SBS scores jackpot in federal budget

SBS might not have had a ticket in last night’s OzLotto $70 million jackpot but it has won an even greater prize… more than $158 million over the next five years, as announced in the Federal Budget.

The funding boost is in contrast to the 2009 round of triennial funding which saw SBS denied funds intended for improving its digital broadcasting initiatives.

The increased funding for Australia’s second national broadcaster includes $63 million over the next four years to facilitate the network’s launching of a national free-to-air Indigenous channel by the end of 2012.

The new channel will largely incorporate the existing NITV, which launched in 2007 but has had limited capacity for market reach.  NITV is currently available via terrestrial broadcast only in remote and outback communities with access in larger, more populated areas limited to pay-TV platforms.  The new channel will be available via SBS digital television across Australia, through terrestrial broadcast as well as the VAST satellite system.

In a statement issued by the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy said the increased funding will help SBS maintain its relevance in an increasingly competitive and changing media landscape:

“The Australian Government recognises SBS as one of Australia’s most important institutions.  This represents the most significant funding boost SBS has ever had, and will ensure SBS can continue to provide a unique broadcasting service that includes comprehensive television, radio and online services.”

“This additional funding will allow SBS to address its immediate financial pressures, adapt to the changing media environment and build or upgrade its technology capabilities.”

“The creation of a truly national free-to-air Indigenous television service, built on the foundations of the existing NITV service, will greatly expand the availability of Indigenous broadcast content for all Australians.”

The Budget has also allowed additional funding for ABC, in particular to allow Australians in regional and remote areas better access to ABC radio coverage.  The funding will also enable ABC to migrate distribution of its radio networks from the Optus Aurora satellite, which will cease at the end of 2013, to the Government-funded VAST system.

Australians who have direct satellite-to-home access to VAST will also gain access to ABC’s digital-only radio stations as a result of the transition. 

Source: DBCDE, SBS

Northern NSW going digital in November

Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy has announced 27 November 2012 as the date for the switch-off of analogue television services in the Northern NSW coverage area (pictured).

The switch-off will affect local transmissions of ABC, Prime7 (NEN), NBN, Southern Cross Ten (NRN) and SBS in the Northern NSW regions of Newcastle/Hunter Valley, Tamworth/New England, Taree/Manning River, Richmond/Tweed Heads and Northern Rivers.

Some towns within the above regions may be identified for analogue switch-off before the November date, however a list of towns affected is yet to be finalised.

Excluded from the November switch-off will be the Gold Coast and Gosford/Central Coast areas which both fall within the Northern NSW market but overlap with the Brisbane and Sydney television licence areas respectively.  Those areas will have analogue services terminated in late 2013.

According to the latest Digital Tracker survey – covering the period October to December 2011 – 84 per cent of households in the Northern NSW market have already converted at least their main TV set to digital, compared to the national average of 82 per cent.

In preparation for the analogue switch-off, broadcasters are establishing seven new transmission sites to improve areas of poor digital reception, but viewers within the coverage area that are unable to receive an adequate digital signal by 27 May may be eligible for transition to the satellite-based VAST system which will provide access to all free-to-air networks and their digital multi-channels.

Households requiring practical or financial assistance in making the transition to digital television may be eligible for government support and are advised to consult the Digital Ready website or telephone 1800 20 10 13.

The Northern NSW analogue switch-off will follow that of the Southern NSW, Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area and ACT markets which are due to switch to digital-only transmission on 5 June this year.

Source: DBCDE

ABC1 presents The Real Graham Kennedy

When TV looks back on the man that was Graham Kennedy, it rarely drifts from the public side of the talented performer:  The hilarious moments from In Melbourne Tonight, his comic rapport with Bert Newton, the portrayal of the mega-camp ‘Cyril’ in Blankety Blanks, and the 1980s success of Graham Kennedy’s News Show, just to name a few. 

But as well as the very public Kennedy, it was well known that there was also an equally private one.  A shy, somewhat reclusive person who rarely gave any real insight into his life away from the cameras.

In The Real Graham Kennedy, a one-hour documentary screening tomorrow (Sunday) night on ABC1, a number of Kennedy’s former colleagues, friends and employees recall some of their experiences and memories of Kennedy, giving some insight into this private persona.  Some of those appearing in the program include Val Wesley, Ernie Carroll (the man behind Ossie Ostrich), Toni Lamond, Joy Westmore, Rosemary Margan (who confessed having to ask a friend what was that word that Kennedy had disguised as a “crow call” on that infamous night in 1975), Mike McColl-Jones, Philip Brady, Pete Smith, Denise Drysdale and Susan-Gaye Anderson.

The program also includes rare home movie footage and some early comedy sketches, depicting some of Kennedy’s early comic influences, as well as audio commentary from Kennedy himself as he recalls some of his family and his early background.

The Real Graham Kennedy was produced in 2009 by Bob Phillips, a former producer of In Melbourne Tonight.

The Real Graham Kennedy.  Sunday 5 February, 10.00pm.  ABC1

BCV: Television Centre of Victoria

Saturday, 23 December, 1961 – fifty years ago today – brought an early Christmas present to residents in the Goulburn Valley and central Victorian regions with the respective areas receiving their first TV stations.

Just two weeks after the debut of GLV10 in Gippsland, BCV8 was opened in Bendigo and serving central and north west Victoria, and on the same night GMV6 was opened in Shepparton and the Goulburn Valley.

