Network 10

From the introduction of TV in 1956 until 1965 there were three television networks in Australia, the National Television Network (now the Nine Network), the Australian Television Network (now the Seven Network), and the public ABC National Television Service (now ABC TV). 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 (a consortium of Amalgamated Wireless, Colonial Sugar Refining Company, Email, Bank of New South Wales and the NRMA) on 4 April 1963.[1]

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 (until 1972) 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.

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 that of the horse races in Pakenham, Victoria, which was seen by network and RCA executives and invited members of the media and press. This would the first of many test colour telecasts for the station, and in tribute to this event, the 0-10 Network adopted the First in Colour slogan in 1974, within months before 1 March 1975 transition to colour broadcasting.

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 ratings 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, which 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 ratings 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 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 ratings 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 (SAS-10) and Seven Network affiliate (ADS-7) 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.

TEN, Network 10's corporate headquarters in Pyrmont, Sydney

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 introduced several new programs, including four new prime time game shows. However, by the end of 1989 the ratings had failed to improve and most of the new programs were cancelled, except for its Eyewitness News newscasts, Neighbours and E Street (debuting in late 1988).

Meanwhile, owners 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 restructure to pay off debts and help restore profitability. The proposals included selling off the network's three smaller stations; ADS Adelaide, NEW Perth and CTC Canberra to Charles Curran's Capital Television Group. The sale was complete on 27 October 1989, effectively splitting Northern Star's Network Ten in half.[2]

In September 1990, Northern Star filed for receivership and in January 1991, the network was re-branded back to Network Ten with the first version of its famous ten watermark logo.[3][4] The network entered liquidation in May 1991.[5] 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.[6]

At 8:30pm on 13 January 1991, the network introduced a new logo featuring a lowercase "ten" in a circle. The font for the text is Microgramma Light. About five variations of this logo would appear over the next 27 years. The more popular and iconic 10 logo ran from 1991 until 2018.

Alternative logo

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.[7]

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 programs of the night. The trend was then followed by launching the Australian version of 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 ratings weeks (out of 40) and finishing second nationally only behind the Nine Network and well ahead of the Seven Network.[8] This was a departure from previous years, in which it typically places third behind Nine and Seven in most other ratings 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 Newtons 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.[9] 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.[10]

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.[11]

On 24 September 2009, Canwest announced that it was selling its 50.1% stake in Ten Network Holdings for $680 million,[12] to pay down its significant debt. In late 2009, Canwest filed for creditor bankruptcy protection, due to CA$4 billion mounting debt across radio, television broadcasting and publishing assets in several countries.[13]

On 20 October 2010, four years after he sold his shares in PBL Media to private equity firm CVC Asia Pacific, James Packer purchased 16 per cent of Ten.

Network Ten launched a new digital channel, Eleven, on 11 January 2011.[14] The channel is aimed at a "distinctly youthful" audience between the ages of 13 and 29. Neighbours and The Simpsons were high-profile programs migrating from Ten to the new channel.[15] The channel was a joint venture with CBS Studios International, which owned a 33% stake.[16]

On 8 May 2011, Ten relaunched its sports based channel One, with general entertainment programming aimed at males taking over the schedule. It is aimed at a similar audience to 7mate.[17]

In 2012, Ten unsuccessfully launched many new programs. This led to Ten's ratings dropping to fourth place behind ABC TV for over thirty straight nights.[18] The poor performance resulted in Chief Programming Officer David Mott's resignation.[19]

In late 2012, Ten reported a loss of $12.9m as it battled poor advertising markets and failed to hold larger audience numbers. They made positions at the station redundant and said that production may become centralised.

Analogue broadcasts ceased in the regions on 10 December 2013.

