ELEVEN is on the air
"Stick around you're going to love ELEVEN," Labby and Stav tell viewers as Australia's newest Free to Air channel hits the screen.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under News
Australia officially has a new TV channel, as ELEVEN began programming at 11am today.
Channel hosts Labby and Stav welcomed viewers by running through some of the feature titles including Neighbours, The Simpsons, Supernatural, Nurse Jackie, Californication, Futurama and more.
“Labby and Stav here, we want you to join us weekdays from 4:00 for Couch Time, where we play back some classic TV show,” said Labby.
“That’s right we’ve got Happy Days, we’ve got The Brady Bunch, we’ve got Family Ties, and a whole stack more as well,” said Stav.
“Stick around you’re going to love ELEVEN,” added Labby.
The purple-themed youth channel then launched into a first-run episode of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson with the Scottish-American host dropping lots of Aussie gags in his opening monologue.
“Australians, if you’re watching this show for the first time on …what is it, Channel ELEVEN… oh, that’s my favourite channel in Australia…(swear) it is now…, ” he said.
“I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking ‘Wait a minute he doesn’t sound Australian at all!’ it’s because this is how Americans speak nowadays!”
He dropped more Aussie gags throughout the show including “A dingo stole my baby.” Duh.
The show will be repeated tonight at 10:30pm followed by a new episode.
A joint venture between TEN and CBS, ELEVEN is available in metro locations on channel 11 and in regional areas on channel 55 (retune your TV to find). It is available via Southern Cross Media across regional markets in Queensland, New South Wales, the ACT, Victoria and Tasmania; Spencer Gulf and Broken Hill; and broadcasts in Mildura by Mildura Digital Television. Southern Cross Media will also offer ELEVEN to those regions with access to the VAST satellite service.
Foxtel cable subscribers can access ELEVEN via Channel 131. It is not available yet to satellite subscribers.
The new channel boosts the number of Free to Air channels on offer in the battle with Pay Television.
Freeview CEO Robin Parkes said: “ELEVEN’S launch marks a great day for TV viewers.
“Millions of Australians right across the country can now enjoy yet another free digital multi-channel. There are now ten free digital multi-channels that have been launched since Freeview was formed just over two years ago, a period that has seen an incredible expansion in the available choice of free, quality TV entertainment.”
However the timing of the channel launch was upstaged by the devastating floods in Queensland and the aftermath of Toowoomba’s ‘inland tsunami.’ As ELEVEN launched, Premier Bligh was giving a press conference in which she advised of 8 people dead, 72 missing and a toll that expected to rise. Areas of Brisbane, where ELEVEN’s own host studio is based, were now on flood alert.
For more information on ELEVEN visit eleven.com.au
-oh, and first request of ELEVEN: can we please make the logo transparent and not solid?
98 Responses
Labby and Stav…. why? They’re not funny; why does the channel need them? it’s not like we don’t know our way around digital channels :S:S
the watermark is the only complaint I have so far.
I watched most of the classic shows, from 3.00 this arvo. Was never a fan of Cheers, and still am not, but i enjoyed seeing the pilot eps of Happy Days, Brady Bunch and Family Ties. It’s a shame they have to cut the bottom and top of the screens on these clasic shows, so they fit the new tvs. In Happy Days even the circle in the middle of the record that shows the cast has the top of it slit. Why not just leave them as they are so we can see the whole picture? Also why did they start Rosanne from the middle of a season? As for Neighbours, interesting trivia, is that the Scully house also burnt down in the 1999/2000 cliffhanger/season opener. ELEVEN years ago.
Ok, I’m not liking Labby and Stav so much…
The old content are very appealing to the 18 year-old me.
Will Eleven be available through Foxtel?
Vanessa this was explained in the story.
From the look of Family Ties, it appears that they have zoomed in slightly to have thinner black bars on the side of the screen, and to have the watermark fully in the picture, and not half cut. When it went to end credits, it was back to the normal thicker black bars..
steve… i have the same problem.. i called them optus… they didnt know a thing they say that its only on your digital tv or set top box … they are getting hd soon its on their web site… but the operater on the phone.. didnt know anything about it… optus.com.au/dtv..looks like i will be buying a set top box..