BCV8, Saturday 23 December 1961: 6pm Special: The Magic Mirror A Christmas Pantomime 7pm Official Opening BCV8 by Postmaster-General Mr C. W. Davidson 7.25 News 7.30 BP Super Show 8.30 Whiplash 9pm The Phil Silvers Show 9.30 Peter Gunn 10pm Adventures In Paradise 11pm Close Source: The Age, 23 December 1961

BCV8’s local programming in the very early days included a 15-minute news summary at 6.45pm each weeknight read by Ron Alderton (who would later appear on ATV0 and GMV6), with an expanded 30-minute bulletin from 6.30pm on Thursdays to include a weekly segment presented by the Department of Agriculture.  Alderton also presented Be My Guest, a brief interview segment screened in the mid-evening three times a week.  The channel’s afternoon children’s session was Cobber’s Teleclub, hosted by John Crook, who later went on to Hobart channel TVT6 and then had a long stint as a morning show host at Brisbane’s TVQ0.

On Saturday afternoons BCV presented a weekly Sports Roundup and on Saturday evenings during the winter there was Football Forum, presenting a post mortem of the day’s games of the Bendigo league.  On Monday and Tuesday evenings there was the latest on the local cattle sales in the Stock Report.  Local variety acts appeared in A Date With 8, a brief segment that appeared at various times during the week where there was an odd five or ten-minute gap to fill in the schedule.

Like many commercial channels in that era, BCV presented a line-up heavy in imported – particularly American – material but the channel in its first year did pick up a number of popular Australian programs from the capital cities, including Bandstand, The Mobil-Limb Show, The Channel Nine Show, Pick-A-Box and Sunnyside Up.

By the late 1960s regional stations were beginning to open translator stations to expand their signal to audiences in fringe areas where reception would normally be patchy.  BCV8 launched its Swan Hill translator BCV11 (later BCV10) in May 1967 with a variety program, Variety Eleven, hosted by national TV personality Tommy Hanlon Jnr and featuring performances by local artists from the Swan Hill area.  With the two channels in operation, the station then became known as BCV-TV.

Bendigo was the site of ABC’s first regional television station, ABEV1, launching in 1963 – and ABC stations were soon to spring up around Victoria in Shepparton (ABGV3), Ballarat (ABRV3), Albury (ABAV1), Gippsland (ABLV4), Mildura (ABMV4) and Swan Hill (ABSV2) with their own network of translator stations in smaller towns.

 

By 1973, BCV8 had partnered with GLV10 (later GLV8) to form a network presenting a common program schedule and offering national advertisers the advantage of offering a larger regional audience with a single buy of airtime.  They were later joined by Mildura channel STV8.

Like many regional channels, BCV presented opportunities for talent that would later become known on a wider scale.  Glenn Ridge was a presenter of a music program, Breezin’, in the early 1980s before becoming host of Sale Of The Century, and Sandy Roberts had a stint at BCV8 before joining the Seven Network.

In 1986, BCV8 won a TV Week Logie for most outstanding contribution by regional television for its local newscast, Newshour.  BCV continued to produce local news from Bendigo until the change in branding to Ten Victoria in 1994.

BCV and GLV are now part of the Southern Cross Ten network which through a series of acquisitions has now expanded through regional New South Wales, Queensland and parts of South Australia.

With three regional television stations opening within two weeks of each other in 1961, Victoria was leading the way in the roll-out of regional television – but there was to be an raft of new stations open during 1962 in parts of New South Wales, Queensland and Tasmania and in Canberra.

Regional Qld ready for digital… almost?

At around 9.00am (EST) today, analogue television transmissions in the Regional Queensland aggregated market will be switched off.

The switch-off will affect local transmissions for ABC, Seven Queensland (STQ), WIN (RTQ), Southern Cross Ten (TNQ) and SBS in the markets of Cairns/Far North Queensland, Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton, Maryborough/Wide Bay and Toowoomba/Darling Downs/Southern Downs – covering a total market population of around 1,764,000 viewers, making it the largest analogue shutdown in Australia to date.

According to the latest Digital Tracker survey, covering the period July to September 2011, around 85 per cent of households in the Regional Queensland market have converted at least their main TV set to digital.  While retailers have experienced the expected last minute rush for digital set top boxes and TVs, it is estimated that two per cent of viewers in the affected market may still be unaware of the switch to digital-only transmission.

Today’s switch-off will mark the end of almost fifty years of analogue television transmission in regional Queensland.  The first regional channel to sign-on was DDQ10 Toowoomba in July 1962, followed later in the year by TNQ7 in Townsville.

RTQ7 Rockhampton followed in 1963, then WBQ8 Maryborough/Wide Bay (1965), FNQ10 Cairns (1966), SDQ4 Southern Downs (1966), MVQ6 Mackay (1968) and ITQ8 Mount Isa (1971).

ABC began rolling out television services in regional Queensland with the launch of ABRQ3 Rockhampton and ABDQ3 in December 1963.

In 1986 the ABC began broadcasting radio and television services to remote and outback regions via the new domestic satellite AUSSAT.  This was joined by commercial station QSTV, operated by Telecasters North Queensland (TNQ7/FNQ10), in 1988.

Also in 1988, the Toowoomba channel DDQ10 changed its call-sign and frequency to DDQ0 to allow Brisbane channel TVQ0 to change to the Ten frequency.

Aggregation of the regional markets of Townsville/Cairns, Rockhampton/Darling Downs/Southern Downs and Wide Bay/Mackay took place on 31 December 1990, giving local viewers a choice of three commercial channels – Sunshine Television (now Seven Queensland), WIN and QTV (now Southern Cross Ten).  

In 1999, Alice Springs-based Imparja Television expanded its remote area service to Mount Isa and the remote Queensland market in competition with Seven Central (previously ITQ8 and QSTV, now Southern Cross Television).  The region is now also covered by Ten Central, a joint venture between Imparja and Southern Cross as a digital-only service providing a dedicated Network Ten schedule.

Viewers in the remote market covered by analogue terrestrial transmissions of Imparja and Southern Cross Television will still have access to analogue until 2013.  Today’s switch-off only affects the regional Queensland aggregated market.  Brisbane and the Gold Coast will continue to receive analogue television until 2013.

