Timeline of Australian television

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

This timeline of Australian television lists important

programs, major television events, and technological advancements that have significantly changed the forms of broadcasting available to viewers of television in Australia. The history of television in Australia can be traced back to an announcement from the Menzies' government concerning plans for television services in Sydney and Melbourne.[1]

The new

medium was introduced by Bruce Gyngell with the words "Good evening, and welcome to television".[2] Colour television was introduced in 1975, while subscription television, initially on the Galaxy platform, began in the mid-1990s. Digital terrestrial television
was introduced on 1 January 2001 in Australia's five largest capital cities, later to be expanded to smaller cities and regional areas.

1920s

1930s

  • Other experimental transmissions followed in other cities, such as the 30 line Baird system in Brisbane in 1934[5][6] by Tom Elliott and Dr Val McDowall, members of the Royal Society of Queensland, at the amateur station (VK)4CM.[7][8] By 1938 Elliot demonstrated an electronic 180 line version.[6]

1940s

  • Broadcasting tests halted due to the advent of World War 2.[6]
1949
  • Television began in Australia in mid-1949. The Australian Government decided to form a small company to broadcast Australian Sport to the people at home who can't get or afford to go to stadiums, fields and sport courts.

The Television channel for this broadcast was known as "Channel One" and was broadcast on channel service ALG-01.

1950s

1950
  • June:
    ABC Television station in Sydney and other areas subject to funding approval. As well as this, commercial television services in Sydney and Melbourne are planned with "any other capital city where it is felt that the applicant's capacity to provide a service justifies the issue of a licence".[9]
1953
1954
1956
  • 13 July: Test transmissions commence in Sydney on TCN-9 in monochrome.[12]
  • 16 July: HSV-7 Melbourne commences test transmissions in monochrome.[13]
  • 16 September: TCN-9 Sydney launches at 7.00pm. Announcer John Godson is the first voice heard and Bruce Gyngell is the first person seen in-vision, introducing This is Television.[14]
  • 27 October: TCN-9 officially opens.[12]
  • 4 November: HSV-7 Melbourne officially launches.[1]
  • 5 November: The Australian Broadcasting Commission begins television broadcasting with ABN-2 Sydney.[14]
  • 19 November: Melbourne's ABV-2 launches.[1]
  • 22 November:
    GTV-9 test transmissions.[15]
1957
1959

1960s

1960
1961
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967
1968
1969
  • Undated: First fully colour capable production facility opened in Sydney (Video Tape Corp, in East Roseville).

1970s

1971
1972
  • 13 March: Soap opera Number 96 debuts, heralding the night 'Australian television lost its virginity'
  • 20 March: Brisbane channel BTQ-7 claims Australia's first one-hour news bulletin, The Big News[40]
1973
  • In 1973, the only Australian designed and made precision colour television monitor, was produced for local use and international export. The broadcast quality monitor (LDN5006) was developed by Willem Sparrius, Project Engineer at Philips subsidiary company Electronics Engineering Communications and produced at their South Oakleigh plant.[42][43]
1974
1975
  • 1 March: At midnight,
    colour television is introduced across the country. The main networks celebrate with their own unique slogan – Come to Colour (ABC TV), Seven Colors Your World (Seven Network), Living Color (Nine Network) and 0 – First in Color (0-10 Network).[14]
1976
1977
1979

1980s

1980
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
  • 1 January: Nine Network first use of SNG (Satellite News Gathering) in Australia. Transmission from Kingoonya SA for Australia Live 88 which showcased Australia remotely in a four hour broadcast.
  • 2 January: Imparja Television launches in remote eastern and central Australia from studios in Alice Springs.
  • 17 January: Home and Away premieres on the Seven Network as a two-hour pilot and begins as a regular weeknight soap opera the following evening.
  • 20 May: NEW-10 launches in Perth.[45]
  • 10 September: TVQ-0 Brisbane becomes TVQ-10.[45]
1989

1990s

1990
1991
  • 10 February: US animated comedy series
    Network Ten
    .
  • 14 June: SBS TV is permitted by the government to broadcast five minutes of advertising per hour, as a form of additional funding.[48]
  • 31 December: Northern New South Wales is aggregated.[46]
1992
  • 1 January: Aggregation begins to take place in
    Victoria.[46]
  • 3 February: Midday news program The World at Noon is launched on ABC TV.[44]
  • 3 February: Former Europe correspondent for the ABC Ian Henderson takes over as newsreader for the 7.00 pm weeknights ABC News in Victoria.
  • 8 May: An educational television series for children called Lift Off begins being broadcast on ABC every Friday afternoon at 2:00pm. The show will later air on weekdays at 4:30pm on 29 June and on Saturday evenings at 6:00pm on 19 September.
  • 20 July: Children's TV series Bananas in Pyjamas begins on ABC.
  • 27 November:
    subscription television services.[44]
1993
1994
1995
  • 26 January: Galaxy launches Australia's first subscription television service on MMDS.[51]
  • 19 September: Australia's first cable TV provider,
    Optus Vision, begins broadcasting.[52]
1996
1997
1998
1999

