 | Parts of this article (those related to The history section) need to beupdated. The reason given is: Needs information from the 2020s, about what changes happened to the ABC's channels. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(July 2023) |
 Logo used since 2018 | |
| Type | Public broadcaster |
|---|---|
| Branding | ABC |
| Country | Australia |
| Founded | 1956; 69 years ago (1956) |
| Headquarters | ABC Ultimo Centre 700 Harris Street Ultimo NSW 2007 |
Broadcast area | Australia, the Pacific islands andSouth-East Asia |
| Owner | Australian Broadcasting Corporation |
Launch date | 5 November 1956; 69 years ago (1956-11-05) |
| Channel 2/21, 20 (HD), 22, 23, 24 | |
Picture format | 576i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV) |
Television | In Australia: ABC TV /ABC HD ABC Kids /ABC Family ABC Entertains ABC News In South East Asia and the Pacific Islands: ABC Australia |
Official website | www |
| Language | English |
ABC Television is the general name for the national television services of theAustralian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). Until an organisational restructure in 2017/2018, ABC Television was also the name of a division of the ABC. The name was also used to refer to the first and for many years the only national ABC channel, before it was renamedABC1 and then again to ABC TV.
The Australianpublic broadcaster's television service was launched in November 1956 from its firsttelevision station in Australia,ABNSydney. This was the second one in the country, with the commercial channelTCN having launched two months earlier. An ABC television network covering everystate and territory was completed by 1971, and in 2000 the television operations joined theABC radio andonline divisions at the corporation'sUltimo headquarters inSydney in 2000.
The ABC as of 2021[update] provides fivenon-commercial channels within Australia, headed by its flagshipABC TV channel, as well asABC Australia, asatellite channel broadcast toSouth-East Asia, partially funded by theDepartment of Foreign Affairs and Trade and advertisers. Some radio channels are also broadcast via the television network. The ABC local stations in the capital cities carry opt-outs for local programming, used chiefly for nightly news broadcasts. ABC Television also broadcasts via itsstreaming andvideo-on-demand service,ABC iview, available via its website and amobile app.
ABC Television is one of five mainfree-to-air networks in Australia.
The history of the ABC's television operations can be traced back to 1953, when the federalTelevision Act was passed, providing the initial regulatory framework for both the ABC and commercial television networks.[1] Over the next three years, planning for the introduction of a national television service was put in place, land for studios and transmitters inSydney andMelbourne was acquired, and overseas tutors were brought to Australia to assist with training.[1] The ABC's 1956 Annual Report stated that it aimed to create a “television service as truly national in character as its resources will permit”.[2]
Commercial stationTCN-9 Sydney was the first to broadcast in Australia, in September 1956. The ABC's Sydney station, ABN, started transmission on 5 November 1956. Its first television broadcast was inaugurated by Prime MinisterRobert Menzies at theGore Hill studios in Sydney, and a couple of weeks later,ABV transmission began in Melbourne[1] on 19 November 1956,[3] in time to cover the1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne.[1]
Outside broadcasting was also initiated on 5 November, from the ABC's first outside broadcast van. The van, now in the collection of theNational Museum of Australia, was instrumental in the production of thousands of outside broadcasts. It was restored in time to be displayed at the2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney and was used to film the visit ofQueen Elizabeth II to the site of the National Museum in 2000.[4]
ABQ inBrisbane was the third ABC TV station to launch, in November 1959; it was followed in 1960 by counterparts inPerth (ABW),Hobart (ABT), andAdelaide (ABS).ABC (also known as ABC3) opened inCanberra in 1962,[3] with (ABD) inDarwin (13 August 1971) finally completing the ABC's television coverage of every state in 1971.