The Federal Government has made allowances for financial assistance to eligible households in converting either to digital television or, where digital television reception is not possible, to gain access to the satellite-based VAST system.

Viewers in locations where locally-based “self-help” transmission facilities are not being upgraded to digital may also need to convert to VAST.

For details on the digital conversion, assistance options or access to VAST, refer to the Digital Ready website or telephone 1800 20 10 13.

After the Regional Queensland market the next region to lose analogue transmissions will be Southern NSW and the ACT in June 2012.

Nine Darwin – 40 years today

Although television started in Sydney and Melbourne in 1956 it wasn’t too much longer before other capital cities joined in – Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth in 1959, Hobart in 1960, Canberra in 1962 – but for people in Australia’s smallest and most isolated capital city it was a much longer wait.

It was 1971 before television arrived in the Northern Territory capital of Darwin.  The first channel to air was ABC’s local outlet ABD6, opening in August 1971.

Darwin’s first commercial channel, NTD8, opened three months later – 11 November, 1971.  The first program on opening night was an Australian classic, Skippy The Bush Kangaroo.

Although Darwinites are known to like a drink, apparently the arrival of television had a major impact on attendances at Darwin pubs as many would race home to enjoy the wonders of the new medium.  This would potentially be of concern to the local brewers, except that at the time Swan Breweries was a major shareholder in NTD8 and, as the sole commercial channel in town, business was thriving.

Colour television was to arrive formally in March 1975.  In a TV Times article in October 1974, it was reported that NTD8 was confident that it was on schedule to have its facilities upgraded for colour in time for the March deadline.  The ABC, however, was less optimistic.  With a vast network of hundreds of transmitter sites Australia-wide to be converted, ABD6 was far down the list of sites to be enabled for colour – with a tentative conversion date of sometime in 1978!

But on Christmas Day, 1974 – barely two months after the article’s publication – Darwin was devastated by Cyclone Tracy.  Much of the city was destroyed and Darwin faced a mass evacuation to bring the population down from 45,000 to 10,000 within days as the recovery effort took place.

The cyclone took out all television and radio stations but the ABC, as the national broadcaster, was able to get ABD6 and its radio services back on the air within days.  NTD8, however, was less fortunate and took until October 1975 to return to the airwaves – providing even then a fairly rudimentary service.

But in the years to follow the city of Darwin was re-built as was NTD8.  The channel also undertook a $2 million redevelopment of its studios in the early 1980s, although transmission hours by 1982 were still largely limited to the evenings, with daytime broadcasting only on Sundays and Wednesdays.  The channel was also limited in communication infrastructure to the major cities, as the only inbound microwave link available to Darwin was leased full-time to ABC – leaving NTD with little means of timely access to national news stories or program material from interstate.  The channel did, however, maintain local programming including local sports coverage and discussion and a current affairs program, Spectrum.

The monopoly situation with the microwave link was rectified by 1982, finally giving NTD8 an instant connection to the major cities and enabling it to launch its first news service, News At Seven, in October of that year, initially in affiliation with the Nine Network but later changed to Seven.  One of the original members of the News team was Andrew Bruyn, who became the channel’s general manager in 1991 and continues in that role today.

By the mid-1980s, NTD8 was part of a bid to obtain the licence to operate a Remote Commercial Television Service (RCTS) to remote central Australia via the new AUSSAT domestic satellite.  The bid was unsuccessful, with the licence instead going to Imparja Television, operated by the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA). 

NTD lodged an appeal against the decision but in the meantime the channel was bought out by Kerry Packer, who sought to negotiate operating the new channel as a joint venture with CAAMA but at the last minute his company withdrew the appeal and CAAMA proceeded to launch Imparja in January 1988.

When Packer regained control of the Nine Network in 1990, NTD8 was brought into the network.  Despite ownership by Nine, NTD8 as the sole commercial broadcaster in Darwin continued with the Channel 8 branding, providing a composite schedule of programming from all three commercial networks. 

In 1994, Darwin became the last capital city in Australia to gain access to SBS – and it was 1998 before a second commercial channel, Seven Darwin, was launched in Darwin.

The launch of Seven Darwin (now Southern Cross Television) then saw NTD8’s schedule change to a mix of Nine and Ten network programs until New Year’s Day, 2003, when the channel was re-branded as Nine Darwin, even though it was still broadcasting on Channel 8.  The change saw the loss of most Network Ten programming and local access to a full-scale Ten schedule was not to arrive until 2008 with the launch of Darwin Digital Television (DDT).

DDT launched as a digital-only channel operated jointly between Southern Cross and Nine and the new channel gave incentive for viewers to convert to digital television, leading to Darwin adopting digital television at a faster rate than most other markets.  In the latest Digital Tracker survey, of the markets still in simulcast between analogue and digital, Darwin is leading the nation in digital conversion – with 89 per cent of households having converted their main television set, compared to the national average of 81 per cent.

Despite the arrival of competition – and the subsequent suite of digital multi-channels – into what is Australia’s smallest capital city (population: 120,000) Nine Darwin continues to take pride as the market leader and maintains its local reputation with its flagship being the local Nine News bulletin, fronted by Jonathon Uptin (pictured).  Production of the local newscast has recently been revamped to match the look and style of its Nine Network counterparts in the eastern states. 

As well as maintaining the Nine Network schedule the channel also conducts occasional local programming initiatives, ranging in topics including local history and recreational activities, and provides commercial production facilities to its local clients. 

Nine Darwin also provides transmission of Nine’s digital channels GO! and GEM.  Darwin is scheduled to switch to digital-only television transmission in the second half of 2013.

Source: NTD, Digital Tracker, TV Times, CAAMA, Australian Television Archive

Obituary: Paul Lockyer, John Bean, Gary Ticehurst, Ian Carroll

ABC general manager Mark Scott yesterday described it as “the saddest of days” – following the death of veteran ABC journalist Paul Lockyer (pictured), camera operator John Bean and pilot Gary Ticehurst in a helicopter crash on Thursday night.

