Nine Network
Encyclopedia
The Nine Network is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby
Willoughby, New South Wales
Willoughby is a suburb on the lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Willoughby is located 8 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Willoughby....

, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia. However, this replaced in 2007 when the Nine Network's ratings were overtaken by those of its rival, the Seven Network
Seven Network
The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...

, which has dominated in the ratings ever since. As a result, Nine's slogan "Still the One" was discontinued after 2006, but returned in 2009, along with a new slogan "Welcome Home". After a few years in the wilderness, with a period plagued by mass-sackings, programme cancellations and budget cuts, the Nine Network has enjoyed a period of stability and growth, with a ratings resurgence. However, Seven has remained with the highest rating shares. 2010 has seen a close battle between Nine and Seven to win the ratings for the year. This has caused the Nine Network to continually change programs and schedules to improve ratings.
2010 and 2011 have seen the Nine Network's ratings improve back to standard.

On 24 November, 2011, the Nine Network announced their line-up for 2012, including an Australian version of The Voice
The Voice (Australia)
The Voice is an upcoming Australian reality talent show that will premiere on the Nine Network in 2012. Based on the reality singing competition The Voice of Holland, the series was created by Dutch television producer John de Mol.- Overview :...

, the return of Big Brother
Big Brother Australia 2012
Big Brother Australia: Secrets is the upcoming ninth season of the Australian reality television series, Big Brother Australia. It will be the first to air on the Nine Network after it signed a deal with Southern Star Group in September 2011...

, new drama Beaconsfield and Coverage of the London 2012 Olympics.

Origins

TCN
TCN
TCN stands for:* Take Care Now, a private company providing out-of-hours medical cover in England* TanenbaumCHAT North Campus, a private Hebrew high school in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada* TCN-9, a Sydney television station...

-9, the first regularly transmitting television station in Australia, launched on 16 September 1956. John Godson introduced the station and Bruce Gyngell
Bruce Gyngell
Bruce Gyngell was a hugely influential Australian television executive, prominent for 50 years in both Australian and U.K. television. Although Gyngell began his career in radio, in the 1950s he stepped into the arena of early television broadcasting, helping to set up Channel 9, the first...

 presented the first programme, This Is Television (in doing so becoming the first person to appear on Australian television). Later that year, GTV-9 in Melbourne began testing transmissions to telecast the 1956 Summer Olympics
1956 Summer Olympics
The 1956 Melbourne Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was held in Melbourne, Australia, in 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, which could not be held in Australia due to quarantine regulations...

 later forming the National Television Network alongside QTQ-9 in Brisbane and NWS-9 in Adelaide, the basis of the current Nine Network, in 1962. Before its formation, TCN-9 was then affiliated with HSV-7 (due to the fact that they were both Australia's first television stations, have been opened in 1956), and GTV-9's sister affiliate was ATN
ATN
-Medicine:*Acute tubular necrosis, a medical condition involving the death of tubular cells that form the tubule that transports urine to the ureters*Asymmetric tonic neck reflex*Atypical trigeminal neuralgia-Television:...

-7.

In 1967 the NSWRFL grand final became the first football grand final of any code to be televised live in Australia. The Nine Network had paid $5,000 for the broadcasting rights.

In the late 1980s, STW
STW
-Mathematics:*The Shimura-Taniyama-Weil conjecture, a generalization of Fermat's last theorem.-Music:*Stop the War Coalition, an anti-war group in the United Kingdom*Salt the Wound, a deathcore band-Other:...

-9 Perth became a Nine Network owned-and-operated station
Owned-and-operated station
In the broadcasting industry , an owned-and-operated station usually refers to a television station or radio station that is owned by the network with which it is associated...

 when Bond Media purchased the network. However, in 1989, Bond Media sold the Perth-based station to Sunraysia Television
Sunraysia Television
Sunraysia Television is the publicly-listed parent company of Swan Television and Radio Broadcasters, former owners of STW-9 . Sunraysia TV is majority owned by Eva Presser, who owns around 55% of the company. WIN Television owns 40% of the company...

 for A$
Australian dollar
The Australian dollar is the currency of the Commonwealth of Australia, including Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, and Norfolk Island, as well as the independent Pacific Island states of Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu...

95 million, due to the Federal cross-media ownership laws, which restricted the level of national reach for media owners.

1977-2006: The Golden Era

Nine began using the slogan "Let us be the one" (based by The Carpenters song) in 1977, and achieved widespread success, becoming the number 1 free to air network in Australia and National Nine News
National Nine News
Nine News is the news service of the Australian Nine Network.Nine News's flagship bulletin is the nightly 6:00pm localised bulletin, produced by networked owned-and-operated stations in Sydney , Melbourne , Brisbane and Darwin alongside localised bulletins produced by the WIN-owned Nine Network...

became the most watched news service. Soon after in 1978, Nine switched their slogan to "Still the One" (Patterned after the campaign used by ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

) , which lasted until the ratings downfall in January 2006. During the 80s, Nine's ratings peaked and drove the network forward well into the 90s. From 1999 to 2001, the network began losing ground to Seven in news and entertainment, but received a boost after the 9/11 coverage in 2001.

Digital terrestrial television was introduced on 1 January 2001.

