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Lifestyle HD from March 1st

Joining the previously announced new LifeStyle HOME, on March 1st will be LifeStyle HD.

Joining the previously announced new LifeStyle HOME, on Tuesday March 1st will be LifeStyle HD, a high definition simulcast of the LifeStyle Channel.

They join XYZnetworks channels The LifeStyle Channel, LifeStyle FOOD and LifeStyle YOU channels offering home and property entertainment. LifeStyle HOME looks at everything from home makeovers to investments; from renovation to relaxing in the garden; property dreams to property nightmares.

Nicole Sheffield, General Manager, LifeStyle Channels said, “Property is The LifeStyle Channel’s most popular genre and we’re so excited to be bringing it to our viewers 24/7. There is so much great property content from around the world that we haven’t had the capacity to show before, it now has the perfect home on LifeStyle HOME.

“The LifeStyle Channel has many wonderful programs available in HD and we’re delighted to now offer our viewers the ability to view the entire channel in beautiful HD. The addition of LifeStyle HD and LifeStyle HOME is part of our ongoing commitment to lead the industry in lifestyle programming.”

Titles will include The Outdoor Room with Jamie Durie, Mark Burnett’s Design Star, May The Best House Win and The Vanilla Ice Project.
Programs from The LifeStyle Channel such as Colin & Justin’s Home Heist, Property Virgins and Axe The Agent will also appear on the new channel.

Programs from the former How To Channel, including A Place in The Sun, Homes Under The Hammer, Holmes On Homes will now be seen on LifeStyle HOME.

An interstitial series of one minute HOME hints will be produced for the channel.

LifeStyle HOME will launch with stripped content weekdays allowing viewers to become familiar with the new channel schedule. On weekends, brand new series’ will premiere in primetime, with catch ups to allow non-weekday viewers a second chance to see key programs.

LifeStyle HOME (Channel 119) and LifeStyle HD (Channel 216) premiere on March 1, 2011 on Foxtel and Austar.

21 Responses

  1. Why should you get access to the HD channels for free? There is an extra cost to make the HD channels available and those that choose to see them should pay for that extra cost. Otherwise, those who only get SD are subsidising those who have HD. The pricing model Foxel has in place makes sense, the $$ value though is too high though especially with so many other choices now avaialble.

  2. Yes with HD the way of the future all HD versions of the channels should be free, so long as you subscribe to the package that has that channel. I think this will change eventually.

    Foxtel owned and operated channels: History, Crime & Investigation, Arena & Comedy should go HD next.

    And Sky News should go HD

  3. btw guys, this announcement doesn’t necessarily mean that there aren’t Other hd channels coming on March 1. this announcement is from XYZ networks, so they would only be announcing their own channels, but lifestyle home and espn2/espn2hd were previously announced with no mention of Lifestyle HD, so we don’t really know All of the channels that are coming next month (well, some of us might…)

    there may be other channels, there may not.

    1. My personal feeling is if you are subscribing to the HD capable IQ2 then you should be given access to the channels you already subscribe to in your packages. (ie. if you pay for FOX8 and Showtime, and you also pay for IQ2, you shouldn’t be asked to pay another fee to see those channels in HD).

  4. @Gary, I care, so I pay for it. So do all the others that pay for it. If people weren’t taking it up, then foxtel wouldn’t be rolling it out.

    @thesportsfreak, the HD channels aren’t grouped together. you only get the hd channels which you subscribe to. the ‘hd fee’ is only to get access to the hd equivalents of those channels. what you are suggesting will cost us (the consumers) more money. remember when foxtel first rolled out hd? it cost $10 for 2-3 channels, and another $5 for the other 2-3 (and u still needed to subscribe to the sd ones). now it’s a flat $10 for all that 20odd. i certainly don’t prefer the old system…

  5. @ Jeremy – not every subscriber can get the HD channels as you need to have IQ2 or Austar equivalent. Therefore they still need the simulcast.
    @ Armchair Analyst – 34% have Pay TV – about half the number that have access to the HD FTA channels.

  6. @ Armchair Analyst – your comment really makes no sense whatsoever.

    Foxtel’s reach in Australia may not be anywhere close to the Free-to-airs, last I heard it was around 1.5 million, but to say that spending money on bettering their channel offering is a waste of investor’s money is short sighted. The only way they are going to get larger subscriber numbers is to make sure they the best possible product. Yes, the vast majority of people will probably never see that product, but that’s why people pay for their service, for the choice.

  7. How many viewers does Foxtel have in total in Australia not many i figure. Spending all that money on a new channel which only a limited amount of viewers watch is just stupid and a crap way of spending investors money.

  8. Glad to see another HD channel launching but there needs to be multiple more ASAP as HD is the future. Australia is already behind, but now we’re just looking bad by only launching a couple of channels a year. Austar and Foxtel should be launching minimum 5 HD simulcasta a year. The sports genre is basically covered now with most channels having HD simulcasts, in the movie genre STARPICS2 HD needs to be replaced with Movie Extra HD, and the entertainment genre needs HD simulcasts for TV1, Arena, 13th Street, Universal, and Sci Fi just for a start.

  9. Good news. It’s just a matter of time before most key pay TV channels are available in HD – and yes – now with 20 or more HD channels, it probably is time to start grouping them in their repsective channel categories.

    Pay TV adds more and more HD, while free to air has the least HD it has had available in years.

  10. > There is so much great property content from around the world that we haven’t had the capacity to show before

    Erm .. just stop showing the same stuff over and over and over again? Am I missing something obvious?

  11. Why? There are many more channels deserving of HD than Lifestyle. What about Arena or SciFi.
    I’m just waiting for the annoucement that Weather Channel is going to be HD. Use HD for channels that would benefit from the technology Movies, Sports or Entertainment.

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