Comments on: ABC confirms launch of 24-hour national TV news channel

By: ABC’s Scott attacks article in News Ltd’s The Australian as ‘ludicrous’ - mUmBRELLA

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 05:02:02 +0000

[...] Australia, the ABC recently announced its plans to launch the country’s first 24-hour news channel. It was swiftly criticised by a columnist for The Weekend Australian and Sky News CEO Angelos [...]

By: Broadcasters must invest in event TV to maintain eyeballs in era of fragmentation - mUmBRELLA

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 03:32:36 +0000

[...] comes as the ABC unveiled its plans to launch a 24-hour national news channel this year – with news one area the ABC is aggressively growing despite criticism from [...]

By: Jack

Jack — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 14:31:22 +0000

Absolutely agree that this is a waste of an HD channel. Digital SD would be sufficient, considering that so much of the news footage we’re shown will not be HD.

By: Abdul

Abdul — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 10:40:29 +0000

Exciting News for free-to-air TV, I knew an announcement by the ABC to develop News Channel was bound to happen, and if any network is to develop a News Channel then ABC News is surely the best for that. They have Quality and Real News which is what we need. I hope it will be delivered in HD!

Cant wait for the Launch!!!

By: Smithee

Smithee — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 07:55:59 +0000

It’s very amusing that the head of Sky News has spent much of today bleating about what a terrible waste of taxpayer money this will be and how Sky News is already doing everything that Australians need.

Yet despite the boss of Sky spending all day talking about this news, the announcement is nowhere to be seen on the Sky News website.

The irony is wonderful.

By: Adam Paull

Adam Paull — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 01:08:33 +0000

If the article on the ABCs news site is correct, the new channel will be carried on the ABCs HD channel. This is a huge mistake.

Wasting their HD channel on news – with much of the content coming in as lo-res or worse – while pushing things like BBC nature docos and dramas to the standard def channels is just a waste. The existing ABC HD is one of the few jewels in the FTA crown – why throw it away?

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 01:01:40 +0000

I think this is great news. Although it’s not perfect, I have always greatly admired the ABC’s news content as being the best in Australia.

Although a slightly different debate, with the paying for content issues (News Corp, etc) the response was why would people pay when the ABC will offer it for free. A 24hr news channel along with recent additions such as The Drum shows that the ABC has the power to seriously knock around its competition, especially as ABC will become more front of mind for news with this channel. I struggle to see why people would pay for News Corp / Fairfax content while the ABC are being very aggressive in being the major news providers for Australia.