And last night came news that Ian Carroll, who recently retired from his role as director of innovation at the ABC, has died from pancreatic cancer.

Lockyer, Bean and Ticehurst were on board a helicopter while on assignment producing news and feature stories at Lake Eyre in South Australia.  The aircraft is believed to have crashed around 7.30pm Thursday night.

It is not known what caused the crash but it is believed that there was bad weather in the area at the time.

Lockyer, 61, was a journalist with over 40 years’ experience, most of them at the ABC in various roles, including foreign correspondent postings and reading the news, but also worked for the Nine Network for more than a decade.

His reporting from the Sydney Olympic Games for the ABC earned him a Logie award for most outstanding news reporter.

In recent times he had focused on covering regional issues for ABC and reported extensively on the drought-breaking floods that have hit eastern Australia.  In 2009 and 2010 he reported from Lake Eyre on the biggest floods to hit central Australia in a generation.

He is survived by wife Maria and two sons.

Camera operator Bean (pictured), 48, had been with ABC for more than two decades, working not only in News but also on programs including Catalyst, The New Inventors, Gardening Australia and Australian Story.  He also worked at the ABC’s Washington bureau during 2009.  He is survived by wife Pip Courtney, a reporter for ABC’s Landline program.

Ticehurst, 60, had been the ABC’s lead helicopter pilot since the mid 1980s and with over 16,000 hours of flying time was one of Australia’s most experienced media pilots.  He is survived by wife Therese.

While covering the Sydney to Hobart yacht race in 1998, Ticehurst (pictured) was instrumental in the rescue of 14 crew members from stricken yacht Business Post Naiad, which lost a skipper and crew member.

ABC’s current affairs program 7.30 last night devoted its entire program to the dedicated trio, and a tribute site has been produced by ABC Online.

The national broadcaster has also mourned the loss of former executive Ian Carroll (pictured) from pancreatic cancer.

Carroll, 64, was involved in the development of ABC news and current affairs productions including Four Corners, Nationwide, The National, Lateline and The 7.30 Report and went on to be chief executive of the ABC’s international satellite channel Australia Network.

He also spent a brief period at the Nine Network. 

Since 2007 he had led the broadcaster’s innovation portfolio, overseeing the launch of two digital channels and the popular online catch-up service iView as well as mobile applications and the development of ABC Online.

He was diagnosed with cancer a year ago but continued to work up until two weeks ago.

He is survived by wife, veteran ABC identity Geraldine Doogue.

Source: ABC, ABC, The Australian

1991: August 17-23

Cover: Matthew Krok, Rachael Beck (Hey Dad!)

The end for Hey Hey?
Nine Network executives may have be sent into a mild state of panic following a statement from Daryl Somers that he may be looking at ventures other than Hey Hey It’s Saturday in the not-too-distant future.  “It is not a foregone conclusion that Hey Hey will be on next year,” he said.  “This is the last year of our current three-year contract and we’ll certainly be talking to Channel Nine.  I love doing the program, but there are a lot of things I want to do apart from Hey Hey.  I’ve had to turn down two roles in London stage shows, whereas I’d like to be able to do these things because years down the track I may not get the opportunity.”  Meanwhile, plans are continuing for Hey Hey’s Hollywood-based special to be held later this year for the show’s 20th anniversary.

Horror head-on!
In a dramatic episode of Home And Away to screen this week, who will survive Summer Bay’s tragic car crash?  It is only known that David (Guy Pearce) and Adam (Mat Stevenson, pictured) are involved in the head-on crash – but only one will survive. 

Just another quiet night in suburbia…
A car bomb which leaves two police officers dead launches the new ABC police drama Phoenix.  The explosive scene was enacted outside the Camberwell Civic Centre in Melbourne.  Surrounding streets had been blocked off by police as a Ford Falcon loaded with more than a dozen charges was detonated, triggering a 20-metre high fireball.  Almost 100 cast and crew and six cameras were involved in the production of the explosion.

Briefly… 
The Bugs Bunny Show host Sophie Lee (pictured) is philosophical about rival Network Ten’s bid to knock the popular cartoon show down a few notches by recently launching a music video show, Power Cuts.  “I’ve read about it, but that’s cool,” she said.  “I don’t know the people involved.”

Simone Buchanan was looking forward to a change from comedy when she left Hey Dad! – and that’s exactly what she got when she took on the role of a rape victim in A Country Practice in episodes to go to air this week.  “It will allow me to break free from the typecasting from Hey Dad!,” she told TV Week.  “The ACP scenes are some of the heaviest I’ve ever been involved with.  They left me feeling emotionally and physically exhausted.  I had 19 scenes in a row.  I had to cry in all of them!”

The Barcelona Olympic Games are less than a year away and the Seven Network, given its recent financial instability, is under pressure to deliver results for the $40 million it paid for the Australian television rights.  “This will be the biggest-ever single undertaking by an Australian television network,” Seven’s network sports director Gary Fenton told TV Week.  “We’ll be taking about 150 people across, building a complete studio over there, then dismantling it all and bringing it back home.  What we plan to do is make sure that viewers see more of the Australians competing at the Games than ever before.”

