ORF III was launched on 26 October 2011, and is described by some as Austria's third terrestrial television channel, although there has been some controversy as to whether it can be considered a full channel (Vollprogrammsender), since it has a stong focus on culture and information, rather than mainstream programming. The question therefore arises of whether the channel really is a new terrestrial channel or not. The answer in short is "No!" The background is that if anything it is closer to a rebranding of TW1 - which has been fully owned by ORF since 2005, having broadcast since 1997. It ceased to broadcast with the launch of ORF III. However, where the two differ is that whereas TW1 shared a channel with ORF Sport Plus (which usually showed football or tennis or national sports competitions), ORF III is a channel in its own right - on a non-shared channel with all-day programming.

Predecessor TW 1's programming output had always concentrated notably on tourism and weather - whereas the programming of ORF III focusses on culture, the arts, regional issues, European and integration issues. In defence of whether the new channel is a full channel or a niche interest channel (Spartensender), the range of programming has been substantially broadened, and its programming is thematicised by day. Monday focusses on documentaries; Tuesday on art and culture; Wednesday on religion and knowledge; Thursday on Europe and international issues; Friday is "Austrian Day" with programming by Austrians; Saturday focusses on contemporary history, with Sunday focussing on opera, theatre and concerts.

At the same time ORF Sport Plus has also expanded its output to round the clock broadcasting. However, from first impressions ORF 1 will continue to broadcast blue riband events (e.g. Formula 1, Tennis, Skiing) rather than all sports coverage being moved to ORF Sport Plus, so those who had hoped to actually watching something other than wall-to-wall skiing in the winter on ORF 1 look set to be disappointed!

UPC subscribers will not need to retune their set top boxes - this has been carried out automatically. Since the "new" channels are also available over DVB-T it might be necessary to do a program scan on your set-top box to get the new channels, but this is usually a pretty straightforward process in any case.

ORF III programme guide
ORF Sport Plus programme guide