Channel Nine

Channel Nine
Network	Nine Network
Ownership
Owner	PBL Media

Channel Nine is an Australian television channel broadcast by the Nine Network, available in major markets across Australia. Nine's wide range of news, sport and entertainment programming has led to consistently strong viewing figures for many years.

The slogan "Still The One" refers to their past ratings success, being the most popular television station for sport, entertainment, news and current affairs since the introduction of television in Australia. In the last two decades, Channel Nine has been defeated in the annual television ratings only once (by Channel Seven in 2000). However, Channel Seven is ahead in the 2007 official ratings after eleven weeks.^[1] ^[2]

Programming

Channel Nine is Australia's highest rating television channel. In 2005 Seven had a ratings resurgence on the back of US hits Lost and Desperate Housewives, scaring Channel Nine and even winning consecutive weeks before a strong return to form from Nine as the year progressed. In primetime like its broadcast rivals, Channel Nine relies heavily on overseas programming (mostly from the American CBS network).

Nine's current Australian programming lineup consists of television shows including; 1 vs 100, Australia's Funniest Home Video Show, Bert's Family Feud, Comedy Inc. The Late Shift, Getaway, McLeod's Daughters, Missing Persons Unit, Mornings with Kerri-Anne, Quizmania, Temptation, The Footy Show, The Catch-Up and What's Good For You?. Australian content on Channel Nine is predominately comprised of non-scripted programs.

In November 2006, rival network Channel Ten won the rights to broadcast the New Year's Eve firework show. Nine had held the rights since the screening began in 1995

American programming on Nine includes; Close to Home, Cold Case, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami, CSI: New York, ER, Justice, Men In Trees, Nip/Tuck, Rome, Super Nanny, Survivor, The Apprentice, The Closer, Weeds, and Without a Trace. New programs soon to air for Nine's 2007 lineup include; Kidnapped, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, The Nine, Runaway, and Smith. However, almost every one of the shows to be introduced in 2007 have already been cancelled by their US networks.

News & Current Affairs

Channel Nine's news service is called National Nine News and is considered by some viewers to be conservative^[3]in its reporting. National Nine News has historically been Australia's highest-rating news service. National Nine News produces bulletins and programs including; Today, National Nine News: Morning Edition, National Nine News: Afternoon Edition, National Nine News, and Nightline. National Nine News also assist in production of; A Current Affair, 60 Minutes, and Sunday.

Sport

Channel Nine broadcasts all sporting events under the Wide World of Sports brand. The flagship sports of the brand are National Rugby League, Cricket and formerly Australian Rules Football until Nine lost the rights in 2006. NRL games are broadcast in prime time in New South Wales and Queensland, however are usually screened after midnight (or not at all) in Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. It is speculated that the Wide World of Sports brand will be phased out in 2007, to be replaced by the FOX Sports brand.

Nine's other popular recurring sporting events include the Rugby League State of Origin, Telstra Swimming Championships, British Open, US Golf Open, US Tennis Open, Commonwealth Bank Series, Australian Summer of Cricket, and Wimbledon.

Current schedule

	6:00 PM	6:30 PM	7:00 PM	7:30 PM	8:30 PM	9:30 PM
SUN	National Nine News	The Lost Tribes		60 Minutes	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	CSI: Miami
MON		A Current Affair	Temptation	What's Good For You	1 vs 100	CSI: NY
TUE				20 to 01	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	I Shouldn't Be Alive
WED				McLeod's Daughters	Cold Case	Without a Trace
THU				Getaway	Missing Persons Unit	The Footy Show
FRI				Friday Night Football (NRL)*
SAT		Australia's Funniest Home Videos		Primeval	Saturday Night Movie

Note: News & Current Affairs are in Grey; Drama is in Blue; Sitcoms, Animation and Comedy are in Purple; Lifestyle programs are in Green; Factual programs and Documentaries are Yellow; Reality, Game shows and Talk shows are in Red; Sport is in Orange; Movies are in Pink. The above represents Nine's usual primetime schedule. It does not reflect one-off events, and program starting times may vary from those shown. For up-to-date information, see the Nine Network's online television guide. (link)
* This applies to New South Wales and Queensland only. In other areas, Airport/Airline airs at 7.30 and a movie airs at 8.30.