2006-2008: Nine loses to Seven

Nine stayed strong throughout 2004 but was hit hard when Seven introduced a new line-up in 2005, even though Nine won the year. Meanwhile, National Nine News
National Nine News
Nine News is the news service of the Australian Nine Network.Nine News's flagship bulletin is the nightly 6:00pm localised bulletin, produced by networked owned-and-operated stations in Sydney , Melbourne , Brisbane and Darwin alongside localised bulletins produced by the WIN-owned Nine Network...

was overtaken by Seven News
Seven News
Seven News is the television news service of the Seven Network in Australia.National bulletins are presented from Seven's high-definition studios in Martin Place, Sydney, while flagship 6pm bulletins are produced in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth. The network also produces Seven...

, while Today
Today (Australian TV program)
Today and Weekend Today are Australian breakfast television programmes, the show is often referred to as The Today Show. The show has been broadcast live by the Nine Network each morning since 1982...

was beaten by Seven's Sunrise. In 2006, Nine continued on its downward trend, losing most news weeks to Seven News and just winning the year thanks to its coverage of the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. To try to revitalise the network in its 50th anniversary, Nine adopted a new logo that heavily removes the nine dots, which was criticised due to the lack of the dots, which were part of the networks identity since 1970. In May 2007, Nine partially reintroduced the Nine dots, which resulted in the square logo changing into a 3D Cube that rotates, the dots were visible on every second side of the cube.

After a period of declining ratings compared to the Seven Network. David Gyngell returned to the job of CEO in October 2007, succeeding Eddie McGuire.

In 2007, despite several hits, Seven won the whole year by a significant margin. Nine received heavy criticism, due to its lack of new programming and lack of choice. The Seven Network had won 38 weeks, the Nine Network only won 2. However with David Gyngell as CEO of the Nine Network ratings were going to go back to normal.

2008-present: The Turnaround

In 2008, as part of a major relaunch, the network dropped the blue box, and reinstates its nine dots in its logo, this time as 3D discs. Nine also tried to attract younger demographics and in the process, launched a breakout hit, Underbelly
Underbelly (TV series)
Underbelly is a 13-part Australian television mini-series that retells the real events of the 1995–2004 gangland war in Melbourne, and is the first series in the larger Underbelly Franchise. It depicts the key players in Melbourne's criminal underworld, including the Carlton Crew and their rival,...

which rated over 2.5 million viewers across most of Australia in its first season. After losing viewers to Seven News
Seven News
Seven News is the television news service of the Seven Network in Australia.National bulletins are presented from Seven's high-definition studios in Martin Place, Sydney, while flagship 6pm bulletins are produced in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth. The network also produces Seven...

, Nine relaunched its news service as Nine News, which managed to win more weeks over Seven in the first half of 2008. Nonetheless, Seven went on to win the ratings year in total people while Nine was rated the number one network in the key 18–49 and 25–54 demographics.

In 2009, Nine started relatively strongly thanks to the top rating Australian drama Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities
Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities
Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities is a 13-part Australian television mini-series loosely based on real events that stemmed from the marijuana trade centred around the New South Wales town of Griffith. The timeline of the series is the years between 1976 and 1987. Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities...

and the Twenty20 Cricket series, but could not hold its audience after Network Ten
Network Ten
Network Ten , is one of Australia's three major commercial television networks. Owned-and-operated stations can be found in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, while affiliates extend the network to cover most of the country...

's Masterchef
Masterchef Australia
MasterChef Australia is a Logie award winning Australian competitive cooking game show based on the original British MasterChef. It is produced by FremantleMedia Australia and screens on Network Ten. Restaurateur and chef Gary Mehigan, chef George Calombaris and food critic Matt Preston serve as...

became a massive hit, and also due to its inconsistent scheduling and removal of programmes. Nine launched a number of reality shows including Ladette to Lady
Ladette to Lady
Ladette to Lady is a reality based series that first aired in the United Kingdom on ITV in June 2005. The series was produced by UK-based RDF Media....

, Wipeout Australia, HomeMADE
HomeMADE
homeMADE was an Australian reality television series that aired on the Nine Network. It premiered on 10 May 2009, and episodes air twice weekly on Tuesdays at 7:30 pm and again at 9:30 pm...

, Australia's Perfect Couple
Australia's Perfect Couple
Australia's Perfect Couple was an Australian reality television series which aired on the Nine Network. The series was hosted by Jules Lund, and premiered on 22 July 2009 at...

and The Apprentice Australia
The Apprentice Australia
The Apprentice Australia was an Australian reality television series which aired on the Nine Network. It was based on NBC: The Apprentice. It first aired on 28 September 2009 at and Last aired on 23 November 2009, and features Mark Bouris, the founder and chairman of Wizard Home Loans, as the...

, in the hope of achieving the same success other networks had received with reality and competitive formats over the past few years. All of the new formats underperformed in the ratings and did not help the network establish any stable local content. Nine also expanded its news strand with the re-introduction of a late night bulletin (for its owned-and-operated stations), an extended morning bulletin and weekend editions of Today
Today (Australian TV program)
Today and Weekend Today are Australian breakfast television programmes, the show is often referred to as The Today Show. The show has been broadcast live by the Nine Network each morning since 1982...

. Despite this, the flagship 6pm state bulletins continued to lack ratings - by late 2009, national ratings at 6pm dropped below a million for more than 3 days, just under 200,000 people below Seven News.