2000s

2000
The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics opening ceremony becomes one of the highest-rating programs in Australian television history.
  • 15 September: The
    Australian television.[60]
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
  • 1 January: ABC TV becomes ABC1 and changes its logo along with ABC2.[87]
  • 17 March: The Nine Network launches its new
    9HD
    .
  • 28 April:
    Darwin Digital Television
    , a Network Ten affiliate, is launched.
  • 7 May: SBS TV changes its logo and its on-air look and along with it comes a new slogan - "Six Billion Stories and Counting" and SBS HD become 720p.
  • 3 August: Nine airs the last ever edition of long-running Canberra-based political program, Sunday after 27 years.
  • 8 – 24 August: SBS TV partners up with the Seven Network for joint coverage of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
  • 20 October: Nine relaunches National Nine News as Nine News.
  • 24 November: Freeview Australia is launched across Australia at 6:29pm
2009
  • 26 March: One HD launches – the first commercial digital-only network in Australia.
  • 3 May: Nine launches The Morning News Hour and The Late News (renamed Nightline)
  • 1 June: SBS TV becomes SBS ONE and SBS TWO launches on digital television.
  • 9 August: GO! launches on Channel 99 in Nine-owned areas and Channel 88 in WIN/NBN areas.
  • 1 November: 7TWO launches on Channel 72 in Seven-owned areas.
  • 4 December: ABC3 launches on Channel 23. ABC for Kids on 2, a block on ABC2 from 9am (on weekends, 6am) to 6pm, launches.

2010s

2010
2011
  • 11 January: Eleven launches on Channel 11 in Metro and Channel 55 in Regional areas.
  • 16 January: The Big Red "7" logo expands to Prime & GWN as names Prime7 and GWN7
  • 2 May:
    Central Digital Television, a Network Ten affiliate, commences digital broadcasting in remote areas. ABC for Kids on 2
    rebrands as ABC4 Kids, and expands its time to 6am to 7pm.
  • 8 May: One HD rebrands as One, launching the format with entertainment targeting 25 to 54-year-old men.
  • 18 July: Play School celebrates its 45-year anniversary.
  • 28 July: The channels: 7TWO, GO!, GEM, One, Eleven & 7mate, became available in Albany/Bunbury.
  • 16 September: Television in Australia celebrates its 55th anniversary.
  • 18 September: Television 4 launches on Channel 64 in Prime areas.
  • December: Television 4 rebrands as TV4ME and launches on Channel 74 in Seven-owned areas.
  • 11 November – February 2012: 7TWO, GO!, GEM, One, Eleven & 7mate launches in Mount Gambier/Riverland.
2012
  • 13 January: WIN Television commenced broadcasting of GEM, GO!, One, and Eleven in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area (MIA).
  • 4 March: NBN Television (The first regional television station in NSW as NBN-3 Newcastle) celebrates broadcasting for 50 years to Newcastle and Northern NSW, from as far south as the
    Central Coast to as far north as the Gold Coast and as far west as Gunnedah
    .
  • 26 March: Extra launches on Channel 94 in Eastern Seaboard Metro Markets and Channel 84 in the Northern NSW market.
  • 20 April: WIN Television commenced broadcasting of 7mate in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area (MIA) on LCN 60.
  • 1 May: WIN Gold launches on Channel 84 and Channel 94 in metropolitan areas Perth and Adelaide.
  • 5 May: WIN Gold rebrands as Gold.
  • 5 June: WIN Television commenced broadcasting of 7TWO in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area (MIA) on LCN 66.
  • 24 September: Network Ten to commence broadcasting of datacasting channel TVSN on LCN 14.
  • 27 November: Shutdown of analogue television services: Northern NSW
  • 12 December: NITV commences free-to-air broadcast via SBS
2013
  • Conversion from analogue to digital television is completed: Shutdown of analogue television services: Adelaide SA (2 April); Tasmania (9 April); Perth WA (16 April); Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast QLD (28 May); Regional and Remote WA (25 June); Darwin NT (30 July); Sydney, Central Coast NSW (3 December); Melbourne VIC, Remote Central and Eastern Australia (10 December).
  • 1 April: SBS relaunches digital channel SBS TWO (SBS 2) with a focus on the under-40 age group.
  • C31 Melbourne, C31 Adelaide, C31 Perth, C31 Brisbane, and TVS C31 Sydney goes to Digital 44.
2014
  • 2 February: GO! changes its branding and logo to new ones.
  • 7 July: ABC4 Kids expands its time to 5am to 7pm on ABC2.
  • 20 July: ABC1 rebrands as ABC.
2015
2016
2017
  • 1 January: ABC Kids expands its time to 5am to 7.30pm, ABC2 also expands its time to 7:30pm to 2am.
  • 23 March:
    Southern Cross Television
    relaunches a high definition simulcast of their main channel, Southern Cross HD, in Tasmania on channel 60.
  • 8 April: SBS launches a high definition simulcast of SBS Viceland on channel 31.
  • 10 April: ABC News 24 rebrands as ABC News.
  • 31 May: WIN Television purchases NRN from Southern Cross.
  • 4 December: ABC2 rebrands as ABC Comedy.
2019
  • 8 February: The
    ABC continues to use full-screen and voiced-over boards before the start of a program.[90]
  • 17 May: Your Money ceases to broadcast on channel 95/85.[91]
  • June: 9Gem HD launches on the space vacated by Your Money; in Darwin on 14 June; in Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth on 20 June; and in Sydney and Melbourne on 21 June.[92]
  • 20 June:
    Wide Bay because of insufficient commercial viability to fund those regional news operations.[93]

2020s

2020
2021
2022
2023
  • 15 January: 7Bravo launches on channel 75.
  • 12 April: Southern Cross Austereo-owned GTS/BKN cancels its long-running regional news service effectively immediately. ending over 50 years of news operations for the Spencer Gulf and Broken Hill regions
  • 16 August: 11.15 million people nationwide view the semi-final of the
    Lionesses.[97]

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External links