Television in Australia

Free to Air Australian TV Channels

• ABC
  • ABC Channel 1 – National Public Service TV Station.
  • ABC Channel 2 – “Digital” National Public Service TV Station.
  • ABC Channel 3 – “Digital” National TV Service for Kids
  • ABC Channel News 24 – “Digital” National 24 Hour News Service
• SBS
  • SBS TV – Multicultural Public Broadcasting service.
  • SBS Two – more world film and drama, documentaries, international news and sport.
  • SBS Three – more world film and drama, documentaries, international news and sport.
• Channel Seven
  • Seven – Commercial TV
  • Seven HD – Commercial TV in High Definition
  • 7TWO – Commercial TV
  • 7Mate – Commercial TV
• Channel Nine
  • Nine Network – Commercial TV
  • Nine HD – Commercial TV in High Definition
  • 90, GEM Nines new Digital TV aimed at the sophisticated, discerning viewer
  • 99, GO! Nines new Digital TV
• Channel Ten
  • Ten Network – Commercial TV
  • Ten HD – Commercial TV in High Definition
  • Eleven – Commercial TV targeting the “distinctly youthful” market.
  • One – The Ten networks 24 hour sports channel
• Community Channels
  • Brisbane QCTV : QCTV is Queensland s Community television station (formerly Ch 31)
  • Melbourne : Channel 31 Community TV stations
  • Perth : Channel 31 Community TV stations
  • Adelaide : Channel 31 Community TV stations.

Broadband Internet TV

• ABC iView : Broadband Internet TV

TV viewing figures in Australia

The popularity of the UK tv stations (UKTV & UKTV+2) has dropped from 2009 to the latest figures in 2011.

In July 2011 UK TV was watched by an average of 0.7% of the main 5 cities Television viewers, with the breakdown by capital City of:

• 0.8% of Sydney viewing population
• 0.7% of Perth viewing population
• 0.7% of Brisbane viewing population
• 0.5% of Melbourne viewing population
• 0.9% of Adelaide viewing population

In July 2009 UK TV was watched by an average of 1.1% of the main 5 cities Television viewers, with the breakdown by capital City of:

• 1.5% of Sydney viewing population
• 1.2% of Perth viewing population
• 1.1% of Brisbane viewing population
• 0.9% of Melbourne viewing population
• 0.8% of Adelaide viewing population

(this is the combined UKTV & UKTV+2 viewers from www.oztam.com.au)

My guess for the reason behind this change is that the normal Free to Air TV channels are now showing even more UK TV shows, and therefore there is less need for using Pay TV to get a fix of British Television.

Australia’s most popular TV channel in 2009 was:

• Seven with 21.9% of all viewers, followed by
• Nine 17.5%
• Ten 17.1%
• ABC 13.2%
• SBS 5.8%

Due to the very large rise in new TV stations, these percentage figures have now changed, but for week 30 in 2011, the viewing figures are now:

• 16.2% Seven
• 14.6% Nine
• 13.0% Ten
• 6.8% ABC
• 3.8% SBS

However, if we group the TV channels together, for 2011 it is more like

• 21.3% Seven, 72 and 7 mate.
• 19.9% Nine, Go and Gem.
• 17.7% Ten, 11 and One
• 13.3% ABC 1, ABC 2, ABC3 and ABC 24.
• 4.1% SBS1 and SBS2.

The end for Analogue TV transmissions

Australian analogue TV is scheduled to cease transmission from 2010, starting in regional Victoria, moving to Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast in the first half of 2013, followed by Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and other areas in the final stage of 2013.

Broadband, Communications and Digital Economy Minister Senator Stephen Conroy has confirmed the timetable, saying: “The digital TV revolution is in full swing and Australians now know when they will need to be digital-ready.

• ABC News article

Watching UK Television in Australia

I am no expert at this, and haven’t tried it myself, but I have been told that you can now watch UK TV via your Internet connection.

More details at: Slingbox

Also try this one www.britishinternettv.co.uk