List of Australian television channels
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Australian television channels include two government owned national networks, three major commercial capital city networks, several regional commercial networks and independent stations that are generally affiliates of the major networks, and a handful of community stations.
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Government networks
Australia has two (and a half) government owned national TV networks:
ABC TV and ABC2
Broadcast by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, ABC TV carries a variety of locally produced news, current affairs, and sports coverage, as well as Australian arts and comedy programming. The ABC is also well known for broadcasting British programming, primarily from the BBC and Channel 4.
On March 7, 2005, the ABC launched a second, digital-only channel named ABC2.
SBS TV
SBS (Special Broadcasting Service) was founded to cater for the roughly 1/3 of Australians that don't speak English in the home. Its role was to complement the ABC.
SBS TV has in recent years moved away from this audience, preferring instead to target a broader-based section of the Australian community. This was in part because of the emergence of pay-TV channels broadcasting entirely in ethnic minority languages, which are better placed to cater for such audiences. (A similar situation has arisen in the UK with Channel 4.) It was always difficult to cater to such a diverse audience as no one language (other than English) has a large proportion of speakers.
However, SBS does operate the SBS World News Channel on digital television, showing news bulletins from Malta to Indonesia. It also is part of the consortium that owns the subscription-only World Movies Channel.
SBS shows many non-English language films with English subtitles, and each morning shows news bulletins from around the world. It also has a lot of English-language PBS, CBC and BBC documentaries, and Comedy Central comedy. Acquired entertainment programs includes the US animated series South Park and the US version of Queer as Folk. It broadcasts the nightly World News in English, and makes other current affairs programs such as Dateline. SBS also commissions documentaries, co-produced with other broadcasters, movies and comedy programs. In the sporting field, it often screens soccer, cycling and athletics. It also screens more opera and classical music programs than the other free-to-air networks.
Imparja
The "half" is Imparja. Imparja is owned by governments of various kinds, including the federal one. Its main channel (known as Imparja) is a commercial station affiliated with Nine and Ten, but it also produces some of its own programs. This makes it a bit like S4C, although Imparja doesn't have S4C's strong alternative language focus.
Imparja also has a second channel which is used for community broadcasting. Many indigenous community broadcasters broadcast Imparja developed material, and content also flows back the other way.
NIRS (the peak Indigenous radio group), is lobbying the government to start a new, nationwide Indigenous TV network. No major political party has championed this cause however. Imparja has stated a desire to run such a network, at least within its licence area (Source).
Federal department DCITA is presently considering funding such a station. Public submissions into this inquiry are available on its website.
Some have argued that all that would be required is the existing system plus some digital terrestrial carriage on the SBS mux, Pay TV carriage, and more funding for local Indigenous media groups.
Commercial stations
Image:Australia television market regions.png
For the purposes of commercial television, Australia has been divided into market regions.
In the 1950s, each major city or regional area - about 50 in all - was its own market region. Three licenses were granted in each of the five major capitals (the exception being Perth which did not receive its third commercial station until 1988<ref>http://televisionau.siv.net.au/eighties.htm</ref>). Each smaller city or region was granted one license.
Between 1989 and 1994,<ref>http://televisionau.siv.net.au/nineties.htm</ref> regional television aggregation occurred. Regional markets were merged into one and (usually) three licenses were granted in the new aggregated area. As some markets were formed by the merger of up to six different individual markets, this meant that some stations had to merge or form partnerships in order to remain competitive. Around the same time, many remote market regions were replaced with two satellite market regions - one for Western Australia, and one for central and eastern Australia - although each of these regions was only granted two licenses.
The markets that remained un-aggregated, are today known as diary markets.<ref>http://www.regionaltvmarketing.com.au/</ref> Some of these were granted a second license, often to the same company that owned the existing license. Some existing two-license areas were also granted a third license, to a joint venture company formed as a partnership of the two existing broadcasters.
Commercial networks
There are three main commercial networks in Australia:
In the five major capital cities, the stations use these names. They are also used in some rural and remote areas.
In other areas, there are stations who contain just as much network programming as these stations, but use different names. In a few areas there are less than three commercial broadcasters, and these three feeds find themselves on two stations.
Most of the commercial stations in the major capitals are owned by the same company that owns the network, and most rural and regional stations are owned by different companies. However, this rule is not absolute (as can be seen in the table below).
Regional and remote commercial networks
Regional and remote on-air names include:
- Golden West Network (GWN)
- Imparja
- NBN Television
- Prime Television
- Seven Queensland
- Southern Cross Television
- Southern Cross Ten
- WIN Television
- WIN Ten
Most stations using these names are clear extensions of the three major networks, and their on-air graphics usually make this very clear. Stations in the two channel markets generally look very much like one of the major commercial networks, with a few programs from one or two others thrown in.
