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ABC TV
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ABC1 is a national public television channel in Australia. Launched on November 5, 1956, it is the responsibility of the ABC's television division, and is available nationally. As of September 2008, ABC1 has a 15.7% audience share.
history of ABC1 can be traced back to 1953, when the federal Television Act was passed, providing the initial regulatory framework for both ABC Television and commercial television networks.
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ABC1 is a national public television channel in Australia. Launched on November 5, 1956, it is the responsibility of the ABC's television division, and is available nationally. As of September 2008, ABC1 has a 15.7% audience share.
History
Origins
The history of ABC1 can be traced back to 1953, when the federal Television Act was passed, providing the initial regulatory framework for both ABC Television and commercial television networks. Over the next three years, planning for the introduction of a national television service was put in place – land for studios and transmitters in Sydney and Melbourne was acquired, and overseas tutors were brought to Australia to assist with training.
Commercial station TCN-9 Sydney was the first to broadcast in Australia, soon followed by the ABC's own ABN-2 Sydney and later ABV-2 in Melbourne. Six stations, three in Melbourne and three in Sydney, were in operation in time to cover the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne. The channel's first television broadcast was inaugurated by Prime Minister Robert Menzies on November 5, at the Gore Hill studios in Sydney, followed two weeks later by transmission in Melbourne.
Although radio programs could be broadcast nationally by landline, television relay facilities were not put in place until the early 1960s. This meant that news bulletins had to be sent to each capital city by teleprinter, to be prepared and presented separately in each city, with filmed materials copied manually and sent to each state.
A purpose-built television studio was built in Sydney, and opened on January 29, 1958 – replacing temporary sound studios used since ABC TV'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.
1960s to the 1990s
Weekly current affairs program Four Corners began in 1961, followed in the same year by Profiles of Power, a series of interviews with prominent Australians. Direct relays between Sydney and Melbourne, as well as Canberra, were also established in 1961, replacing temporary microwave relays as a means of simultaneously airing programs across multiple stations. Videotape equipment, allowing the sharing of footage with much greater ease and speed, was installed in each state capital by 1962.
ABC TV was one of the first television networks in Australia to embrace the rock'n'roll revolution of the late 1950s, most notably with Six O'Clock Rock, hosted by Johnny O'Keefe. During the 1960s and early 1970s the channel continued to broadcast programs on popular music, including the pop show Hitscene, performance specials by groups such as Tully and Max Merritt & The Meteors, as well as the magazine-style program GTK, which premiered in 1969 and screened for 10 minutes, four nights per week at 6.30pm, immediately prior to Bellbird and the 7.00pm news bulletin. In 1967, the weeknightly television current affairs program, This Day Tonight, was launched on ABC TV.
Teletext services were introduced to ABC TV 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 , with a state-based edition of The 7.30 Report following afterwards. Lateline and Media Watch also launched in the 1980s.
2000s
The year 2001 saw the launch of a new logo to celebrate the new millennium and the introduction of digital terrestrial television in Australia. The logo was modified to a three-dimensional metallic design. Coinciding with this, 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.
In 2002, to celebrate seventy years of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, ABC TV's logo reverted to the "over and under" design seen in the previous decades, however it retained the three-dimensional metallic design. The channel's idents featured elements - fire, leaf and ice, and the slogan was updated to Everyone's ABC. This however did not last, as later in the same year, the channel's idents were modified to feature everyday Australians. In 2005, on December 19, the channels idents were revamped featuring glass televisions. These idents were also carried onto ABC2.
At midday on February 8, 2008, ABC TV was rebranded as ABC1, with the standard-definition redirect channel moved from LCN22 to LCN21, complementing the existing ABC2 digital-only channel launched on March 7, 2005. Further cementing the change in identity was the change from the slogan There's more to television to It begins with 1. After concerns in some sections of the media that the 43-year-old Lissajous curve brand was to disappear completely, ABC management reaffirmed that it would remain in use by the corporation.
Programming
ABC1 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 programmes, children's shows, drama, comedy and variety, and sports.
ABC1's drama line-up consists almost entirely of imported content including The West Wing, The Bill, Doctor Who, Life on Mars and Spooks. Recent locally-produced programs have included Rain Shadow as well as mini-series such as Answered by Fire and Bastard Boys. It also shows repeats of past successful series including SeaChange, Something in the Air and Head Start.
Comedy on ABC1 is primarily locally-produced but also includes foreign series such as Little Britain, Extras, The Catherine Tate Show, and The IT Crowd. The network has launched the careers of a number of comedians including Magda Szubanski, Gina Riley, Wil Anderson, Dave Hughes and Chris Lilley. ABC1's present flagship comedy shows include Spicks and Specks and The Chaser's War on Everything. Former successful shows include Frontline, The Micallef Program, The D-Generation, Mother and Son, Kath & Kim (now broadcast on the Seven Network), BackBerner, Good News Week (now broadcast on Network Ten), The Glass House, Summer Heights High, and The Aunty Jack Show.
The remainder of ABC1's schedule consists of lifestyle, music, game and talk shows. Lifestyle programs include cooking shows such as The Cook and the Chef or travel related programs, such as Pilot Guides, but also include programmes such as Gardening Australia, Compass and Message Stick. The network's music shows include rage and jtv while previous music-oriented shows include Countdown and Recovery. Game shows include quiz shows The Einstein Factor and Head 2 Head, and competition based programs Strictly Dancing and The New Inventors. ABC1 presents three talk shows, the locally produced Enough Rope and Talking Heads, as well as ITV1's Parkinson. In addition to this, ABC1 also broadcasts arts discussion shows At the Movies and Sunday Arts.
News and current affairs
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 weekdaily 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.
Other flagship programs, 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 and Media Watch 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 ABC1, these include the Women's Australian Open, Netball World Championships, Women's National Basketball League, 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.
Children
ABC1's children's programming is more extensive than any other channel in Australia. Children's programming are broadcast under the ABC Kids brand in two blocks, mornings, to , and afternoons, to . In addition to this, ABC Rollercoaster is shown from to , and is aimed at a slightly older demographic than ABC Kids' three to six year olds.
ABC Kids consists of a mixture of both in-house and out-sourced children's television programs. Due to their longevity, programmes such as Play School and Bananas in Pyjamas are iconic within Australia. Popular locally-made drama series include The Saddle Club, Out There, Blue Water High, Ship to Shore and Round the Twist. International programmes which regularly feature in the line-up include Sesame Street, Garfield and Friends, Pingu, Arthur, Fireman Sam and older-years shows Degrassi, Lizzie McGuire, Freaky Stories and Daria.
Children's programming also includes educational programs. Behind the News is a long-running series which provides background information to current affairs. The program has come to be incorporated into many school curricula. Schools TV is a segment between and that consists of documentaries and specials relevant to school study.
Availability
ABC1 varies depending on state and territory in terms of what news bulletin, edition of Stateline, and in some stations promotions, are shown. National programming is often interrupted in order 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 programs are broadcast from. ABC1 is broadcast nationally via ABC Television transmitters, in an analogue and standard definition format, in addition to ABC HD, a national high definition broadcast of ABC1 with state-based content omitted.
Logos
In the early years, ABC TV had been using Lissajous curves with its initials, ABC TV, inside it as fillers in-between programs.
A staff competition was conducted in 1963 to create a new logo for use on television, stationery, publications, microphone badges and ABC vehicles. Graphic designer, Bill Kennard, who had been experimenting with telerecording of the Cathode Ray Oscillograph displays, submitted a design in 1965 which was part of the waveform of an oscilloscope. The letters A-B-C were added to the wavelength design and it was adopted as the ABC's official logo. Bill Kennard was paid £25 for his design. This logo has been modified from two dimensions, to colour, to three dimensions, over time and it is now one of the most well-known logos in Australia.
In 1975, the ABC logo was modified to a thickened version. The logo was also changed to an "over and under" design. To celebrate the Australian Bicentenary, on Australia Day in 1988, the idents were updated. The original set of idents were titled "Natural Textures of Australia", with a following called "Man Made Textures of Australia". The ABC logo featured on idents and promos was modified in 1995 to a similar design to that seen in 1963 on the first design. The logo was hand drawn by persons featured in the promos and idents.
To celebrate the new millennium and the introduction of digital terrestrial television in Australia in 2001, ABC TV's logo was again modified, but this time to a three-dimensional metallic design. The logo was also radically modified to lose the "over and under" design. In 2002, to celebrate seventy years of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, ABC TV's logo changed back to the "over and under" design, however it still kept the 3D Metallic design. The channels idents featured elements - fire, leaf and ice, and the slogan was modified to "Everyone's ABC". Later in 2002, the channels idents were modified to feature everyday Australians. In 2005, on December 19, the channels idents were revamped featuring glass televisions. The ident's were also carried on ABC2 for the "ABC New & Digital Media" promo.
In 2008, on February 8, the channel was renamed as ABC1 with its logo updated concurrently with ABC2, although a blue version. In addition to this, the slogan There's more to Television was rebadged to It begins with 1. After concerns in some sections of the media that the 43-year-old Lissajous curve brand was to disappear completely, ABC management reaffirmed that it would remain in use by the corporation.Aside this, the idents were revamped to feature a version of that of later 2002.
External links
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- Not on ABC website - Standard ADSL (WMP)
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