Australia's Network Ten to launch 24-hour HD sports channel in 2009
By Darren Murph 
posted Oct 28th 2008 12:24AM
posted Oct 28th 2008 12:24AM
Australia's Channel Ten has been known to snag some pretty enticing sporting events in the past, but all that will pale in comparison to a new channel launching next year. Yes, Aussies -- in mere months, you'll have the pleasure of enjoying a free-to-air 24-hour sports channel in glorious high-definition. For those not paying attention, you should also know that Ten has thrown down winning bids to show US NBA basketball, US Major League Baseball and the US Open golf tournament (among other events). There's no set time frame for launch outside of sometime in '09, but worst case scenario, you've got just over 13 months to wait.
HD coverage is pretty good here and this extra HD will be very welcome
This is not a good move. The HD channel will move down from ~16mbps to ~12mpbs, because of a dicision to simulcast a SD channel.
It will make the HD channel unwatchable, which defeats the purpose of a 24/7 sports channel.
BTW, launch is early 2Q2009.
Doesn't TEN currently broadcast TEN-HD on both Channel One and Channel 12, so wouldn't bringing Channel 12 down to SD, make more bandwidth available?
@Aussie.
There is a fixed transmission rate of 23mbps for channel 10. Currently it shares this bit rate between TenHD and TenSD. That's one HD channel and one SD channel.
Channel 1 and channel 12 are not broadcast twice. When you click on either 1 or 12, your TV/Box picks the only HD stream being broadcast. That is to say, channel 1 and 12 are merely 'markers' or 'pointers' to the same HD stream.
With the launch of ONE, Ten has decided to have a simulcast of ONE on a yet to be launched SD channel (probably called ONE SD). This will mean that instead of one SD channel and one HD channel sharing the 23mpbs mux, it will be two SD channels and one HD channel.
The result will be horrible pixelation on the HD channel, and a degredation of the two SD channels. Sports like AFL will be a pixel mess. It defeats the purpose of having a dedicated 24/7 HD channel.
The reason why Ten decided to create a simulcast of ONE was because not everyone has a HD compatible box or TV, so they want people to 'see' ONE even if they can't access channel 1 or 12. It's all about advertising revenue.
HTH.
@Aussie.
There is a fixed transmission rate of 23mbps for channel 10. Currently it shares this bit rate between TenHD and TenSD. That's one HD channel and one SD channel.
Channel 1 and channel 12 are not broadcast twice. When you click on either 1 or 12, your TV/Box picks the only HD stream being broadcast. That is to say, channel 1 and 12 are merely 'markers' or 'pointers' to the same HD stream.
With the launch of ONE, Ten has decided to have a simulcast of ONE on a yet to be launched SD channel (probably called ONE SD). This will mean that instead of one SD channel and one HD channel sharing the 23mpbs mux, it will be two SD channels and one HD channel.
The result will be horrible pixelation on the HD channel, and a degredation of the two SD channels. Sports like AFL will be a pixel mess. It defeats the purpose of having a dedicated 24/7 HD channel.
The reason why Ten decided to create a simulcast of ONE was because not everyone has a HD compatible box or TV, so they want people to 'see' ONE even if they can't access channel 1 or 12. It's all about advertising revenue.
HTH.
Yes alas this isnt a new HD channel as the news is indicating here in AU. Ten is just taking their current HD channel and making it a decidated sports channel meaning we will no longer get any shows other than Sports in HD on Ten anymore. A terrible move really. They should have just created a 2nd SD channel and used that for sports and left the HD channel as it was. What about those who dont like sports Ten? Now we're stuck with only SD transmissions of shows. And they wonder why downloading of TV shows is so rampant in this country?