Network 10
Network 10 is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Paramount Skydance's UK & Australia division and is one of the five national free-to-air networks in the country.
As of 2025, Network 10 is the fourth-rated television network and primary channel in Australia, behind the Seven Network, Nine Network and ABC TV and ahead of SBS.
History
Origins
From the introduction of TV in 1956 until 1965, there were three television networks in Australia, the National Television Network, the Australian Television Network, and the public ABC National Television Service. In the early 1960s, the Australian Government began canvassing the idea of licensing a third commercial television station in each capital city. This decision was seen by some as a way for the government to defuse growing public dissatisfaction with the dominance of imported overseas programming and the paucity of local content. The first of these third licences was granted to United Telecasters on 4 April 1963.Structurally, the Australian television industry was closely modelled on the two-tiered system that had been in place in Australian radio since the late 1930s. One tier consisted of a network of publicly funded television stations run by the ABC, which was funded by government budget allocation and by fees from television viewer licences. The second tier consisted of the commercial networks and independent stations owned by private operators, whose income came from selling advertising time.
Launch
The network was launched as ATV-0 in Melbourne opened on 1 August 1964 and was owned by the Ansett Transport Industries, which at the time owned one of Australia's two domestic airlines. TEN-10 in Sydney, which opened on 5 April 1965, was originally owned by United Telecasters, which also in July that year opened TVQ-0 in Brisbane. Also opened later that month was SAS-10, serving the city of Adelaide.The new television network was initially dubbed the Independent Television System or ITS, but in 1970 adopted the title The 0-10 Network, which reflected the channels used by the first two stations launched in the group, ATV and TEN.
Melbourne's ATV was the first station of the network to stage colour broadcasts in 1967; the broadcast was of the horse races in Pakenham, Victoria, and was seen by network and RCA executives and invited members of the media and press. This would be the first of many test colour telecasts for the station, and in 1974, in tribute to the event, the 0-10 Network adopted the First in Colour slogan, months before the 1 March 1975 transition to colour broadcasting.
1970–1988: Expansion and original run
For its first five years, the 0-10 Network led a hand-to-mouth existence. By the beginning of the 1970s the network was in a precarious financial position and there were predictions that it would fail.In 1971, the 0-10 Network first aired Young Talent Time, which was a huge rating success, and ran for 17 years.
However, the network's true financial reprise came about due to the fact that the controversial adult soap opera serial Number 96 premiered in March 1972 on the night that "Australian TV lost its virginity". The series broke new ground for Australian television and captured the imagination of viewers like few programs before or since. For the next three years it was consistently Australia's top-rating television program and, not surprisingly, its huge popularity attracted advertisers to Ten en masse, with the result that its revenue increased significantly from $1 million in 1971 to more than $10 million in 1972.
However, the pattern of rating dominance was already set, and for most of the next five decades from the mid-1960s, there was little deviation from the prevalent rankings, with the Nine Network typically in the first place, the Seven Network second, 0-10 third and ABC TV fourth.
The gradual evolution of Network Ten into its current form has its origins in the ongoing attempts by media mogul Rupert Murdoch to acquire a prized commercial television licence in Australia's largest capital city market, Sydney. This began when Murdoch's News Limited purchased the Wollongong station WIN-4 in the early 1960s, around the same time he bought Festival Records. In 1977, frustrated by regulatory blocks that prevented him from expanding into the Sydney market, Murdoch sold WIN and purchased a 46% share in Ten Sydney.
In 1979, Murdoch made an unsuccessful takeover bid for the Melbourne-based The Herald and Weekly Times media group, which originally owned HSV-7. Although the bid failed, he gained a 50% stake in Ansett, which thus gave him control of channel 0 in Melbourne.
In 1979, 0-10 first aired the soap opera Prisoner, which was a huge rating success.
On 20 January 1980, the 0-10 Network became known as Network Ten to reflect ATV moving from channel 0 to channel 10 – although the Brisbane station continued to broadcast as TVQ-0 until 10 September 1988 when the station changed to TVQ-10. In 1987 Adelaide's Network Ten affiliate and Seven Network affiliate successfully negotiated to exchange affiliation rights and channel frequencies due to ownership problems. On 27 December 1987, the exchange came into effect and ADS-7, owned by the same owners as the main Network Ten stations, became ADS-10 with SAS-10 converting to SAS-7, operated by TVW-7 in Perth.