In August 2009, Nine launched its own digital multi-channel called Go!
Go! (Australian TV channel)
GO! is an Australian free-to-air standard definition digital television channel launched by the Nine Network on Sunday 9 August 2009.-Origins:...

 on Channel 99 (announced in June) which is primarily aimed at the younger demographic. The shares from GO! have contributed to Nine's weekly shares and have allowed it to enjoy several weeks of weekly ratings wins. In September, the Network took on a new slogan, Welcome Home and revamped its inconsistent graphic package once again, very reminiscent of Channel Nine in its golden days. October also saw the official launch of GO!, with new schedules announced, and the return of popular variety show Hey Hey It's Saturday
Hey Hey It's Saturday
Hey Hey It's Saturday was a long-running variety television program on Australian television. It initially ran for 27 years , debuting on the Nine Network on 9 October 1971 and broadcasting its last episode on 20 November 1999. Its host throughout its entire run was Daryl Somers, who would later...

in two reunion specials, both viewed by over 2 million viewers. With the success of GO!, the Hey Hey reunion specials and the NRL, Nine has experienced ratings success it has not seen for many months.

Meanwhile, in Sydney, the flagship 6pm news broadcast has retaken supremacy on key nights with its presenter, Peter Overton
Peter Overton
Peter Overton is an Australian television journalist and news presenter.-Career:He joined the Nine Network as a reporter for National Nine News and graduated to weekend sports presenter on National Nine News in Sydney and substitute for Ken Sutcliffe...

, against Seven's Chris Bath
Chris Bath
Christine "Chris" Bath is an Australian journalist and television personality. She is currently the weeknight presenter of Seven News Sydney and presenter of Seven's current affairs program Sunday Night....

. In Melbourne, Nine News now broadcasting in Melbourne's Docklands is starting to improve in ratings. Nine's Peter Hitchener
Peter Hitchener
Peter Donald Beauchamp Hitchener is an Australian television presenter. He has been chief news presenter for Melbourne's edition of Nine News since 1998, and prior to that was weekend news presenter.-Career:...

 winning some of the weeks against Seven's Peter Mitchell in 2010, whilst in Brisbane, the renewed Nine News team there have been regaining lost ground in what is a Seven stronghold.

With the resurgence of Nine News, growth of Today
Today (Australian TV program)
Today and Weekend Today are Australian breakfast television programmes, the show is often referred to as The Today Show. The show has been broadcast live by the Nine Network each morning since 1982...

, stabilisation of 60 Minutes and a new programme line-up consisting of Hey Hey It's Saturday
Hey Hey It's Saturday
Hey Hey It's Saturday was a long-running variety television program on Australian television. It initially ran for 27 years , debuting on the Nine Network on 9 October 1971 and broadcasting its last episode on 20 November 1999. Its host throughout its entire run was Daryl Somers, who would later...

, Underbelly
Underbelly (series)
Underbelly is an Australian television true crime-drama which originally broadcast on the Nine Network. Each series contains 13 episodes and is based on real-life events including the Melbourne gangland killings between 1995-2004, the Griffith drug trade between 1976-1987, and the Kings Cross scene...

and Sea Patrol
Sea Patrol (TV series)
Sea Patrol is an Australian television drama, set on board HMAS Hammersley, a fictional patrol boat of the Royal Australian Navy . The series focuses on the ship and the lives of its crew members....

, Nine has enjoyed much ratings success this year.

In September 2009, the classic slogan Still the One returned, along with a new on-screen look and the new tagline Welcome Home. The new identity re-added the logo's 3D look used in 2002. On 26 September 2010, Nine launched their third digital channel GEM
GEM (Australian TV channel)
GEM is an Australian free-to-air high definition digital television channel, launched by the Nine Network on Sunday 26 September 2010 at 6am...

 (an acronym of General Entertainment and Movies) on Channel 90.

With the Seven Network taking wins for 2008, 2009 and 2010, Nine is slowly building up gain. In 2010, GO! won the only year in digital shares.
The year of 2010 also saw Nine with exclusive coverage of the Sydney New Year's Eve fireworks which brought viewers all round Australia into 2011 watching Nine.

In 2011 the Nine Network announced a new lineup of comedy shows which include Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men is an American television sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 22, 2003. Starring Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, and Angus T. Jones, the show was originally about a hedonistic jingle writer, Charlie Harper; his uptight brother, Alan; and Alan's growing son, Jake...

, The Big Bang Theory
The Big Bang Theory
The Big Bang Theory is an American sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, both of whom serve as executive producers on the show, along with Steven Molaro. All three also serve as head writers...

and Hot in Cleveland
Hot in Cleveland
Hot in Cleveland is an American sitcom on TV Land starring Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves, Wendie Malick and Betty White. The series, which is TV Land's first original scripted series, premiered on June 16, 2010, and was TV Land's highest rated telecast in the cable network's 14-year history. The...

. Nine announced a new Underbelly
Underbelly (series)
Underbelly is an Australian television true crime-drama which originally broadcast on the Nine Network. Each series contains 13 episodes and is based on real-life events including the Melbourne gangland killings between 1995-2004, the Griffith drug trade between 1976-1987, and the Kings Cross scene...

series and the return of new Top Gear aswell as Top Gear Australia
Top Gear Australia
Top Gear Australia was an Australian motoring television series based on the BBC series Top Gear.The show premiered on SBS One on 29 September 2008 at 7:30 pm AEST, with its first season consisting of 8 episodes...

