is one of
Australia 's three commercial
Television Networks . Ten is available in major markets across Australia.
The network, formed in 1965, was initially dubbed the ''Independent Television Network'' or ITN but in 1972 adopted the name the ''0-10 Network'' which reflected the channel 0 and 10 frequencies that it broadcast at the time. In the early 1990s TEN also referred to itself by the
Acronym "The Entertainment Network" in network promotions.
In 1980, the 0-10 Network became known as ''Network Ten'' to reflect ATV-0's transition to
ATV-10 - although the
Brisbane station continued to broadcast as TVQ-0 until 1988.
In 1987, Adelaide's SAS-10 gave ADS-7 the hands of the Ten Network (as ADS-10).
It was nearly folded into the
Seven Network in the early 1990s, but due to the lobbying power of billionaire
Kerry Packer , owner of the
Nine Network , this was successfully resisted.
In 2005, it was revealed CanWest was in discussions with newspaper publisher
John Fairfax Holdings about a possible sale of the network, after the federal government had indicated it may consider relaxing Australia's media cross-ownership laws. Currently, newspaper owners cannot own television stations in the same city. Fairfax owned the Seven Network until the mid 1980s, and has been looking for a way back into television for a long time.
The Ten Network is Australia's most profitable station, mostly due to tight spending habits. Its main focus is on viewers under 40 and for the last four ratings years has won this demographic, in spite of being the lowest rating of the 3 commercial Australian television stations overall.
The Ten Network has headquarters in the Sydney suburb of
Pyrmont , which is where all national news programming and the network feed are broadcast from.
Network Ten is listed on the
Australian Stock Exchange (). Its largest shareholder at 57.5% is Canada's
CanWest Global Communications .
Channel Ten is heavily reliant on its overseas product and has been labelled the "''
The Simpsons '' and ''
Law & Order '' Channel". Its target audience is 16-39 year olds.
Network Ten's overseas product includes:
The local content that Ten does produce is mostly
Reality Television , including:
''For full list of Ten programs see: ''
In 2002, Ten acquired broadcast rights for Saturday afternoon and Saturday night games in the
Australian Football League , the elite Australian Rules Football competition, displacing the Seven Network which had held the rights for more than 40 years. The deal also assigned the rights for finals broadcasting to Network Ten. From 2007 to 2011, Ten will jointly broadcast the AFL with the Seven Network, continuing to broadcast the Saturday component of the competition. However unlike the previous deal Ten will not hold the exclusive rights to the finals series, the networks will alternate (year on year) the broadcasting of the finals series and grand final, where the network not broadcasting the Grand Final will be broadcasting the
Brownlow Medal count.
The Ten Network also holds the broadcast rights to the following sporting events:
Network Ten's news service is called
Ten News . Ten News operates on a much smaller budget than its competitors, it produces the following bulletins/programs:
Callsigns for Network Ten stations in the capital cities:
Network Ten programming is also carried by the following affiliate networks:
- Imparja - Remote Central and Eastern Australia (non-exclusive)
In early 2006, Network TEN released advertisements which included a person displaying a sign 'I Hate Chris', assumably for
Comic Appeal . This heated controversy as Christian associations argued that it seemed like 'I Hate Christ'. Churches combined support to petition against it, however the "I hate Chris" advertisement was for the upcoming premiere of the
Sitcom Everybody Hates Chris a show based on the childhood of comedian
Chris Rock .
Network TEN has also been under fire by conservative groups and Liberal Backbenchers last year for its reality TV show,
Big Brother . In BB5, Ten have been since criticised for selecting particularly promiscuous housemates in an attempt to boost ratings. Three incidents by these housemates were slammed, all broadcast on it's ''Big Brother Uncut'' show, including one involving a housemate with his fly open whilst giving a massage to a female housemate. Another was where a housemate wrote a fetish song about 'skidmarks'. The third was a 'cumulative' rating where all the segments in the show together pushed it above the 'MA15+' rating (the highest rating allowed on TV in Australia). There were calls for TV to be rated by an independent body rather than in-house, but the proposal was scraped after the controversy died down. From the 2006 series, Ten now will not be broadcasting the ''Uncut'' show live, and will have two censors to review the show instead of one. Federal Minister for Communications Senator
Helen Coonan is reported to say she would be keeping a "close watch on the show's 2006 series"
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