7HD
7HD was an Australian television channel, owned by Seven West Media, originally launched on 15 October 2007 and featuring unique breakaway programming from 10 December 2007 to 4 October 2009 and a HD simulcast of Seven until 25 September 2010. The channel was available to high definition digital television viewers in metropolitan areas through a number of owned-and-operated stations. On 25 September 2010, 7HD was replaced by the new multichannel 7mate.

The main Seven Network feed was not available in high definition again until 2016, though full metropolitan coverage was not made available on a full-time basis until 2017 in order to carry Australian Football League matches; up until 16 January 2020, breakaway programming was used to show further AFL matches and Australian cricket matches from 7mate in HD.

History

Origins
In 2004, after the 2001 introduction of digital terrestrial television in Australia, the Seven Network began a part-time high definition simulcast on digital channel 70 under the name 7 HD Digital. This simulcast showcased native high definition content alongside standard definition services on Seven. During the times that native high definition content was unavailable for simulcasting, a promo loop that showcased extracts from a variety of Seven's programs was broadcast.

Breakaway era
7HD was officially announced on 15 September 2007, with Seven West Media announcing their intention to start a high definition multichannel, that was initially expected to launch in December 2007. However, 7HD became the first free-to-air commercial television channel introduced to metropolitan areas since 1988, when it launched prior on 15 October 2007, with 25th Hour being the first program broadcast at 10:30 pm.

The channel replaced Seven's existing high definition service 7 HD Digital, a part-time simulcast of its standard definition and analogue services. Due to an amendment of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 in 2006 – the Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (Digital television) Act 2006 – television networks were permitted to launch digital multichannels, provided that they are broadcast exclusively in high definition. The channel expanded its broadcast schedule on 10 December 2007 to include daytime programming which had previously been a full simulcast of the main channel. 7HD breakaway programming ceased transmission on Sunday 4 October 2009 in preparation for the launch of 7TWO a few weeks later on 1 November. 7HD then returned to being a full high definition simulcast of Seven before finally being replaced by 7mate on 25 September 2010.

Programming

During its time of breakaway broadcasting, 7HD broadcast a range of programming, with exclusive transmissions on weekday and weekend afternoons as well as late on weeknights, and for some time there was breakaway programming in prime-time on Saturdays and Sundays. Up to seven hours of exclusive programming was broadcast daily.

Weekday afternoon programming included repeats of locally produced lifestyle programming, such as The Great Outdoors, New Idea TV, as well as movies and Disney cartoons such as Kim Possible, American Dragon: Jake Long, and My Friends Tigger & Pooh. In the late evenings a mixture of exclusive series, movies and encore screenings of series were broadcast. Late-night series broadcast included This is Your Laugh, Lost, Scrubs, That '70s Show, The Grid, Urban Legends, Final 24, Dateline NBC, 5ive Days to Midnight, A Country Practice, and classic episodes of Deal or No Deal as well as late movies and encores of other series shown on Channel Seven.

The only two series exclusively made for 7HD were The NightCap and This is Your Laugh. The NightCap was broadcast exclusively on 7HD on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10.30pm until its axing during the Easter non-ratings break of 2008.

Availability
7HD was available on Seven's owned-and-operated stations, ATN Sydney, HSV Melbourne, BTQ Brisbane, SAS Adelaide, TVW Perth and STQ Queensland. Regional affiliate Prime Television also carried their own HD simulcast, Prime HD, on its owned-and-operated stations, AMV Victoria, NEN Northern New South Wales and CBN Southern New South Wales/Australian Capital Territory. Southern Cross Television's Seven-affiliated stations carried their own HD simulcast, Southern Cross HD, on TNT Tasmania and TND Darwin.

Southern Cross' other stations—GTS/BKN Spencer Gulf/Broken Hill and QQQ Eastern & Central Australia—as well as Golden West Network (owned by Prime) did not carry a HD simulcast.

See also

List of digital television channels in Australia
High-definition television in Australia

References

External links
7 HD Digital Promo Loop 2004

Seven Network
Digital terrestrial television in Australia
English-language television stations in Australia
Television channels and stations established in 2007
Television channels and stations disestablished in 2010
High-definition television