Network Ten today announced the first all-new commercial free-to-air television channel in almost 50 years, a dedicated sports channel to provide Australians 24-hour sports coverage from home and around the world.
As a free-to-air channel, it will be available to Australians who are widely acknowledged as the world’s greatest sports enthusiasts. The new channel will allow Australians to share their unifying passion for sport: and will be named ONE.
ONE will be broadcast from early in the second quarter of calendar 2009 in High Definition (HD) on Channel 1 and it will also be available in Standard Definition (SD) on the network’s second SD channel (Channel 12).
Network Ten CEO Grant Blackley said ONE’s all-sports programming format will appeal to Australians’ shared passion for sport and, also, ensure that Network Ten as a multi-channel broadcaster continues to build a new and more diverse audience.
“ONE’s appeal to Australia’s natural sports lovers will complement TEN’s seriously different programming
strategy – with each channel offering viewers and clients a unique and appealing programming format,”
Mr Blackley said.
“TEN continues to pursue its targeted strategy – that is, with a primary focus on building its competitive share in the strategically valuable 18-49s, and maintaining the leading position in 16-39s. TEN is also the number one network in day time in all key demos.
“In considering the opportunities for our new multi-channel, it became obvious very quickly that sport would be a highly attractive genre for the Australian viewing public, of both genders and all ages. There is currently no dedicated free-to-air sports channel in this market, and Ten has existing relationships with key sports rights holders and a reputation for delivery of high quality sports broadcasts.
“Importantly, the network’s upgraded broadcast infrastructure means we are exceptionally well placed to provide these three digital channels, supporting our network’s – and the industry’s – move into a multichannel and multi-platform environment.
“We anticipate that ONE will add significant momentum to digital switchover by giving Australian viewers a compelling reason to purchase an HD or SD receiver,” Mr Blackley said The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, said Network Ten’s initiative heralded a new era in Australian free-to-air broadcasting.
“Innovations such as Network Ten’s digital sport channel will play an important part in Australia’s transition from analogue to digital television,” Senator Conroy said.
“The Rudd Government is committed to ensuring Australia completes a smooth transition to digital television and the availability of more diverse and broadly appealing free-to-air multi-channel programming will assist that process.”
Network Ten’s general manager - sport, David White, said sport plays a prominent role in Australian culture and identity, and it is uniquely suited to digital TV – with its emphasis on the best broadcast clarity of picture and sound.
“The programming schedule for ONE will showcase the sports Australians love, in a way they will enjoy viewing them,” Mr White said.
“Live and exclusive will be a hallmark of the channel.”
“Broadcasting in digital means we will be able to most vividly capture the greatest sporting events and achievements, along with the intimate details of the intense human dramas that play out in sport.
“We believe ONE will appeal to a broad audience and very quickly become a regular and enjoyable part of Australians’ sports viewing habit,” he said.
Some of the sports highlights that viewers can expect to enjoy on ONE include:
AFL – the 2009 NAB Cup, home and away season, and finals including the Grand Final returning to the network in 2009
Netball – ANZ Championship Competition and all Test matches featuring the Australian Netball Diamonds, exclusively for the next five years
Commonwealth Games – 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games
Cricket – Indian Premier League Cricket, the world’s premier annual Twenty20 cricket competition
Formula 1 – every round of the F1 World Championship
Moto GP – extensive coverage of every round of the World Championship
NASCAR – live coverage of the Daytona 500 and other major Sprint Cup races, live coverage of the Nationwide Series, as well as Sprint Cup qualifying
Australian Rally Championship – exclusive coverage of every round
National Football League (NFL) – three games per week live, including the flagship Sunday and Monday night games, as well as live coverage of play-offs and the Super Bowl
Major League Baseball (MLB) – five games per week live, including prime time coverage of play-offs and World Series National Basketball Association (NBA) – three games per week live
Golf – US Masters, US Open, World Golf Championships including the Accenture MatchPlay
Championship, the CA Championship, the Bridgestone Invitational and the World Cup, Australian PGA,Ladies Masters, 2010 Ryder Cup, and 15 additional international and domestic events including the Johnnie Walker Classic, and the Asian tour’s flagship event the Singapore Open and the tour’s seasonending Volvo Masters of Asia.
U.S. College sports – American football and basketball
Tennis – ATP and WTA tennis, details to be confirmed, approximately 11 tournaments during 2009.
Swimming – Network Ten is delighted to announce that, from 2009, it is the exclusive broadcaster for mSwimming Australia. This includes coverage of the Australian Swimming Championships, Pan Pacific Championships, Australian Short Course Championships, FINA World Short Course, Swimmer of the Year – a minimum 109 hours per year for the next eight years.
According to rights agreements and current Federal Government anti-siphoning regulations, some of these sports and events will also be shown first or simultaneously on TEN.
To preview and review the week’s events and to continue the conversations about sport that Australians enjoy, there will also be a series of new programs dedicated to the sports Australians love. These will include a new live AFL show on Monday nights, weekly wrap shows for NFL, NBA, MLB, NASCAR Sprint Cup series and Nationwide series, Formula 1, Moto GP and US PGA Tour.
Every week night, ONE will also broadcast two expanded editions of Sports Tonight, bringing viewers further in-depth news from both domestic and international sources.
From time to time, ONE will feature extreme sports, emerging sports and a range of sports-related programming including documentaries.
BACKGROUND
The ONE SD channel will be separately badged and marketed, and used to promote the premium ONE HD service to SD viewers.
ONE – Branding
The name ONE expresses the channel’s mission to share the greatness of sport with all Australians – capturing the passion that unites us as one. It was inspired by the irrepressible response of the crowd toa classic goal and the sense of bonding we experience in that dramatic moment, an inspiring effect only great sport can deliver.
Breaking from sporting channel clichés, the logo communicates the fresher, more accessible approach that is the essence of ONE. It shows that our goal is to capture the unique and much loved place that sport has in everyday Australian life, beyond just the generic highlights and generic feeds of today’s
offerings.
Digital TV – Australian market penetration
Digital take-up in Australia is accelerating, and is following global trends. Currently, 42 per cent of Australian households have a digital receiver and, at the time of the launch of ONE in 2009, this is expected to be around 50 per cent.
Digital TV – multi-channelling policy and digital rollout
Under government legislation (Broadcasting Services Act) free-to-air commercial broadcasters will be permitted to provide an additional SD digital multichannel each from January 2009 in addition to the HD digital multichannel currently provided.
The Australian Government has announced that all free-to-air television broadcasters in Australia will complete the switch from analogue transmission to digital-only transmission by the end of 2013.
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