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The Seven Network, or Channel Seven, is an Australian television network. Seven has traditionally been the second highest rating television network in Australia, trailing the Nine Network but above Network Ten. However the network has dominated the Australian ratings throughout the first half of 2007. It has the distinction of a combined population coverage greater than any other free to air network in Australia. Its parent company and namesake has, in recent years, grown into a diversified media company.
The network's studio headquarters are in a converted warehouse at Jones Bay Wharf in Pyrmont, Sydney. Its news headquarters is in Martin Place, Sydney and its major production facility is at Epping in Sydney's northern suburbs. In 2009, Seven will move their production facilities from Epping to a purpose built site at the Australian Technology Park in Redfern. The broadcast signal for the network arises from the digital broadcast centre in the Melbourne Docklands.
After years of planning, Australian television had finally gotten underway in 1956, with Seven leading the way on November 4th, transmitting via HSV-7 in Melbourne. On December 2nd of the same year, ATN-7 in Sydney commenced and over the next decade, various other channel's across the nation would soon commence, all under broadcast via the VHF-7 frequency. Seven started with many simple and relatively cheap shows in its first decade of existence, with shows such as Pick a Box dominating the television landscape, Whilst each channel may have been transmitted on the VHF-7 frequency, they were defiantly not broadcasting the same content. Each network produced programming unique to any other, and many channels broadcast by VHF-7 networks were soon making programming affiliations with subsequent VHF-9 (later Nine Network) networks. Little did they realise they would soon enough be waring networks.
In the 1960's, Seven began to produce and screen much more in-depth programs that showed a higher level of class in the search of more viewers, and of course the burgeoning advertising market. One of those such programs was Homicide which would continue for another 12 years and become the nation's longest running drama series at 512 episodes. Also joining the stable would be Division 4, Along the way, Seven acquired more affiliates and dumped those with most VHF-9 networks.
The 70’s brought a wave of change for all Australian networks. Not only was there more competition than even for viewers, but there was the revolutionary introduction of colour television in 1975, which brought with it a fresh new logo for the network. Programming was as strong as ever, as Homicide, Division 4 and World Of Sport continued to dominate viewers. A clear gap was forming between the Seven and Nine networks though, and even Seven’s best attempts to repair the mend the widening gap failed as Nine continued to dominate ratings patterns.
Seven started off stronger than ever in 1980 with a fresh approach to programming and self-advertisement, taking many NBC slogans and re-using them for Seven’s benefit. In 1981 A Country Practice began its very successful run on Seven, whilst Sons and Daughters began its run in 1982. Neighbours was launched in 1985, but was cancelled by the end of that year due to low Sydney ratings. It was a decision many at Seven would have soon came to regret, after the show went on to international success on rival Channel Ten after a cast shake-up. At the same time, cost-cutting was strife within the network as Fairfax went after larger profits from its television subsidy. As a result many HSV-7 based shows were axed in favour of networked Sydney programs. Viewers were less than impressed and subsequently left the station in droves, leading to even lower ratings for the network. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, Seven was being bought and sold at a amazing rate, with various companies and people buying large proportions of the network. This all came to ahead in 1987 when Qintex bought the company from Fairfax due to Australia’s then new cross-ownership laws. Qintex’s owner, Christopher Skase, brought massive change to the network, with the launch of new soapie Home & Away and a fresh new logo launched for the 1989 season. But just as all was looking up for the intensifying network, disaster struck as Qintex fell into receivership after a failed bid for MGM studios, leaving the network in a precarious position.
The 90’s began as Seven was left to fight for its life as it battled to keep away from a marriage to the also struggling Ten Network. Subsequent intervention from Kerry Packer stopped this from happening. Real Life, a nation current-affairs program was launched in 1992, but by 1994 gave way to Today Tonight, which would over time develop into a ratings-winning show. By 1993, A Country Practice has run its course, and was subsequently canned by the station after a amazing 1050 episodes. A Country Practice’s demise came at a similar time as to when Seven’s other key soapie, Home & Away, was rising to its peak, successfully beating long-time rival Neighbours. 1994 saw the introduction of Seven’s most popular 90’s show Blue Heelers. The show initially kicked off at a 7.30 Tuesday slot, and in '95 moved to later 8.30 slot for more dramatic and revealing storylines, and by 1998 the show was moved to Wednesday to make room for another high-rating drama, All Saints. Both drama’s rated quite highly for the network, and along with new lifestyle shows Better Homes and Gardens and The Great Outdoors, the network was in a much stronger position than it had been for quite some time.
2000 brought a wave of change and success for Seven, and is still, to date, its best ratings year yet. New Years Day brought a fresh 21st century logo, as well as all-new advertising campaigns and a fresh new slogan "The One To Watch", which would last the network another 5 years. Almost every show was given a new look, all part of a change Seven was aiming for. The network was ready to shed its bumpy past and herald in the new millennium with rating success.
