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HISTORY Origins The Seven Network began as a group of independent stations in Sydney , Melbourne , Brisbane , Adelaide and Perth . HSV-7 Melbourne , licensed to The Herald And Weekly Times Ltd (owners of two local papers at the time, The Herald and The Sun ), was the first station in the country to use the VHF 7 frequency. It launched on November 4 , 1956 , soon joined on December 2 by ''Amalgamated Television Services''' ATN-7 in Sydney . By 1957 the two stations had begun to form content-sharing partnerships with their VHF 9 counterparts - in ATN's case GTV-9 , for HSV, TCN-9 . HSV's relationship with the Victorian Football League , forerunner to the Australian Football League , began in April , 1957 when the station broadcast the first ever live Australian Rules Football match. TVW-7 Perth began broadcasting almost two years later, on October 16 , 1959 . The city's first commercial station was licensed to ''TVW Limited'', owned by West Australian Newspapers , publisher of The West Australian . BTQ-7 Brisbane , the city's second commercial television licensee, followed on November 1 . Throughout this time, the stations operated independently of each other, with schedules comprised of various simple, and relatively inexpensive, programmes - shows such as ''Pick a Box'' and spinoffs of popular radio shows. In the early 1960s, coaxial cable links, formed initially between Sydney and Melbourne, allowed the sharing of programs and simultaneous broadcasts of live shows. Frank Packer , owner of HSV's Sydney partner TCN-9 bought a controlling share of the station's Melbourne counterpart, GTV-9 , in 1960 , in the process creating the country's first television network. HSV and ATN joined together to form the ''Australian Television Network'' in 1963 . ADS-7 in Adelaide was the final capital city station to launch, on July 26 , 1965 . The station later swapped frequencies with SAS-10 , however, in order to become SAS-7 . 1980s Perth-based businessman Robert Holmes à Court , through his business the Bell Group, bought TVW-7 from its original owners, West Australian Newspapers in 1982 . The Herald And Weekly Times , owner of HSV-7 and also ADS-7, was sold to Rupert Murdoch in December , 1986 for an estimated $1.8 billion. Murdoch's company, News Limited sold off HSV to Fairfax soon afterwards, for $320 million. Fairfax went on to axe a number of locally-produced shows in favour of networked content from its Sydney counterpart, ATN-7 (also owned by Fairfax at the time). Cross-media ownership laws introduced in 1987 forced Fairfax to choose between its print and television operations - it chose the former, and later sold off its stations to Qintex Ltd. , owned by businessman Christopher Skase . Qintex had previously bought, and subsequently sold off, stations in Brisbane and regional Queensland before taking control of the network. The next year, another new logo was introduced along with evening soap '' Home And Away '' and a relaunched ''Seven National News'', now known as ''Seven Nightly News''. The network expanded in 1988 when Skase bought out TVW-7 for $130 million. Despite the network's successes, a failed $1.5 billion bid for MGM Studios in the same year sent Qintex into receivership. Christopher Skase fled Australia in 1990 , in order to escape extradition. The business' assets were bundled together by receivers and made into a new company, the Seven Network Limited , in 1991 . 1990s '' in 1995 - Current Affairs program '' Today Tonight '', now with Anna Coren .]] 2000s '', located in the city's Docklands precinct.]] Digital Television was introduced to most of the network's coverage area on January 1 , 2001 - this was soon followed by the gradual introduction of Widescreen and High Definition programming.11 In 2004 , Seven launched the international game show '' Deal Or No Deal '' to the 5.30pm timeslot, and later in the year '' Dancing With The Stars '', based on the BBC 's '' Strictly Come Dancing ''. The year saw launch of a number of new programs from the US network ABC , including '' Desperate Housewives '' and '' Lost ''. 