Although radio programs could be broadcast nationally bylandline,television relay facilities were not put in place until the early 1960s. This meant that news bulletins had to be sent to each capital city byteleprinter, to be prepared and presented separately in each city, with filmed materials copied manually and sent to each state.[1] A purpose-built television studio was built in Sydney, and opened on 29 January 1958, replacing temporary sound studios used since the ABC's television services launched in 1956. In the same year, technical equipment was also moved to permanent locations, while main transmitters were introduced to Melbourne and Sydney in 1957 and 1958, respectively.[5]
Direct television relays between Sydney and Melbourne were established in 1961, replacing temporarymicrowave relays as a means of simultaneously airing programs across multiple stations.[6] In 1963, using microwave transmission as a temporary measure, television programs fromAdelaide were viewed simultaneously across the four eastern capitals.[6] Videotape equipment, allowing the sharing of footage with much greater ease and speed, was installed in each state capital by 1962.[1]
The organisational structure and internal processes of the network developed and changed over time, with local coverage incorporated in a network structure, which allowed the ABC to build state-based audiences for coverage of sports and news. Live coverage of sports was still limited to the location of the studio, for example for the West Indies cricket series in 1960/61, live broadcasts were limited to the four cities which hosted the test matches. The separate production and broadcast centres could only reach about 100 kilometres (62 mi) from a broadcast tower. It was only after considerable developments in technology and construction of further infrastructure, that in 1970/71 thattest cricket was broadcast live in every state and the ACT.[2]
Colour television was introduced in Australia on 1 March 1975.[6]
Teletext services were introduced toABC TV in 1983 to allow hearing-impaired viewers access toclosed captions.[7] International television serviceAustralia Television International was established in 1993.[7][8]Australia Television was sold to theSeven Network in 1998; however, the service continued to show content from ABC News until its closure in 2001.[7]
ABC Television was one of the firsttelevision networks in Australia to embrace therock 'n roll revolution of the late 1950s, most notably withSix O'Clock Rock, hosted byJohnny O'Keefe.[citation needed] During the 1960s and early 1970s the channel continued to broadcast programmes on popular music, including the pop showHitscene, performance specials by groups such as Tully andMax Merritt & The Meteors, as well as the magazine-style programmeGTK, which premiered in 1969 and screened for 10 minutes, four nights per week at 6:30 pm, immediately prior toBellbird and the 7:00 pm news bulletin.[9] The hugely popularrock music program,Countdown began in 1974,[6] produced at ABC Melbourne'sRipponlea studios and hosted byMolly Meldrum, and ran until 1987.[3]
The weekly current affairs programFour Corners was broadcast from Sydney from 1961, and in 1967, the weeknightly television current affairs programmeThis Day Tonight began.[6]
In 1989, Aboriginal dancersLillian Crombie andMalcolm Cole were the first co-presenters forBlackout, a program developed forAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander audiences.[10]
The ABC's television operations joined its radio and online divisions at the corporation's Ultimo headquarters in 2000.[11]
In 2001 a new logo was launched, featuring a modification to a three-dimensional metallic design, to celebrate the introduction ofdigital terrestrial television in Australia, whendigital television was introduced to most of the network's coverage area on 1 January 2001, soon followed by the gradual introduction ofwidescreen andhigh definition programming.[12] Between 2001 and 2003, the ABC operated two separate digital channels,ABC Kids andFly TV, which opened soon after the launch of DTV.[citation needed]
In 2002, the ABC launchedABC Asia Pacific (now ABC Australia), the replacement for the defunct Australia Television channel operated previously by the Seven Network. Much like its predecessor, and companion radio networkRadio Australia, the service provided a mix of programming targeted at audiences throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Funding cuts in 2003, meanwhile, led to the closure of Fly and the ABC Kid's Channel.[7]
Also in 2002, to celebrate 70 years of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, ABC TV's logo reverted to the "over and under" design seen in the previous decades; however it retained the three-dimensional metallic design. The channel's idents featured elements – fire, leaf and ice, and the slogan was updated toEveryone's ABC. The idents also featured the silver ring that morphs into the ABC logo.[13][14] This however did not last, as later in 2003, the channel's idents were modified to feature everyday Australians.