Criticism

Due to the relatively small TV audience market in Australia, the three commercial stations Seven, Nine and Ten have often been criticised for their programming practices. Primetime programs are often rescheduled without warning so as to avoid competing with the popular programs on other channels. In such cases, stations will usually air repeats or lower rated programs which have little likelihood of ratings success. Also, at times when stations have successes such as CSI, programs may be used many times in a week.

Programs that have come under the microscope include Farscape (which Nine originally co-created) and other sci-fi programming, along with recent examples such as Rome. In October 2006, the sixth series of the HBO drama The Sopranos was moved from a 10.40pm Wednesday timeslot to 12.05am on a Tuesday morning on short notice. In response to a backlash from fans of the series, (GTV) Nine's program manager Len Downs told newspapers that falling ratings were the main reason for the move. Shaun Micallef's talk show 'Micallef Tonight' was also axed after only a month on screens in 2003, despite it being touted by critics and viewers as a show with great potential of revitalising Australian comedy and variety. The show however, lost 50% of its audience in a matter of weeks falling from a premiere of 1.4 million to only 725,000 viewers across Australia's five main capital cities.

Sporting events, particularly the NRL in Melbourne is often delayed until very late at night. Both Fox Sports and the Melbourne Storm have used it as an example of anti-hoarding of sports rights. In 2006, the NRL Grand Final between the Broncos and the Storm attracted a record audience of 906,000 in Melbourne. However, on April 27, 2007, the grand final rematch between the two clubs was delayed until 11.45pm in Melbourne in favour of the John Wood-hosted lifestyle program Wine Me Dine Me, and the movie I Am Sam. In an ironic twist, Wine Me Dine Me was dropped from Nine's schedule the following week and replaced with Airline and Airport.

Availability

Channel Nine is simulcast in analogue, standard definition and 1080i high definition. Channel Nine is broadcast in metropolitan areas via Nine Network owned-and-operated stations, these include TCN-9, GTV-9, QTQ-9, NTD-8, NBN-3, as well as in regional northern New South Wales. Channel Nine programming is also carried into other metropolitan areas and regional Australia by affiliate networks (some of which are locally branded), these include NWS-9, STW-9, WIN Television and Imparja.

Identity

On January 30 2006, the Channel Nine and its affiliate stations relaunched to co-incide with Nine's 50th year of broadcasting. The decision to relaunch was made by interim CEO Sam Chisholm and late PBL Deputy Chairman Kerry Packer early in 2005.

The new logo designed by Bruce Dunlop Associates lacked Nine's distinctive Nine dots, which had been an Australian television icon since 1970. The rebranding of Nine also saw National Nine News, A Current Affair, Today, Nightline and the Wide World of Sports receive new designs.

On 28 January 2006, television history website aus.tv.history displayed an image what it claimed to be the new Nine Network logo, which was, true to form, a number nine in a box without the dots. The nine is in the same font as the previous "9" logo.

Logos

Channel Nine has used many logos throughout its history.

	File:Nine Network 1977.png	File:ChannelNine1988.png	File:ChannelNine2001.png	File:NineNetworkLogo.png
1970 - 1976	1977 - 1987	1988 - 2000	2001 - 2006	2006 - 2007	2007 - present

Note: Pre-network logos can be found at the following articles; TCN-9, GTV-9, STW-9.

References

^ Seven Network (2007-04-02). "Seven from Seven in 07". eBroadcast Australia.
^ "Trends in audience share". ACNielsen. Australian Film Commission.
^ Meade, Amanda (2006-12-14). "Back to the box". The Australian. Retrieved 2007-1-8. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)

External links

[1] Seven Network (2007-04-02). "Seven from Seven in 07". eBroadcast Australia.

[2] "Trends in audience share". ACNielsen. Australian Film Commission.

[3] Meade, Amanda (2006-12-14). "Back to the box". The Australian. Retrieved 2007-1-8. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)

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