. Nine also brought back This Is Your Life
This Is Your Life
This Is Your Life is an American television documentary series broadcast on NBC, originally hosted by its producer, Ralph Edwards from 1952 to 1961. In the show, the host surprises a guest, and proceeds to take them through their life in front of an audience including friends and family.Edwards...

with Eddie McGuire as host, although the series was cancelled after airing 4 episodes. Nine also launched a live comedy show Ben Elton Live From Planet Earth
Ben Elton Live From Planet Earth
Ben Elton Live From Planet Earth was a 2011 Australian comedy television series produced by FremantleMedia which aired on the Nine Network. The program was performed and broadcast live as a sketch comedy and variety show...

which was cancelled after only three episodes due to low ratings.

The Nine Network launched a new schedule and new programming in the second half of the year feauturing the return of domestic and foreign content and the premiere of new domestic and foreign content. Although the first half of 2011 was extremely poor for the Nine Network, fortunately the second half of 2011 was an instant success in the ratings. The Block
The Block
-Places:231 North Vandeventer Saint Louis MO, 63108.Australia* The Block , the first Aboriginal land handbackUnited States* The Block at Orange, an open-air shopping and entertainment mall located in Southern California...

proved highly successful in the weekly ratings. The launch of Underbelly: Razor
Underbelly: Razor
Underbelly: Razor is a 13-part Australian television mini-series detailing real events that occurred in Sydney between 1927 and 1936. The series depicts the "razor gangs" who controlled the city's underworld during the era and the violent war between the two "vice queen" powers, Tilly Devine and...

generated extremely high numbers and sustained high figures throughout its run. Another success within the second half of the year was The Celebrity Apprentice Australia
The Celebrity Apprentice Australia
The Celebrity Apprentice Australia is a celebrity version of The Apprentice Australia series. It began to air on the Nine Network on 24 October 2011...

which premiered to high figures and remained consistent in developing high figures in the top 5 programs of the day. The highly anticipated return of a revamped ninth season of Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men is an American television sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 22, 2003. Starring Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, and Angus T. Jones, the show was originally about a hedonistic jingle writer, Charlie Harper; his uptight brother, Alan; and Alan's growing son, Jake...

, proved a huge success for the network, generating a huge 2.6 million viewers and dominating the week as top program. . The return of new episodes of the popular sitcom The Big Bang Theory
The Big Bang Theory
The Big Bang Theory is an American sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, both of whom serve as executive producers on the show, along with Steven Molaro. All three also serve as head writers...

, was a huge success for the network scoring high figures consistently week after week and dominating the evening as top program.

On Sunday, 22 August 2011, The Nine Network pulled the highest rating single audience of the year, with a 47% share. This assisted the Nine Networks ratings instantly resurge. Nine News Sydney had also overtaken Seven News. In 2011, on occassions Nine News also overtook Seven News in the ratings. The Nine Network, was in second place in the ratings again in 2011 on 19.6%, behind the Seven Network
Seven Network
The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...

 (23.1%) and ahead of the Network Ten
Network Ten
Network Ten , is one of Australia's three major commercial television networks. Owned-and-operated stations can be found in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, while affiliates extend the network to cover most of the country...

 (15.9%), ABC (12.2%) and SBS (4.6%).

In November 2011, the Nine Network announced programming for 2012, including series' The Voice Australia, 2 Broke Girls
2 Broke Girls
2 Broke Girls is an North American television comedy series that debuted on CBS during the 2011–12 television season. The first episode aired at 9:30 pm after Two and a Half Men on September 19, 2011. Later episodes followed How I Met Your Mother on Monday nights at 8:30 pm . The series was...

, Excess Baggage, Howzat!, Beaconsfield, The Great Mint Swindle, the return of Big Brother Australia
Big Brother Australia 2012
Big Brother Australia: Secrets is the upcoming ninth season of the Australian reality television series, Big Brother Australia. It will be the first to air on the Nine Network after it signed a deal with Southern Star Group in September 2011...

 to television and a new Underbelly
Underbelly
Underbelly Limited is an English company that operates a series of four venues at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, in Scotland. From 2000-2004, Underbelly, Cowgate was the only venue operated by Underbelly. In 2005, Underbelly added the Baby Belly venue. In 2006, these venues were joined by the E4...

 series. The Nine Network will also air coverage of the 2012 London Olympic Games. In 2012, the Nine Network will also air a new morning show to replace the cancelled Kerri-Anne, After 9 years on air.

Programming

The Nine Network broadcasts a range of programming from Australian and overseas sources. Nine's current Australian programming lineup consists of television shows including; Australia's Funniest Home Videos (previously Australia's Funniest Home Video Show), Getaway
Getaway
Getaway is Australia's longest-running and most popular holiday and travel television programme. Debuting on 14 May 1992, it is currently broadcast on the Nine Network and TLC...

, Sea Patrol
Sea Patrol (TV series)
Sea Patrol is an Australian television drama, set on board HMAS Hammersley, a fictional patrol boat of the Royal Australian Navy . The series focuses on the ship and the lives of its crew members....

, Missing Persons Unit
Missing Persons Unit
Missing Person's Unit is an Australian television documentary series on the Nine Network hosted by actor and personality Steve Bastoni. The show documents people who have gone missing in Australia and the police who investigate their cases...

, Kerri-Anne (previously Mornings With Kerri-Anne), The AFL Footy Show, The NRL Footy Show, RBT, What's Good For You
What's Good For You
What's Good For You is a Logie Award-winning Australian health and lifestyle television program that airs on the Nine Network. It investigates myths and fables concerning health and well being...

, Underbelly
Underbelly (series)
Underbelly is an Australian television true crime-drama which originally broadcast on the Nine Network. Each series contains 13 episodes and is based on real-life events including the Melbourne gangland killings between 1995-2004, the Griffith drug trade between 1976-1987, and the Kings Cross scene...

