Foxtel launch new television and audio channels

Foxtel launched their revitalised music offerings last night with a lavish event on Sydney Harbour, which featured an intimate performance by Alicia Keys.

::GALLERY: FOXTEL LAUNCH NEW MUSIC CHANNELS

Foxtel viewers may have noticed a radical shift in the music programming yesterday, with the introduction of two new MTV channels, a host of ad-free audio stations, and a new easy-listening channel, SMOOTH.

SMOOTH is an expansion of the successful radio station smoothfm, which launched last year, and features similar programming. Cameron Daddo has been appointed as the face of the channel.

Paul Jackson, DMG Radio’s Group Program Director, spoke to TMN last month, stating: “This is the first time in Australia that a radio station has launched on TV. The female audience across both TV and radio provides a strong opportunity to leverage a brand like smoothfm that has become hugely popular in Australia.”

MTV Music, an Australian version of the UK’s number one music channel, and MTV Dance – the iconic youth broadcaster’s first 24 hour channel to exclusively feature electronic, hip hop and R n’ B – also launched yesterday.

::READ MORE ABOUT MTV’s NEW CHANNELS

Foxtel has also replaced Foxtel Air with Foxtel Tunes, consisting of 30 ad-free audio channels. Foxtel Tunes sees a number of channels refreshed. Max 90s Hits harks back to those heady days. [V] Buzz replaces Faster Louder and features the indie, the undiscovered and the upcoming. [V] Pop takes the place of Chart Countdown, with a new station that complements [V] Rock, [V] Urban and MTV Dance. CMC Rocks is a complementary channel brand to blend the audio music experience with its CMC TV channel counterpart.

Finally, Molly Meldrum has joined the MAX team. He will host a variety of shows, including a countdown of the top 100 Greatest Australian Songs Of All Time, set to air on Australia Day.