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The results are grim, but not surprising. A new in-depth study from Screen Australia , released today, shows that Australian drama is not doing well on the diversity front. Not when it comes to different cultures, not in terms of representation of disability, and not when dealing with sexuality. The report, Seeing Ourselves: Reflections on Diversity in TV Drama , is the most significant investigation of visible diversity on screen since , analysing dramas that aired between and It also analysed 1, main characters in these shows according to identifiable cultural background, disability, and sexual orientation and gender identity.
Australian television has been transformed over the past decade. Australian Television Culture is the first book to offer a comprehensive analysis of the. Australian Television Culture is the first book to offer a comprehensive analysis of the fundamental changes of this period. It is also the first to offer a substantial.
In other words, the diverse aspect of a main character had to be identifiable or visible for it to be relevant. But they are ballpark figures, which in the context of the study tell us enough: The only area that revealed a positive result was Indigenous representation, showing a considerable uptick in roles on Australian television in recent years.
This success lies in years of work by various organisations that have made a steadfast effort to offer Indigenous storytellers and actors the opportunity tell their own stories. Screen Australia and the ABC both have Indigenous Departments, and there are several production companies also producing great content.
The only area that revealed a positive result was Indigenous representation, thanks to shows like Cleverman.
And this success points to a solution for the Australian television industry: There are a few things to consider when talking about evolution in Australian television. Many roles can just as easily be played by an Asian person, or a person with a visible disability. We can also make room for characters who are not there solely to be the point of difference.
Not every Muslim character has to be a terror suspect. How about characters who happen to be Muslim or Hindu? Why is reality TV so much more diverse than scripted? If you're looking for TV that reflects the real, multicultural Australia - watch a singing competition or a cooking show.
Moreover, in normalising diversity — rather than tokenising it — the industry can draw on difference by recruiting people who fit any of these categories. The s saw a boom in Australian-made drama, which included Halifax f. Hey Hey It's Saturday ended its year run in November One of the most significant developments in terms of high quality Australian programming was the establishment by the Federal Government of the Commercial Television Production Fund.
One of the most significant changes for regional television in Australia began in the s with the introduction of aggregation. Instead of being covered by a single commercial channel, regional license areas would combine to provide two or three stations in line with metropolitan areas. As a result, most regional areas went from one to three channels, although some, particularly outside eastern states New South Wales , Victoria and Queensland , remained with two or even only one commercial station.
The first license area to aggregate was that of southern New South Wales, on 31 March , followed by Queensland on 31 December , northern New South Wales on 31 December , Victoria on 1 January and Tasmania in two stations only. Some areas too small to be properly aggregated, such as Darwin , Mildura or rural South Australia, however, either applied for a second license or introduced a supplementary second service run by the existing local station. The stations, which all broadcast on channel 31, were allocated long-term temporary licences until new legislation introduced in permitted permanent licences to be granted.
Briz 31 was the first community television station to launch in Australia, on 31 July C31 Melbourne and Access 31 in Perth followed in and respectively, along with a number of other stations in some capital and regional cities. The most recent to launch was Sydney's TVS. During the s the first subscription television services were introduced to Australia. The first license was issued to Galaxy Television , which started in , providing services to most metropolitan areas by Subscription television allowed customers to have access to more channels.
The advent of pay television in Australia resulted in the Super League war which was fought in and out of court during the mids by the News Ltd -backed Super League and Kerry Packer -backed Australian Rugby League organisations over broadcasting rights, and ultimately control of the top-level professional rugby league football competition of Australasia. Galaxy folded in and was subsequently absorbed by Foxtel.
The Summer Olympics resulted in huge ratings for its broadcaster the event was hosted in Sydney for the Seven Network — over 6. The broadcast also ran on the short-lived C7 Sport subscription channel. The turn of the millennium introduced digital television to Australia , as well as the transition to widescreen standard-definition and high-definition television production.
Community stations also began to receive permanent transmitter licences, replacing temporary licences that were renewed yearly. At this time it was thought that allowing Commercial Multicasting would be detrimental so the publicly owned networks ABC and SBS were the only networks that were allowed to create new digital SD Channels. This was only revised after Digital Television Uptake was not as high as expected in many areas, and from 1 January , Network Ten, Nine and Seven were allowed to create alternative SD channels. Australian content on subscription television also grew, with shows such as the Logie Award winning Love My Way.