, Domestic Blitz
Domestic Blitz
Domestic Blitz is an Australian lifestyle and DIY television series that debuted on the Nine Network on 18 May 2008, in the same former Sunday night 6:30 – 7:30pm time slot occupied by Backyard Blitz, which the show's format is based on. It is hosted by Shelley Craft and Scott Cam...

, RPA
RPA (TV series)
RPA is an Australian reality television show that is filmed at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and shows the everyday workings of this major hospital in Sydney, Australia...

, Amazing Medical Stories, 60 Minutes, 20 to 1
20 to 1
20 to 1 is an Australian television series, currently hosted by Bert Newton that counts down an undefined "top 20" of elements or events of popular culture, such as films, songs, sporting scandals. Previously the show was hosted by Charles "Bud" Tingwell and narrated by David Reyne...

, Millionaire Hot Seat
Millionaire Hot Seat
Hot Seat is a spin-off of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire that began airing on Australia's Nine Network on 20 April 2009, and is hosted by Eddie McGuire, as with the original version of the show...

, Hi-5
Hi-5 (Australian TV series)
Hi-5, an Australian children's television program, was first shown on the Nine Network in 1999. Hi-5's new Australian cast was announced in Australian talk show Morning with Kerrie-Anne, in February 2009. Hi-5 is now shown in 83 countries. Hi-5 is known as a children's pop music group as well as...

, Kids' WB Australia
Kids' WB Australia
An Australian version of Kids' WB premiered on Nine Network, WIN Television and NBN Television on 16 September 2006. It runs for 2½ hours from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m...

, Magical Tales
William & Sparkles' Magical Tales
William & Sparkles' Magical Tales is an Australian children's television series first screened on the Nine Network in 2010. The series is created by Omnilab Media and Ambience Entertainment, with 45 X 30 half-hour episodes for pre-school children....

, This Is Your Life
This Is Your Life (Australian TV series)
This Is Your Life is an Australian television documentary show based on the American show of the same name, in which the host surprises guests with a show documenting their lives, with audience participation from their friends and family....

and The Million Dollar Drop
Million Dollar Money Drop
Million Dollar Money Drop is a game show which aired on Fox in the United States and Canada. It is based on the U.K. series The Million Pound Drop Live. However, unlike the original UK version, it was not broadcast live, and there were several changes to the format...

.

Most American programming that airs on Nine and its regional affiliates is sourced from Nine's studio-output deals with Warner Bros Television, Sony Pictures Television
Sony Pictures Television
Sony Pictures Television, Inc. is an American and global television production/distribution subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment. In turn, the latter is part of the Japanese conglomerate Sony.-Background:...

, Lions Gate, Alliance Atlantis
Alliance Atlantis
Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. was a Toronto-based media company that operated primarily as a specialty service operator in Canada. Alliance Atlantis also had offices in Halifax, Los Angeles, London, Dublin, Madrid, Barcelona, Shannon and Sydney.Alliance Atlantis was acquired by Canwest...

, and Regency
Regency Television
Regency Television is a joint-venture between Regency Enterprises and Fox Television Studios founded in 1998. Regency's best-known TV shows include The WB sci-fi drama Roswell and the Fox sitcoms Malcolm in the Middle and The Bernie Mac Show....

 (four production companies that were previously screened on Network Ten
Network Ten
Network Ten , is one of Australia's three major commercial television networks. Owned-and-operated stations can be found in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, while affiliates extend the network to cover most of the country...

). The network's flagship programme is the popular sitcom Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men
Two and a Half Men is an American television sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 22, 2003. Starring Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, and Angus T. Jones, the show was originally about a hedonistic jingle writer, Charlie Harper; his uptight brother, Alan; and Alan's growing son, Jake...

, which airs up to ten episodes per week during primetime. Other American programming on Nine includes The Mentalist
The Mentalist
The Mentalist is an American police procedural television series which debuted on September 23, 2008, on CBS. The show was created by Bruno Heller, who is also the show's executive producer...

, Cold Case, the CSI franchise, The View, Survivor
Survivor (U.S. TV series)
Survivor is an American version of the Survivor reality television game show, itself derived from the Swedish television series Expedition Robinson originally created in 1997 by Charlie Parsons. The series premiered on May 31, 2000 on CBS...

, Without a Trace
Without a Trace
Without a Trace is an American television drama which originally ran on CBS from September 26, 2002 to May 19, 2009. The series was set in New York City and concerned a fictitious FBI Missing Persons Unit.-Premise:...

, The Ellen DeGeneres Show
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
The Ellen DeGeneres Show, often shortened to Ellen, is an American television talk show hosted by comedian/actress Ellen DeGeneres. Debuting on September 8, 2003, it is produced by Telepictures and airs in syndication, including stations owned by NBC Universal. For its first five seasons, the show...

, Days of Our Lives
Days of our Lives
Days of our Lives is a long running daytime soap opera broadcast on the NBC television network. It is one of the longest-running scripted television programs in the world, airing nearly every weekday in the United States since November 8, 1965. It has since been syndicated to many countries around...

, Entertainment Tonight
Entertainment Tonight
Entertainment Tonight is a daily tabloid television entertainment television news show that is syndicated by CBS Television Distribution throughout the United States, Canada and in many countries around the world. Linda Bell Blue is currently the program's executive producer...