In February 2005, the ABC switched from the Supertext logo to their ownclosed captioning logo. On 19 December that year, the channel's idents were revamped featuring a modified ABC logo transforming to a television.[citation needed]
ABC Family, a second attempt at a digital-only television channel, was launched on 7 March 2005, running on a budget of $3 million per year.[7] Minister for CommunicationsHelen Coonan inaugurated the channel atParliament House three days later.[15] Genre restrictions limiting the types of programming the channel could carry were lifted in October 2006; ABC2 was henceforth able to carry programming classified as comedy, drama, national news, sport and entertainment.[16]
TheABC Guide was a regular television broadcast shown during the off-air periods for bothABC HD and ABC2 on their respective channels. It was launched on 30 May 2006 and was initially available in Sydney, with all other digital ABC broadcast regions launching the guide at a later date. The channel provided a live audio-stream ofDiG Radio, and also provided weather reports. The guide advertised new and popular television programs from both channels via informational slides. The design and colour scheme were based onABC Online's branding of the time, with the use of light blue, orange, and white, with each slide using elements from the respective channel's on-air branding. It was removed from channel 20 on 1 January 2008 when ABC HD relaunched as a full-time simulcast of ABC TV, and closed on 8 February 2008 when ABC2 was moved from channel 21 to channel 22 and began 24-hour broadcasting.[citation needed]
In the lead-up to the2007 federal election, theAustralian Government (thenLiberal) endorsed a proposal submitted to theAustralian Communications and Media Authority by the ABC to launch a second digital channel targeted at children.[17] The new channel, titledABC3, was to aim to provide at least 50% Australian-made content for children under 15. Unlike its predecessor, the ABC Kids channel, ABC3 would run from 6 am to 9 pm each day, and feature drama, comedy, animation and music.[18] On 22 April 2009, theLabor government announced its commitment to the proposal as part of its response to theAustralia 2020 Summit conducted in 2008,[19] and ABC3 was launched on 4 December.[20]
At midday on 8 February 2008, the original ABC Television channel was rebranded asABC1, complementing the existing ABC2 (as of 2024[update],ABC Family) digital-only channel launched on 7 March 2005.[21][22]
As of 2009, the ABC announced an Australia-wide upgrade to its digital service, and that it would provide a seven-dayElectronic Program Guide (EPG) and give new logical channel numbers for all of ABC's television services.[23]
June 2010 saw ABC1'sABC HD, the high definitiondigital TV channel, terminated, to be replaced with a fourth channel,ABC News 24 (now ABC News).[citation needed] In the same month playout[further explanation needed] was moved to a new facility shared withWIN Television atIngleburn.[24]
On 20 July 2014, ABC1 changed its name back to just "ABC TV" and at the same time, they introduced new idents featuring the 1975 Lissajous curve logo being drawn by itself of videos of people doing activities (taken from ABC Open's video library). Then, the words "It's (Insert Words Here)'s ABC" (the words change depending on the ident) fade in on the left side of the logo. The words then change to "#OurABC", which is the network's new slogan. In 2018, these idents were updated. The "#OurABC" slogan at the end of each ident was changed to "Yours".[25] The new 2014 idents are all very similar to that of the 1996–1998, 1998–2000, 2003–2005, 2008–2011 and 2011-2014 ABC station idents in the past.[citation needed]
On 6 December 2016, ABC upgraded its HD picture resolution from720p to1080i.[26]
Between July 2017 and June 2018, the whole of the ABC underwent an organisational restructure, after which the Radio and Television Divisions were no longer separate entities each under a director, instead being split across several functional divisions,[27] with different teams producing different genres of content for television, radio and digital platforms. The Entertainment & Specialist (E&S) team focussed on comedy, kids' programs, drama,Indigenous-related programs, music, other entertainment and factual content; the new ABC Specialist team created content across the arts, science, religion & ethics, education and society & culture; while the Regional & Local team focussed on regional and local content.[28]
The 1975 ABC logo was reinstated in February 2019.[29] On 3 September 2019, several additional ABC Digital Radio channels were added to complement the ABC Jazz and Double J services being simulcast on digital TV.[30][31]