Amongst the new digital 'multichannels', one of the earliest was the SBS World News Channel in , providing news bulletins in languages other than English. In Tasmanian Digital Television launched, providing Tasmanian viewers a third commercial station, and nationally available stations Fly TV and the ABC Kids launched, later to be eventually shut down due to funding issues and replaced in by ABC2.
Sydney also began testing datacasting transmissions with Digital 44 in While digital television boomed in areas that received a third channel and with the subscription television services, growth in other areas has been slow, with analogue shut-down dates pushed back several times. A number of new community stations were also opened, including C31 Adelaide in April and Television Sydney in February In October , Network Ten announced that the morning show entitled Good Morning Australia would be cancelled at the end of the year, after a year run.
Although Bert Newton was offered ongoing employment at Network Ten , he joined the Nine Network to host the short-lived game show Bert's Family Feud , until 23 May when the program was axed. The Nine Network, the traditional ratings leader, suffered ratings losses by the mids, losing out to the Seven Network, which became the most popular Australian network by early , thanks to its "Seven in '07" campaign. Although Ten HD was initially expected to be the first new commercial television channel in metropolitan areas of Australia since , it was instead beaten to the punch by 7HD.
Following the announcement by the Ten Network, Network Seven also announced its previously hidden plans to launch a dedicated HD channel on 15 September and pushed the launch date forward to 10 October. The Nine Network's move to a HD channel was considered sluggish by industry insiders, taking until March ABC3, unlike commercial channels, is not constrained by local content quotas.
The government funded stations, ABC and SBS, received increased funding in the closing stages of the s to enable them to make the transition to digital TV. Meanwhile, the community station C31 received no government assistance or funding to make the transition; this still remains a source of controversy. Other issues were noted such as the increased cost of producing local content on commercial networks. The cost disparity has led many to question the viability of commercial networks in the future of delivering and investing in locally produced content and has also brought their financial arrangements with business and industry groups into question.
Meanwhile, ABC and SBS quickly began producing very successful local content with shows such as Review , Lawrence Leung's Choose Your Own Adventure , Hungry Beast and many more publicly funded local programs, produced in Australia, with Australian cast and crews, adding to the increasing health of Australian film and television industries. On 19 August , the Seven Network announced their third digital channel, 7mate , which replaced 7HD.
GEM is targeted at middle-aged women. The new channel, Eleven , is aimed at a youth audience and carries flagship TEN programming including Neighbours.
Eleven launched on 11 January In , the Seven Network created history by winning all 40 weeks of a television ratings season for the first time since OzTAM was established in On 10 December , the analogue TV shutdown completed all around Australia. On 19 August , then Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull introduced a bill retracting the legal obligation for broadcasters to broadcast their primary channel in standard definition. On 29 August , Racing. In October , the Nine Network announced their fourth digital channel, 9Life.
Launching on 26 November, 9Life is a dedicated lifestyle and reality channel on Channel Around the same time, 9HD was relaunched on Channel On 28 February , the Seven Network launched a fifth digital channel, 7flix , which is a dedicated movie and entertainment channel on Channel On 16 December of the same year, it was relaunched on the same channel in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth.
Television broadcasting in Australia is available in a colour digital format, via a range of means including terrestrial television , satellite television as well as a number of cable services. Both free-to-air and subscription channels and networks are available. The analogue network has been phased out, with the last service being switched off in December In most areas there is a choice of three free-to-air commercial broadcasters as well as two national public broadcasters, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and the Special Broadcasting Service.
A third, recently established, National Indigenous Television service is available in many remote areas. Regional television in Australia consists of independently owned networks 'affiliated' to metropolitan stations. In two broadcaster markets, the two incumbent commercial broadcasters applied for and were granted a third, digital -only license, while in single broadcaster markets, the incumbent commercial broadcaster was granted a second, and later a third license, to provide additional programming. Most operators provide the same or similar channels. There are few genuine local channels and few independent channels.