, and Hot in Cleveland
Hot in Cleveland
Hot in Cleveland is an American sitcom on TV Land starring Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves, Wendie Malick and Betty White. The series, which is TV Land's first original scripted series, premiered on June 16, 2010, and was TV Land's highest rated telecast in the cable network's 14-year history. The...

,

Ratings have been even more successful for the Nine Network in 2010, thanks to programmes like Top Gear which constantly rates well over 1 million viewers every week.

Feature films broadcast on the Nine Network are sourced from its studio-output deals, including Columbia
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...

/Sony and Warner Bros. Pictures. It also broadcasts Australian and international titles distributed via Village Roadshow.

The Nine Network also broadcasts films from Dreamworks Pictures produced prior to 2007–2008; the rights to more recent titles have since passed on to the Seven Network
Seven Network
The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...

.

In an attempt to attract advertisers, as there is wide industry consensus that most advertisers are more interested in programmes for younger audiences, new programming is expected to now be targeted towards the younger generation.

The Nine Network's prime time line-up is frequently criticised because of last minute scheduling changes and cancellations and late starting times, with most nights programming running between 5 and 10 minutes behind schedule. The strategy of relying on a hand of programs (most notable US sitcom Two and a Half Men) has also been questioned.
Reruns of Two and a Half Men are shown out of sequence with episodes from several different seasons often airing in the same night. This has resulted in much public scrutiny against the Network, with nine out of ten weekly episodes of Two and a Half Men being repeats, the highest ratio of any Network.

On 9 September 2011, it was confirmed that the network had picked up the rights to air Big Brother Australia from 2012 and will implement a 'secrets' format for the upcoming ninth season and beyond as the home of Big Brother.

News & Current Affairs

The Nine Network's news service is Nine News (previously National Nine News). For decades, it was the top rating news service nationally but in recent years, the Seven Network
Seven Network
The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...

's Seven News
Seven News
Seven News is the television news service of the Seven Network in Australia.National bulletins are presented from Seven's high-definition studios in Martin Place, Sydney, while flagship 6pm bulletins are produced in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth. The network also produces Seven...

has overtaken the service. However The Nine Network is turning around. Nine's Sydney 6:00pm weekday news bulletin has overtaken Seven for the first time in seven years.

Robert McKnight, Nine's Manager of News and Current Affairs Promotions, Tweeted: "It's official: Nine News Sydney has won the 2011 ratings year! It's the first time in seven years! In weeks so far Nine News: 21 weeks [to] Seven News: 14 weeks." It is now impossible for Seven to catch up in this 2011 year. The Sunday Telegraph claims that Nine's Sydney 6:00pm Sunday news bulletin has also overtaken Seven, giving Nine a lead of 27 weeks to Seven's only 8.
Nine News produces several news bulletins and programmes including Today
Today (Australian TV program)
Today and Weekend Today are Australian breakfast television programmes, the show is often referred to as The Today Show. The show has been broadcast live by the Nine Network each morning since 1982...

, Weekend Today
Today (Australian TV program)
Today and Weekend Today are Australian breakfast television programmes, the show is often referred to as The Today Show. The show has been broadcast live by the Nine Network each morning since 1982...

, as well as Nine Early News, Nine Morning News, Nine Afternoon News, Nine News and national bulletins on weekdays.

The news service also produces A Current Affair and 60 Minutes. During weekday overnights and Sunday mornings, Nine rebroadcasts American television network ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

's news and current affairs programme Good Morning America
Good Morning America
Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...

.

2008-2009 Nine stepped into the hearts of Nine News major expansion saw Today
Today (Australian TV program)
Today and Weekend Today are Australian breakfast television programmes, the show is often referred to as The Today Show. The show has been broadcast live by the Nine Network each morning since 1982...

broadcast on Saturdays and Sundays too (followed by Seven's copying of a Saturday Weekend Sunrise
Sunrise (TV program)
Sunrise is an Australian breakfast television program, broadcast on the Seven Network. On weekdays the programme follows Seven Early News, and runs from 6am through to 9am.-History:...

as well), their weekday version running from 5.30am until 9am weekdays (followed by the memory matching of radio stations as well), the launch of the Nine Early News, the axing of the Sunday Program for a short-lived Sunday Morning News bulletin, National Nine News becoming Nine News after poor ratings losing to Seven News
Seven News
Seven News is the television news service of the Seven Network in Australia.National bulletins are presented from Seven's high-definition studios in Martin Place, Sydney, while flagship 6pm bulletins are produced in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth. The network also produces Seven...

, Nine Late News was launched then renamed as Nightline
Nightline
Nightline, or ABC News Nightline is a late-night news program broadcast by ABC in the United States, and has a franchised formula to other networks and stations elsewhere in the world. It airs weeknights, usually for 31 minutes. Created by Roone Arledge, the program featured Ted Koppel as its main...

and the 11am bulletin be renamed as Nine Morning News Hour, running from 11am until 12pm weekdays (followed by the mamory matching of Ten's Morning News
Ten News
Ten News is the national news service of Network Ten in Australia. The majority of its news bulletins are presented from the TEN-10 studios in Pyrmont...

).

Meanwhile, several additions have been made to Nine News teams around the country, as well as the acquisition of more reporters by A Current Affair and also state-based Today
Today (Australian TV program)
Today and Weekend Today are Australian breakfast television programmes, the show is often referred to as The Today Show. The show has been broadcast live by the Nine Network each morning since 1982...

reporters (plus a Weekend Today
Today (Australian TV program)
Today and Weekend Today are Australian breakfast television programmes, the show is often referred to as The Today Show. The show has been broadcast live by the Nine Network each morning since 1982...

weather presenter).

