Seven HD

Seven HD
Launched	October 15, 2007
Owned by	Seven Media Group
Picture format	1080i (HDTV)
Slogan	The Difference is Clear (until breakaway programming ceased transmission)
Country	Australia
Broadcast area	Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Regional QLD. Regional Victoria, Northern New South Wales, Southern New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory as Prime HD, Tasmania, Darwin as Southern Cross HD.
Website	yahoo7.com.au/hd
Availability
Terrestrial
HD Digital	Channel 70
	Channel 60 (via Prime/SCT)
Cable
Foxtel HD+	Channel 207

Seven HD is an Australian television channel, owned by the Seven Media Group, that launched on October 15, 2007.^[1] The channel is available to high definition digital television viewers in metropolitan areas, Tasmania and Regional Queensland through a number of owned-and-operated stations, as well as via Prime HD and Southern Cross Television.

History

Seven HD was officially announced on September 15, 2007, with the Seven Media Group announcing their intention to start a high definition multichannel, that was initially expected to launch in December 2007.^[2] However, Seven HD became the first Free-to-air commercial television channel introduced to metropolitan areas since 1988, when it launched prior on October 15, 2007, with 25th Hour being the first program broadcast at 10:30pm.^[1]

When broadcast, the channel replaces the Seven Network's existing high definition service, a simulcast of its standard definition and analogue services. Due to an amendment of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 in 2006, the Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (Digital Television) Act 2006, television networks are now permitted to launch digital multichannels, provided that they are broadcast exclusively in high definition.^[3] The channel expanded its broadcast schedule on December 10, 2007 to include daytime programming which had previously been a full simulcast of the main channel. Seven HD breakaway programming ceased transmission on Sunday 4 October, 2009 in preparation for the launch of 7TWO on 22 November. All programs shown on Seven's main channel will now be simulcast on Seven HD.^{[citation needed]}

Programming

Seven HD currently broadcasts a range of programming, with exclusive transmissions on weekday and weekend afternoons as well as late on weeknights. Currently, up to seven hours of exclusive programming is broadcast daily.

Weekday afternoon programming includes repeats of locally produced lifestyle programming, such as The Great Outdoors, New Idea TV, as well as movies and Disney cartoons such as Yin Yang Yo, American Dragon: Jake Long, and The Powerpuff Girls. In the late evenings a mixture of exclusive series, movies and encore screenings of series have previously been broadcast. Previous late-night series broadcast have included This is Your Laugh, Lost, Scrubs, That '70s Show, The Grid, Urban Legends, and Final 24. Current late-night offerings include Dateline NBC, 5ive Days to Midnight, A Country Practice, and classic episodes Deal or No Deal as well as late movies and occasional encores of series shown on Channel Seven.

The only two series exclusively made for Seven HD include The NightCap and This is Your Laugh. The NightCap was broadcast exclusively on Seven HD on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10.30pm until its axing during the Easter non-ratings break of 2008.

Availability

Seven HD is available exclusively in 1080i high definition in metropolitan areas and regional Queensland through a number of owned-and-operated stations including ATN Sydney, HSV Melbourne, BTQ Brisbane, SAS Adelaide, TVW Perth and STQ Queensland. As well as this, as of October 29, 2007, Prime Television broadcasts the service as Prime HD on its owned-and-operated stations including AMV Victoria, NEN Northern New South Wales and CBN Southern New South Wales/Australian Capital Territory. The Seven Network's regional affiliates Southern Cross Television (Central) and GWN currently do not carry Seven HD.

References

External links

Television in Australia portal

• Official Site
• Corporate Site