John Laws says…
”Why, I wonder, would the main ABC employees’ union and the Friends Of The ABC organisation be “surprised” – as they say they are – by the ABC’s offer of a new five-year contract to managing director David Hill?  Is it because Hill dances to the beat of a different drummer?  Opposition to Hill being reappointed must, I guess, be expected because the past few years have been heady and controversial ones for the ABC.  But it’s probably never had a higher profile right around Australia, and that’s due in no small measure to Hill’s input.  Staff-management problems are to be expected in an organisation the size of the ABC, and there’s no doubt Hill has had to make some necessary – and to some people, unpleasant – decisions about staffing levels, programming and future direction.  The next five years are going to pose fresh challenges to the ABC because TV is changing all the time, and there are going to be new demands on the national broadcaster, not least of which is the possibility that, one day, it is going to have to accept some form of advertising and sponsorship.  There will also be the challenge of pay-TV.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, August 17-23):
Saturday:  On the anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley, Seven devotes much of its afternoon and evening schedule to paying tribute – with movies Kissin’ Cousins, Elvis On Tour and Jailhouse Rock and a two-hour special The Elvis Files, presented by Bill Bixby, that promises “startling new information surrounding Presley’s death and the very real possibility that he is still alive.”  This week’s guests on Hey Hey It’s Saturday (Nine) are Craig McLachlan, Rita Rudner, Cameron Daddo and Cathy Dennis.

Sunday:  Nine presents the long-awaited debut of two-part mini-series Golden Fiddles, starring Cameron Daddo, Rachel Friend, John Bach, Kate Nelligan, Pippa Grandison, David Reyne (pictured) and Adriana Xenides.  Golden Fiddles tells the story of the struggles of the Balfour family during the depression of the 1920s, and the news which could offer them a happy and prosperous future.  Sunday night movies are Cocktail (Seven) and Death Hunt (Ten).

Monday:  Ernie Bourne (The Magic Circle Club, Prisoner, Neighbours) and Beverley Phillips (Neighbours) guest star in Col’n Carpenter (Ten).  Craig McLachlan begins his week-long stint as guest host on Tonight Live (Seven).

Tuesday:  ABC presents a direct telecast from Canberra of the first Budget speech from Federal Treasurer John Kerin.  Beyond 2000 (Seven) reports on a new discovery that may lead to a better contraceptive; and the Norwegians have developed a revolutionary system for beating rising damp.  GP (ABC) presents a special episode dedicated to Camp Quality which gives unique holidays to children with cancer.

Wednesday:  In the series return of Hey Dad! (Seven), eight-year-old Arthur McArthur (Matthew Krok) falls for an older woman.  In Neighbours (Ten), Madge (Anne Charleston) is shocked by Harold’s (Ian Smith) new business partner – Brenda Riley (Genevieve Lemon).

Thursday:  In The Flying Doctors (Nine), Clare’s (Beverley Dunn) life is turned upside down when her old flame arrives in town for the opening of Steve’s (Paul Kelman) new garage.  In E Street (Ten), the new marriage between Lisa (Alyssa-Jane Cook) and Michael (Graham Harvey) could be on shaky ground – is she still in love with Wheels (Marcus Graham)?

Friday:  Star Search – The Next Generation (Ten) presents a ‘celebrity special’ looking at past guests and winners.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  17 August 1991.  Southdown Press

ABC axes programs, cuts staff

The Director of Television at the ABC, Kim Dalton has blamed “financial pressures” for the axing of more in-house production and staff redundancies that were announced yesterday.

ABC has issued redundancy notices to staff around the country as it winds down production facilities in Perth and Adelaide and axes long-running shows The New Inventors and Collectors, weekly series Art Nation (presented by Fenella Kernebone, pictured) and the production of documentaries under the Artscape banner.

In an email sent to staff yesterday, Mr Dalton said

"ABC TV management recognises that this can be a very difficult time for some staff and will ensure all the appropriate support is offered.  However in the face of an increasingly competitive broadcasting environment and increasing financial pressures, ABC TV must ensure it uses its Government funding as efficiently and effectively as possible to deliver maximum value to its audiences and the Australian taxpayer."

Mr Dalton has said that arts programs will now mostly be sourced from independent producers, or from overseas, rather than in-house – while prime-time programs At The Movies and First Tuesday Book Club will continue.

The Australian reports that production staff for the Sydney-based The New Inventors will be redeployed or may be made redundant, while staff behind the Tasmanian-based Collectors will be shifted to a new series, Auctions.  The Age reports that Mr Dalton has denied suggestions that as many as 100 staff will be made redundant but would not offer a more precise figure.

The Age also reports that Mr Dalton has said that the announced changes will have no impact on the construction of new studio facilities at Southbank in Melbourne.

The Community and Public Sector Union, which represents ABC staff, has branded the axing of Art Nation as “cultural vandalism” and has warned that the wider cutbacks will lead to a breach of the ABC’s Charter, while the Friends Of The ABC has claimed that the broadcaster "is being transformed into a platform for carrying commercial content. This is privatisation by stealth."

In recent times the broadcaster has also cancelled Talking Heads, Can We Help? and The Einstein Factor.

The New Inventors will make its final appearance with its series Grand Final on 17 August, while the Sunday afternoon Art Nation will continue until late November.

This round of cutbacks at ABC comes after recent changes at the Ten Network, where 60 positions were being targeted for redundancies and the axe was put to the long-running Video Hits.

Source: The Australian, The Age, CPSU

Play Schooling for 45 years

Forty five years is probably a bit old to be playing horsey, reading storybooks or having fun with cardboard boxes and milk cartons – but ABC’s Play School is proud to be doing so as it reaches its 45th anniversary this week.

The Australian series of Play School launched at 10.05am on Monday, 18 July 1966.  It came after the broadcaster had been screening the English series of the same name for the previous two months and had replaced the long-running afternoon program Kindergarten Playtime.

In December 1967 an afternoon screening of Play School was added to ABC’s schedule.

Among the initial line-up of presenters on Play School were actors including Anne Haddy (pictured, above right) and Patsy King.  Also in the early cast was kindergarten teacher Ann Stroh, a former presenter on the Kindergarten Of The Air radio series as well as Kindergarten Playtime, and actors Peter Drake and Evan Dunstan.

