ABC TV

'ABC TV', sometimes 'ABC-TV' or more colloquially 'Channel 2', is a national public television channel in Australia. It is the primary television service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Launched on 5 November 1956, the channel is available nationally and has a market share of over 16% of viewers.

Contents

History

Programming

News & Current affairs

Sport

Children

Current schedule

Availability

Identity

Logos

See also

References

External links

History

ABC TV began broadcasts on 5 November 1956 from its Sydney station ABN-2 with an inauguration by Prime Minister Robert Menzies. It began broadcasts in Melbourne on ABV-2 on 18 November 1956 just in time for its coverage of the 1956 Olympic Games.

Programming

ABC TV is required by charter to meet certain programming obligations. Its focus is on news and current affairs but it also presents documentaries and educational programmes, children's shows, drama, comedy and variety, and sports. It is often criticised for a perceived lack of locally-produced content and for its reliance on foreign, particularly British, programmes. This largely results from restricted funds.
ABC TV's drama line-up consists almost entirely of imported content including ''The West Wing'', ''The Bill'', ''Doctor Who'', ''Life On Mars'' and ''Spooks''. It currently does not produce any primetime drama series, but still produces mini-series such as ''Answered by Fire'' and ''Bastard Boys''. It also shows repeats of past successful local drama series including ''SeaChange'', ''Something in the Air'' and ''Head Start''.
Comedy on ABC TV is primarily locally-produced but also includes foreign series such as ''Little Britain'', ''Extras'', ''The Catherine Tate Show'', and ''The IT Crowd''. The network has launched the careers of a number of comedians including Magda Szubanski, Wil Anderson, Dave Hughes and Chris Lilley. Its present flagship comedy shows are ''Spicks and Specks'' and ''The Chaser's War on Everything''. Former successful shows include ''Frontline'', ''The Micallef Program'', ''The D-Generation'', ''Mother and Son'', ''BackBerner'', ''Good News Week'', ''The Glass House'' and ''The Aunty Jack Show''.
The remainder of ABC TV's schedule consists of lifestyle, music, game and talk shows. Lifestyle programmes are mostly cooking shows such as ''The Cook and The Chef'' or travel shows like ''Pilot Guides'' but also include programmes such as ''Gardening Australia'', ''Compass'' and ''Message Stick''. The network's music shows include ''Rage'' and ''jtv'' while previous music-oriented shows include ''Countdown'' and ''Recovery''. Its game shows include quiz shows ''The Einstein Factor'' and ''Head 2 Head'' and competition programmes ''Strictly Dancing'' and ''The New Inventors''. ABC TV presents three talk shows, the locally made ''Enough Rope'' and ''Talking Heads'', and ITV1's ''Parkinson''. It also broadcasts arts discussion shows ''At The Movies'' and ''Sunday Arts''.

News & Current affairs

A significant proportion of ABC TV programming is current affairs-related. It is produced by the ABC's News and Current Affairs division and an investigative unit headed by Andrew Fowler. Its flagship programmes ''Four Corners'', ''Australian Story'', ''Foreign Correspondent'', ''Lateline'', ''Stateline'' and ''The 7.30 Report'' are broadcast in primetime and are widely-regarded for their agenda-setting journalism. In addition, ''Landline'', ''Insiders'' and ''Media Watch'' cover rural, political and business, and media affairs. The current affairs line-up is supported by a state-based evening newscast ''ABC News'' at 7pm and the weekdaily ''Midday Report'' at noon.

Sport

Sports coverage on ABC TV generally includes a diverse range of less popular sports which are not shown on commercial television. It currently presents netball, lawn bowls, basketball and state football legue competitions (Australian rules football and rugby league) to country championships (Supreme Australian Sheep Dog Championships and Country Horse Racing). It also has rights to the Paralympic Games and the Hopman Cup tennis tournament.

Children

ABC TV's children's programming is more extensive than any other channel in Australia. Children's shows are typically broadcast under the ABC Kids banner in two blocks: mornings 6am–10am and afternoons 3pm–6pm. ABC Rollercoaster is a segment shown from 5pm-6pm that is aimed at a sligtly older demographic than ABC Kids' 3–6 year olds.
ABC Kids is a mixture of ABC TV-produced and international shows. Due to their longevity, programmes such as ''Play School'' and ''Bananas in Pyjamas'' are iconic within Australia. Popular locally-made drama series include ''The Saddle Club'', ''Out There'', ''Blue Water High'', ''Ship to Shore'' and ''Round the Twist''. International programmes which regularly feature in the line-up include ''Sesame Street'', ''Bob the Builder'', ''Pingu'', ''Arthur'', ''Fireman Sam'' and older-years shows ''Degrassi'', ''Lizzie McGuire'', ''Freaky Stories'' and ''Daria''.
Children's programming also includes educational programmes. ''Behind the News'' is a long-running series which provides background information to current affairs. The programme has come to be incorporated into many school curricula. Schools TV is a segment between 10am-11am that consists of documentaries and specials relevant to school study.