Certainly the biggest rating success of the year was the telecast of the 2000 Summer Olympics held in Sydney. The Olympics were a boom for the network, and provided the network with the highest ever ratings for a television program on Australian television. And it wasn’t just the Olympics that boosted the network. Its key dramas, All Saints and Blue Heelers, were regularly topping the charts with record viewers, new reality show Popstars struck a cord with viewers, breaking new ground on Australian TV, whilst hit UK game show The Weakest Link and Australian reality series The Mole racked in the viewers. All in all, the network could do no wrong, and finished the year No. 1 in the ratings race, beating Channel Nine for the first time in over 30 years.
The success for 2000 could not be matched by Seven in forthcoming years though, and 2001 brought a wave of unwelcome change for the network. New series such as Temptation Island, Greeks On The Roof and Marshall Law all faulted in their initial seasons, and were soon canned. At the same time, new shows Popstars and The Weakest Link were losing their lustre, and viewers were being swung back by a resilient Nine and Ten, with new hit shows such as drama-packed CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, game-show hit Who Wants to be a Millionaire? and Ten’s massive hit reality series, Big Brother. Seven lost the year to Nine.
2002 and 2003 saw even more misery for the network. Rating were falling further and further. The Weakest Link was canned, Home & Away was losing more viewers, tired of old storylines, whilst all of Seven’s drama’s had lost many viewers, especially Blue Heelers, which had at one point been the highest-rating show in the nation. 2002 also saw the loss of the AFL telecast rights to a consortium of Foxtel, Nine and Ten, which they had won at a cost of $500 million. Seven's Always Greener, a fresh new drama was successfully launched in late 2002, and achieved strong rating of 1.6 million in its Sunday timeslot. But by 2003, it too has succumbed to the overall decline in Seven ratings, and just days before shooting was due to start on a 4th season for the 2004 season, Seven canned the show, even after highly-positive reviews from journalists. Former Nine executive David Leckie was appointed head of TV operations, even his attempts to ‘re-freshen’ the network with a updated logo and new advertising campaign and new slogan failed. Seven was in a more uncertain position than even before, and 2004 did nothing but confirm the network was in the gold rums.
2004 was certainly one of Seven’s worse ever year’s, but it did highlight the changes Leckie was bringing in. Just as Australian Idol rose to become a hit sensation, Seven tried to re-work Popstars with a updated version, Popstars Live. The experiment failed quite quickly, and was soon shuffled off to a Saturday timeslot.
But change was on the way. Home & Away was finally receiving its much-needed re-vamp, with new, fresh storylines and characters, new sets and the change to HD filming. By mid-year, Blue Heelers and All Saints has received the same treatments, with new setting, characters and a overall sense of freshness. Later in the year, Seven launched the biggest hit to have even come from the network, Dancing With The Stars. The show skyrocketed to No.1 and along with All Saints, Seven was winning Tuesday nights. Still, Seven lacked any real US shows to rival Nine and Ten, who had their CSI and Law & Order franchises. Both Alias and 24 did not work as well as anticipated for Seven. 2005 would bring that change.
For 2005, Seven brought 2 hit new shows that had worked extremely well for the ABC in the US: Desperate Housewives and Lost. Both quickly hit to the top of the ratings ladder, and coupled with a much stronger Home & Away, Blue Heelers and All Saints, plus hit-show Dancing With The Stars, and later on Grey's Anatomy, the network was posing a real rivalry towards Nine. Nine was losing ground on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday nights, all after a swift 6 month turnaround by Seven. Soon enough Nines' A Current Affair had fallen way behind Sevens' Today Tonight; morning flagship show Today was far behind ratings-winner Sunrise; and, even Nine’s once highlight National Nine News had fallen behind Seven News in the key Sydney market. Many touted Seven’s chances of winning the 2005 ratings season, but it would all prove to be too much for Seven, and Nine quite easily won once again. 2006 sought even more change; Seven brought even more fresh shows on board. Short-lived US series Commander in Chief brought initial success, but soon faulted off. Seven had better luck in Prison Break, with its premiere bringing a massive 1.8 million viewers; the show would soon win Wednesday nights. Meanwhile, Seven created its first spin-off series in years with It Takes Two, a singing competition based on an almost identical format to Dancing With The Stars. Along with rising popularity in its news services and comedy in How I Met Your Mother and My Name Is Earl, Seven won quite a number of ratings weeks in a row. Although Nine re-bounded after the 2006 Commonwealth Games telecast and finished with another rating victory, Seven was firming up as the network to beat after it won back AFL television rights in consortium with Ten for a record $780 million.
