On Thursday 26 March 2009 at 7:30 pm Network 10 kicked off a bold new experiment by launching Australia’s first free to air digital TV dedicated sports channel called “ONE” which providea Australians with 24-hour sports coverage from around Australia and the world.
“ONE” sport channel is broadcast in High Definition (HD) on Channel 1 and can only be seen if you watch TV using a Digital TV set top box or PVR / Foxtel IQ / TIVO.
Network Ten has agreed to terms with Foxtel for transmission of their sports channel to all Foxtel subscribers. Foxtel HD subscribers were able to access the ONE HD channel since March 2009 but all Foxtel’s cable subscribers are able to access the service from July 1 2009.
It’s an interesting move which not everyone will be happy with because it means the end of watching mainstream Network Ten TV shows such as News, Neighbours, Rove etc in HD quality and replaces the previous niche content on the 10 HD channel like documentaries, sci-fi and movies which had attracted a small but vocal viewership.
EDITOR: The launch of Network 10’s new Channel Eleven in early 2011 sees the youth oriented content which was formerly on 10 HD reappear there
Ultimately I think Network Ten’s decision is the right one because ONE’s all-sports programming format will appeal to Australians passion for sports events and attract a lot of viewers.
On a more important note providing a channel with mainly live content is more likely to be effective for advertisers because it means the channel will be watched live. In comparison if they had launched a new channel with drama, lifestyle or movies it would have been open to ad skipping from people like myself who watch most of their digital TV time-shifted by recording it using a PVR / Foxtel IQ / TIVO.
{{foxtel}}
You can view a promo for ONE below, (video courtesy of idents.TV):
You can view the first 2 minute launch of ONE below, (video courtesy of idents.TV):
Regional viewers of Southern Cross 10 finally got access to view ONE HD in Queensland, New South Wales, the ACT, Victoria and Tasmania on July 2nd 2009. There are no plans at all to broadcast ONE HD in Darwin, Central Australia and regional South Australia.
Some of the Sports viewers can see on “ONE” include: AFL, Netball, 2010 Commonwealth Games, Indian Premier League 20/20 Cricket, Formula 1 (F1) World Championship, Moto GP, NASCAR including live coverage of the Daytona 500, Australian Rally Championship, American National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), National Basketball Association (NBA), Golf, U.S. College sports (American football and basketball), Tennis and Swimming
More details and a Program Guide for ONE can be viewed at the Network 10 website
I don’t doubt it’s a good move, as it further differentiates 10 from the other channels. It will be especially useful if it means more ‘niche’ sports content (like cycling!) is shown. But I do wonder what “mainly live” will mean in percentage terms. Live feeds will be rare, I think, and repeats will become a regular feature. As for skipping the ads, even with truly live content it just means pausing the action and adding a small delay (whilst you go and get a cup of tea or whatever). By time-shifting by just 10 or 15 minutes you have gained at least an hour of uninterrupted viewing, if it matters that much. “Slightly delayed live” is still better than “constantly interrupted live”!
OTOH Ten (or One or whatever) can’t be bothered broadcasting from my closest local digital TV repeater, so I won’t be watching what for me is a poor-quality pixillated feed anyway.
The following is a quote from Network 10 explaining their side of the story:
Will maybe ten need to rephrase ‘Australian viewers’ to metropolitan Australian viewers’ because it isn’t accessble by all and i know of many who tried to access the channel but because of their location are unable. Once again rural Aussies miss out.
Thanks a lot this is what has been needed for a very long time,I hope this will keep up.
Manv thanks.
This new channel is listed in the TV guides etc but it does not mention it is only available in selected areas. Even when watching the formula 1 broadcast the commentators stated the telecast would now continue with the V8s on ONE.
They did not worry to mention in selected areas only, so the people in Cairns, like so many others missed the V8s due to no service by ONE. When will this be available for Cairns and other areas?
Hi just a question, is the 2009 Formula 1 championship still going to be shown on 10 SD (standard diff) or is it all reserved for one sports channel?
Mouserat
Yeah, Ten suckered me in too. Live near Kingaroy and thought you beaut. Bought a set top box but only get ABC 2. Think I’ll be returning the box and wait till Ten gets its act together and transmits to rural areas.
