2010-2019

The advent of digital television a decade earlier has now seen the industry bombard the market with more viewing choice than ever before, with each commercial network pumping out two digital channels and a datacast channel as well as their primary channel, and national broadcasters ABC and SBS also offering multiple channel options.  Meanwhile, free-to-air and pay-TV operators experiment with 3D technology as analogue television is switched off for good.

Neighbours

2010:

• April 10:  Community TV channel WTV commences transmission in Perth, replacing the previous community broadcaster, Access 31, which wound up in 2008.

• May: Test transmissions in 3D TV start on Foxtel, the Nine Network and SBS.
• June 30:  Shutdown of analogue television services: Mildura VIC
• July 22:  ABC launches ABC News 24, the first 24-hour free-to-air news channel in Australia.
• August 26:  Network Ten announces plans to launch a new digital channel, Eleven, which will present a youth-focused, entertainment line-up, with prime-time to be headlined by Neighbours and US series The Simpsons.
• August 27: Neighbours screens its 6000th episode
• September 25:  The Seven Network replaces its high-definition channel 7HD with a new channel, 7mate.
• September 26:  The Nine Network replaces its high-definition channel 9HD with GEM
• October:  Network Ten and Foxtel cover the 2010 Commonwealth Games from Delhi, India
• December 15:  Shutdown of analogue television services: Regional SA, Broken Hill NSW
• TV Week Gold Logie Winner:  Ray Meagher (Home And Away, Seven)

Paper Giants: The Birth Of Cleo

2011:

• January 11:  Network Ten launches its new digital channel, Eleven. Neighbours moves across from Ten to Eleven.
• January 24:  Network Ten launches 6PM With George Negus and state-based 6.30pm news bulletins to supplement the 5.00pm news and The 7PM Project.
• April 17-18:  Mini-series Paper Giants: The Birth Of Cleo draws high ratings for ABC.
• April 29:  The wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton is broadcast across the ABC, Seven, Nine and Ten networks as well as pay-TV channels Sky News Australia, BBC World News, E!, Fox News, UKTV and CNN.
• May 5:  Shutdown of analogue television services: Regional VIC
• 

  Go Back To Where You Came From

  June:  The three-part documentary series Go Back To Where You Came From, putting a ‘reality’ twist on the asylum seeker debate, is a ratings hit for SBS.

• August 6:  Network Ten’s music video show Video Hits ends after a 24-year run.
• August 22:  Current affairs program Four Corners celebrates its 50th anniversary.
• October 6:  ABC’s television adaptation of the book The Slap receives rave reviews and debuts to high ratings.
• November 25:  Showbiz veteran and co-presenter on The Circle, Denise Drysdale announces her retirement from television.  Kerri-Anne Kennerley signs off from the last Kerri-Anne show on the Nine Network.
• December 6:  Shutdown of analogue television services: Regional QLD
• TV Week Gold Logie Winner:  Karl Stefanovic (Today, Nine)

Breakfast

2012:

• February 23:  Network Ten launches its new breakfast news program, Breakfast, as a competitor to Sunrise, Today and ABC News Breakfast.  The program is axed in November after poor ratings.
• April:  The Nine Network aggressively challenges the Seven Network’s ratings lead with the launch of reality talent contest The Voice and new series of Celebrity Apprentice and The Block.
• June 5:  Shutdown of analogue television services: Southern NSW, Canberra ACT, Griffith NSW.
• July-August: Nine Network and Foxtel cover the Games Of The XXX Olympiad from London, United Kingdom.  Nine offers a single channel of coverage (in both standard and high definition), while Foxtel offers eight separate channels (also both in standard and high definition).  Nine’s coverage includes a trial transmission in 3D format.
• August 3:  The final edition of Network Ten’s mid-morning program The Circle.
• August 13: The Nine Network revives Big Brother with new host Sonia Kruger.
• August:  Howzat! Kerry Packer’s War dramatises the media tycoon’s 1970s battle with the cricket establishment in setting up World Series Cricket for his Nine Network.
• October 2:  Telemovie Underground: The Julian Assange Story is a rare ratings success for the Ten Network.
• October:  Nine Entertainment Co. (assets including TCN Sydney, GTV Melbourne, QTQ Brisbane, NTD Darwin, NBN Northern NSW) negotiates a deal with its lenders to wipe out $3 billion of debt with control of the company handed to its major lenders.  Network Ten reports a full-year loss of $12.9 million following poor ratings performance for a string of new program titles.
• November 27:  Shutdown of analogue television services: Northern NSW
• December 12:  NITV commences free-to-air broadcast via SBS
• TV Week Gold Logie Winner: Hamish Blake (Hamish And Andy’s Gap Year, Nine)

Wentworth

2013:

• Conversion from analogue to digital television is completed:  Shutdown of analogue television services: Adelaide SA (2 April);  Tasmania (9 April);  Perth WA (16 April); Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast QLD (28 May);  Regional and Remote WA (25 June); Darwin NT (30 July); Sydney, Central Coast NSW (3 December); Melbourne VIC, Remote Central and Eastern Australia (10 December).
• February 22:  Network Ten CEO James Warburton is stood down after 14 months in the role, following a string of ratings flops.
• April 1:  SBS relaunches digital channel SBS2 with a focus on the under-40 age group.
• May 1:  Wentworth, a re-imagining of the former Network Ten series Prisoner, makes its debut on Foxtel.
• May 14:  Network Ten announces it is the successful bidder for the Australian television, mobile and internet rights to the XXII Olympic Winter Games to be held in Sochi, Russia, in February 2014.
• TV Week Gold Logie Winner: Asher Keddie (Offspring, Ten)