When Murdoch became an American citizen in 1985 so that he could expand his media empire in the United States with the Fox network, Australia's media ownership laws obliged him to dispose of the flagship television stations, which were sold to The Northern Star, an offshoot of the Westfield Group conglomerate controlled by property tycoon Frank Lowy. However, Westfield was badly hit by the stock market crash of 1987, and in 1989 sold Network Ten to a consortium led by Charles Curran and former television journalist Steve Cosser.
The network became fully national in 1988 with the launch of NEW-10 in Perth after the introduction of satellite facilities made it economical for the network to broadcast to Western Australia. Northern Star officially took hold of TVQ-10 later in the year because of swapping frequencies with neighbouring DDQ-0 in Toowoomba and rebranded CTC Canberra under the network banner in time for aggregation.
1989–1994: Receivership and relaunch
In 1989, Ten's ratings were in decline, so on 23 July 1989, recently recruited network boss Bob Shanks relaunched the network, re-branding it as 10 TV Australia, and introducing several new programs, including four new prime time game shows. However, by the end of 1989, the ratings failed to improve and most of the new programs were cancelled, except for its Eyewitness News bulletins, Neighbours and E Street.Meanwhile, Northern Star Holdings were having financial and regulatory problems. The company was subject to an inquiry by the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal in relation to media ownership rules and had run into financial difficulties following the 1987 stock market crash two years earlier. On 1 September 1989, Northern Star Holdings announced a major restructuring to pay off debts and help restore profitability. The proposals included selling off the network's three smaller stations to Charles Curran's Capital Television Group. The sale was completed on 27 October 1989, effectively splitting Northern Star's Network Ten in half.
In September 1990, Northern Star went into receivership and on 13 January 1991 at 8:30pm, the network was re-branded back to Network Ten with the first version of its famous ten watermark logo. The network was placed into liquidation by the New South Wales Rugby League in May 1991. In 1992, the network's flagship stations were sold to the Canadian-based Canwest media group, which held a controlling stake in the network until 2009. Also in 1992, the network commenced a strategy of targeting younger audiences. The Adelaide and Perth stations were re-acquired by the network in 1995.
1995–2007: Recovery and success
With the network having financially recovered, Ten Network Holdings floated on the Australian Stock Exchange in 1998. At this time, Ten had affiliate broadcasting agreements with Southern Cross Broadcasting in southern New South Wales, regional Victoria and Tasmania, and with Telecasters Australia in northern New South Wales and regional Queensland.In 2001, Ten opened the doors to the Big Brother Australia house and, with it, reality television. The opening night of Big Brother became the most-watched program of the night. Big Brother became synonymous with the network in the 2000s, with the series lasting 8 seasons. Even after iterations on rival networks, Big Brother is set to return to 10 in 2025. The trend was then followed by the launching of the Australian version of the reality singing competition format Idols called Australian Idol in 2003. Australian Idol was a hit for several years, lasting until 2009.
In 2004, Network Ten enjoyed its best year since the 1970s, winning two rating weeks and finishing second nationally only behind the Nine Network and well ahead of the Seven Network. This was a departure from previous years; it has typically placed third behind Nine and Seven in most other rating years since 2000.
In 2005, Canwest was in discussions with newspaper publisher John Fairfax Holdings about a possible sale of the network, after the federal government indicated it may consider relaxing Australia's media cross-ownership laws. Previously, newspaper owners could not own television stations in the same city. Fairfax owned the Seven Network until 1988 and had been looking for a way back into television for a long time.
On 21 August 2005, the network celebrated its 40th birthday with a two-hour highlights package called Ten: Seriously 40, which was hosted by Bert Newton and Rove McManus.
On 27 October 2005, Network Ten announced that its long-running morning talk-variety program Good Morning Australia would be cancelled at the end of the year after a fourteen-year run. This ended host Bert Newton's 14-year association with Network Ten; although he was offered ongoing employment with the network, he announced that he would be returning to the Nine Network. 9am with David & Kim replaced GMA as Ten's national morning program from 2006 to 2009.
From 2006 to 2008, Ten was the official broadcaster of Sydney New Year's Eve. The rights returned to the Nine Network from 2009.
On 7 August 2007, Network Ten and Foxtel signed a new agreement allowing Ten's digital signal to be transmitted via Foxtel's cable and satellite services. Prior to this, Ten was only transmitted via cable on Foxtel in an analogue format and Austar in standard definition digital via Mystar. Similarly in October 2007, Network Ten and Optus announced that Ten's digital signal would be available on its cable network from 1 December 2007.
On 16 December 2007, Ten HD was officially launched as a breakaway channel, becoming the first new commercial television channel in metropolitan areas of Australia since 1988. Ten HD ceased broadcasting on 25 March 2009 when it was replaced by what was a sports-only high-definition channel, One HD.