Here in Bunbury WA we have’nt got any Digital Commercial TV stations yet, let alone a dedicated Digital Sports Channel and we’ve only got one commercial FM Radio Station all serving a population of around +80,000.
My wife loves the Australian Netball and watched every game on ABC2 and Fox Sports over the years, tried to watch it on grainy anologue when Ten took it over as the signals travelling 150klms and was unreliable at best but now it’s moved to ONEHD it’s gone completely from anyone in Regional Areas to view it live, WINTV provide some delayed coverage but we just have to put with hearing the results on the sports section of the news now.
Thanks but i highly doubt it, the new Optus D3 Satellite is’nt going to be launched until the middle of July which may bring some hope around mid August when it’s in position hopefully it’ll be available there through Foxtel ? I believe Foxtel Cable viewers will have access to ONEHD even though they would receive the FTA signal.
The two local TV Networks GWN & WIN have no intention of commencing Digital Transmissions at any time soon, a recent newspaper report said they – GWN & WIN would be jointly providing a digital retransmission of Ten Perth but no time frame given so if any of that ever happens in my life time i guess ONEHD would be after all that which will be years away if at all.
Most people local i’ve spoken to here believe GWN & WIN will wait until the July – Dec 2013 Analogue shutdown deadline that the government have allocated for the Bunbury area before we see any Digital Commercial TV Signals.
It is a sad state of affairs when the “major capitals” is used to identify the geographic location for the commencement of ONE – and it doesn’t include the capital of this sports loving country. A city where almost 350,000 people live. Will Channel 10 be broadcasting the MotoGP until such time as us hillbillies outside the “major capitals” get the ONE HD service from your “affiliates”?
will ipl be shown on 10sd(standard definition). i have analogue tv. thx
These ten people really are the worst on this planet please dont mind me guys but australian media really are good for nothing first 10 buys rights for the telecast and last WIN showed all the matches as repeat now that is also not available feels like i wanna die and the online streaming is banned i dont why i am hard core Indian cricket fan and i am ashamed about this a great country(australia) but with bad media may it be newspaper or channels they are not worth a single cent boooooooooooooo to them next time these bcci worthless people should think b4 giving rights i think channel 9 is better and fox sports is the best
How much longer do we have to wait for ONE HD to be telecast to the Illawarra i am missing out on the IPT cricket matches what date is ONE available to us
please give me a date
thanks
Can I get one digital in Lithgow NSW. Is there anyway to see F1 at 5pm?? Ta
dear sir,
what is the pricc of this h d set up box in sydney and it will be directly connected to the t,v..should any extra antena require,plese reply me because i am very mhch crazy about cricket game. plese plese plese plese give me the detail i am waiting for your reply. thanks a lot,
harish rach
hay i m living in Eastlakes. i hve foxtel as well(not iq) . how can i tune One HD??? THanx
I don’t watch your channel because I am not interested in the American ball games you seem to prefer, but would appreciate if for a change you would show sports like tennis and boxing every now and then
Hi living in Tasmania wear is is the ONE channel I CAN NOT FIND IT ON MY SET TOP BOX
I live in Tasmania and am shattered. Firstly, I am missing the IPL. I followed it religously last season, before the network chose to shun regional viewers and have to follow along on the net. Secondly, I follow the Cavs in the NBA who are playing a semi-final play-off tomorrow night. Why didn’t Network 10 begin discussions with its affiliates earlier or even put off broadcasting until it had full support across the country? If they did this they would have avoided what they have done, which is to release a “national” sports channel that broadcasts to what is 2/3 of the population. What is more troubling however, is that Network 10 continues to refer to ONE HD as if it is viewable by all. This is just painful to us regional sports lovers. WAKE UP NETWORK 10!!!
What about Darwin? You’ve missed an entire state (NT) which is a bit insulting! It may not be a “Major Captial” but it is a Capital with over 120,000 people.
One sport,well thats about all you do get from this so called sports channel, when was netball declared a sport, and why would the rodent that picks the programs that we watch, thinks that anybody would want to watch 12 hours of the most boring game on the planet.
we get 90% of american crap sport, baseball,paintball,etc,etc, its foxtel over agin you get the crap that nobody wants to watch.