Play School went on to feature many familiar faces in the decades that followed – including Alister Smart, Diane Dorgan, Lorraine Bayly, John Hamblin, Janet Kingsbury, Kerry Francis, Don Spencer, Peter Sumner, Colin Friels, Philip Quast, George Spartels, John Waters, Noni Hazlehurst, Trisha Goddard, Donald McDonald and more recently Deborah Mailman, Jay Laga’aia, Andrew McFarlane, Justine Clarke, Alex Papps, Rhys Muldoon, Brooke Satchwell, Hugh Sheridan, Jolene Anderson, Georgie Parker and Matt Passmore.

And this month two new presenters joined the team – Rachael Coopes (pictured) and Jonny Pasvolsky.

Play School’s longest-serving presenter would have to be Benita Collings, with more than 30 years and 400 episodes to her credit.  In 1996 she told TV Week of some of the challenges that came with the program and, in particular, working with animals:

“I had a baby goat, a kid, on my knee, and it was fine during rehearsal.  But during the second-last shot in the filming, I felt a wet warmth spreading.  I knew that in that last shot I’d be standing so I said, ‘I think he’s a bit frightened.  He’s just wet himself’.  Well, in the next shot I was standing up with a huge wet spot, and the crew were killing themselves laughing.”

There was also the time when an octopus died in its tank just minutes before making its TV debut.  “We had to swish the water around to make it look alive,” she said.

Play School is one of only three programs to have been inducted into the TV Week Logie Awards’ Hall Of Fame (Four Corners and Neighbours are the other two).

Play School screens weekdays at 9.30am and 4.30pm on ABC2 and at 3.00pm on ABC1.

Pictured:  Celebrating Play School's 25th anniversary in 1991 – from top left, Janet Kingsbury (with Hamble), Donald McDonald (with Jemima), Benita Collings (with Big Ted), John Waters (with one of the Bananas in Pyjamas) and, in front, Trisha Goddard (with Humpty) and Noni Hazlehurst (with Little Ted).

… and celebrating this week’s 45th anniversary milestone, from top left, Andrew McFarlane, Don Spencer, Benita Collings, (front row) Simon Burke, Lorraine Bayly, Karen Pang, John Hamblin, John Waters and Janet Kingsbury.

Source: TV Times, 20 July 1966.  TV Week, 13 July 1991.  TV Week, 6 July 1996. Wikipedia.

WIN cuts weekend news in Tasmania

In a blow to local television in Tasmania, Nine-affiliate WIN has axed its Hobart-based news service on weekends.

Weekend newsreader John Remess (pictured), who joined the Tasmanian branch of WIN (then TAS TV) in 1992, will read his final bulletin this weekend.  Before WIN, he had been at ABC since 1970 and a newsreader there since 1974.

With another professional role as a real estate agent in Hobart, he moved to the weekend newsreading position at WIN last year after fronting the main weeknight bulletin for several years.

The cutbacks have also cost the job of a Launceston-based camera operator and two already-vacant positions will now not be filled.

From next week WIN will relay the Melbourne-based Nine News to Tasmania on weekends, up against local state-based news services from rival broadcasters Southern Cross and ABC.

The cutbacks to local news coverage by WIN have come from ratings and financial pressures.  For the week commencing 5 June,  Southern Cross News rated well ahead of WIN News – with Southern Cross’ Sunday edition ranked as the state’s fourth most watched program, while WIN News on Sunday was ranked 17th.  The Saturday edition of Southern Cross News was ranked 5th, while WIN’s equivalent failed to make the top 20.

In other states, WIN News operates as a local news service on weeknights only, supplemented by the nightly broadcast of the respective state’s capital city bulletin from Nine, however the WIN News service in Tasmania is a composite of local and national news compiled in Hobart and broadcast statewide.

Late last year WIN announced that it was rationalising its regional news bulletins in South Australia by merging the separate editions for the Mount Gambier and Riverland markets into a single newscast.

Source: Nielsen, The Mercury

ABC boss in Queen’s Birthday honours

ABC Managing Director Mark Scott (pictured) has been named an named an officer of the Order of Australia in this year’s Queen’s Birthday honours list.

Mr Scott, head of the national broadcaster since 2006, was recognised “for distinguished service to media and communications, and to the community through advisory and governance roles with a range of social justice and educational bodies.”

Before becoming Managing Director of the ABC, Mr Scott had a background in the print media industry and has served as a board member for charities including Wesley Mission.

Other media identities to be recognised in this year’s list include sporting identity Max Walker, former test cricketer and commentator for ABC radio and the Seven and Nine networks; Peter FitzSimons, author, newspaper columnist and broadcaster; and Bob Horsfall (pictured), actor, scriptwriter and performer in radio, television and films – including eight years at HSV7, four years at GTV9, and appearances in programs including In Melbourne Tonight, Sunnyside Up, World Of Sport, Division 4, Matlock Police, Bellbird, Homicide, Prisoner, Neighbours and Blue Heelers.

A total of 376 Australians were honoured in this year’s list.

Source: Governor-General of Australia, Golden Days Radio

ABC to say goodbye to Gordon Street?

ABC is set to expand its premises in inner-city Melbourne with construction of a new television studio.

The new development, which has now been approved by the ABC board, will be built adjacent to the broadcaster’s existing radio and administration complex in Southbank.

The new television studios will be used for both internal productions as well as being made available for external hire.

No timeline for the development has been announced and neither has there been any announcement as to the future of ABC’s existing Melbourne television studios in Gordon Street, Elsternwick, although The Age reports that it appears that the property will be sold off to assist in funding the new development.  In 2009 the Elsternwick site was estimated to be valued at around $25 million.

The Elsternwick studios, located next door to the historic Ripponlea homestead, were opened in May 1958 – eighteen months after ABC’s Melbourne television station ABV2 commenced transmission.  For the previous eighteen months the various functions of the new television station were carried out from makeshift premises scattered around Melbourne.