Nine has recently had to post journalists overseas to cover major European stories following the closure of its European bureau in late 2008, with the last European correspondent, James Talia
James Talia
James Talia is an Australian television reporter.Talia completed a journalism degree at the RMIT in 1995 before joining WIN TV in Ballarat in 1996 as a reporter and news presenter....

, being redesignated to his former role as a Senior Melbourne Nine News journalist. Reporters including Simon Bouda, Allison Langdon
Allison Langdon
Allison Langdon is a reporter and news presenter for Australia's Nine News, and also an author.-Career:Allison attended Wauchope High School and Port Macquarie's MacKillop Senior College. During her time at school, she presented radio programs on Monday evenings on the local community radio...

, Chloe Bugelly, Tim Arvier and Brett McLeod
Brett McLeod
Brett McLeod born 1975 is an Australian television news reporter and presenter for Nine News Melbourne.He is currently a reporter and relief news presenter for the Nine Network, and Nine News Melbourne having previously worked on 3AW before joining the network.Brett has also worked in Radio as part...

 have all been on projects for Nine News bulletins in Greece, UK, France, South Africa, Thailand and Czeckslovakia. This has raised concerns over whether it is viable to not have a European news bureau and presence in this increasingly globalised world, especially if Nine is to maintain an international focus and its quality news reputation, which recently has degraded.

Meanwhile, talk that Nine was going to close its Canberra bureau and merge with Sky News Australia
Sky News Australia
Sky News Australia is an Australian 24 hour cable and satellite news channel available in 2.5 million homes on Foxtel, Austar, Optus Television and Neighbourhood Cable subscription platforms....

 have been denied by Nine. Plans were that Laurie Oakes
Laurie Oakes
Laurie Oakes is an Australian political journalist, commentator, and media personality. Since 1966, he has worked in the Canberra Press Gallery, covering the Parliament of Australia and federal elections....

 would be retained for 6pm flagship bulletins, but otherwise, Nine would use "Sky News reporters" as it would refer to them, namely David Speers, on political topics. Its Canberra presence has declined in recent months. Four producers have been sacked amidst Nine's belt-tightening, whilst a permanent political reporter role has been scrapped, as Daniel Street, former political reporter (supplement to Oakes) has taken up a scholarship in London. The likes of John Kerrison, Brett McLeod
Brett McLeod
Brett McLeod born 1975 is an Australian television news reporter and presenter for Nine News Melbourne.He is currently a reporter and relief news presenter for the Nine Network, and Nine News Melbourne having previously worked on 3AW before joining the network.Brett has also worked in Radio as part...

, Jayne Azzopardi, Tracy Vo and Chris Urquhart have all since been temporarily posted in Canberra, in what seems to be a role void for Nine.

Today
Today (Australian TV program)
Today and Weekend Today are Australian breakfast television programmes, the show is often referred to as The Today Show. The show has been broadcast live by the Nine Network each morning since 1982...

has since overtaken Sunrise
Sunrise (TV program)
Sunrise is an Australian breakfast television program, broadcast on the Seven Network. On weekdays the programme follows Seven Early News, and runs from 6am through to 9am.-History:...

on numerous occasions, whilst Nine News, especially on Sundays, has done so too. Both Today and Nine News beat their Seven
Seven Network
The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...

 counterparts regularly in the east coast broadcasts. Local A Current Affair bulletins in Perth and Adelaide have been scrapped by WIN stations there for not performing as well as expected. This year Nine News created an Iphone/Ipad app. In a short time Seven had copied the Nine Network.

Sport

Channel Nine broadcasts all sporting events under the Wide World of Sports brand. The flagship sports of the brand are cricket, National Rugby League
National Rugby League
The National Rugby League is the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia. The NRL's main competition, called the Telstra Premiership , is contested by sixteen teams, fifteen of which are based in Australia with one based in New Zealand...

 (NRL), and formerly Australian rules football
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

, until Nine lost the rights in 2006, and Super League
Super League (Australia)
Super League was an Australian rugby league football administrative body that conducted professional competition in Australasia for one season in 1997. Along with Super League of Europe, it was created by News Corporation during the Super League war which arose following an unsuccessful attempt to...

 while it existed. NRL games are broadcast in prime time in New South Wales and Queensland on Friday nights, however are usually screened after midnight (or not at all) in Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania.

Nine's other popular recurring sporting events include the Rugby League State of Origin
Rugby League State of Origin
State of Origin is an annual best of three series of rugby league football matches contested by the Maroons and the Blues, who represent the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales respectively...

, British Open
The Open Championship
The Open Championship, or simply The Open , is the oldest of the four major championships in professional golf. It is the only "major" held outside the USA and is administered by The R&A, which is the governing body of golf outside the USA and Mexico...

, US Golf Open
U.S. Open (golf)
The United States Open Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Open, is the annual open golf tournament of the United States. It is the second of the four major championships in golf, and is on the official schedule of both the PGA Tour and the European Tour...

, US Tennis Open, Wimbledon, the French Open, KFC Twenty20, Commonwealth Bank Series Cricket, and Test cricket
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...

 and formerly the Telstra Swimming Championships until Nine lost the rights in 2009. As well as this, the Nine Network, in joint partnership with subscription television provider Foxtel
Foxtel
Foxtel is an Australian pay television company, operating cable, direct broadcast satellite television and IPTV services. It was formed in 1995 through a joint venture established between Telstra and News Corporation....