In May 2023, ABC announced a major restructure starting in July, but would not reveal how many jobs were at risk.[32]
On 19 May 2025, it was announced that starting on 11 June and concluding on 26 June the ABC Entertains and ABC News channels would be converted to HD (in MPEG-4).[33]
Within Australia, the ABC as of 2021[update] operates five television stations within four channels, all of them non-commercial. These services are available nationally throughdigital terrestrial television, and all the digital TV services are also available through theVAST free-to-air satellite service.[citation needed]
| LCN | Service | Resolution | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 02 and 21 | ABC TV | 720x576i50 | Main ABC television channel, formerly ABC1 |
| 20 | ABC TV HD | 1920x1080i50 | The ABC's first high-definition channel |
| 22 | ABC Kids ABC Family | 720x576i50 | ABC Kids (formerly ABC 4 Kids and ABC For Kids on 2) is a preschool children's channel broadcast between 5am and 7:30pm. ABC Family (formerly ABC TV Plus, ABC Comedy and ABC2) is a family and teen entertainment programming block broadcast between 7:30pm and 3am. |
| 23 | ABC Entertains | 1920x1080i50 | The ABC's general entertainment focused channel, formerly ABC3 thenABC Me |
| 24 | ABC News | 1920x1080i50 | The ABC's news channel, formerly ABC News 24, started broadcasting in high definition MPEG-4 in June 2025 |
| 25 | ABC Local Radio | N/A | State Capital City Radio channel simulcast, e.g. Sydney Radio |
| 26 | RN | N/A | Radio channel simulcast |
| 27 | ABC Classic | N/A | Radio channel simulcast |
| 28 | Triple J | N/A | Radio channel simulcast |
| 29 | Triple J Unearthed | N/A | Radio channel simulcast |
| 200 | Double J | N/A | Radio channel simulcast |
| 201 | ABC Jazz | N/A | Radio channel simulcast |
| 202 | ABC Kids Listen | N/A | Radio channel simulcast |
| 203 | ABC Country | N/A | Radio channel simulcast |
| 204 | ABC NewsRadio | N/A | Radio channel simulcast |
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Although the ABC's headquarters in Sydney serve as a base for program distribution nationally, ABC Television network is composed of eight state- and territory-based centres, once separate stations with their own branding. In addition to the nightly 7 pm news, the stations used to broadcast weekly state editions of7.30 on Friday evenings (until 5 December 2014), state election coverage and in most areas, live sport on Saturday and Sunday evenings.[citation needed]
ABC Local includes more than 50 newsrooms across regions within each state. They are responsible for broadcasting local news and radio broadcasting for the region.[34]
ABC iview is avideo on demand andcatch up TV service, which became available on 24 July 2008. This was the next step after thepodcasting of radio programmes from July 2006. Iview can only be viewed by users in Australia. The iview website streams video at 650 kbit/s in theH.264 format, and uses theRTMP protocol, which makes it accessible toweb browsers installed withAdobe Flash. Iview is also available through native apps foriOS andAndroidsmartphones,tablets, andHDMI devices, as well as on some brands ofinternet-connected TVs. These use a HTTP stream to deliver video to the client.[citation needed]
ABC Australia is an internationalsatellite television service operated by the ABC, funded by advertising and grants from theDepartment of Foreign Affairs and Trade.[35][36] The service is available via subscription to viewers across East Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, South-East Asia and Pacific Islands, including India, Japan, Vietnam, Afghanistan, the Philippines,Papua New Guinea andVanuatu,[37] and broadcasts a mixture of English-language programming, including general entertainment, sport, and current affairs.[38]
ABC television services within Australia carry no advertising by external sources; it is banned under theAustralian Broadcasting Corporation Act 1983, which also ensures its editorial independence. The ABC receives most of its funding from theAustralian Government (some revenue is earned byABC Commercial), but has suffered progressive funding cuts underLiberal governments since the 1996Howard government,[39] with particularly deep cuts in 2014 under theAbbott government,[40] and an ongoingindexation freeze as of 2021[update].[41][42] In spite of these cuts, in April 2023 social media platformX (formerly Twitter) tagged ABC as "government-funded media";[43] in August 2023, ABC announced the closure of all but four of its X accounts.[44]
ABC Australia, which broadcasts throughout the Asia-Pacific region, receives additional funds throughDFAT and some advertising on the channel.[35][36]
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