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TEN in High Definition from March 2

Get ready for The Project, MasterChef, Offspring, NCIS and the Grand Prix in glorious High Definition.

ten hdTEN has confirmed a high definition (HD) simulcast of its primary channel at 3pm AEDT on Wednesday 2 March.

The simulcast on Channel 13 means key TEN shows will offer HD quality including I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!, Family Feud, The Project, The Living Room, NCIS and Modern Family.

The simulcast is in time for premium sporting events including the Clipsal 500 from Friday 4 March and the Australian Grand Prix from Friday 18 March.

TEN CEO Paul Anderson, said: “Nothing beats watching HD on the big screen at home and we are excited to showcase our sporting and general entertainment content in the highest possible quality.

“There has been a clear, growing demand from our audiences for HD and I’m delighted that recent changes to legislation have allowed us to bring all the excitement of HD to TEN for the first time.

“Network TEN is a clear leader in innovation across television and digital media. Our
investment in this area is an important next step in our mission to deliver the very best viewing experience for our audiences.”

TEN HD will be available in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.

Toll-free help line 1800 783 117
More information at www.tenplay.com.au/TENHD

66 Responses

  1. Technically Ten is correct in saying legislation now allows them to simulcast again, but only from the view point that One must exist. They could have continued with Ten HD this whole time at the expense of One, but now they can have both, and another SD multi-channel in the future if they wish.

    1. I’d put it that way:
      ONE: Channel 1
      TEN: Channel 10
      Eleven: Channel 11
      Ten HD: Channel 12
      TVSN: Channel 14
      Please get rid of the SpreeTV channel! Ten could launch a new channel, Thirteen on Channel 13. This new multichannel would contain like documentary/factual stuff.

  2. From what I can discover…Most FTA networks did run a HD simulcast of their main channel from 2003…and only at 576p due to the limited spectrum.

    Here is a interesting document for those that are interested from the ABC in 2005, pushing the point for a stand alone HD channel to encourage the take up of HD in Australia. HD and SD simulcasts were considered a waste of bandwidth and also considering content was not produced in HD until at least 2006 when HD Studios and OB facilities etc are stablished.

    This document was the lead up to the Broadcasting Legislation Amendment 2006 which allowed for stand alone HD channels to be established.
    7HD started in October 2007, Ten HD started in December 2007 and 9HD in March 2008.

    about.abc.net.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/ABCSubmissionReviewHDTVQuotaArrangementsJun20051.pdf

    1. “From what I can discover…Most FTA networks did run a HD simulcast of their main channel from 2003…and only at 576p due to the limited spectrum.”

      Networks have no more spectrum now than they did in 2003?

      1. Yup. They’ve still got just the one 7 MHz wide VHF channel. This can handle about 23 Mbps using the current DVB-T broadcast standard. This is enough for 1 × HD and 3 × SD streams using MPEG-2 compression, or 2 × HD and 4 × SD streams using MPEG-4 compression.

        When (if) we switch over to the DVB-T2 standard, which can squeeze about 38 Mbps into the same spectrum, there will be enough room for 7 channels, all HD!

  3. “Will the sport now seen in HD on ONE now switch to TEN HD?
    No. ONE will continue to bring great sport to viewers, including MotoGP, Formula One,
    Rugby Union, Netball and the Women’s Big Bash League.

    The premium sport on TEN will now be seen in crystal clear HD, including Formula One
    races, V8 Supercars, the KFC Big Bash League and Rugby Union.”

    I personally think that’s a mistake. Obviously there are limits to ‘breakaway’ programming, but I don’t think many would begrudge TEN for doing breakaway TenHD like they did before ONE was launched. I suppose it makes life easier for them though.

  4. So the first placed channel will be one of the last get HD. Very slick logo. It is definitely time for me to upgrade my TV – I sacrificed a better quality TV for a larger screen When we had family moving

    1. My guess is Seven will have to do it at Easter. It is too risky for them to make the change during the ratings periods. But I am surprised they are last to action anything.

  5. what they need to do now is create a new channel for ch 12 instead of being ONE again.

    also why put the HD channel on 13? wouldn’t it make more sense putting it on 110 or something?

    1. I’m guessing that the extra digit would be an issue for some people. Also, most people I have witnessed changing channels do so by pressing the Up-channel or Down-channel key on their remotes, even if the channels are widely separated. Scrolling sequentially from, say 11, to 110 would take them thru all of the channels for all of the other networks.