, has broadcast rights for the 2010 Winter Olympics
2010 Winter Olympics
The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, were a major international multi-sport event held from February 12–28, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in the suburbs of Richmond, West Vancouver and the University...

 and the 2012 Summer Olympics
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the "London 2012 Olympic Games", are scheduled to take place in London, England, United Kingdom from 27 July to 12 August 2012...

.

Nine also broadcast the 2010 Youth Olympics in Singapore on its digital channel GO!
Go! (Australian TV channel)
GO! is an Australian free-to-air standard definition digital television channel launched by the Nine Network on Sunday 9 August 2009.-Origins:...



Nine has been criticised by Melbourne NRL fans for choosing to show matches in that city delayed by several hours, as well as its decision not to broadcast the post-match celebrations of the 2009 NRL Grand Final
2009 NRL Grand Final
The 2009 NRL Grand Final was a rugby league football game played on 4 October 2009 at the ANZ Stadium in Sydney. It was the 12th annual championship game of the National Rugby League staged to decide the premiers of the 2009 NRL season....

, which the Melbourne Storm had won.

On 26 May 2010, Nine became the first free to air television channel in Australia to broadcast in 3D. The broadcast was the State of Origin
Rugby League State of Origin
State of Origin is an annual best of three series of rugby league football matches contested by the Maroons and the Blues, who represent the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales respectively...

.

Availability

The Nine Network is simulcast in analogue and standard-definition digital. Nine is broadcast in metropolitan areas via Nine Network owned-and-operated stations, including TCN
TCN
TCN stands for:* Take Care Now, a private company providing out-of-hours medical cover in England* TanenbaumCHAT North Campus, a private Hebrew high school in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada* TCN-9, a Sydney television station...

 Sydney, GTV Melbourne, QTQ Brisbane and NTD Darwin, and by affiliate Channel Nine stations NWS Adelaide and STW
STW
-Mathematics:*The Shimura-Taniyama-Weil conjecture, a generalization of Fermat's last theorem.-Music:*Stop the War Coalition, an anti-war group in the United Kingdom*Salt the Wound, a deathcore band-Other:...

 Perth. Nine Network programming is also carried into regional Australia by affiliate networks WIN Television
WIN Television
WIN Television is an Australian television network owned by the WIN Corporation that is based in Wollongong, New South Wales. WIN commenced transmissions on 18 March 1962 as a single Wollongong-only station, and has since expanded to 24 owned-and-operated stations with transmissions covering a...

, NBN Television
NBN Television
NBN Television is a television station based in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. The station was inaugurated on 4 March 1962 as the first regional commercial television station in New South Wales, and has since expanded to 39 transmitters throughout the northern half of New South Wales and...

, and Imparja Television
Imparja Television
Imparja Television is an Australian television network servicing remote eastern and central Australia, that began broadcasting on 2 January 1988. It is based in Alice Springs, where it has a studio and satellite uplink facility. Notably, it is controlled by Australian Aborigines through ownership...

. Nine is also broadcast via satellite and cable on Foxtel
Foxtel
Foxtel is an Australian pay television company, operating cable, direct broadcast satellite television and IPTV services. It was formed in 1995 through a joint venture established between Telstra and News Corporation....

 and on Austar Digital
Austar
Austar is an Australian telecommunications company. Its main business activity is Subscription Television but it is also involved with internet access and mobile phones...

 on the cable pay TV service in Darwin.

Logos

The Nine Network first used a shared logo produced and used across the metropolitan stations in 1970, featuring the numeral nine beside nine dots. The first set of identities was a "Dots TV" set. This logo has remained in use on the network, in differing forms across the decades, with various exceptions. In 1977, the nine dots were removed from the logo, but only for on-air idents. This lasted 11 years until 1988, when Bond Media purchased the network and reinstated the nine dots, with STW
STW
-Mathematics:*The Shimura-Taniyama-Weil conjecture, a generalization of Fermat's last theorem.-Music:*Stop the War Coalition, an anti-war group in the United Kingdom*Salt the Wound, a deathcore band-Other:...

 Perth becoming a Nine Network owned-and-operated station. In 1998, the dots were changed to spheres. Three-dimensions were added to the numeral nine in 2002, coinciding with a revamp of the network's on-air identity.

In 2006, the network and its affiliates relaunched their logos to coincide with Nine's 50th anniversary and the chance to revitalize the network. The logo uses a 2D blue cube with the 9 inside it, which saw the removal of the nine dots. Later in 2007, the cube became a solid 3D box, and partially relaunched the nine dots, which is visible in every second surface of the box.

As a part of a major relaunch, Nine Network reinstates its nine dots, and the dots are first 3D discs in 2008, then 2D dots in July 2009, then later spheres in September 2009.

See also

  • List of Australian television series
  • Nine HD
    Nine HD
    Nine HD was an Australian television channel, owned by Nine Entertainment Co., that launched on 17 March 2008. The channel was available to high definition digital television viewers in metropolitan and regional areas through a number of owned-and-operated and affiliate stations...

  • GEM
    GEM (Australian TV channel)
    GEM is an Australian free-to-air high definition digital television channel, launched by the Nine Network on Sunday 26 September 2010 at 6am...

  • Go!
    Go! (Australian TV channel)
    GO! is an Australian free-to-air standard definition digital television channel launched by the Nine Network on Sunday 9 August 2009.-Origins:...

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK