney tomorrow.

So what would you like to see on a new digital channel?

Source: Courier Mail

106 Comments »

  1. Luke August 21, 2010 at 3:06 pm -

    a 24/7 movie or music channel

  2. Brandon May 18, 2010 at 8:12 pm -

    It better air these shows a these times:

    Monday 7.30PM 90210 8.30PM Supernatural
    Tuesday 8.30PM Dollhouse 9.30PM Veronice Mars 10.30PM Threshold
    Wednesday 8.30PM The Cleveland Show
    Thursday 8.30PM Buffy 9.30PM Angel 10,30PM The X-Files
    Friday Movie Marathon 6.30pm – 1.25am
    Saturday Movies
    Sunday 9.30 Harper’s Island (From The Start)

  3. peter March 31, 2010 at 12:34 am -

    A 24 hr movie channel and/or a cartoon channel.

  4. Deano March 30, 2010 at 9:51 pm -

    Would like to see Buffy and Angel on the new channel. Channel 10 have been doing an on again off again thing with these shows during the last year. So if channel 10 are reading this, think Buffy Angel!

  5. Cliff March 8, 2010 at 6:08 pm -

    How exciting! please please please show Its A Knockout again! Best show ever!

  6. deafman February 18, 2010 at 1:39 pm -

    I am forward see new TEN 2 SD that I want to see repeat of “It’s a Knockout” (1985-1987) will be on TEN 2 SD. I wish. Please, please, please, plese. I’m exciting to see it. My favourite Australia game of “It’s a Knockout” hosts of : Fiona McDonald and Billy J. Smith.

  7. Jo January 21, 2010 at 12:13 am -

    Ohhh please Channel TEN! I have no idea about this ONE SD, (I never picked that up :s)
    Someone said 24 hour reality channel…which I dont like. Have like a reality night. how go! and 7two have TV show generes depending on the night. Like how Go! has girly shows on Thursday and Movies on Friday.
    Channel ten axed sooo many shows aswell. This channel could finally put them to use!
    Show some OC and some charmed ,aswell as others listed in other comments. Maybe even do something with 90210 which I think got quite good in the 2nd season.

  8. peter November 17, 2009 at 5:24 pm -

    movies doc toons

  9. Matthew See November 2, 2009 at 6:54 am -

    Veronica Mars, the ones they left off from when it was last shown on the main channel as I did not have 10 HD.

  10. Kevin Unleavened October 29, 2009 at 9:08 pm -

    Ten are currently showing Angel at some God forsaken time, and probably still have the rights to Buffy, Dollhouse, Galactica and Veronica Mars – so what about a Cult TV channel: a little bit like the Sci Fi channel but without all the Star Trek jive.

  11. Karl October 29, 2009 at 3:32 pm -

    Tasmania and Regionals should get this straight away. I think TDT and SC10 learnt their lesson with OneHD.
    Southern Cross are launching 7Two in December, guess they didn’t won’t the media backlash we experienced here in Tassie when TDT failed to deliver.

  12. stevo October 29, 2009 at 2:40 pm -

    Um lots of people have commented here and said that the ultimate solution would be TEN HD, ONE SD & TEN SD2 – which I totally agree with by the way…
    But if TEN put their standard channel on HD then people without a HD STB/TV won’t be able to watch the main channel!!

    So I reckon it will most likely be TEN, ONE HD, TEN SD2, I do however wish they’d put ONE on SD (cause most of the junk on there is SD anyway) and their new channel on HD, cause then major sporting events (AFL, Dehli Games, etc.) could be broadcast on the new TEN HD as well.

  13. Curtis October 29, 2009 at 1:27 pm -

    I would like to see all of Channel 10′s old hits and most popular Australian shows make a return to the new digital channel.

  14. Sam October 29, 2009 at 9:11 am -

    Does this mean we will get to see About a Boy and Mean Girls even more often?

  15. Paull October 28, 2009 at 11:49 pm -

    @vinny: same with seven two, it’s like ‘the time is 7 to 6′ Although we don’t say 7 to as much as 10 to. That said, 10 had named their 2nd SD channel TenSD 2 for a while before the launch of ONeHD.

  16. Kubs October 28, 2009 at 11:41 pm -

    @ Johnson … no Nine do not have the Paramount output deal TEN do. The distribution company for the movies you mentioned are different despite being produced by Paramount and that is why Nine have them.

  17. Michael October 28, 2009 at 11:36 pm -

    Channel 10 waited for channel seven’s 2nd digital channel announcement before making an announcement themselves, and channel seven just had a long running secret. yeah right seven

  18. Deanna October 28, 2009 at 11:17 pm -

    KFed: Is that true? That Ten has the rights to Craig Ferguson? God, I’d love that to air down here, it’s hilarious.

    I just wish Ten had never gotten rid of their normal shows in HD for the sports channel. There have been a number of times that I’ve been watching a program and thought, “This would look fantastic in HD.”

  19. vinny October 28, 2009 at 10:47 pm -

    Lol…. I hope it isn’t called ten two, that sounds like when someone asks the time and you say ten two.

  20. Rick October 28, 2009 at 10:31 pm -

    Like others have suggested, the ultimate would be to have TEN HD, One SD and TEN 2 SD. I really really really really really want to see my first run dramas in glorious high definition! Shame too, because back when TEN HD was around, it was the best stop to find dramas and documentaries in HD.

  21. mikeys October 28, 2009 at 9:25 pm -

    I have to say, I fully support the bringing back of Big Brother for this 3rd channel. :P

  22. Johnson October 28, 2009 at 9:24 pm -

    @Jason: Ten no longer has the output deal with Paramount. Nine now has the deal, as demonstrated by the screening of Mission: Impossible III and the first Transformers movie in recent months. Nine had the Paramount product as part of the bigger deal with Viacom (which also owns MTV).

  23. Johnson October 28, 2009 at 9:18 pm -

    Ten should think twice before launching a new digital channel, given it has far more program failures than successes in terms of ratings, and also has only two American program suppliers (CBS and 20th Century Fox). I believe Ten will even have to buy programs from Canada, New Zealand and the UK.
    Having said that, I think the following programs should be on the new channel:
    *classic episodes of Neighbours
    *past dramas from Ten such as Secret Life of Us, E Street, Richmond Hill, White Collar Blue and Above the Law
    *critically acclaimed medical drama The Surgeon (which had only 8 episodes and should be recommissioned)
    *classic episodes of Law & Order franchise
    *The X-Factor from the UK
    *So You Think You Can Dance US and UK
    *back titles from 20th Century Fox such as The X-Files, Ally McBeal and Buffy

  24. Paull October 28, 2009 at 9:05 pm -

    I wish they would change the Ten logo, like maybe getting rid of the circle around the ‘ten’.

    Can’t wait for charlie to come back on 7pm next wk- never been a fan of andrew G. Also , i hope they keep 7pm, it’s grown on me and its something i have to watch every week night, it doesn’t cost too much to produce so ten hopefully will keep it.

  25. Raza October 28, 2009 at 8:34 pm -

    How about American Idol, The Late Late Show with Craig Fergusion (mispelt now), America’s Next Top Model, How to look good naked, Army Wives, Jamie Oliver shows, In Plain Sight to be on ten’s new channel.
    Guess what it will be called?

  26. Bruce October 28, 2009 at 8:20 pm -

    I’d love the new channel to be a general entertainment channel. But I have a feeling that since they have a 24 hour sports channel, they will have a 24 hour reality channel. If they do, I hope they take all the reality shows of the main channel and move them to the reality channel.

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