      1. it would be good if they put One on 101, Ten HD on 110, Eleven on 111.

        it would be like Nine HD being on 90, Seven HD on 70 together with multichannels.

        people can delete channels if they want off their TVs and PVR’s. might as well delete channels 1-10 if they are available elsewhere since the HD channels are elsewhere too.

  6. David can you confirm Ten HD will be converting to HD in addition to One HD. A friend of mine inside the business says One will remain a HD channel. As result Ten won’t be adding further stations??

    1. On Ten’s FAQ page about TEN HD, it confirms ONE will not be HD. There’ll be no 4th channel from Ten anytime soon either so they can focus on the existing channels more effectively and not dilute audiences further.

    2. Will ONE remain in HD?

      No. It will become a standard definition channel, effective 3pm AEDT on Wednesday, 2
      March 2016.
      Why can ONE not remain in HD?

      As we are providing TEN SD and TEN HD in simulcast to ensure all viewers have the ability to
      watch TEN.

      We don’t have the spectrum capacity to keep ONE in HD as well.

      We always wanted to have TEN in HD, however, previously we were restricted under
      legislation.

      Now that these restrictions are lifted, we want to provide the highest quality viewing
      experience on TEN.

  7. Why is there so much hype about stations beginning HD broadcasts? The fact is that *all* the FTAs had HD channels duplicating the main channel for up to 8 years until they were all replaced with specialty channels (One, GEM, 7 Mate, ABC News24). The ABC even had a modified logo featuring the letters HD on their HD channel. Now they’re all realising what a mistake that was and they are now bringing the HD simulcasts back with BS stories claiming that “legislation had prevented us from simulcasting the main channel in HD”. The fact is that there was no such legislation at all. The TV stations decided themselves to discontinue HD simulcasting in favour of new specialty channels in the mistaken belief that they were providing more choice and diversity.

  8. There has been a clear, growing demand from our audiences for less on-screen intrusion during shows.
    Way to go Ten, I used your catch-up service, TenPlay, to watch an episode of X-Files on my PC. No ads, no pop-ups, a non-distracting watermark and I could skip past the “soapie” bits. I had to scroll down the page and press the episode icon every time the show paused for an ad break but that was nothing. It was less than SD quality but it looked OK on my monitor. Keep up the good work! I’d sacrifice HD for the lack of on-screen annoyances anyday.

  9. Don’t hold your breath sc ten viewers. From 10’s FAQ page. “We understand that Southern Cross is not planning to launch TEN HD in the markets it
    covers at this stage and will continue with its existing line-up of three broadcast channels.”

    1. I get Southern Cross Ten on the Sunshine Coast, so no, I am not holding my breath for HD. Quite frankly, at my age, I can’t tell the difference between HD and SD anyway, except that the audio is slightly louder on HD. But the picture quality on my TV is indistinguishable between the two to my 75 year old vision..

    1. And to answer my own question from the FAQ: enplay.com.au/blog/the-insider/ten-hd-faqs

      “It will be available to cable subscribers, along with TEN SD, ONE and ELEVEN. It will not be available to satellite subscribers, who will continue to be able to access TEN SD and ELEVEN.”

  10. David’s link to tenplay.com.au/tenHD shows a brand new Ten logo with quite different treatment of the logo.

    I’m certain TenSD and TenHD won’t have different logos so this must be a new logo update for Ten

      1. ‘We regional viewers aim our complaints against Southern Cross, not TEN’
        Not just that but also towards WIN, Imparja and Prime Media. Regional WA viewers will be really frustrated about no HD because Ten West is under WIN and Prime.

  11. Why do people get hung up on where a station lies. So what it TEN HD will be 13 as long as you can get it. If we started TV on digital there more likely be a 7,9 and 10. You will soon know to press 13 on your remote. Us people in the Bush don’t have the same channels as in the cities. Eleven is channel 55 so we press 55. Where is the problem?

  12. Link at the end is fubar.

    How odd, putting your new flagship channel on a weird unused LCN. Would have made more sense to put it on 1 and can one of the two copies of One.

  13. Geez they talk a load of dross

    “recent changes to legislation have allowed us to bring all the excitement of HD to TEN for the first time”

    “Network TEN is a clear leader in innovation across television”

    “highest possible quality.”

    1. Legislation was recently changed from the rule commercial HD channels had to be a stand alone channel….(which the networks requested several years ago so they could make extra advertising dollars)

      Ten HD will be Mpeg 4 which will be better quality than what we have been used to with One, Gem etc…..but if you have a TV or Recorder more than 5 years old…chances are you will not be able to get the channel…..or 9HD

      “Leader in innovation”….yep you have got me there…..They were the first with a “reasonable” TEN HD channel in 2007. (7HD actually beat them to the date….but with a very ordinary programming effort)….back in the days when not many people had access to HD broadcast.

