ABC TV (Australian TV channel) (PatrZDZ's vision)

**ABC Television** is an Australian national public television network. It is owned and operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and is the flagship ABC Television network. The headquarters of the ABC Television and the ABC are in Ultimo, an inner-city suburb of Sydney, New South Wales.

The network began operating on 5 November 1956 as the ABC National Television Service, starting in Sydney, followed by Melbourne, with other stations being established in state capitals and regional areas in the following years. In the 1960s and 1970s, the network was also referred to as ABC National Television, or ABC Television. Until the introduction of digital television in 2001, the network was the only domestic television service broadcast by the ABC.

## History

### Origins

In 1953 the Television Act was passed, providing the initial regulatory framework for both ABC Television and commercial television networks under the ABC. The ABC's 1956 Annual Report stated that it aimed to create a "television service as truly national in character as its resources will permit".

The first ABC station was launched in Sydney, ABN-2, followed by Melbourne's ABV-2 in Melbourne, in time to cover the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, with the first television broadcast was inaugurated by prime minister Robert Menzies on 5 November 1956 at the Gore Hill studios in Sydney, followed two weeks later by transmission in Melbourne. A purpose-built television studio opened in Sydney on 29 January 1958, replacing the temporary sound studios used the service's inception. In the same year, technical equipment was also moved to permanent locations, while main transmitters were introduced to Melbourne and Sydney in 1957 and 1958 respectively. Services had expanded to all of the other states by the end of June 1960.

### 1960s to the 1990s

Direct television relays between Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra were established in 1961, and in 1963, using microwave transmission as a temporary measure, television programs from Adelaide were viewed simultaneously across the four eastern capitals. Videotape equipment, allowing the sharing of footage with much greater ease and speed, was installed in each state capital by 1962.

Teletext services were introduced to the television service in 1983 to allow hearing impaired viewers access to closed captions. Nationwide, successor to This Day Tonight, was replaced in turn by a new, hour-long, national news program called The National. Having proved unsuccessful, it reverted to a state ABC News bulletin at 7:00pm, with a state-based edition of The 7.30 Report following afterwards. Lateline and Media Watch also launched in the 1980s.

### 2000s

In 2001 a new logo was launched, featuring a modification to a three-dimensional metallic design, to celebrate the introduction of digital terrestrial television in Australia, when digital television was introduced to most of the network's coverage area on 1 January 2001, soon followed by the gradual introduction of widescreen and high definition programming. On 1 August 2001 on channel 21, ABC Kids was launched, becoming the first digital multi-channel service, with Fly TV following soon afterwards, but both had limited availability, and were closed in a round of funding cuts in 2003.

### 2005–2008: Change of status

On 7 March 2005 a new digital channel called ABC2 was launched, according to then Director of ABC New Media and Digital Services Lynley Marshall, "like the 'younger sibling' of ABC main channel", running on a very low budget. A large amount of its schedule was dedicated to regional issues, with programs such as Australia Wide, Landline and Stateline.

2011–present: Rebranding and renaming
In 2011, ABC launched its new branding via idents featuring a range of channel personalities, including the face of the channel Adam Hills, with the new tagline "ThinkEntertainment". In 2014, ABC introduced new idents featuring the 1975 Lissajous curve logo being drawn by itself of videos of people doing activities (taken from ABC Open's video library). Then, the words "It's (Insert Words Here)'s ABC" (the words change depending on the ident) fade in on the left side of the logo. The words then change to "#OurABC", which is the network's new slogan. In 2018, these idents were updated. The "#OurABC" slogan at the end of each ident was changed to "Yours". The 1975 logo was reinstated in 2019.

ABC stopped broadcasting on analogue TV in 2013, it is now only available through digital TV or digital set-top box.

## Programming

ABC is required by charter to meet certain programming obligations. Although it has a strong focus on news and current affairs, it also presents documentaries and educational programs, drama, light entertainment comedy and variety, and sports.

### News, Analysis & Investigations

ABC News, broadcast on ABC1, is a national news service produced by the News and Current Affairs division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. A number of bulletins and updates are shown throughout the day, which include the flagship state-based evening bulletins of ABC News at 7.00pm, focused on local, national and international news relevant to their entire respective state or territory. In addition, The Midday Report, a national weekday edition of ABC News, is broadcast at noon live from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's studios in Ultimo, Sydney. News updates for ABC1 are presented nationally throughout the day, however evening updates are shown in most states by their respective presenters. ABC News Breakfast is also broadcast on ABC2 and ABC News 24.

Other flagship programmes, which include Four Corners, Australian Story, Foreign Correspondent, Lateline and The 7.30 Report, are broadcast in primetime and are widely-regarded for their agenda-setting journalism. Similarly, each state-based station produces and broadcasts their respective edition of Stateline in primetime, which includes one for every state and territory of Australia. In addition, Landline, Insiders, Media Watch and At the Movies cover rural, political and business, and media affairs respectively.

### Sport

ABC Sport currently holds the broadcast rights to a range of sports, which are broadcast on ABC, these include the Women's Australian Open, Netball World Championships, W-League, Women's National Basketball League, AFC Womens Asian Cup as well as state football league competitions which include Australian rules football and rugby league. In addition to this, the ABC also holds the rights to the Paralympic Games, Australian Rugby Championship and the Hopman Cup tennis tournament.

ABC Sport currently broadcasts a Grandstand Sport which included the state football league such as New South Wales Rugby Union, Queensland Rugby League, Victorian Football League, Tasmanian Football League, South Australian Football League, West Australian Football League, and Northern Territory Football League. in addition to Tiwi Islands Football League and Australian Rugby Championship.

## Availability

ABC varies depending on state and territory in terms of what 7:00 pm news bulletin, edition of Stateline, and some promotions, are shown. National programming is often interrupted to show state election coverage. Each state and territory's individual station is based on that of its capital city, meaning that in the state of Victoria, all programmes originate from either Melbourne or Sydney, where the remainder of programmes are broadcast from. ABC is broadcast nationally via ABC Television transmitters, in an standard definition format.

### ABC HD

The ABC HD multi-channel was launched on 1 January 2008. The service provided a 720p simulcast of ABN Sydney nationwide. The channel was closed on 22 July 2010 and its HD channel space was re-purposed for ABC News 24. ABC HD was relaunched on 6 December 2016 as a simulcast of ABC, localised to each state, reducing the news channel to SD.

### ABC iview

Most ABC TV programs are also available on demand via ABC iview, a video-on-demand and catch-up TV service which became available on 24 July 2008.