Flashback to ‘The Entertainment Network’

This week’s re-brand of the Ten Network is the first major image revamp for the network since January 1991.

The last time Ten had a major image refresh it was in receivership after two years of falling ratings, staff cutbacks and management and financial instability amid the “recession we had to have”. The viability of even having three commercial networks in a market the size of Australia was being questioned.

Ten chief Gary Rice, appointed by the receivers, had made brutal cuts to the network in November 1990, in particular to the news and current affairs portfolio, in a bid to stem losses of up to $2 million a week. More than 300 staff were sacked as current affairs shows and morning news bulletins were dumped, the Melbourne-based 6.00pm news was cut to half an hour, and Good Morning Australia had its budget trimmed.

Despite some highlights such as Neighbours, which was still a strong performer, and event programming such as Bangkok Hilton, the Melbourne Cup and the TV Week Logie Awards, the 10 TV Australia brand, which had been launched with fanfare barely 18 months earlier, was indelibly tarnished by programming flops, an overdependence on movies, a declining news profile and the stigma of receivership.

While cuts were being made to bring its finances under control, the network was working on a significant shift in branding and programming to pick itself up from financial ruin.

On the night of 13 January 1991, Ten unveiled a new logo and positioning statement, “The Entertainment Network” — a convenient use of the “TEN” letters.


YouTube: Australian TV Fan

With the revamp came a resolve to provide an entertainment brand dedicated to the under-40 age group. As well as local dramas Neighbours and E Street, Ten had scored some canny programming deals that gave it access to the hottest new US shows of the season — Twin Peaks and The Simpsons — the latter being a regular feature for the network until just last year.

The Entertainment Network was a colourful re-brand and re-focus that took Ten out of the doldrums, improving its performance and giving it an air of confidence to viewers and the industry, eventually leading it to it being majority owned by Canadian group CanWest. With a focus on youth-friendly US titles such as Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place, Seinfeld and The X Files, a revamped news service (including the shift of Ten Eyewitness News to become “First At Five”) and Bert Newton‘s The Morning Show (later adopting the Good Morning Australia title), Ten went on to become the most profitable of the three commercial networks even though still rating well below its two major rivals.

Time will tell if Ten’s latest revamp to ’10’ — which also comes after years of management and financial unrest, missteps in past programming and strategy, severe staffing cuts and subsequent receivership — and buyout by CBS will give a similar long term outcome.

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2018/11/flashback-to-the-entertainment-network.html

1 comment

    • Anthony The Koala on 2 November 2018 at 10:40 AM
    • Reply

    I don’t understand how the commercial networks, 7 Network, 9 Network and 10 Network persist in branding their networks based on their VHF analogue frequencies. Today’s digital equivalents are nothing more than logical channel numbers (‘LCN’) which have nothing to do with the actual frequency that the digital networks operate. To illustrate the 7 Network used to operate on VHF channel 7 and now operates on VHF channel 6.

    Speaking of VHF channel 7,that is now used by SBS (digital) whose LCN (main) is 30. LCNs are a very flexible in that they are not necessarily associated with the VHF or even UHF frequency. During the experiments in 3D broadcasting in 2010, the LCN was 40 for both the 7 and 9 networks. During the London Olympics, the 3D channel’s LCN was 95 where the 95 LCN reflected the 9 Network’s telecast.

    In other words why do the 7, 9 and 10 networks brand themselves on a legacy VHF frequency whose LCNs may bear no relation to the current broadcast frequency?

    The ABC, SBS, Prime and Win networks have been referring to their brand name not the legacy or actual digital VHF or UHF channel. (Perhaps with the exception of Network 0-28 in SBS’s early years). You never saw in the analogue days the ABC News referred to “National 2 News”

    It’s about time the commercial 7, 9 and 10 networks change their once analogue VHF branding and now LCN branding to something else. LCNs may well be ‘scarce’ in the sense that you cannot have one network have the same LCN as another network. I need to check the Broadcast Services Act (Cth) (1992) amended 2006 on this matter.

    I will comment on cuts made to the 10 Network. In the 1970s and 1980s, one could ride past (I didn’t drive) past the North Ryde studios and see two or three helicopters marked with “John L Motors” for its news service. Their live crosses were known as “Live Eye” and seem to be first with the latest news. You don’t hear about the helicopters today. The 10 Network cut its staff in 2014, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-21/network-ten-cuts-jobs-axes-news-programs/5467634. One radio commentator (Steve Price on 2GB) while in the course of going to studio production of “The Project” described the newsroom as bare. In 2017 staff at the 10 Network were concerned that their jobs were on the line. This does not refer to only the ‘stars’, but those people behind the scenes https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/channel-ten-staff-fear-major-job-losses-and-cuts-to-news-20170501-gvwbwu.html and https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/channel-ten-denies-reports-of-savage-cuts-to-staff-and-programs-20170928-gyq9x4.html .

    It’s been over a year since the last two articles, there is no information on whether the cuts came to pass, but the report referred again to news, but also to engineering. If I was working there, I would be in fear of losing my job and a constant fear is not healthy for the mind.

    Regards
    Anthony of Belfield

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