On 15 June 2015, Foxtel (co-owned by News Corp) bought 15% shares in Ten Network Holdings, pending the approval from the ACCC. Prior to the acquisition, Discovery backed out from bidding partnership with Foxtel. In July 2015, Paul Anderson was announced as the new chief executive officer.[20]

A high-definition simulcast of 10 was revived on 2 March 2016. As a result, One, now known as 10 Bold, began broadcasting in standard definition only.[21][22]

On 29 April 2016, the Nine Network pulled its regional affiliation with WIN Television over a lawsuit involving its catch-up service 9Now, and announced a new affiliation agreement with Southern Cross Austereo, Ten's then-primary regional affiliate. Ten subsequently negotiated a five-year affiliation deal with WIN;[23][24] the new affiliations took effect on 1 July, with WIN becoming the carrier of Network Ten programming in regional Queensland, Northern NSW, Southern NSW, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, Western Australia, the Australian Capital Territory and the Gold Coast.[25][26] WIN owner and Ten's largest shareholder Bruce Gordon positioned himself to increase his ownership stake in Ten, subject to changes to media ownership laws being passed.[27]

Following Ten Network Holdings reporting a $232 million half year loss, billionaire shareholders Lachlan Murdoch, Bruce Gordon and James Packer withdrew support for $250 million guaranteed loan that would help keep Ten out of receivership.[28][29][30] This loan was intended to replace an existing guaranteed $200 million loan that was due to expire in December.[31] On 13 June, Ten asked the Australian Securities Exchange that their stock be placed in a 48-hour trading halt while it assessed its options concerning receivership.[32][33] It went into voluntary administration the following day.[34][35]

On 28 August 2017, Ten's administrators announced that the U.S. media company CBS Corporation (which had a 33% share in the multichannel Eleven and was Ten's largest creditor) had entered into a binding agreement to purchase the company for $123 million. CBS refinanced Ten's existing debt including guarantor fees to billionaire shareholders James Packer, Lachlan Murdoch and Bruce Gordon, and existing loans from the Commonwealth Bank. Shareholders in Ten Network Holdings lost their investment.[36][37]

Gordon and Murdoch had also placed their own joint bid for the company, which was not endorsed by the administrators.[38] At a meeting held on 12 September, Ten's creditors overwhelmingly voted in support of CBS' bid, citing concerns over Murdoch's previous management of Ten and talk of mass job cuts in the news department under Murdoch/Gordon ownership.[39][40]

The CBS acquisition was completed on 16 November 2017, when the shares of Ten Network Holdings were transferred to CBS Network Ten BV, a company registered in the Netherlands.[41] [42][43]

Following the CBS acquisition, the network became a division of CBS Studios International.[44] Ten moved to commission more Australian content. The additional programs were financed by the savings from the dissolution of Ten's output agreement with 21st Century Fox.[45] CBS also moved to re-establish an in-house advertising sales department for 2019, bringing to an end Ten's four-year period with the Foxtel-affiliated Multi Channel Network (MCN).[46] One reason CBS acquired Ten was to assist the company to launch its CBS All Access streaming service in the Australian market.[47] The service launched in December 2018 and was branded 10 All Access in the local market.[48]

On 31 October 2018, the network unveiled a new logo, replacing the "ten" wordmark used since 1991 with a stylised circle 10, and the network now referred to in text as Network 10. The new brand is used across all of Network 10's platforms and services, and was intended to reflect the broadcaster's positioning as an "adventurous alternative" with a "sense of fun". 10 also relaunched its multichannels Eleven and One as 10 Peach and 10 Boss, with Boss focusing on dramatic programming and targeting an older adult audience, and Peach continuing to be targeted towards young adults.[49][50][51][52] 10 Boss was forced to change its name to 10 Bold on 10 December 2018 due to trademark conflicts with Fairfax Media.[53]

