Country | Australia |
---|---|
Programming | |
Language(s) | English |
Picture format | 576i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV) |
Ownership | |
Owner | Main Event Television |
Sister channels | Foxtel Networks channels |
History | |
Launched | September 1997 |
Former names | Event TV (Foxtel) Main Attraction (Austar and Optus Vision) |
Links | |
Website | mainevent.com.au |
Main Event (previously known as Event TV or Main Attraction) is Australia's only sports pay-per-view channel. [1] It transmits through Foxtel and Kayo. It broadcasts major sporting and entertainment events such as boxing, professional wrestling, mixed martial arts and concerts. [1]
The channel has broadcast the Anthony "The Man" Mundine vs. Danny Green boxing fight and has broadcast nearly every World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-view since 2000 (There was a contract negotiation period that prevented the WWE from showing WWE pay-per-views between January 2003 and August 2003). Since May 2006 it has also been broadcasting Total Nonstop Action Wrestling pay-per-views, and since 2007, the Ultimate Fighting Championship started screening their PPV's. It also broadcast WWE's weekly programming (for free) over a 2-week period during 2006 while Fox8 was screening a marathon of The Simpsons. The channel would similarly do the same in early 2015 when Fox8 broadcast every episode of The Simpsons.
In previous years, Main Event has also broadcast large concerts for artists such as Christina Aguilera and Beyoncé Knowles. In November 2008, the channel broadcast a live concert at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne from Dutch violinist, conductor and composer, André Rieu.
During the Australian Football League's 2007–2011 broadcast rights period, Friday Night Football matches as well as selected games played on Saturday afternoon, Saturday night and Sunday afternoon were shown on Main Event to Fox Sports (Australia) subscribers in New South Wales, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory. [2] Viewers in Victoria, in contrast, did not receive any National Rugby League matches live on this channel, even if their local team. the Melbourne Storm, was playing.
The AFL arrangement ceased as of season 2012, as free-to-air rights holder the Seven Network were permitted to screen these games to northern states on its digital terrestrial multichannel, 7mate. [3]
On 3 September 2013, Main Event launched a HD simulcast. This came following the closure of Foxtel 3D due to an insufficient amount of 3D content being produced, while the majority of premium pay-per-view content shown on Main Event is produced and acquired in HD. [4] [5]
Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast.
BBC UKTV is an Australian pay television channel in Australia and New Zealand, screening British entertainment programming, sourced mainly from the archives of the BBC, RTL Group and ITV plc. The channel was originally a joint venture with Foxtel, the RTL Group and BBC Worldwide. It is now owned solely by BBC Studios. It is the home of the channel's flagship programme The Graham Norton Show.
NXE Australia Pty Limited, trading as the Foxtel Group, is an Australian pay television company—operating in cable television, direct broadcast satellite television, and IPTV streaming services. It was formed in April 2018, superseding an earlier company from 1995. The service was established as a 50/50 joint venture between News Corporation and Telstra, with News Corp and Telstra holding 65% and 35% ownership shares respectively.
Fox8 is an Australian pay television channel available on Foxtel, and Optus Television's subscription platforms. It is the most watched subscription television channel in Australia. A high definition version of the channel, Fox8HD, was launched on the Foxtel and Austar platforms on 15 November 2009.
Eurosport is a French group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through its international sports unit, it operates two main channels—Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territories, and streams on Max and Discovery+, which superseded Eurosport Player.
WWE Heat is an American professional wrestling television program that was produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and aired from August 2, 1998 to May 30, 2008. Originally produced under the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) banner, it aired on USA Network (1998–2000), MTV (2000–2003), and TNN/Spike TV (2003–2005) in the United States, CTV Sportsnet in Canada, and Channel 4, Sky1, and Sky Sports in the United Kingdom. From 2002, due to the WWE brand extension, Heat served as a supplementary show to the Raw brand, focusing more exclusively on its mid-card performers and matches, and was recorded before the week's television taping of Raw.