I live in Tasmania and i was wondering when we are going to get the 24 hour sports channel
They said we was going to get it on 2nd of July.We havent got it yet.
i live in town on n.s.w an vic border corowa an wahgunya an i dont get tens one hd but a mate over the river dose. i want to no why i cant pick it up, i hav full hdtv tv, is it because of the town i live in,
In response to the remarks stating there are no plans to launch ONE HD in Darwin. What does it mean? Does it mean it will NEVER come to Darwin or does it mean it will come at a later date? Please explain. I am confused. The HD rules in Darwin are the same as Tasmania.
I have seen a few articles in the Ten Darwin website saying it will come, and others had said it will never come? I’m confused.
Its good to see a Sports only channel but it might of been a good idea to call it
Channel Name – Sports Only Channel and move all the non sports content from the
other Digital/HD Digital /SD Digital channels to it only .
Thus people that want to watch Free 2 air with ads on Sat/Sun can finally
enjoy TV without the entire weekend being Sports only .
Maybe the other channels could move in this direction aswell
eg ABC , SBS , 7 , 9 , etc all offering a sports only channel
and stripping/removing sports from the other content channels
below is a cut and paste from this web site
There are no plans at all to broadcast ONE HD in Darwin, Central Australia and regional South Australia.
I am utterly disscusted to read the above.
there is absolutely NO REASON with todays TECHNOLOGY that DARWIN be left out.
I as an individual i strongly feel that myself and all other territorians in Darwin and the NT be discriminated against by these actions.
There is absolutely no reason to discriminate and it is also illegal to discrimimate against the people in the NT. This sort of thing continually happens and it is sickening to be constantly discriminated against because of the geographical location.
If you can willingly provide it to the rest of Australia you can do it for the people in the NT.
we currently get your transmission but all we get is Australian scenery and music. if you can do this then tere is no excuse for not providing the sports transmission.
So GET OFF YOUR ASSES AND DO THE RIGHT THING AND GIVE US THE TRANSMISSION YOU GIVE TO THE REST OF AUSTRALIA
PISSED OFF VIEWER
Yeah and I cannot hide my disappointment when Darwin missed out on getting GO! as well as ONE HD, Darwinites, try tuning your set top boxes and see what i mean. Darwinites will discover that LCN 99 is missing at the time of me writing this. Once again NT people are being treated like 3rd class when it comes to ONE HD and GO! Even though I am disappointed with Nine here in Darwin Imparja is much worse. There are no plans to put ONE HD and GO! in central australia for a long time.
I live in Regional South Australia, Port Augusta 5700. I am a bit confused, according to earlier posts the introduction of ONE in regional South Australia was waiting on regional broadcasters (Southern Cross Ten) to update infrastructure. Is this still the case or are the more recent posts of “no plans at all to broadcast ONE HD in Darwin, Central Australia and regional South Australia” correct?
I was also wondering how independent regional broadcasters can be expected to fork out the hundreds of thousands of dollars that will be required to update infrastructure to receive ONE? Obviously this is setting them up to fail, seems a bit stupid to me to lose regional viewers because bigwigs in the big smoke cannot pull their finger out!
as usual Darwin misses out on the good channel THANKS A LOT…
Yeah, Mildura will be getting ONE HD well before Darwin, and the debut date for ONE HD in Darwin is still unknown. At least Southern Cross is providing 7 Two to Darwin but Darwin still have a long way to go yet.
Tens one HD not available in Darwin!!!!!!! load of CRAP the chanel is broadcasting NOW but all we get up here is scenic shots (video) and music.
SO who says they cant switch the programming to give us the sports.
funny this is today 1/12/09 i checked the EPG on my digital TV and what did I see,,,,the full sports programme but when selected ,,NOTHING,
MUST BE TOO HARD FOR CH 10 TO FLICK THE SWITCH.
Bottom line is thet just DON’T CARE.
