The Sun-Herald

But TM, are you ignoring the fact that Ch7 and Ch9 both have a finger in the Foxtel pie by way of their stakes in Consolidated Media Holdings (as pointed out by Zjonn in a previous forum)? Why would they want to cannibalise the audience for their own pay tv network?
PS - I've been watching lots of GO! (ZOMG!) - Seinfeld repeats pvr'd during the week plus the interesting choices of movies shown on weekends. Maybe I'm their niche...

• by Wendell on October 30, 2009 at 03:14 PM

The two new channels aren't aimed at any market. Take GO which has a little bit of history, it does show programmes which didn't work, in other words, couldn't get an audience on TV, programmes which had a short run and were canned and repeats.
The simple fact that GO hasn't attracted a real audience demonstrates it was aimed at no one in particular. It is a network going through the motion of presenting something new when in fact it is fooling no one other then themselves. Viewers are staying away in droves, not because they can't or won't afford a $30 SD tuner but because they can't justify the expense for the crap being put to air by NINE.
The same will apply to 7TWO. Their line-up is aimed at no one and that is what they will attract. Neither wants it to succeed as it is in neither's financial interests.
TEN on the other hand is doing something and will over time find an audience for their ONE HD. They have a lot of new content, actually run on time, the only problem for them is that many of the events they show live are on at the wrong time for peak viewing but that will sort itself out in time as they become smarter at marketing. At least it is aimed at a market and I am somewhat perplexed at ONE's low ratings as many people I talk to watch and comment on various events shown by them.
Ten is also the only network to be talking about a third channel and I would be surprised if they do as the other two have. I am sure that it will be aimed at various markets and predict that when it all washes up, TEN will overtake the current market leaders. They will have to to survive as they won't have other revenue streams to fall back on.
Mr Mind, I agree with certain aspects of what you write in that , with any product, whether it's a block of cheese or a television channel, you have to determine who is most likely to become the consumer of the product and aim it at them or which market you want to aim it at and market it to them.
Cheese or to be more precise, dairy cheese made from cows milk is presented to us in many different ways and is priced for many different markets. As we all know it can be bought for as little as $6.00 a 1 kg block to well, name an amount and you can buy cheeses for that amount. $60 or $70 per kilo is not out of the norm but the cheese sold in the 100gr unit at $6 or $7 a packet is not aimed at the $6 per kilo market.
Clearly there are people who think the stuff they pay $60 or $70 per kilo is better, well they are prepared to pay that money for it and good on them, there's one born every minute and probably more, indicated by the amount of overpriced cheeses on the shelves of supermarkets and delicatessens. It's all made from dairy fats and the main difference between the boutique and mass cheeses is not the cost of manufacture but the willingness of a segment of the market to pay extra for something they perceive to be better and it must be better because it is more expensive.
Same with the new TV channels. They are free to air. That obviously doesn't make them free, you pay for them through the products you buy and it doesn't mean that Pay TV is better because you pay for it directly. Pay TV just gives you a much bigger choice, often a bigger choice of repeats. The fact that a large proportion of Pay TV viewers actually watch their FTA TV through Pay TV, well, it really makes you wonder, why pay for something which is there for nothing but like with cheese, some people think it must be better because they pay for it. Good on them, it's what capitalism is all about (or was it communism) sharing the wealth.

• by Zjonn on October 31, 2009 at 03:52 PM

Zjonn, You're kidding right? Over 50% of households have a SD tuner already and can access these channels. It's only a matter of time before the ratings of GO!, 7TWO, ABC2 and SBS2 increase towards (perhaps) 30% of what the original channels get. Shows like Wipeout already get ~200k and Scrapheap Challenge 100k+.

Tribal Mind adds: Sadly, for those of us who get all our channels delivered via Foxtel cable, GO won't be available till the end of November, and 7TWO maybe not this year. Missing :Lost may be a reason to cancel Foxtel.

• by arthur on November 02, 2009 at 10:49 AM