Hi David, my pay Tv is through Optus- and channel 11 is not being shown- do you (or anyone else) know when it will be in the channel choices?
Optus TV no longer advises me of their plans -they barely did when they were operational in the Pay TV sector. If you are a cable subscriber you could check CH 131. If it’s not there I think you are in for bad news, but check with your supplier.
Anyone who is having problems getting Eleven on CH 11 needs to do a new All Channel Scan (deletes previous settings) and not just a Search for New Channels Scan.
Foxtel Cable uses will find that Eleven is now on Ch 131 and that Ch 531 has gone.
I agree with @aussietv-archived Australian content would be great, and something original that no other channels seem to do. There are plenty of young people out there, like myself, that would just kill to get into the archives of all the networks.
I was surprised how much of a big deal Craig Ferguson was making about his Australian debut. Maybe he doesn’t get much of an international airing?
David, I thought the quote went, “… ‘Wait a minute he doesn’t sound *American* at all!’ it’s because this is how Americans speak nowadays!” I could be wrong, though. 🙂
To the people who are watching 11 on 12, rescan your programs on your Set Top Box.
Should fix up the issue.
My tv isn’t getting it. Channel 11 is still Channel 1 (ten’s sports channel). I also don’t seem to get abc 1, 2 or 3. All other digital channels are fine though, why might this be?
note on the watermark:
It is only solid on shows with, in this case, the CBS logo.
Watch Letterman, and you’ll see the same solid style bug, as well as The View on Nine.
It’s not all the time, but with the ‘fast-tracked’ bearing down on networks, sometimes it’s easier for them to pull dirty, (without ads, but still bugged, from the network) as it goes to air (or as it gets sent between US coasts, get’s split to the global switch), than to get it re-fed clean.
Example, ABC World News, is broadcast to the AP agency with supers and bugs, and sent around the world, but is then re-fed to partner clients, clean and split track.
Where would secondary channels be without 1960’s sitcoms??!!
@Goonies – the name ‘Labby’ comes from ‘Lab-rat’. I recall him from the days Ugly Phil had his Hot 30 radio show with Jackie O (or he might have come soon after Ugly Phil left and Kyle came in). They used to get him to do all sorts of dares and so on, hence the name ‘Lab-rat’, as he was their specimen to go through all sorts of things.
The way I see it , this channel is the most obscure , most strangest secheduled channel on Australian television !! Community TV is scheduled better and they have less money !! The main reason being that the daytime on Saturdays and Sundays is the same as the weekdays. There’s no thank god its Friday where the daytime’s concerned. The channel started today and Couch Time followed by a late night talk show was like it was The Comedy Channel , then the old retro shows start , then its like TV1 , then it turns into Classic Channel Ten , tonight it will be more recent Channel Ten.
So Eleven is not gonna be a unique Eleven. Its a channel that turns into other channels depending on the time.
Many are surprised that there is no Neighbours marathon on the weekend or Neighbours The Early Years.
Great shout out by Craig. GEM on the other hand has pretty much screwed up Conan.
i think at first ELEVEN will do well then pplz will get over it, the couch time show reminds me of ABC3,s hosts. i still think go will be the number 1 digital channel.
Why is that man (Labby) named after a lady’s body part?
Shades of Deloris from Seinfeld! Or is that just me?
its not bad….. dont like the supers to tell us the show and where are the classifications for the programs???
god, 11’s watermark is too big!! its really distracting, it seems to be bigger then Ten’s!!
I notice 11 have the same daytime schedule on the weekend as they do on week days. That lacks a bit of imagination, plus people are usually doing different things on the weekend as apposed to the week. So if you wanted to catch every ep of a favorite show, that will require some dedication. Would have been better to mix it up a bit on the weekends like GO does.
Good stuff…
Happy to see it as channel 13 on FTel.
Btw on a different subject setanta sport is also for me i hope thats not part of the Sports package & not just a month thing.
i already lost some respect for 11 when introducing ‘Labby and Stav.’
Seriously?
…ha, get it? Seri- eh whatever.