Each week for the past two years we’ve been documenting the events of Australian TV during the corresponding week of thirty years ago – 1978 and 1979 – as reported in TV Times magazine.
Now, sadly, we have to bring that sequence of posts to an end as we do not have a weekly archive of TV Times beyond the close of 1979 – and, indeed, the magazine title itself became obsolete in August 1980 when it was merged with rival magazine TV Week.
However, we are able to ‘skip’ a decade and can bring you TV as it was in the corresponding week of 1990 – twenty years ago – as reported in TV Week. This will start in the new year.
As we move into a new decade in the present day TV continues to come to terms with the new era of digital multi-channelling. The year will see the continued presence, and possibly even the addition, of new channels under the Freeview banner. 2009 saw the introduction of One HD, SBS2, GO!, 7TWO and ABC3, and there could be more to follow. Freeview will also continue to be challenged by Foxtel’s “next generation” offering. The year will also see community TV allowed its first steps in digital broadcasting, having waited and campaigned for many years for access to digital broadcasting spectrum, and Mildura will witness Australia’s first phase-out of analogue television signals.
The year will see the return of Masterchef Australia – will it maintain the public’s attention in 2010 as it did in 2009? – and more of Hey Hey It’s Saturday after its two reunion specials garnered massive support in 2009. There will be no more Rove but we may see a greater presence from Shaun Micallef, following the popularity of Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation. The 7PM Project will continue to hope to gain stronger support – but how long will Ten pursue it? There will be a third series in the Underbelly franchise, and Neighbours will celebrate its 25th anniversary.
The TV Week Logie Awards could break with tradition and be held in Queensland, and the year will also include the Commonwealth Games, from Delhi, India, and the Winter Olympics, from Vancouver, Canada.
The new year also marks a new era in the reporting of ratings data as, for the first time, viewing by time-shifted means (e.g. viewing of programs recorded by devices such as VCRs, PVRs, etc.) will be tallied along with programs that are viewed ‘live’ to air.
The year 2010 will also mark the 50th anniversary of ABC channels ABS2 Adelaide, ABT2 Hobart and ABW2 Perth, as well as commercial station TVT6 Hobart (now a branch of WIN Television). SBS will celebrate its 30th anniversary later in the year and aggregation of Regional Queensland television will be 20 years old from the end of 2010.
And 2010 will mark ten years since the website Television.AU was established.
