History+of+TV+in+Australia

History of TV in Australia

Although the first television broadcast began on 1926 in England, it wasn't until after World War 2 did television spread to Australia. The first recorded words on Australian television was 'Good Evening and Welcome to Television', spoken by Bruce Gyngell on 16 September 1956. Melbourne and Sydney were the first to get T.V. which was transmitted by three television stations. During this time, the Melbourne Olympic Games was broadcasted, along with 'Bandstand', a variety music program, 'Autumn Affair', a serial drama, and 'World of Sport', a sports program, all of which lasted for more than 10 years. In 1959, television was introduced to Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia. Most of the television programs were from America and Britain.

Tasmania received television in 1960 and the Australian Capital Territory in 1962. In 1964, the police drama 'Homicide' was screened and became a major success, continuing on for 12 years. It was during the 1960s, did Australia began receiving daily news reports from satellites. In the mid-1960s, Channel 0 (now Channel 10) began broadcasting which lead to the demand of more Australian content, such as dramas which became popular.

Television was not introduced to the Northern Territory until 1971. In 1975, colour television began. 1972, 'Number 96', an evening drama series is release and provokes controversy over its sexually explicit scenes which leads to other dramas with similar content.

Five main free-to-air networks in Australia:
 * ====Seven Network (Channel Seven, Seven) - launched in 1956====
 * ====Nine Network (Channel Nine, Nine) - launched in 1956====
 * ====Network Ten (Channel Ten, Ten) - launched in 1964====
 * ====ABC Television - launched in 1956====
 * ====Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) - founded in 1975====

1980’s:

 * ====The multicultural Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) was Australia’s second Government-funded “public broadcasting radio and television network” and was launched in 1980 (in Sydney and Melbourne on Channel 0/28). SBS’s purpose is quoted as “to provide multilingual and multicultural radio and television services that inform, educate and entertain all Australians and, in doing so, reflect Australia’s multicultural society”.====
 * ====AUSSAT, a domestic satellite, was launched with the aim to broadcast to Australia’s remote areas.====
 * ====On March 18, 1985, the Australian soap opera, //Neighbours//, was first broadcasted.====

1990’s:

 * ====Aggregation (when things are considered equal/as a whole) was introduced to Australian television. This provided viewers from both regional and metropolitan areas with the same three channels. In March, 1989, New South Wales was the first to use this system.====
 * ====1994 – Community television was introduced to some of Australian’s main cities, including Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.====
 * ====Briz 31 – first community television station launched in July, 1994.====

2000’s-present day:

 * ====The Seven Network broadcasted the 2000 Summer Olympics that were held in Sydney. (More than 6.5 million Australian views).====
 * ====Successful shows e.g. //Kath & Kim// and //Thank God You’re Here//====
 * ====//Big Brother Australia//====
 * ====//Australian Idol//====
 * ====The following Australian free-to-air standard definition TV channels were launched:====
 * ====7TWO – launched in 2009====
 * ====7mate – launched in 2010====
 * ====GO! – launched in 2009====
 * ====GEM – launched in 2010====
 * ====Eleven – launched in 2011====