Community television progressively launched between the s to the s. The sector is represented nationally by the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia. Cable television has been available in Australia since the early s, with Galaxy TV being the first. It became insolvent in , due to decreasing popularity after the launch of Foxtel and Austar in May , two cable services that offered more variety than Galaxy TV.
Foxtel commenced by supplying programs to Galaxy's subscribers on an interim basis. In Foxtel was able to significantly boost its customer base by acquiring Galaxy TV's subscribers from the Australis Media liquidator and commenced offering its services on a satellite television platform.
There is currently one major subscription television provider in Australia, Foxtel. Foxtel bought Austar in and has now completed the merger of its operations. In the capital cities, cable is the more predominant form of pay television distribution. In regional areas or in new or outskirted areas of cities, satellite is far more common. Due to its history, financial backing and market dominance, most local versions of channels are either owned directly by Foxtel or through related companies.
Optus 's network covers small parts of Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, though its restrictive subscription rules means that many people living in apartments or confined living areas may be unable to be connected. Austar now Foxtel is available by satellite in most of regional and rural Australia, but does have a small cable network in the city of Darwin. TransACT is only available in Canberra , where a custom cable network was developed. A similar situation used to exist in Perth where a small area was covered by Bright Telecommunications however they closed down after lack of funding as well in parts of Geelong , Ballarat and Mildura that are reached by Neighbourhood Cable.
Satellite television in Australia has proven to be a far more feasible option than cable television, perhaps due to the vast distances between population centres, although Canada, which also has large distances between population centres, has a relatively high cable television penetration rate. The first service to come online in Australia was Galaxy , which was later taken over by cable television giant Foxtel , which now operates both cable and satellite services to all state capital cities except Darwin and Hobart and the whole of Western Australia.
Its main metropolitan rival was Optus Vision , while rural areas are served by Austar , both of which just rebroadcast Foxtel as of In SelecTV began operating, aiming at providing comparatively low cost packages and catering to specialised market segments. Australia has produced numerous notable television series and miniseries, with the most prominent programs coming from the comedy, police, and medical drama genres.
One of the earliest Australian police drama series was Homicide , produced in Melbourne by Crawford Productions , widely viewed as having revolutionised Australian television drama production. It was followed by Division 4 and Matlock Police , which also enjoyed great popularity and long runs both locally and overseas. Australian soap opera success began with Bellbird in which was a moderate but consistent success. Following this the huge success of Number 96 in prompted creation of the similar The Box in These serials were all cancelled in This later group were also screened internationally, finding particular success in the United Kingdom.
The scheduling for each network is quite diverse: The primetime slot in Australia runs from 6. Many programs shown in these times on commercial networks are taken from American television, while ABC has a mixture of Australian and British productions. SBS , as a multicultural broadcaster, shows a range of programs produced locally and overseas in a number of languages. Imported programming has typically been shown months after its debut in the United States or the United Kingdom, however in recent times networks have begun to air programs within hours or days of their overseas counterparts.
Seven and Nine and have rival breakfast shows that run from 5.
Current affairs programming is shown in a broad range of formats, ranging between tabloid -style current affairs shows to investigative programs such as Four Corners. The show's storylines concern the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional suburb of Erinsborough , Melbourne. Similarly, the playback of pre-recorded programs to air was only possible at this stage through the telecine process, in which films or kinescoped TV recordings were played back on a movie screen which was monitored by a TV camera. The incoming Robert Menzies -led Liberal-Country Party coalition, which was to hold power for the next 23 years, changed the industry structure by also permitting the establishment of American-style commercial stations. The analogue network has been phased out, with the last service being switched off in December Retrieved 27 July The first television broadcast in Australia took place on 30 September at the Menzies Hotel in Melbourne , using the electro-mechanical Radiovision system.
Most scheduling is consistent across Australia's three timezones — this means that South Australia and the Northern Territory sees programming half an hour behind Australian Eastern Standard Time , while in Western Australia programs are seen two hours behind. Consequently, many national news bulletins shown live to eastern states are seen on considerable delay in Western Australia with the notable exception of The Midday Report , of which a second edition is produced for WA.
