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Nine Network Seven Network Videos: Idents

One for the ladies, one for the fellas.

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Gem from the Nine Network, and 7mate from the Seven Network both launched over the weekend, although not in that order.

Long before digital multichannelling got too interesting in Australia I pondered how the commercial networks would approach the tricky task of extending their brands to multiple channels. Channel 4 have done a great job naming their portfolio of channels under the “4” brand, while the UKTV group have adopted individual brands for each of their many channels.

These two approaches are currently playing out in Australia, with the Seven Network now extending its brand name and logo to 7two and 7mate, while Channel Nine has launched Go! and Gem. Personally I think the impending launch of Eleven is the best branding we’ve seen on a commercial multichannel yet, but that said I’m pretty hot for any branding Channel Ten comes up with.

As for this weekend Gem looks pretty and is a nice start, although perhaps something you might see on an inflight channel, 7mate on the other hand is less a brand and more of a punchline, so lets just say neither of them bowled me over.

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Seven Network Videos: Idents

Sunrise refresh nothing special.

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Australian breakfast television news programme Sunrise received a major refresh this morning with new branding and a new set. The new look is neither a great step forward or back from the old, its just different enough that people might notice, but not enough of a significant improvement that anyone will really care.

Next time maybe..

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Seven Network Videos: Promos

The launch of 7Two.

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It’s been a big year for free-to-air TV in Australia. We saw the launch of ONE in March, followed by Go! in August, and today we welcome 7TWO.

Seven’s new channel promises to be the least niche-y of the new digital multichannels, which unlike youthful Go! and sporty ONE don’t seem to be actively appealing to a specific audience.

And the channel launches aren’t over yet with the long awaited launch of ABC3 on December 4th still to come.

Catch the first 6 minutes of the new 7TWO in the video above, should give you a good feel of what its all about.

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Seven Network Videos: Openings

The Olympics on Australia’s Seven Network.

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The Opening Ceremony may still be a day away, but the first event is about to start in the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, which means coverage has begun, and the full Olympic look of Australia’s Seven Network is being rolled out.

The BBC have taken a very unique approach to their Olympics branding, as you’ll see above Seven have stuck with the traditional “gold-infused slow-motion footage of athletes” imagery that seems to be the norm, albeit executed in a very slick fashion.

More Olympics coverage to come throughout the Games.

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Seven Network Videos: TV

Goodbye Starbucks, Hello TiVo.

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On the same day that Starbucks announced they were bailing out Australia, another iconic American brand is launching itself here, hopefully with better results.

TiVo, the personal video recorder that became a verb, went on sale around the country today. Backed by the Seven Network, and with no monthy fees, its being positioned as the anti-Foxtel, although slightly steep at $699, the theory is thats all you’ll ever pay.

Check out the iPod inspired commercial for the new device above.

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Videos: Openings

The Morning Show’s war on Nine and Ten.

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This week saw the start of Channel Seven’s new morning show, called The Morning Show. The Adam Bowland produced chat show is pitted head-to-head with Nine’s Morning’s with Kerri-Anne and Ten’s 9am with David and Kim.

The Morning Show definitely looks the best of the three thanks to the Sunrise studio, and from what I’ve seen seems the most tolerable, but I’m pretty sure 22 year olds who work full time aren’t the target audience, so I’ll leave my opinion at that.

Above is the start of Monday’s TMS, Tuesday’s KAK and Wednesday’s 9am.

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Seven Network Videos: Broadcast News

Seven’s 4.30pm News, now live in Kabul at 11am.

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Seven’s 4.30pm news has become Australia’s first news program to simulcast live on the internet. The bulletin is available at yahoo7.com.au/news and while I didn’t watch it today I understand it came with ads and all. Also on my list of things I don’t know about the service: if its available outside Australia. I’m sure the success of this will determine if its rolled out on other Seven news broadcasts.

While this would appear to be a first for Australia I have a feeling a few networks in the US also let you watch their news live online.