We get ONE HD but not one digital. WHY!!! I want to record UFC but cant record HD 🙁
why cant i recieve one digital but one hd has come up but with no picture i have a standard sd box cAN U HELP
im very p….. off we have a twilight race for the poor sod’s in europe who can’t be stuffed getting up early to watch the F1 live. live! at least they f…… get it live but we have to put up with re-runs at a later hour why do us F1 fan’s have to suffer
i like to record chhanel one programs so what short of recorder i have to buy (it that ok to buy digital dvd recorder or i must have to buy HD dvd recorder ) please could you give me suggestion ?
thanks
I have discovered from Foxtel that as I am a Satellite customer and not Cable that I can not receive transmission of ONE through Foxtel. Apparently Network 10 won’t sign on to the satellite transmission. C’mon 10, get your act together, all the other networks have done it! We receive all the other Digital chanels through our Foxtel.
What a great step forward for regional TV viewers, NOT! For the past decade I could watch MotoGP live on Foxsport, then along comes Channel Ten who buy the exclusive broadcast rights and only televises MotoGP races live on OneHD in the capital cities. Thanks alot for removing my favorite TV sport, guess I’ll have to find something else to watch on Sunday nights. Yet again regional South Australia misses out and actually goes backwards with this non-service. Good onya Channel Ten for buggering up a perfectly good broadcasting arrangement; i’m sooooo happy with you I will never watch your programming ever again!
You have got to be kidding!
It is bad enough that ONE advertise during a LIVE MotoGP race but today they thought it would be fine to advertise 3 times!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and we miss 3 laps of the race, where I might add anything can happen.
Does ONE think that we are imbeciles? Does everyone who gets up at 6 in the morning to watch MotoGP have balding/hair issues?? ONE are not doing their advertisers any favours by advertising during a race as I know that I become extremely resentful at having the race interrupted.
Please do us all a favour and stop doing it.
We just want to watch MotoGP…
From a non balding female fan..
18 months on and ONE plus all other digital channels are still not available in regional South Australia. Like someone earlier mentioned re the netball, loved that when it used to be on ABC and Fox Sports but for the last 2 years, only match we have been able to watch is the Sunday afternoon game that TEN has shown. Hoping ONE is available here sometime soon.
thankfully we get digital here in Cairns – the cricket was unwatchable without it
Absolutely disgusted no free to air F1 this weekend. Many of us still don’t have digital. Critical race for Mark Webber and he is hungry for it. Have been watching F1 since Jacki Stewart raced and remember AJ’s championship win. Mark is such a lovely guy and has worked hard to get where he is, a shame in his own country people can’t watch him race free to air. Please take off the Comm Games what a waste of space.
I bought an ALDI SD set top box with 160 gbts hard drive to tape from TV. My TV is a rear projection TV so can’t get HD….so had to buy the SD set top box, but all i can get with these new channels is GO….no other channels besides your normal analogue channels. Do i need a new antenae or why can’t i get all the new channels? Thought all we had to do was buy a set top box and we can get all the new channels? So confusing… Can someone help me out here. Thanks
Evelyn, you need a HD set top box to view ONE HD and other HD channels as well as SD channels since a SD set top box can only view SD channels and not HD channels. Hope my answer can be of help.
Hi William, thanks for your reply, but I can’t buy a HD set top box as the retailer said that rear projection TV sets only are in SD so you can’t buy HD set top box as you still won’t get all the channels. So my question is, can i get antenae man out to readjust my antenae? Surely with an SD set top box i can get more than one free to air channel?? Don’t understand which channels are SD and which one’s are HD?? so damn confusing. They told us that all we had to do was buy set top box and you can receive all the free to air channels, Then they bring out HD and SD set top box?? only thing is, no good buying HD as rear projection TV sets don’t pick HD up…..wouldnt have bought SD set top box just to get one channel. Can someone suggest anything. Thankx
Evelyn
When are we going to receive GO,7TWO,7MATE,GEM,ONE.Port Augusta SA
Sometime by the end of the year according to Southern Cross which is after the earlier promise by mid year.
It’s disappointing with the netball and swimming world championships both on in July.
Watching F1 live is great even to the extent that my wife bought a new HD flat screen TV so she can watch the late night races in winter in the warmth of our bed. The question is will we be able to do so in 2012 with Mr Ecclestone’s profit based thinking with the BBC?
So what’s happened to all the sport that used to be on One HD? Now it’s just a regular channel with a bit of sport here and there… so very disappointing.
🙁