      1. The Commercial HD channels being standalone channels rather than an HD simulcast of the SD was not a requirement — it was entirely their *choice* to convert the HD channel from an HD simulcast of the main channel into an alternative channel (first the breakway TenHD, then One HD).

        All the legislation did was allow them to make their primary channel HD with no SD simulcast — and no broadcaster is doing that.

        Every time FTA networks blame ‘legislation’ for their lack of HD simulcasting, it falls somewhere between ‘misleading’ and ‘outright lie’. Do they think we don’t remember the 8 years of HD simulcasting?

          1. Pretty much from the start of digital TV, early 2000s, until they started 7Mate (2010), ONE and Gem the commercial channels broadcast their main channel in SD and HD.
            Would be close to 8 years.

          2. You could not be more wrong.

            The Ten HD breakaway channel launched 16 Dec 2007. One HD launched 26 March 2009. But HD launched in Jan 2001 — and broadcasters were required to show at least 1040 hours of HD programming per year from Jan 1, 2001, which they did with — you guessed it — a HD simulcast.

      2. SBS are a commercial Network last I checked (having ads being what determines if it is commercial), they’ve had a simulcast for years. Could do this all along.

          1. Shows ads, isn’t a commercial Network yeah makes sense. OK then…..
            At any rate, there has not been legislation preventing Networks, ‘commercial’ or otherwise, from simulcasting their primary channel. The other 4 are now merely choosing to simulcast. About time too.

        1. @ bill….Sorry…..but digital broadcasts commenced in “early 2000’s” That was SD….not HD. HD programing channels 7HD and Ten HD started in 2007. (They were in evenings only and different programming to the SD channel) So hence no HD /SD Simulcast.

          1. @oztvheritage
            Why do you steadfastly refuse to believe anything anyone says?

            Below is for 9, 7 and 10 were similar:

            (From Wikipedia)
            From the launch of digital TV on 01/01/01, the Nine Network’s high definition service “Nine Network HD”, a simulcast of its standard definition and analogue services, was heavily simulcasting Nine’s standard definition content upconverted to HD. From 2002, this was interspersed with a loop of high definition demonstration material during business hours, for viewing in the showrooms of television retailers, at the conclusion of an equivalent service by Network Ten.

            2002 saw the first revenue-generating broadcast in native HD in Australia, with the drama Judging Amy.[6] Nine increased its native HD output in the lead-up to the commencement of the HD quota on July 1, 2003, from which point it broadcast a minimum of 1,040 hours of native HD…

      3. @oztvheritage – you have been wrong about this on other articles (and have been advised of this) and you are wrong here. Networks have *always* been permitted to transmit their main channel in HD as long as there was also an SD stream. This is *exactly* what SBS have been doing all along.

        The legislative change was to allow networks to transmit their main channel *solely* in HD; ie with no SD simulcast. However, networks are clearly worried about the losing 1-2% of people who don’t have an HD receiver, plus a greater percentage of second and third TVs in bedrooms and kitchens. Ironically, they’ve therefore finally switched to MPEG-4 to squeeze in the extra stream, which means that even more people won’t be able to receive their HD channel.

        1. Ok…I can only go by what I am reading everywhere in the news over the last few months (except from comments here). The result is in 2016 all FTA commercial networks are starting to broadcast their primary channel in HD several months after a new bill was introduced in parliament. Why is this? is it just a coincidence? Is it just 9 has lead the way with 9HD and the others a following?
          The fact is we would have a HD on Primary channels years ago if Government had not allowed stand alone HD channels to be established. It should have just been 2 year SD/HD simulcast for example( I just can’t see what was the point)…..much like I would have thought would have happened when colour TV was introduced.

          1. “It should have just been 2 year SD/HD simulcast for example … much like I would have thought would have happened when colour TV was introduced.”

            Just for info: there was no need for ‘simulcast’ with colour – every TV sold since TV began in 1956 could receive colour broadcasts & show them in B&W. You could still buy B&W TV’s in the 90’s & 00’s…

            When DTV was introduced in 2000, HD chips/panels were $$$, and MPEG4 wasn’t even in the spec. So the Gov’t specified that the main channel be MPEG2 SD – but, with a nod to the future (that didn’t work out), they also made (MPEG2) HD broadcasting mandatory.

            MPEG4 HD is different again, and there’s likely still a large # of quite recent sets that won’t handle it. My own, for example – although it’ll happily play MPEG4 content off USB, it won’t receive it. And that’s a set that was still current in 2011.

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