1990-1999

David Johnston, Ten Evening News

The decade started in recession and with two networks in receivership, and a third being sold back to its former owner for a fraction of what it had been bought for.  Cost cutting and tight budgets became increasingly common.  Despite this, regional television was expanding at a rapid rate to give country viewers the same choices as their city counterparts.  Then came the countdown to the new millennium.

1990:

• January:  The 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland, New Zealand are televised on Nine.
• February:  Steve Vizard’s Tonight Live begins on Seven.  Ten launches two spin-offs from The Comedy Company – Larger Than Life with Mark Mitchell and the sitcom Col’n Carpenter.
• The Seven and Ten networks go into receivership.  Kerry Packer’s PBL purchases the Nine Network stations in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Darwin back from Alan Bond for $A200 million — a fifth of what Bond paid PBL for them in 1987.
• July 15:  After a six month absence, The Comedy Company returns on Ten but fails to repeat the success of its earlier seasons.
• December 31:  Queensland becomes the second Aggregated market with local stations Sunshine Television (now Seven Queensland), WIN and QTV (now Southern Cross Ten).
• TV Week Gold Logie Winner:  Craig McLachlan (Neighbours, Ten)

Glenn Ridge and Jo Bailey, Sale Of The Century

1991:

• January:  Nine’s latest attempt at popular drama, Chances, begins a two year run, while Ten revives the axed Perfect Match under the title Blind Date.
• The Gulf War sparks saturation television coverage.
• February 10:  Animated US series The Simpsons premieres on Ten
• April:  Glenn Ridge and Jo Bailey replace Tony Barber and Alyce Platt on Sale Of The Century.
• August 5:  US talk show The Oprah Winfrey Show makes its debut as a late-night program on Network Ten.
• December 31:  Aggregation arrives in Northern NSW with local networks Prime, NBN and NRTV (now Southern Cross Ten) now in competition across the entire region.
• TV Week Gold Logie Winner:  Steve Vizard (Tonight Live and Fast Forward, Seven)

Bert Newton

1992:

• January 1:  Aggregation arrives in regional Victoria with local commercial networks Prime, VICTV (now WIN) and Southern Cross Network (now Southern Cross Ten).
• January 20: Ten Eyewitness News becomes the first 5pm news service, and Bert Newton returns to television as host of Ten’s new talk show The Morning Show.
• January:  Former ABC reporter Stan Grant fronts Seven’s new nightly current affairs program, Real Life.
• February: Healthy Wealthy And Wise begins a seven-year run on Ten.
• July 18:The Late Show with the D Generation starts on ABC, running for two seasons.
• TV Week Gold Logie Winner:  Jana Wendt (A Current Affair, Nine)

1993:

• January 11:  Tony Barber’s Jeopardy begins a brief run on Ten.
• February 1:  Ten’s The Morning Show adopts the title Good Morning Australia, taking the name from the network’s former long-running breakfast TV program.
• ABC begins 24 hour transmission
• August 30:  Ten’s late night sports round-up Sports Tonight begins.
• November 22:  A Country Practice screens for the last time on Seven, to be picked up by Ten for a brief run in 1994.
• TV Week Gold Logie Winner:  Ray Martin (Midday With Ray Martin, Nine)

1994:

• January:  Seven premieres its new rural police drama Blue Heelers.
• February:  Ten launches its new schoolroom drama Heartbreak High, a spin-off of the movie The Heartbreak Kid, and Derryn Hinch takes over from Ray Martin as host of Nine’s Midday.
• April 30:  Aggregation of commercial television services is completed in Tasmania with TAS TV (now WIN) and Southern Cross Television broadcasting statewide.
• May 9:Frontline, a satirical look at current affairs television from the D Generation, begins on ABC.
• May 20:  SBS commences transmission in Darwin
• August 1:  Melbourne’s ATV10 celebrates 30 years of transmission.
• August:  The Commonwealth Games are televised live on Ten from Victoria, Canada.
• Community Television starts with long-term trials of stations in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.
• TV Week Gold Logie Winner:  Ray Martin (Midday With Ray Martin, Nine)

Foxtel

1995:

• January:Today Tonight launches on Seven with individual editions in each of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.
• Seven premieres its new drama series Fire, and Nine’s series of Halifax fp telemovies continue to earn strong ratings.
• Pay-TV commences in Australia with three operators — Galaxy, Foxtel and Optusvision.
• TV Week Gold Logie Winner:  Ray Martin (A Current Affair, Nine)

1996:

• Australian television celebrates 40 years with commemorative specials on ABC, Seven, Nine and Ten networks.
• Nine premieres its new action drama series Water Rats and relaunches Midday with new host Kerri-Anne Kennerley.
• Nine launches a new version of In Melbourne Tonight hosted by Frankie J Holden with Denise Drysdale.  Screening once a week in Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia, it is axed two years later.
• Two years after its US premiere, the first series of Friends screens on Seven, with subsequent series screening on Nine.
• TV Week Gold Logie Winner:  Ray Martin (A Current Affair, Nine)

1997:

• The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is televised for the first time on commercial television.
• July 1:  Prime Television expands to Mildura in regional Victoria.
• The funeral of Princess Diana is televised live on all ABC and commercial free-to-air television stations.
• December:South Park, the politically incorrect animated series from America’s Comedy Central pay-TV channel, begins on SBS and becomes the network’s highest rating series to date.
• TV Week Gold Logie Winner:  Lisa McCune (Blue Heelers, Seven)

The Day Of The Roses

1998:

• February 18:  The Panel, from Working Dog Productions (formerly the D Generation), begins on Ten.
• February 24:  Seven’s hospital drama All Saints begins.
• March 27:  Darwin’s second commercial television station, Seven Darwin, commences transmission.
• Midday is axed by Nine, ending a daytime TV tradition that started in 1973.
• Seachange, ABC’s new weekly drama starring Sigrid Thornton, becomes a huge hit on Sunday nights.
• The two-part mini series The Day Of The Roses, based on the 1977 Granville train disaster, screens on Ten.
• TV Week Gold Logie Winner:  Lisa McCune (Blue Heelers, Seven)

Eleven AM

1999:

• ABC’s popular Good News Week moves across to Ten.
• The second season of Seachange achieves record ratings for ABC.
• WIN expands into regional Western Australia as the second local commercial TV broadcaster, up against former monopoly broadcaster GWN.
• Aggregation between Imparja Television (Northern Territory/South Australia) and Seven Central (outback Queensland) commences, giving outback viewers a choice of two commercial TV networks.
• National morning news program Eleven AM is axed by Seven after 24 years.
• Jana Wendt becomes presenter of Dateline on SBS.
• Seven begins transmitting its logo watermark on all programs.
• Millennium fever begins with tribute programs from Nine (Our Century and Simply The Best), Seven (a remake of the 1979 series This Fabulous Century) and ABC (Barry Humphries’ Flashbacks).
• 

  Lisa McCune

  November 20:  Nine’s Hey Hey It’s Saturday is axed after 28 years on air, ending a forty year tradition of live television variety from GTV9.

• December 31:  ABC is the host Australian broadcaster of the international TV event 2000 Today, a 26-hour live telecast of new year celebrations around the world, commencing at 8.30pm (AEDST) on 31 December.
• TV Week Gold Logie Winner:  Lisa McCune (Blue Heelers, Seven)