The studios have hosted various productions for ABC including Bellbird, Adventure Island (pictured), Countdown, Power Without Glory, The Saturday Show, Australia – You’re Standing In It, The Factory, Countdown Revolution, The Big Gig, The Late Show, Phoenix and Seachange. 

Spicks And Specks, The Marngrook Footy Show and Adam Hills In Gordon Street Tonight are also produced at Elsternwick.

The potential sale of the Elsternwick site comes after the sale of the historic GTV9 studios in Richmond last year – while Seven and Ten have long moved out from their original studio premises in South Melbourne and Nunawading respectively.

Source: The Age, The Australian, ABV, ABC, Real Estate Source

TelevisionAU Update 29-May-2011

http://www.televisionau.com

FLASHBACK #58:
Although swimming champion Ian Thorpe (pictured) was still winning medals and breaking records in 2002, he took a brief diversion into television as the host of the Seven Network's Undercover Angels, a short-lived series that saw Thorpe's 'angels' - actress Simone Kessell, Katie Underwood (from the pop group Bardot manufactured by Seven's Popstars in 2000) and radio co-host Jackie O - performing good deeds for people in need.  The feel-good series was a good ratings performer for Seven but was never extended beyond the first series.  Picture: The Sunday Mail TV Scene, 12 May 2002

CLASSIC TV GUIDES:
Melbourne:
24 November 1975 (Premiere: Eyewitness Newshour)
30 October 1986 (Premiere: The Movie Show)
18 January 1988 (Premiere: Seven Nightly News, Hinch At Seven, Home And Away, A Current Affair)

Victoria:
30 April 1963 (Official Opening ABEV1, Bendigo)

New South Wales:
25 February 1980

Adelaide:
26 July 1965 (Official Opening SAS10)
22 April 1983 (TV Week Logie Awards)

Western Australia:
22 April 1983 (TV Week Logie Awards)
20 May 1988 (Official Opening NEW10)

Darwin:
1 January 1988 (Australia Live)

GREAT OZ TV FLOPS
Ben Elton: Live From Planet Earth (Nine, 2011)

TELEVISIONAU - THE HISTORY OF AUSTRALIAN TELEVISION
http://www.televisionau.com
http://blog.televisionau.com
http://www.twitter.com/TelevisionAU
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/televisionau
http://au.youtube.com/user/TelevisionAU

Seven-year itch for Spicks And Specks

After seven years and 277 episodes, the team from ABC’s Spicks And Specks announced yesterday that the show’s current season will be its last.

Host Adam Hills said in a statement:

“I have loved every second of my involvement with Spicks And Specks, and especially working with Alan and Myf. We always said we wanted to leave when we were on top and while we were still having fun, and now feels like the right time.  We are indebted to our loyal fans for giving us seven amazing years on Australian television, and I hope they’ll hold the memories of Spicks And Specks close to their hearts.”

Team captain Myf Warhurst said the show has allowed her some great experiences:

“It's been a wonderful privilege to be part of Spicks And Specks. I've worked with an incredible team of people, both on and off screen, and miraculously, managed to keep a job on TV for seven years, on a show that people love.  I’ve been lucky enough to experience many great things. I've seen Frank Woodley's privates, been naked under a desk with Pete Murray, and met many of my childhood musical crushes. Life can't get much better than that, so this seems like the perfect time to wind things up.”

Fellow team captain Alan Brough said it was best to walk away too soon rather than too late:

“For seven years I've had a job where I've met Gourd Orchestras, Oompah bands and Status Quo. Very few people can say that.  I'd rather people were upset because we stopped a little early, than upset because we stayed far too long.”

Recorded at the ABC studios in Melbourne (in the same studio that hosted Countdown) the show began rather modestly back in February 2005, only a week after another music-based quiz show, RocKwiz, had debuted on SBS.  There were inevitable comparisons between the two programs, especially as both shows were hosted by comedians and comprised a three-on-three battle on questions related to music, but it was evidently clear that both have their own distinct style.

Spicks And Specks became a popular performer in its Wednesday night timeslot on ABC and was the springboard into a Wednesday night comedy and youth-oriented line-up for the network.  With the popularity that Spicks And Specks was attaining, it was inevitable that a string of similar team-versus-team shows would follow on various genres – history (ADbc), sport (The Squiz, The Locker Room, Between The Lines), television (The White Room) and popular culture (Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation, You May Be Right) – though few have been a success.

More than 150 guests have appeared on the show over its seven years, representing almost a who’s who of Australian entertainment, including Marcia Hines, Jimmy Barnes, Jon English, Jim Keays, Renee Geyer, Denise Drysdale, Hamish Blake, Kamahl, David Campbell, Colin Lane, Meshel Laurie, Debbie Byrne, Ella Hooper, Cal Wilson, Pete Helliar, Fiona O’Loughlin, Toni Lamond, Patti Newton, Wilbur Wilde, Ian Turpie, Ian ‘Molly’ Meldrum, Noeline Brown, Tina Arena, Dave Hughes, Amanda Keller, Geoffrey Rush, Caroline O’Connor, Kate Miller-Heidke, Shaun Micallef and Rhonda Burchmore.

The show was recognised this year with a TV Week Logie Award for Most Outstanding Light Entertainment Program, and host Adam Hills has been nominated for the Gold Logie four times since 2008.  This year saw Hills launch his own talk show, Adam Hills In Gordon Street Tonight, which will return for a second series.  ABC is also in discussions with Warhurst and Brough over potential future projects.

The final episode of Spicks And Specks is scheduled to screen on ABC1 on Wednesday, 23 November at 8.30pm.

Alice Springs and Mt Isa ready for digital

Viewers in the capital cities may take for granted that their main commercial channels have been broadcasting in digital for over a decade, and that a range of other channels have since sprung up to offer some more viewing alternatives – but for viewers in the more remote parts of Australia those options are only just appearing.