As with the major metro stations, local content is usually only in the form of a nightly news program and advertising. Some stations import all their "local" news though, and some have a lot more local programming, like NBN.
Station ownership
Companies that own one or more commercial television station in Australia include:
- Imparja
- NBN Television
- Prime Television
- Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (owns the Nine Network and four Nine stations)
- Seven Network
- Southern Cross Broadcasting
- Sunraysia Television (owns one Nine station)
- Network Ten
- WIN Television
Ownership and network affiliation do not necessarily align; see the table below for the relationships between stations. Markets served are shown by row; programming affiliation is shown by column; on-air name is shown in the body of the table, along with station ownership in brackets.
| Region Sub-markets | Seven | Nine | Ten |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney Metropolitan area (includes Central Coast and Katoomba) | Image:Channelseven.svg (Seven) | Image:Channelnine.svg (PBL) | Image:Network TEN.svg (Ten) |
| Northern NSW Newcastle, Central Coast, Taree, Coffs Harbour, Lismore, Tamworth, Gold Coast (Qld)6 | Image:Prime Television.svg (Prime) | Image:NBN.svg (NBN) | Image:Southern Cross Ten (New Logo).gif (SCB) |
| Southern NSW Wollongong, Canberra (ACT), Dubbo, Orange, Wagga Wagga | Image:Prime Television.svg (Prime) | Image:WIN.svg (WIN) | Image:Southern Cross Ten (New Logo).gif (SCB) |
| Griffith (NSW) 12 | Image:Prime Television.svg (WIN) | Image:WIN.svg (WIN) | |
| Melbourne Metropolitan area (includes Geelong) | Image:Channelseven.svg (Seven) | Image:Channelnine.svg (PBL) | Image:Network TEN.svg (Ten) |
| Regional Vic Albury/Wodonga, Shepparton, Ballarat, Bendigo, Gippsland | Image:Prime Television.svg (Prime) | Image:WIN.svg (WIN) | Image:Southern Cross Ten (New Logo).gif (SCB) |
| Mildura (Vic/NSW) 2 5 | Image:Prime Television.svg (Prime) | Image:WIN.svg (WIN) | Image:Network TEN.svg (Prime/WIN) |
| Brisbane6 Metropolitan area (includes Gold Coast and southern Sunshine Coast) | Image:Channelseven.svg (Seven) | Image:Channelnine.svg (Nine) | Image:Network TEN.svg (Ten) |
| Regional Qld Maroochydore, Noosa, Caboolture, Toowoomba, Mackay, Cairns, Townsville | Image:Channelseven.svg (Seven) | Image:WIN.svg (WIN) | Image:Southern Cross Ten (New Logo).gif (SCB) |
| Perth Metropolitan area | Image:Channelseven.svg (Seven) | Image:Channelnine.svg (Sunraysia) | Image:Network TEN.svg (Ten) |
| Regional WA (Includes Christmas Island & Cocos (Keeling) Island)3 | Image:GWN Logo.svg (Prime) | Image:WIN.svg (WIN) | |
| Adelaide Metropolitan area (includes Murray Bridge) | Image:Channelseven.svg (Seven) | Image:Channelnine.svg (SCB) | Image:Network TEN.svg (Ten) |
| Regional SA Spencer Gulf, Broken Hill (NSW)1 2 | Image:Logo sc tv.gif (SCB) | Image:Southern Cross Ten (New Logo).gif (SCB) | |
| Regional SA Mt Gambier, Riverland 1 2 | Image:WIN.svg (WIN) | Image:Network TEN.svg (WIN) | |
| Tasmania Hobart, Launceston 4 | Image:Logo sc tv.gif (SCB) | Image:WIN.svg (WIN) | Image:Network TEN.svg (SCB/WIN) |
| Darwin 7 | Image:Logo sc tv.gif (SCB) | Image:Channelnine.svg (PBL) | Image:Logo sc tv.gif (SCB) |
| Remote Central & Eastern Australia (Includes Alice Springs, Mt Isa, Norfolk Island and various other remote parts of NSW, Vic, Qld, SA, Tas and NT.)3 | Image:Logo sc tv.gif (SCB) | Image:Imparja logo.gif (Imparja) | |
1 One company has a monopoly in this area, as ACMA believes it cannot support more than one commercial television company, but it can support two commercial TV stations.
2 This rural area was not agregated during the early nineties, unlike most rural areas. This status is now primarily of historic significance.
3 Transmission is via satellite for remote areas, and via terrestrial broadcast for more developed areas.
4 Tasmanian Digital Television (TDT), a digital only station, began broadcasting in December 2003. Southern Cross, as the former sole broadcaster of Seven and Ten programming in the state, has retained significant Ten programming for the benefit of analogue only viewers. It is expected to align fully with Seven once digital television receivers are common enough that significant advertising revenues can be made via the platform.
