On A Friday: Parallels with the past/Hello again!

It’s just two days until Australia’s newest free-to-air channel stops the ad loop and starts broadcasting its own set of programs.

Yes, at last Channel Eleven, the latest addition to Network Ten’s stable of channels, will rise and become Australia’s promised new “entertainment channel” aimed at younger audiences. Now, last time I checked, that was the job description of Channel Ten!

I found this tribute to bad taste in music, fashion and hair on YouTube. An ad for TEN Brisbane from 1991, it writes out for us at the end that “t – e – n” spells out “the entertainment network”!

t – e – n that’s entert….. oh, sorry. Catchy, isn’t it!

Twenty years later, Ten has had to shift its focus to be able to take on the big two commercial networks in Australia – Networks Nine and Seven. So, channel Eleven is in many ways Channel Ten, attempt number two.

The similarities between the Channel Ten of yesteryear and Channel Eleven are obvious. Remember how the 1991 advertisement started with the Simpsons and spliced the characters throughout? If you haven’t already seen it, take a look at the advertisement for Eleven:

THE ENTERTAINMENT CHANNEL! IT LIVES AGAIN!

With the number of Australians on digital television between  just 70 and 80 per cent, it is remarkable that Ten has moved the Simpsons, one of its flagship programs, completely over to digital-only Eleven! And then at the end of the month Neighbours will be joining it!

Ten will be investing 20 million dollars to improve its news offerings on the main channel to replace the Simpsons and Neighbours, competing with Seven and Nine’s news services. ^{(Ten news)}

Anyway, if you decide on Tuesday that you need entertaining, switch your digital dial to number 11.