The time delay can often deny viewers in central and western areas the opportunity to participate in interactive shows such as Big Brother. One exception to this rule are subscription channels, which always run on Australian Eastern Standard Time regardless of the local service or timezone. The recent introduction of timeshift channels delayed two hours for all viewers, particularly on Foxtel , allowed WA viewers to see programs in sync with other states. Although, ABC News 24 are live across the nation with no delay. This is the only free-to-air television channel to do this.
Higher ratings for earlier bulletins from commercial broadcasters including the Seven Network and Nine Network have prompted fierce ratings competition. Ten Eyewitness News currently produces a local hour long weeknight bulletin of Ten Eyewitness News and on weekends it airs a national hour long bulletin. In Australia, there are two local 24 hour news channels. ABC News is available on digital channel The subscription based television channel draws on the resources of its shareholders news services, using content from Seven News, Nine News and Sky News from the United Kingdom, as well as reporters based in Sydney, Canberra , and Melbourne.
A number of regional television networks produce news services. NBN Television is the only regional broadcaster to produce a bulletin on both weeknights and weekends, in an hour-long format presented from Newcastle and seen across northern New South Wales. Current affairs programming is shown in a broad range of formats, ranging between tabloid -style current affairs shows to investigative programs such as Four Corners. ABC has had a long history of producing current affairs programs, including the award-winning This Day Tonight , the first regular current affairs program to be shown on Australian television and a training ground for many of Australia's best-known journalists.
This Day Tonight was axed in , however in the mids The 7. Four Corners , first seen in , an investigative documentary series modelled on the BBC 's Panorama , has also won many awards and broken stories previously not covered by other media outlets. Other current affairs programs include news and analysis program Lateline , 7.
SBS also shows a number of current affairs programs, such as Dateline , the country's longest-running international current affairs program, launched in Insight , originally conceived in as a domestic current affairs program, is a discussion forum focussing on a single issue.
There are a number of commercial current affairs programs. The Seven Network , in addition to Sunrise, broadcasts Today Tonight , a tabloid current affairs program, every weeknight after its 6pm news bulletin. On the Nine Network , A Current Affair , first shown in , competes directly with Today Tonight and has, since Ray Martin began presenting in , provided a similar mix of content.
On Sundays, 60 Minutes features a number of stories produced both locally and from its US counterpart.
In the morning Sunday covers local and overseas news, politics, and current affairs, in addition to film reviews, politics, arts, and music. Squawk Australia , a business news program shown from 6. Television ratings in Australia are collected by three main organisations: Ratings are collected for 40 weeks during the year, excluding a two-week break during Easter and ten weeks over summer.
The majority of locally produced comedy and drama on commercial networks is shown during the ratings period. For many years up until the mid-nineties, the Nine Network had been the ratings leader in Australia, typically followed by the Seven Network and Network Ten. Subscription television and the two national broadcasters, ABC and in particular SBS , due to its special-interest nature, typically attract fewer viewers than the three commercial networks.
Network Ten, due to its programming line-up, has traditionally been the market leader for younger viewers. In , the Seven Network overtook its rival Nine Network in terms of average viewers, [89] and in , it became the first television network since OzTam 's launch in to win all 40 weeks in a ratings season. The Nine Network has, in the past, aggressively marketed its long-time ratings dominance through its promotional campaign " Still the One ", which they no longer use.
All codes of practice submitted to the Australian Communications and Media Authority are reviewed by the public prior to acceptance. The regulations in place define what a broadcaster may put on-air, the time s of day they are allowed to broadcast specific material, and what advertisements are shown in relation to these criteria. In essence, the Australian Communications and Media Authority controls what content is shown, what time s of day it is shown, and who controls what is shown i.
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SiliconChip Australia 13 June Film, television and the urban experience: Journal of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland. Retrieved 26 April Retrieved 24 July Retrieved on 31 March Video tour starts at Bendigo. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 23 September Australia's Transport and Communications". Archived from the original on 10 October Events That Shaped Australia. Archived from the original on 31 August Retrieved 28 July Archived from the original on 23 September Archived from the original on 17 September