On 4 December 2019, CBS Corporation completed a re-merger with fellow media conglomerate Viacom as ViacomCBS; the two companies had previously separated in 2005.[54] ViacomCBS subsequently began to integrate the companies' operations in Australia; in a reorganization of the ViacomCBS Networks International division, Network 10 would join its new sister network in the United Kingdom, Channel 5 (previously owned by Viacom) as part of ViacomCBS Networks UK & Australia in January 2020.[55] The following month, it was announced that the former Viacom channels in Australia would be brought under the Network 10 sales department, moving away from Foxtel Media (formerly MCN) in April.[56][57] Network 10 also began to co-commission new programmes with Channel 5, including the drama miniseries Lie With Me and documentary series The Royals Revealed.[58][59] In February 2022, it similarly announced that it had ordered a spin-off of CBS's drama franchise NCIS that would be set in Sydney.[60][61]

On 13 July 2020, it was announced that Network 10 would launch a third digital channel, 10 Shake, on 27 September. The network will carry children's programmes in the daytime hours (drawing primarily television from Nickelodeon), while evening and prime time hours will feature "edgy" series and films targeting young adults, including television programmes from Comedy Central and MTV, and CBS late-night talk show The Late Late Show with James Corden.[62]

In March 2021, 10 announced that it would return to Southern Cross Austereo as its regional affiliate in most markets beginning on 1 July 2021, in a deal that will last at least two years. The agreement reversed 10's 2016 move to WIN, which had announced a long-term agreement to return to the Nine Network.[63][64]

On 15 February 2022, it was announced that ViacomCBS would be rebranding as Paramount Global as part of a wide rebrand strategy. Following this announcement, the ViacomCBS Networks International division was rebranded as Paramount Networks International. Network 10 joined Channel 5 as part of the rebrand of its respective division, now going under the name of Paramount Networks UK & Australia.

Ten's current Australian program line-up consists of series such as: Bondi Rescue, Australian Survivor, I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, The Masked Singer Australia, Gogglebox Australia (with Foxtel's Lifestyle), Studio 10, RPM, Sports Tonight, The Amazing Race Australia, The Project, The Living Room, Ambulance Australia, Todd Sampson's Body Hack, Hunted, MasterChef Australia, The Bachelor Australia, The Bachelorette Australia, Bachelor in Paradise Australia, Have You Been Paying Attention?, The Cheap Seats, The Cube, Dive Club, The Dog House Australia, First Dates Australia, Would I Lie to You? Australia, The First Inventors and Territory Cops.

Current US programming that airs on 10 and its digital multichannels is sourced from 10's deals Paramount International Networks (owner) / MTV Networks and Nickelodeon International (selected televisions only; long running),[65][lower-alpha 1] StudioCanal / Sony Pictures Television International, Village Roadshow Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television Distribution, Disney Platform Distribution (Touchstone films only; now elapsed), and Transmission Films. When it was independent, Ten had a long-standing relationship with Paramount Global Distribution Group for Australian rights to its content.

On 30 October 2017, the network ceased its output deal as a side effect of the network's bankruptcy and CBS acquisition. The network would go on to lose their deal with 20th Century Fox, and with it, the network's rights to The Simpsons, Modern Family and Life in Pieces, among many others.[66][67] In 2018 however, 10 would create a new acquired programming deal with Warner Bros. and Roadshow, granting the network programming rights which they currently share with Nine. On 3 February 2019, they would also revive their rights for programming from Sony Pictures Television International, which they now share with Nine and Seven.

Due to the ViacomCBS merge in 2019, 10 would no longer need to revive their movie rights for Paramount (ViacomCBS Films) & DreamWorks, as they were now a unit of ViacomCBS Australia & New Zealand. Therefore, 10 had access to programming from Comedy Central, MTV and Nickelodeon, along with Channel 5 in the United Kingdom and Telefe in Argentina. The rights to Paramount television programming is shared between the Nine Network, Network 10, ABC, and SBS. Nickelodeon television programming is also shared between 10 Shake, ABC Kids, and ABC ME; though most of its programming has usually aired on Network 10 and 10 Shake since 2020.

