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Foxtel’s expansion into the HD world will no doubt be of particular interest to the sports fans out there, with ESPN and Fox Sports both launching high def channels.
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Foxtel officially launches its high definition service today, and although content wise there isn’t much on the new HD platform yet, with only five HD channels available at launch, BBC HD is one of them, and almost makes it worth it.
It would seem Australia is the first market outside of the UK to recieve the BBC HD brand, but won’t be the last, with plans for expansion into Poland, and the US later this year. The two videos are taken from the newly launched BBC HD Australia and show an ident for the network, and an extended promo.
For more from BBC HD check out this cimematic promo for the UK version.
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MTV Australia have launched local idents, ditching the generic international look for an Australian skew on this generational phenomenon that is Music Television.
And while the networks programming has over the years ranged from the inane to the influential and the socially aware, its brand has for better and/or worse always had an enourmous impact on popular culture.
The powerful MTV brand gets deconstructed in these new idents showing the importance of remaining an “evolving creature, something new and slightly unusual”, especially important with the fickle tastes of your target audience.
I really like the new look, instead of embracing whatever trend the kids may be going for this very second, the idents take a more natural approach, showing the MTV logo as being fluid and always adapting to its surrounds.
For more design from MTV, check out the “narrative and visual break” created for the South American arm of the network here.
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The Bravo inspired new look Arena is now on-air, and while its all very bright, its also very much linked to those few big name shows the network happens to air.
The biggest of those shows is Project Runway, which recently become the first reality show to win a Peabody award for excellence in broadcasting, but is also jumping ships to Lifetime in the US. The president of Bravo recently described the brand (which Arena is now piggybacking on) as “a consumer-immersed environment”, which to me sounds like a bad thing, but maybe its just not my style.
Speaking of subscription television though, one of the best spots I’ve seen continues to be this video from the Bio. channel.
Keep reading for a look at how Arena used to look, before getting Bravo’d.
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Considering the last seven posts on this blog are all ABC related, its probably time for something different. Thankfully a new look Sky Three went on air last week in the UK.
Sky Three is a free to air digital network available throughout the UK, and is meant to be an accompaniment to the subscription only Sky One and Sky Two channels.
While it seems an odd proposition for a subscription service to launch a free to air channel, presumably its programming and promotion is meant to encourage take up the pay only services, I guess it would be like Australia’s Fox8 launching a free to air Fox9 in a bid to increase subscription television take up?
Check out Sky Three’s old look, and more of the new look here.
– Thanks for the videos Craig.
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The 80th Academy Awards is scheduled for the 24th of February, and to celebrate these eight decades of excellence in cinema Turner Classic Movies is holding 31 days of Oscar programming across its network.
Produced by Fresh Paint, this stunning promo melds classic moments from movie history with live action and animation to create a truly creative and refreshing take on the old programming song-and-dance.
The simple yet beautiful music composition is incredibly effective and transcends the varied movie genres represented in this stunning piece of television promotion.
– First discovered through the Motiongrapher, check them out.
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The W Channel (the W once stood for “women” I believe) is taking a step back from its gender specific focus to broaden its appeal. The channels line up still contains a lot of Oprah and The View but is just as heavily reliant on the gender neutral likes of Law and Order and The West Wing.
The new on air look launched last year and was the work of Tactic, also responsible for other subscription television creations including spots for Movie Extra and The Comedy Channel.
– Thanks to Nathan from Tactic for supplying the videos.
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Australian’s welcomed a new channel onto their subscription television platforms today, that new channel is Showcase. Available to subscribers of the Foxtel, Austar and Optus networks the new channel is being described as the home of “dramatically different TV” while extolling the old chestnut that “TV is the new hollywood”. I’m a huge fan of what you might call “alternative” or “cult” television, with most of my favorite shows not even airing on Australian television, at least not with any regularity or respectable time slots, unfortunately for this post though, I haven’t watched any of the shows making their local premier on Showcase.
Series like Dexter, The Riches and The Tudors are all finding their way uncut, and uninterrupted to Showcase, however I’ll have to leave it up to you guys to let me know if they’re worth a try. Documentaries and movies will also fill some of the Showcase schedule with Little Miss Sunshine and An Inconvenient Truth some of the first to air.
Showcase, along with its sister networks Showtime and Showtime Greats are jointly owned by NBC Universal Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, 20th Century Fox and Liberty Global International, and although this channels free to air debut would make for much more exciting news its still nice to see television being treated with a similar respect to films, even if you’re going to have to pay for it.
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Bio. (formerly The Biography Channel) is an Australian subscription television station owned by the A&E Television Network, however the brand is fully licensed to Foxtel who produce, broadcast and program the channel locally.
While the content can be a bit of a mixed bag (Entertainment Tonight.. really?), the network does have some gems in Iconoclasts, Letterman and their live award show coverage.
This 60 second station identifier has always caught my attention whenever it ran, the use of “The Time Is Now” by Moloko in conjunction with the historical images is surprisingly creative and well executed, I guess it shows how much creative mileage you can get out of just some photos and a catchy tune.
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Last month Motion Foundry completed this promo for the Discovery Channel. Promoting the ‘Behind the News’ series (unfortunate name for those of us with primary school memories) the promo uses no footage from the actual show and instead relies on ink drop dramatisations. (Thanks for the video Alex).