2007 saw Seven launch a ‘7 in 07’ campaign, promoting new shows '' Brothers & Sisters '', '' Heroes '', and '' The Rich List ''. The year also saw the launch of the 'Beautiful Sunday'' lineup comprised of '' Australia's Got Talent '', '' Ugly Betty '', '' Grey's Anatomy '' and '' What About Brian ''. PROGRAMMING New programmes introduced in 2005 led to a ratings increase, following a relatively poor 2004 . A number of programmes introduced in 2006 continued on in 2007 , in addition to many new entries - the bulk of which imported from US Television Networks . Australian programming shown on the network includes medical drama '' All Saints '', police drama '' City Homicide '', lifestyle program '' Better Homes And Gardens '', '' Home And Away '', '' Dancing With The Stars '', '' Deal Or No Deal '', '' Medical Emergency '', '' Hot Property '', travel show '' The Great Outdoors '', as well as '' Australia's Best Backyards '', RSPCA Animal Rescue '', Kath & Kim '', '' Border Security '', '' Surf Patrol '', '' Most Shocking '' and '' The Morning Show ''. Children's programming includes '' Go Go Stop '', '' Playhouse Disney '' and '' Saturday Disney ''. The network has established output deals with a number of American production studios, including '', '' Dirty Sexy Money '', '' Sam I Am '', '' Reaper '' and '' Eli Stone ''. News & Current Affairs '' with Peter Mitchell .]] The Seven Network's news service is called Seven News . After trailing for many years, to National Nine News , Seven rebounded in 2005 , and claimed to be number one in news and current affairs. Seven News produces several news bulletins and programs including; '' Sunrise '', '' Weekend Sunrise '', '' The Morning Show '', '' Seven Morning News '', '' Seven 4.30 News '', '' Seven News '', '' Seven's Late News Updates '', and '' Today Tonight ''. During the early hours of 4am to 6am, Seven rebroadcasts some of American television network NBC 's news and current affairs programming, including '' Today '' and '' Dateline NBC ''. In recent years under the guidance of former longtime National Nine News chief, Peter Meakin, Seven's news and current affairs have produced more locally-focussed content, which has been lifting ratings for key markets such as Sydney and Melbourne . Since 2004 , the ratings of ''Seven News'' and ''Today Tonight'' have gradually increased. ''Seven News'' was the top rating news service nationally in both the 2005 and 2006 Ratings Seasons .15 A key aspect of Seven's recent ratings dominance in news and current affairs has been attributed to television game show '' Deal Or No Deal '', which provides ''Seven News'' with a large lead-in audience.16 Sport .]] Seven is a major player in Australian sports broadcasting. The 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney resulted in huge ratings for the network, with over 6.5 million Australians viewing the telecast of opening and closing ceremonies. The broadcast also ran on the short-lived C7 Sport subscription channel. After the 2001 season Seven ended its famous 45-year run as AFL football broadcaster when the Nine Network and Network Ten , along with pay TV provider Foxtel , jointly won the television rights. On January 5 2006 the Australian Football League accepted a bid from Seven and Ten to broadcast AFL games from 2007 - 2011 at a cost of AU$780 million. Seven's most popular recurring sporting events include the Olympic Games , AFL Premiership Season , the Australian Open Golf , the Australian Open Tennis , Bledisloe Cup Rugby , Melbourne Cup Carnival , Mt Buller World Aerials , the Sydney To Hobart Yacht Race , the Tri-Nations Rugby , V8 Supercars and the Champ Car World Series .. Current schedule Note: ''News and Current Affairs'' are in Grey; ''Drama'' is in Blue; ''Sitcoms'', ''Animation'' and ''Comedy'' are in Purple; ''Lifestyle programs'' are in Green; ''Factual programs'' and ''Documentaries'' are Yellow; ''Reality'', ''Game shows'' and ''Talk shows'' are in Red; ''Sport'' is in Orange; ''Movies'' are in Pink. The above represents Seven's usual primetime schedule. It does not reflect one-off events, and program starting times may vary from those shown. For up-to-date information, see the Seven Network's online television guide. ( link ) AVAILABILITY Seven is simulcast in Analogue , Standard Definition and 1080i High Definition . On March 18 , 2007 , test simulcasts for 1080i commenced in the Sydney and Melbourne markets, Adelaide and Perth followed on June 24 , 2007 , with Brisbane following on June 25 , 2007 , and regional Queensland on June 26 , 2007 . Prior to this, the Seven Network provided a 576p Enhanced-definition service. Seven is broadcast in metropolitan areas and regional Queensland through a number of Owned-and-operated Station s including ATN Sydney, HSV Melbourne, BTQ Brisbane, SAS Adelaide, TVW Perth, as well as STQ Queensland. Seven Network programming is also carried into other areas of regional Australia by locally-branded affiliate networks Southern Cross Television , Prime Television , the Golden West Network , and WIN Television in South Australia . LOGOS The Seven Network has used many logos throughout its history. ''Pre-network logos can be found at the following articles; ATN , HSV , BTQ , SAS , STQ .'' REFERENCES SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS |
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