Sharing programs is currently a new rule for all the networks after a very, very long absence which have their own programs from 1990s to 2014. All the networks can now share the programs again with each networks of televisions and films, including splitting up the different seasons of the same television series or franchise. Also some television brands can split the different seasons of the same television series by aired on both networks.

Shared US programming which airs on 10 and Nine and its digital multi-channels are sourced from 10 and Nine's deals with Paramount International Networks / MTV Networks and Nickelodeon International (selected televisions only), StudioCanal / Sony Pictures Television International, Village Roadshow Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television Distribution.

Shared US programming that airs on 10 and Seven and its digital multi-channels are sourced from 10 and Seven's deals Disney Platform Distribution (Touchstone films only; now elapsed), Warner Bros. Television Distribution, StudioCanal / Sony Pictures Television International.

Shared US programming that airs on 10 and ABC and its digital multi-channels are sourced from 10 and ABC's deals Paramount International Networks / MTV Networks and Nickelodeon International (selected televisions only), DreamWorks Television / DreamWorks Animation (now elapsed), Warner Bros. Television Distribution, StudioCanal / Sony Pictures Television International.

The network formerly broadcast catalogue movie and television titles from NBCUniversal produced in the 1990s prior to 2016, Paramount Pictures (Films only) from 1990s to 2019, DreamWorks from 2012 to 2019, and Miramax from 1990s to 2019. NBCUniversal, Paramount (Films only), DreamWorks, and Miramax now belong to Nine Network, Nine revived NBCUniversal, Paramount (Films only), DreamWorks, and Miramax broadcast rights.

From 2018 onwards, rival film and television rights with 20th Century Fox from 2008 to 2017 and Regency Enterprises from 2015 to 2017. Fox and Regency now belong to Seven Network and Nine Network, Seven and Nine revived 20th Century Fox and Regency broadcast rights.

The 10 HD multichannel was launched on 16 December 2007 until 25 March 2009 and later revived on 2 March 2016. It broadcasts identical programming to 10, but in 1080i HD.

The network's free video on demand and catch up TV service is called 10 Play. Launched on 29 September 2013, replacing the network's old website that offered limited catch-up TV services.[78][79] The service is available on the web and via apps for mobile devices, smart TVs, set-top boxes and video game consoles.

Live streaming of Network 10's primary channel commenced on 21 January 2016, although it was available only during selected hours. 24 hour live streaming of the main channel commenced on 26 January 2018. A live stream of 10 Bold was available on a part-time basis until 21 February 2019. On 21 February 2019, 10 Bold switched to an 24-hour live stream and 10 Peach was added to the 10 Play live stream service. On 27 September 2020, 10 Shake was added to the 10 Play live stream service.

10 News First during Olympics and Commonwealth Games are not accessible through 10 Play live streaming service due to the digital broadcast rights being owned by IOC rights.

10 All Access was launched on 4 December 2018 as an ad-free subscription streaming service. It was a rebranded, localised version of CBS All Access. The service offered programming from 10 and CBS's libraries, original programming, a livestream of CBS News and the ability to watch select CBS programmes prior to their broadcast on 10's channels.[80]

In August 2020, following the re-merger of CBS Corporation and Viacom, ViacomCBS revealed plans to launch a new international streaming brand using the CBS All Access infrastructure, which would include CBS All Access and Showtime original programmes, Paramount Pictures films, other ViacomCBS library content, and content contributed from local subsidiaries. It was stated that existing Paramount Plus streaming services in Latin America and Nordic Europe, as well as 10 All Access, would be migrated to the then-unnamed service.[81]

On 16 September 2020, it was officially announced that 10 All Access would be rebranded as Paramount+ in mid-2021.[82][83] On 7 May 2021, it was announced that Paramount+ would launch on 11 August.[84] ViacomCBS also announced that the second season of Five Bedrooms would premiere on Paramount Plus' launch date and that Australian original series including Spreadsheet, Last King of the Cross and movie 6 Festivals were in production for the platform.[85][86][87]