To be honest I don’t know on what grounds Shepparton was selected for a commercial licence ahead of Albury. Its closer proximity to Melbourne compared to Albury might have also been a factor, given that the ABCB was also planning the national ABC rollout to roughly coincide with the expansion of commercial television. Would have been easier and cheaper to start up in Shepparton and then extend the link to Albury later. (Similar to what happened with Mildura a few years later where it was piggybacked onto the ABC’s link that terminated at Swan Hill)
Also the population of the greater Goulburn Valley region may have been higher than the Albury-Murray region to therefore justify granting a licence.
It’s odd that Shepparton and Albury are considered by SC9 to be one market and thus get a shared bulletin, as when it was SC10, only Shepparton got a program called “Weeknights” at 6.30pm which aired from 2011 to 2015. I think Albury still got “Neighbours” at the time?
“Neighbours” had already moved to Eleven by that point anyway, as the channel had already been on-air when “Weeknights” was launched on SC10 Shepparton. After “George Negus Tonight” was axed at the end of October 2011, it aired at 6pm weeknights, which meant that when the current incarnation of Family Feud first premiered in July 2014, it was only seen on One & Eleven in that region until “Weeknights” was axed in mid 2015.
Today, in areas where WIN has a full local news bulletin at 6pm, Family Feud is aired on Eleven.
But Graham appeared on ATV 10 on its opening day on 10 filmed on the rooftop of the Nunawading studios saying something like “Switch to 10 - you’ll love the view” with Mt Dandenong transmitters in the background. ATV 10 was simulcast on 0 for the first couple of weeks or so after opening.
I also remember Graham doing radio ads for SBS 0-28 at the time of its opening promoting it.
Yes. I believe a generous pay cheque was enough for him to bury any grievances, and the opportunity to be part of what was then a significant event in television. He also changed his tune with Rupert Murdoch taking over ATV from Ansett.
Really interesting discussing going on over at TV Forum about the earliest URLs/websites featured on TV.
Was wondering if anyone knew any early examples of a TV website here in Aus? When did shows and networks first start to really pay attention to the web?
One of the weird facts I recall (and can be confirmed over on archive.org) is that Ten’s domain was originally owned / operated by Telecasters Australia and was a page featuring information on the affiliates rather than the network itself… and I don’t believe this changed until 1998 or 1999.
I’d pinpoint it at around 1997 when Seven and Nine started paying attention to online, although I’d say Nine was first to the punch in actually taking advantage of the internet rather then just putting up a website for the sake of it - Nine’s joint venture with Microsoft (Ninemsn) started in 1997, only about 6 months after MSN created a website for the Australian market. Not long after Ninemsn was established, Seven proceeded to spend years trying to play catch up when portals were the hot new thing on the internet (First with i7, then AOL 7, etc).
Apparently, Cheez TV on Ten was the first show in Australia (in 1995) to have an internet address. Can’t find it on archive.org. Was it cheeztv.com.au?
I think ABC launched its first website around 1995 and they had a show called http which had its own website.
Channel 9 also had a website for its cop drama Good Guys Bad Guys around 1997.
One of the first fan sites i remember was one for ill-fated Channel 10 soap Echo Point. I think they were campaigning for some repreive from the show getting the axe.
I remember Channel 9 with their NineMSN joint venture were also also included with the deployment of Internet Explorer 4 and a feature that program had called Active Channels. I’m pretty sure Channel Nine were the only ones featured although it’s possible 7 may have been as I think I have a vague memory of the split ring logo at that time too. It was with IE4 that Ninemsn became the default homepage for IE in Australia which also gave them a huge advantage. Yahoo and 7 didn’t team up until the early-mid 2000’s I believe and that was after a few failed attempts at websites from 7 including i7, AOL7 and seven.com.au.
Not sure if ABC was first or not as I didn’t get to really experience the internet until after that however they certainly seemed to have the most comprehensive sites and news sites out of all the tv networks into the later 90’s.
August 1995 was when ABC launched online. I don’t believe any of the commercial networks had any significant online presence before ABC.
The ABC embraced the digital age ahead of many oth er media companies, going online in August 1995 with the launch of www.abc.net.au. It was a bold entry into the digital space and marked the ABC as a leading multi-platform broadcaster ahead of its commercial competitors. The move into the online world not only triggered new ways of reaching audiences but changes that would give established ABC programs a new approach. Funding was allocated specifically for online content through the ABC Multimedia Unit to make the new platforms self-reliant.
In the 1989 NSWRL grand final, ABC had the game with David Morrow as the caller, but then Channel 10 had the same game with Greame Hughes and Ian Maurice calling too. Was that common back then?
We must have been way behind the US in screening Batman as both ATN7 and WIN4 were promising two episodes a week. Something usually unheard of for new series from the US.
Source: TV Week
EDIT: Melbourne’s HSV7 was a few weeks behind Sydney in launching Batman, but again it was two episodes a week. It is odd to see Batman listed as a Channel 7 program as for much of my childhood it was a frequent 5.00pm fixture on Channel 10.
It turns out that a number of US shows were delayed coming to Australia as the four major US distributors and Australian networks could not agree on prices for the new season of shows. The deadlock apparently lasted for as long as 18 months and saw a lot of Australian stations having to rely more in repeats instead of launching new US titles or new seasons of existing shows.
Some of the US series held up over to the dispute but introduced to Australia from mid-1967 included Star Trek, The Lucy Show, It’s About Time and Time Tunnel for Nine; Batman, The Man Who Never Was and The Hero for Seven; Mission Impossible, Rat Patrol and The Hero for 0-10; and The Girl From UNCLE, Hey Landlord and Pistols ‘n’ Petticoats for ABC.
Not every area in NSW took Channel 10’s Rugby League coverage and aggregation at the time (1989 Grand Final) was only limited to Wollongong and Canberra. ABC’s coverage was to fill the gaps where Channel 10’s coverage was not seen. Even Sydney got ABC’s coverage. I guess it was a case of which commentary team you preferred. I think that arrangement continued until 1991.