SoHo was an Australian pay television channel. Originally launched as FX in 1995 and oriented towards classic programming, it was rebranded as W. and shifted its focus to women's programming on 1 November 2003. Later, on 20 August 2012, it was again rebranded as SoHo and shifted its focus to drama television series.
SuperSport is a South African-based group of television channels carried on the DStv & Canal+ satellite platforms alongside the GOtv terrestrial platform and Showmax for live sports programming. It provides sports content in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and many other African countries.
Fox Footy is an Australian rules football subscription television channel dedicated to screening Australian rules football matches and related programming. It is owned by Fox Sports Australia operated out of its Melbourne based studios and available throughout Australia on Foxtel, and Optus Television. The channel is a revival of the former Fox Footy Channel, which was in operation between 2002 and 2006. The channel recommenced prior to the 2012 AFL season after a new broadcast agreement was reached between the former Premier Media Group, Austar, Foxtel and the Australian Football League (AFL).
Fox Sports Australia Pty Limited is the division of Foxtel that owns and operates the Fox Sports television networks and digital properties in Australia. The group operates nine Fox Sports Channels as well as Fox Sports News, Fox Cricket, Fox League, Fox Footy, Watch AFL and Watch NRL. Fox Sports channels such as Fox Netball are available via Foxtel or Kayo. The group's main competitors are beIN Sports, ESPN, Optus Sport and Stan Sport. Unlike The American Fox Sports, the group is not owned directly by the Fox Corporation. However News Corp which holds a 65% stake in Foxtel is Fox Corporation's sister company.
Professional wrestling in Australia makes up a small part of Australian culture. Unlike the North American or Japanese products which have large, globally renowned organisations such as WWE, AEW, New Japan Pro-Wrestling or Impact Wrestling with several hundred smaller promotions, Australia only has approximately 30 smaller independent circuit promotions which exist in all Australian states and territories. Tours from the North American product are regularly sold out in capital cities such as Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.
AB1(formally AB Channel 1 until 1995) is a French television channel aimed at young adults.
ESPN Australia is the Australian division of ESPN, part of the ESPN International grouping. It is offered in Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Islands.
Dahlia TV was an Italian pay-per-view television network available on digital terrestrial television, offering 12 widescreen channels. Telecom Italia Media owns a 9% stake in the company.
7mate is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, which was launched by the Seven Network on 25 September 2010. The channel contains sport and regular programs aimed primarily to a male audience, with programming drawn from a combination of new shows, American network shows and other shows previously aired on its sister channels Seven, 7two and 7flix.
Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group, and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It has played a major role in the increased commercialisation of British sport since 1991, and has sometimes played a large role inducing organisational changes in the sports it broadcasts, most notably when it encouraged the First Division to break away from the Football League to form the Premier League in 1992.
Sky Arena is a pay-per-view channel operated in New Zealand by Sky Network Television. Until 2015 Sky Arena was also spin-off event promoter company jointly owned by Sky and VADR Media. Sky Arena screens events on such as professional wrestling, mixed martial arts, boxing and concerts. The David Tua vs Monte Barrett during August 2011 was the first Sky Arena event screened in 1080i high-definition. The biggest event in PPV New Zealand history was David Tua vs Shane Cameron. The event has the record with the most buys with 88,000 buys in New Zealand. The channel previously screened WWE pay-per-view events until January 2022, when Sky's pay-per-view rights agreement ended with WWE.
ITV Box Office was a pay-per-view channel from ITV plc launched in February 2017, and ceased operations in January 2020. The channel was available in HD-only on Sky, and events were also available on demand only on Virgin Media (UK) and TVPlayer. It was the only ITV channel that was broadcast in Ireland on Sky.
TAP Sports is a Philippine pay television network of sports channels owned by TAP Digital Media Ventures Corporation. It was launched on April 14, 2019, under two separate channels carried by Sky Cable, and was later relaunched the following year.