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Seven to launch fourth multichannel, 7food network

Seven is launching a fourth multi-channel to supplement 7mate, 7flix and 7Two: 7food network.

7food network will launch on channel 74 and 7Plus on December 1, and will feature 24/7 coverage of shows related to cooking, culture, travel and adventure.

The new multi-channel has launched in partnership with Discovery, with new programs to air including Guy’s Grocery Games, Food Network Star, Chopped, Restaurant: Impossible, Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, Cuthroat Kitchen and Iron Chef America.

New seasons of Best Baker in America, Spring Baking Championship and Kid’s Baking Championship will also be available. Australian content will include old seasons of My Kitchen Rules, Better Homes and Gardens, Zumbo’s Just Desserts, Anh Does Vietnam, and My France with Manu.

Seven will launch new original content plans for 7food network in coming months.

Brook Hall, head of scheduling at Seven, said the network will serve the 25-54 audience.

“Food is a major part of our DNA at Seven and always has been. Food brings Australians together with the people they love and food brings audiences to the screens of Seven,” Hall said.

Natalie Harvey, Seven’s network sales director, said the new multi-channel will add “flavour” to the network, and will deliver a “hungry” audience to advertisers.

“Leveraging the power of Seven combined with the strength of the number one women’s digital network, Pacific, plus West Australian Newspapers means we will be launching with a bang. I don’t believe there has even been, or will ever be a better platform and better timing to launch such a rich and engaging content platform,” Harvey said.

Rebecca Kent, Discovery’s general manager for ANZ and Pacific Islands, was excited by the opportunity.

“Producing globally renowned content that is engaging and inspiring is what we love to do and working with local partners to entertain as many Australians as possible is the icing on the cake! We’re delighted to be joining forces with Seven on connecting all Australians to the power and joy of food with 7food network,” Kent said.

Seven’s launch of the new multi-channel follows commentary from programming boss Angus Ross earlier this year. Ross told Mumbrella it was important to look at the suite of channels a network has, not just main channel.

“What we did last year was we made a very concerted decision in targeting 7mate to be the number one multi-channel. Part of that involved going and picking up a bunch of programming from 20th Century Fox, in light of the collapse of their arrangement with Ten,” he said.

But Seven isn’t the only network to focus on its multi-channel strategy. Ten is set to announce a major overhaul and rebrand of its multi-channels One and Eleven at next week’s upfronts. The new channels are set to be called Ten Boss and Ten Peach.

7news.com.au

In addition to the multichannel, Seven has announced changes to its digital properties, and will launch 7news.com.au in the first quarter of 2019.

7news.com.au will be the online home of all 7news videos and content, including content from morning shows, Sunrise and The Morning Show, and Sunday Night.

It follows the separation of Seven and Oath’s joint venture, Yahoo7, which previously housed all news content.

Seven West Media’s chief digital officer Clive Dickens said the launch was the next big step in taking control of direct to consumer digital products.

“We are confidently predicting 7News.com.au will become Australia’s number one online news brand within six months of launch,” Dickens said.

Seven’s director of news and public affairs, Craig McPherson, said the business was delighted to be in control online news assets

“This multi-million dollar investment will marry Seven’s hundreds of world-class journalists reporting from across the globe with best in class technology. We are delighted to finally be fully in control of our news online, and can’t wait to bring 7News.com.au to our audiences,” McPherson said.

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