2007 saw Seven launch 5 new series in aggressive advertising campaign, with its ‘7 in 07’ campaign. New series included Brothers & Sisters, Heroes and surprise hit Australia's Got Talent, which formed part of Seven’s new ‘Beautiful Sunday’, which also included US hit Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy and What About Brian. Subsequently, Seven was winning most nights of the week, including the former Nine stronghold of Sunday night. Thus far, Seven has won every ratings week, though it has lost some weeks to Nine in Melbourne.
In 2005 Seven has had a ratings resurgence after a disastrous 2004 with assistance from many American programs. For the 2007 season, Seven renewed many of the same shows from 2006, but also brought in some new ones. The bulk of programming on Seven consists of American television shows that originally air on various US broadcasters. Seven is affiliated to CNN, NBC, BBC, Reuters, ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation, and Associated Press Television News.
Seven's current Australian programming lineup consists of television shows including; All Saints, Better Homes and Gardens, Home and Away, Border Security: Australia's Front Line, Dancing with the Stars, Deal or No Deal, Medical Emergency, Last Chance Learners, The Great Outdoors, Australia's Got Talent and It Takes Two.
Seven has programming output deals with a number of American production studios, including NBC Studios, Disney (including Touchstone Television) and 20th Century Fox (concluding mid-2007). American programming on Seven includes; 24, The Amazing Race, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, Lost, Prison Break, How I Met Your Mother, My Name Is Earl, Bones, What About Brian, Ugly Betty, Brothers and Sisters, Boston Legal, Scrubs, Family Guy and Heroes.
New US programs still to début in Seven's 2007 lineup include; 30 Rock, October Road, Shark and Dirt.
Seven's news service is called Seven News. After trailing for many years, to Channel Nine's news service, Seven rebounded in 2005, and claimed to be number one in news and current affairs. Seven News produces several news bulletins and programs including; Sunrise, Weekend Sunrise, Seven Morning News, Seven Afternoon News, Seven News, Seven's Late News Updates, and Today Tonight. During the early hours of 4-6am, Seven rebroadcasts some of American network NBC's news and current affairs programming, including Today and Dateline NBC.
Seven is a major player in Australian sports broadcasting. Before 2001 Seven broadcasted all matches. However, after the 2001 season Seven ended its famous 45-year run as AFL football broadcaster when the Nine Network and Network Ten, along with pay TV provider Foxtel, jointly won the television rights. On January 5 2006 the Australian Football League accepted a bid from Seven and Ten to broadcast AFL games from 2007 - 2011 at a cost of AU$780 million.
Seven's most popular recurring sporting events include the AFL Premiership Season, the Australian Open Golf, the Australian Open Tennis, Bledisloe Cup Rugby, Melbourne Cup Carnival, Mt Buller World Aerials, the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, the Tri-Nations Rugby, and the V8 Supercars.
<small>Note: News and Current Affairs are in <font color="#AAAAAA">Grey</font>; Drama is in <font color="#87CEEB">Blue</font>; Sitcoms, Animation and Comedy are in <font color="#D79BF0">Purple</font>; Lifestyle programs are in <font color="#A8EC64">Green</font>; Factual programs and Documentaries are <font color="#FFD700">Yellow</font>; Reality, Game shows and Talk shows are in <font color="F08080">Red</font>; Sport is in <font color="#EEBD62">Orange</font>; Movies are in <font color="#F09BDB">Pink</font>. The above represents Seven's usual primetime schedule. It does not reflect one-off events, and program starting times may vary from those shown. For up-to-date information, see the Seven Network's online television guide. (link). * This applies to Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia only. In other areas, a movie airs in this timeslot. †In New South Wales and Queensland, Air Crash Investigations screens 8:30 Wednesday, Heroes at 8:30 Thursday and Lost at 9:30 Thursday. </small>
Seven is simulcast in analogue and standard definition, with 576p enhanced definition currently available in Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Regional QLD. As of March 18, 2007, 1080i high definition test simulcasts commenced in the Sydney and Melbourne markets. Seven will analyse the results of the testing with regard to transmission format and bandwidth utilisation.[1]
Seven is broadcast in metropolitan areas and regional Queensland via Seven Network owned-and-operated stations, these include ATN-7, HSV-7, BTQ-7, SAS-7, TVW-7, and Seven Queensland. Channel Seven programming is also carried into other areas of regional Australia by affiliate networks (which are locally branded), these include Southern Cross Television, Prime Television, GWN, and WIN Television.
The Seven Network has used many logos throughout its history.
<small>Pre-network logos can be found at the following articles; ATN-7, HSV-7, BTQ-7, SAS-7.</small>
- "National" refers to the main five metropolitan markets. Shares represents free to air audience share from 6:00pm to 12:00am. Data gathered and published by OzTAM. OZTam <div class="references-small"> </div>