5 Mildura Digital Television (MDT) a joint venture company between WIN and Prime, is due to start broadcasting Ten Mildura on January 1 2006. Very little Ten programming is currently available in Mildura (via WIN).
6 While there are a couple of areas where viewers can receive programs from more than one licence area (like the NSW Central Coast), the Gold Coast is a special case. It is the only place where there are overlaping multi-channel commercial TV licence areas. Two sets of commercial stations produce dedicated feeds for the region. Nine goes so far as to produce a special Gold Coast news service, available only in the area. Similarly, Foxtel and Austar compete here, again the only such place in the country.
7 Applications are presently (2006) open for an additional digital-only channel. This channel is expected to be a Network Ten affiliate.
Datacast stations
Datacasting is currently being tested in Sydney using one of the reserved digital spectrum positions. Operated by Broadcast Australia, the service is being tested for a 3 year period, before being reviewed.
Subscription Television
For More Information see: Australian Subscription Television Services
Major Providers
The three major providers in Subscription Television for Australia carry a common service, however each have a number of differences. Foxtel currently 'controls' the common service that Austar and Optus resell. The service is known as the Foxtel Platform.
Austar broadcasts into all of regional Australia (except Western Australia), Hobart and Darwin. Foxtel broadcasts in all capital cities (except Hobart and Darwin), the Gold Cast and southern rural Western Australia. Optus Television operates only in the small parts of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide where it has laid cable.
- Foxtel - owned by Telstra (50%), News Corporation (25%) and PBL (Nine Network) (25%).
- Austar - owned by UnitedGlobalCom and Castle Harlan Australian Mezzanine Partners (CHAMP) Formally Galaxy Pay TV
- Optus Television - operated by Optus, a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore Telecommunications
Other Providers
Localised
- Bright Telecommunications - Available in Perth
- TransTV Digital - Available in Canberra
- Neighbourhood Cable - Available in Geelong, Ballarat & Mildura
National
- UBI World TV - major non-English language service.
- Pan Global TV - major non-English language and Christian channel platform.
- SelecTV - emerging English and other language service.
There are also a number of other services that target specific language speaking groups.
Community stations
Most major cities have a local community station, owned by a local not-for-profit organisation. They are usually collectively known as Channel 31 because most of them transmit on that frequency.
Current stations include:
- Television Sydney (link)
- C31 Melbourne & Geelong (link)
- Briz 31 Brisbane (link)
- Access 31 Perth (and limited retransmission in Albany and Bunbury)(link)
- C31 Adelaide (link)
- LINC TV Lismore (link)
- Bushvision Mt Gambier (and limited retransmission in some ex-BRACS areas)(link)
And dozens of ex-BRACS stations throughout remote Australia.
Aspirant groups in Bendigo, Ballarat, Victor Harbour/Goolwa and Hobart have so far unsuccessfully applied for licences. (Source)
Stations without a Community licence, but with a similar format include:
- Aurora Commmunity TV (National, Sydney based)
- Australian Multicultural TV (National, Sydney based)
- Ballarat Community Cable TV
- Channel NSW (Sydney)
- Channel Vision (Canberra)
- Imparja Info Channel (Remote Australia, Alice Springs based)
- Schools TV (Victorian schools) (Defunct as of December 2005)
- Satellite Community TV (National, NSW based)
- Westlink (National, WA based)
and the Narrowcast TV stations.
Narrowcast stations
Two open narrowcast TV stations are currently operating.
Additionally, a similar channel under a different licencing reigeme is:
- TV Norfolk Norfolk Island
Amateur stations
The Australian Amateur Radio bands include frequencies standard TVs can receive. A few hardcore amateurs make use of this by broadcasting video.
Channel 16 is usually used. Sometimes other frequencies are used, especially those used by satellite TV services. Most transmissions can be viewed and heard on a standard TV, but some transmissions require additional or other equipment.
New South Wales
Television Gladesville (VK2TVG) in Sydney conducts three test transmissions per week on Channel 16, including a three hour live to air program on Wednesday nights.
The Central Coast Amateur Radio Club also has an ATV repeater (VK2RTG) on Channel 16.
VK2RFM is another Sydney repeater located at Oakdale. They use a variety of frequencies, including Channel 16.
VK2RTS broadcasts a good signal from Springwood on 16.
UHF TV Channel 35 was used until July 2001 when the Australian Communications and Media Authority reassigned the channel for digital television.
Victoria
VK3RTV is Melbourne's main amateur transmitter - on Channel 16. This is located on Mt Dandenong, and broadcasts something most nights after 8pm.
References
<references />
See also
- Lists of television channels
- List of Australian radio stations
- List of Australian television callsigns