The is an
Australia n
Television Network , available in major markets across Australia. Nine's wide range of news, sport and entertainment programming has led to consistently strong viewing figures for many years.
Their slogan "Still the One" refers to their long lasting popularity, being the most popular network seemingly since the introduction of television in Australia.
The network's headquarters is in
Willoughby , a suburb in the northern suburbs of
Sydney . From here the network signal is broadcast to other network stations and regional affiliates. All nationally-broadcast news programmes emanate from studios there.
Nine owns many stations in Australia and they also own shares in stations outside of Australia:
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On
January 30 2006 , the Nine Network and its affiliate stations relaunched to co-incide with Nine's 50th year of broadcasting.
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The decision to relaunch was made by interim CEO
Sam Chisholm and late PBL Deputy Chairman
Kerry Packer early in 2005. Rumours of a new logo surfaced after a damaging newspaper advertisement featuring the "Nine dots" from the
Seven Network went unresponded by Nine.
The new logo designed by
Bruce Dunlop Associates lacks Nine's distinctive Nine dots, which had been an Australian television icon since
1974 . The rebranding of Nine also sees ''
National Nine News '', ''
A Current Affair '', ''
Today '', ''
Nightline '' and the
Wide World Of Sports receive fresh, new looks.
On
28 January 2006 , television history website
aus.tv.history displayed an image what it claimed to be the new Nine Network logo, which was, true to form, a number nine in a box without the dots. The nine is in the same font as the now previous "9" logo.
Channel Nine is Australia's highest rating television network. In 2005
Seven had a ratings resurgence on the back of US hits ''
Lost '' and ''
Desperate Housewives '', scaring Channel Nine and even winning consecutive weeks before a strong return to form from Nine as the year progressed. Channel Nine relies heavily on overseas programming (mostly from the American
CBS network), including:
Channel Nine also broadcasts some Australian-made programming such as:
''For full list of Nine's television programs see:
Nine bases their
Summer schedule around broadcasts of
Cricket , for which it has owned the local broadcast rights since
World Series Cricket in the late 1970s. Its cricket broadcasts in that era revolutionised the way the sport was covered, featuring camera placed at both ends of the field (after Packer famously complained about seeing "cricketer's bums" every second over), instant replays, and other innovations.
In 2002 Nine acquired broadcast rights for Friday night and Sunday games in the
Australian Football League , the elite Australian Rules Football competition, displacing the Seven Network which had held the rights for over 40 years. The deal assigned the rights for finals broadcasting to Network Ten, a deal which reportedly flabbergasted Packer. In January 2006, the
Seven Network &
Ten Network exercised their "first and last" rights agreement with the AFL to trump the Nine Network's $780 Million bid for broadcasting rights from season 2007-11. If Seven & Ten are unable to match the AFL's "quality of coverage" demands by May 5 2006 - better coverage into regional areas, northern states and on pay television, as promised in the Nine bid - the AFL are allowed to award the broadcasting rights back to Nine. Channel Seven always planned on using their right to match Nine's bid, which fuels speculation this could have been PBL and the AFL's strategy from the beginning. The sudden acceptance of the Seven & Ten deal by the AFL, and continued silence on the issue from Nine, the AFL's preferred broadcaster, suggests this may be the case.
It is also widely speculated that Nine and
Foxtel will make a joint bid for the
Vancouver 2010 and
London 2012 Olympic Games.
Channel Nine hold the broadcast rights to the following events:
The Nine Network's news service is called
National Nine News and is generally
Conservative in its reporting. National Nine News was always Australia's top-rating, though not necessarily the most- comprehensive, news service. National Nine News produces the following bulletins/programs:
National Nine News also assist in production of:
Callsigns for Nine Network stations in the capital cities:
Nine Network programming is also carried by the following affiliate networks:
The passing of Kerry Packer has further fueled speculation that PBL may sell their stake in the Nine Network and instead focus on their lucrative gambling ventures. Current PBL Chairman James Packer is said to be less interested in the media interests of PBL than his father. A major challenge for the network is its increasingly older audience. As its audience has grown older and more conservative in its tastes, the network is finding it difficult to adapt to attract a younger viewership, while retaining its existing viewers. Its rival Channel Ten has been more successful in this regard. Similarly, its unsophisticated and at times low-brow programming has failed to attract viewers with high disposable incomes.
On 13 February 2006, the host of Who Wants To Be a Millionaire and the AFL Footy Show,
Eddie McGuire , started his 3 year position as CEO of the Nine Network.
