MSNBC, NBC’s 24-hour news channel that competes with News Corp’s Fox News and Time Warner’s CNN, has announced that it will be broadcasting in HD 1080i on June 29.
“Broadcasting in HD is only going to help us build on the great success we’ve had so far this year, and will give viewers what they’ve been asking for, a full high definition broadcast of MSNBC,” president of MSNBC Phil Griffin said in a press statement.
Australia has now a new place to watch sports, and it has just started broadcasting. Called One HD, the channel promises to broadcast AFL, Netball and Cricket matches, along with the Commonwealth Games in 2010 and American sports like NASCAR, NBA and the MLB.
According to one Citigroup analyst talking to Smarthouse, the Ten Network has become the laughing stock of the entire television industry after announcing that it would be ditching its HD stream in favour of a 24-hour HD sports network. The new move will see shows like Rush, Neighbours, NCIS and Life no longer having a HD simulcast, and would also displace many of its shows that were shown on the HD channel only dumped.
Four of France’s terrestrial broadcasters have announced that they will be using Dolby’s new Digital Plus and Dolby Digital on their new high-def channels. In fact, France will be the first country that will be using the new audio technology. The channels will include TF1 HD, France 2 HD, ARTE HD, Canal + HD and M6 HD. All these channels also form the new HD service from Television Numerique Terrestre.
BSkyB, whose parent company News Corporation owns a 25% stake in Foxtel, has expanded its high-definition offering with the addition of seven new channels, and will launch on the new Sky+ HD service; bumping the total of channels to 26 on its service.
Pay TV provider Foxtel has said that it had posted a 17 percent lift in revenue, meaning that its total revenue is at $1.7 billion; and has said that there has been an increased take-up of additional services by the existing subscribers – increasing the average revenue per user (ARPU) to nearly $85 a month.
EDITORIAL: Since the age of digital television, I thought Australia is just way behind. Let’s face it, only the ABC and SBS are allowed to multi channel. But now, I think I might change my mind.