Current schedule

	6:00 p.m.	6:30 p.m.	7:00 p.m.	7:30 p.m.	8:00 p.m.	8:30 p.m.	9:00 p.m.	9:30 p.m.	10:00 p.m.
SUN	''At The Movies''	''Einstein Factor''	''ABC News''	''The Worst Jobs in History''		''Midsomer Murders''		''Compass''
MON	''Message Stick''	''Talking Heads''		''The 7.30 Report''	''Australian Story''	''Four Corners''	''Media Watch''	''Enough Rope''
TUE	''Time Team''				''South Side Story''	''The Bill''		''Foreign Correspondent''
WED	''Atlantic Edge''	''The Cook & The Chef''			''The New Inventors''	''Spicks & Specks''	''The Chaser's War''	''Summer Heights High''	''At The Movies''
THU	''Grand Designs''				''Catalyst''	''Documentaries/Difference of Opinion''
FRI	''No Job For A Lady''	''Can We Help?''		''Stateline''	''Collectors''	''Taggart''		''The Ghost Squad''
SAT	''Goodnight Sweetheart''	''Gardening Australia''		''Doctor Who''		''The Bill''		''New Tricks''

'Note':
''News & Current Affairs'' are in 'Grey';
''Drama'' is in 'Blue';
''Sitcoms'', ''Animation'' and ''Comedy'' are in 'Purple';
''Lifestyle programs'' are in 'Green';
''Factual programs'' and ''Documentaries'' are 'Yellow';
''Reality'', ''Game shows'' and ''Talk shows'' are in 'Red';
''Sport'' is in 'Orange';
''Movies'' are in 'Pink'.
The above represents ABC TV'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 Australian Broadcasting Corporation's online television guide. (link)

Availability

ABC TV varies depending on state and territory in terms of what 7pm news bulletin, edition of Stateline, and in some stations promotions, are shown. National programming is often interrupted in order to show state election coverage. Each state and territory's individual station is based on that of its capital city, meaning that in the state of Victoria, all programmes originate from either Melbourne or Sydney, where the remainder of programs are broadcast from.
ABC TV is available in a state-based analogue or standard definition format, or on a national high definition (with state-based content omitted) channel, ABC HD.

Identity

A staff competition held by the ABC to create an ABC logo was won by Bill Kennard in 1963 for a prize of £25. The logo was a three-loop wavelength design based on patterns that can be seen in an oscilloscope(called a Lissajous curve). This logo was modified from 2D to Colour to 3D over time and it is now one of the most well-known logos in Australia.

★ In 1975, the ABC logo was modified to a thickened version. The logo was also changed to an "over and under" design.

★ In 1988, on Australia Day, the national idents were modified to celebrate the Australian Bicentenary. The original set of idents were titled "Natural Textures of Australia", with a following called "Man Made Textures of Australia".

★ From 1994 to 1999, the ABC logo featured on idents and promos was modified to his similar logo as ''1979-1986'' NBC logo and design to this seen in 1955 USA color TV on the other design. That Logo was Sparks Fly Slowly by Flys (1994-96) and Friends (1997-99) featured in the promos and idents.

★ In 1995, the ABC logo featured on idents and promos was modified to a similar design to that seen in 1963 on the first design. The logo was hand drawn by persons featured in the promos and idents.

★ In 2001, to celebrate the new millennium and the introduction of Digital Television in Australia, the ABC TV's logo was again modified, but this time to a 3D Metalic design. The logo was also radically modified to lose the "over and under" design.

★ In 2002, to celebrate 70 years of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, ABC TV's logo changed back to the "over and under" design, however it still kept the 3D Metalic design. The channels idents featured elements - fire, leaf and ice, and the slogan was modified to "Everyone's ABC". Later in 2002, the channels idents were modified to feature everyday Australians.

★ In 2005, on December 19, the channels idents were revamped featuring glass televisions. The ident's were also carried on ABC2 for the "ABC New & Digital Media" promo.

Logos

'ABC TV' has used many logos throughout its history.

Used from 1965 to 1974	Used from 1975 to 2000	Used from 2001 to 2002	Variations of this logo have been used from 2002 to the present
1965 - 1974	1975 - 2000	2001 - 2002	2002 - present

See also

★ ABC Television (Australia)

★ ABC2

★ Australia Network

★ BBC One

★ CBC Television

References

External links

★ Official Site

★ Corporate Site

★ Australian Broadcasting Corporation

★ ABC TV at Aus TV History