Unlike its Winter Olympics packages earlier this year, the pay TV giant is giving its sports subscribers all the events without any additional fee.

There will be six dedicated high-definition and six standard-definition channels bringing over 500 hours of live events.

This includes a highlights channel bringing you all the best of the day's events, hosted by news veteran, Steve Liebmann. It will also include live gymnastics.

CEO Kim Williams said: "We will offer our customers even more value for their Foxtel subscription by offering them - for free to all sports subscribers - the most comprehensive coverage of any sporting event ever in Australian television history through our six superb new interactive channels in high definition and standard definition.

"Foxtel will broadcast, live and in full, every single session of the swimming (heats and finals), diving, track athletics, track and road cycling, rugby sevens and gymnastics.

"And we'll also broadcast live and in full every single Australian men's and women's hockey match and every netball match featuring our Australian team."

Set to launch from October 4, the channels are as follows:

DELHI 1 GOLD: daily highlights and live gymnastics.

DELHI 2: swimming and diving

DELHI 3: athletics (track)

DELHI 4: athletics (field)

DELHI 5: cycling and rugby sevens

DELHI 6: hockey and netball

Other medal events to be covered include synchronised swimming, tennis, boxing, lawn bowls, badminton, wrestling, squash, archery, shooting and table tennis.

Once again there will be interactive applications via iQ/iQ2 and streaming broadcast at foxtel.com.au/delhi2010.

For those who are not subscribers there will be a stand-alone package of AUS$85 or the monthly sports tier subscription of AUS$16.

Free-to-air coverage will be broadcast by the TEN Network across the two weeks of the games. Both TEN and Foxtel this week have dismissed some media reports that venues may not be ready in time for the games, which begin on October 3.

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In a first for ABC TV, the new series of Doctor Who will launch on the iView online video platform two days before it airs on ABC1, and just under two weeks after its UK debut on the BBC.

From midnight Friday, April 16, Australian fans can stream the first episode at abc.net.au/iview, ahead of its TV broadcast at 7:30pm Sunday, April 18 on ABC1.

However, the remaining episodes will only be on iView after they air on TV, where they will be available for two weeks. ABC plans to fast track the series, with weekly episodes continuing to air two weeks after their UK showing.

The titles of the first six episodes have also been revealed:

Episode 1: The Eleventh Hour

Episode 2: The Beast Below

Episode 3: Victory of the Daleks

Episode 4: The Time of Angels

Episode 5: Flesh and Stone

Episode 6: Vampires of Venice

Kim Dalton, director of Television at the ABC, says: “iView is a fantastic offering, an additional way for Australian audiences to watch ABC TV’s content - generally after, but in this special case before, its television broadcast.

“We hope the lure of Doctor Who - and what a fun and exciting lure it is - will provide incentive for more viewers to discover iView, and experience how convenient and easy to use it is.”

Matt Smith (Party Animals) who plays the 11th Doctor in the new series, was introduced in the final episode of the last series “The End Of Time: Part Two”, which wrapped up David Tennant’s role as the 10th Doctor.

Karen Gillan also joins the cast as the Doctor’s companion, Amy Pond, though she previously appeared on the show as a soothsayer in the fourth episode “The Fires of Pompeii”.

Award-winning writer Steven Moffat (Coupling, Jekyll) will replace Russell T. Davies as lead writer and executive producer.

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In a deal with BBC Worldwide Australia, both the Australian and UK series will move to the commercial network after four years on SBS.

"We are thrilled to create a unified home for the Top Gear brand in Australia," said Julie Dowding, BBC Worldwide Australia's sales director. The Top Gear Australia magazine is published by magazine arm of Nine's parent company, PBL Media.

"This country is Top Gear's biggest territory outside the UK. We greatly look forward to developing its potential with a long-standing partner like Nine."

David Gyngell, chief executive of the Nine Network, described the Top Gear agreement as a landmark partnership with BBC Worldwide.

"We are absolutely delighted to be working together with one of the world's great broadcasting powerhouses on a program of this quality and wide appeal," he said. "Top Gear is quite simply an outstanding television product, and linking the experience and expertise of BBC Worldwide with the proven capacity of the Nine Network is a great outcome."

"We are genuinely excited to have Top Gear under the Nine banner and look forward to bringing it to an even wider audience," he added.

The announcement comes as a blow to SBS, with managing director Shaun Brown admitting "It is disappointing that a brand SBS has spent many years building is moving to a commercial network.

"SBS was the only Australian network brave enough to take on the irreverent series in 2005 and we have built it into successful event television with a dedicated audience. We are proud of what we have achieved with Top Gear.

"SBS, with its limited resources, lives with the knowledge that while it can discover and develop great programs and events, it cannot always defend them from the aggressive bids of well-heeled competitors."

What do you think of the move? Comment below and vote in our poll.

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