Although ABC and SBS and their respective multi-channels have been broadcast in digital for some time, tomorrow (Monday) will mark the commencement of digital transmission in the remote towns of Alice Springs and Mount Isa for commercial channels Imparja Television and Southern Cross Television.

Up until now viewers have still only had the option to see those networks via analogue transmission.

The day will also mark the commencement of the new third commercial channel operated by Central Digital Television Pty Ltd, a joint venture between both Imparja and Southern Cross to offer viewers with a regular Network Ten signal.  The channel will broadcast exclusively in digital and marks the return of regular Network Ten programming to these areas since Imparja dropped its Ten affiliation in 2008.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) advises that the commercial networks will be offering the full suite of digital channels as are currently available via the VAST satellite platform.

Alice Springs viewers will find their channels on the following frequencies:

	Analogue	Digital
ABC	VHF7	VHF8
Southern Cross	UHF31	UHF38
Imparja	VHF9	UHF30
Central Digital (Ten)	n/a	UHF40
SBS	UHF28	VHF6

And Mount Isa:

	Analogue	Digital
ABC	VHF6	VHF7
Southern Cross	VHF8	UHF37
Imparja	UHF32	UHF39
Central Digital (Ten)	n/a	UHF31
SBS	UHF29	VHF9A

ACMA advises that a further 26 transmission sites within the Remote Central and Eastern television region will be upgraded for digital transmission of the above networks according to an implementation schedule to be submitted by the broadcasters.

The Remote Central and Eastern television regions are scheduled to lose all analogue transmission in the second half of 2013. 

Source: ACMA

Royal Weddings: 1981 and today

Tonight (Australian time), an estimated two billion viewers worldwide will be watching the long-awaited wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton at London’s Westminster Abbey.

The wedding marks the culmination of a media circus that has seen the world’s major broadcasters all converge on London to breathlessly bring viewers in their respective countries every known detail of the wedding – and where there are no facts to report, there has been lots and lots of speculation. 

In Australia there will be live prime-time coverage of the wedding via ABC1, ABC News 24, Seven, Nine and Ten – while 7TWO and GEM will also be utilised to work around sporting commitments for Seven and Nine. 

ABC2’s proposed alternative coverage featuring commentary from the Chaser boys has been controversially axed at the last minute following orders received from the royal family that no coverage shall be used for a satirical nature.

Despite the ruling affecting the Chaser, Network Ten is expected to continue its light-hearted wedding coverage, to be fronted by Nova FM presenters Ryan ‘Fitzy’ Fitzgerald and Michael ‘Wippa’ Wipfli, bookended by a special edition of The 7PM Project and a late-night edition of The Circle.  The Nine Network’s planned coverage is also set to include an appearance by Dame Edna Everage. 

Pay TV is also getting in on the event with BBC World News, UKTV, E!, Fox News, CNN and Sky News all providing various levels of coverage.

SBS has decided not to partake in all this wedding excitement and its main channel SBS1 will broadcast its normal Friday night fare, including its late-night ‘adults only’ series How To Get More Sex.

The Australian media’s hysteria surrounding the wedding of William and Kate is not entirely unlike that of the wedding of William’s parents, Prince Charles and Princess Diana, at London’s St Paul’s Cathedral in July 1981.

Like today’s ceremony, the 1981 royal wedding was an Australian TV network programmer’s dream with the ceremony landing straight into Australian prime-time schedules. 

The ABC, Seven, Nine and Ten networks all provided saturation coverage of the wedding with their own correspondents and celebrities despatched to London to provide daily reports in the lead-up to the event and to present commentary on the day’s activities.  Coincidentally, Ten’s celebrity royal wedding correspondent in 1981, Ita Buttrose, is performing a similar role for the Nine Network in 2011.

For Sydney and Melbourne viewers, the only viewing alternative on the night of Wednesday, 29 July 1981, was the then relatively new Channel 0/28, whose lineup of foreign-language movies (Persche Si Uccide Magistrate from Italy, and Buynu Bükük from Turkey) were probably not the most useful viewing alternatives in an era where there were few other viewing options available – no pay-TV, few households had VCRs and there was no such thing as the internet.

Ratings for the night showed that viewers easily preferred the Nine Network’s coverage, with Melbourne’s GTV9 scoring a rating of 34 points in the prime time of 8-8.30pm, followed by ABV2 (20 per cent), HSV7 (15 per cent), ATV10 (10 per cent) and 0/28 coming last with zero per cent.  An hour-and-a-half later, GTV9 was still in front on 31 per cent, followed by ABV2 (17 per cent), ATV10 (15 per cent), HSV7 (13 per cent) and 0/28 (one per cent).

In Sydney, TCN9’s prime-time coverage peaked at a score of 41 per cent, followed by ABN2 (16 per cent), TEN10 (14 per cent), ATN7 (11 per cent) and 0/28 (one per cent).

A handful of commercial channels declined to cover the Charles and Diana wedding – including Adelaide’s ADS7 who instead decided to show a John Wayne movie (The Sons Of Katie Elder) with a delayed telecast of the wedding ceremony the following day.  However, ADS7’s decision to provide an alternative was not well rewarded as the channel fared last in the evening’s ratings and scoring only a third of the viewers of its nearest competitor, ABS2.

Source: The Age, 7 August 1981.  The Age, 11 August 1981. Sydney Morning Herald, 6 August 1981.  TV Week, 25 July 1981.

UPDATE @ 15.00 AEST 30.4.2011:  The Seven Network has won the ratings for the night of Friday 29 April:  Seven (29.8%), Nine (22.7%), ABC1 (18.3%), 7TWO (8.0%), Ten (7.5%), SBS1 (2.7%), GO! (2.4%), 7mate (1.9%), GEM (1.7%*), ABC2 (1.6%), Eleven (1.6%), One (0.5%), SBS2 (0.5%), ABC3 (0.4%), ABC News 24 (0.4%*).

* Excludes simulcasts with standard definition channels.