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MELBOURNE
BRUNSWICK
BUNDOORA
FISHERMANS BEND
POINT COOK
HAMILTON
HO CHI MINH CITY
HANOI
A decade in TV
–
Expert available for comment –
RMIT University academic Dr Vincent O’Donnell looks back on the decade that
was and pinpoints the key television moments, trends and developments:
The rise and demise of Big Brother and the nasty reality show: a mirror of society?
TheiInternet becomes a vital complement to TV, in support of programs.
Australians fail to wholeheartedly embrace cable TV as they did other
technologies such as the mobile phone (and before that, the VCR).
Channel 7 and Channel 9 become largely owned by foreign equity companies
following changes in media laws, with flow-on consequences for programming.
CanWest bails out of Channel 10 with institutional investors taking up the slack.
The conversion to digital TV broadcasting comes onto the agenda.
Commercial TV ditches the idea of station branding in practice (if not in theory).
Channel 7 knocks off Channel 9 in the ratings wars for the first time since the
early 1970s, while Channel 10 maintains a hold on its target demographic.
SBS comes out as a rival national broadcaster to the ABC and sheds its ethnic
origins.
The ABC loses its mantle as the home of innovative TV drama and turns instead
to comedy.
Mr Squiggle turns 50, in the year of the launch of Australia’s first free-to-air
dedicated children’s channel.
The list of the decade’s top rating shows reveals a shift in Australian viewing
patterns, with Australian Idol and MasterChef breaking up sport’s monopoly on the
title of “most popular programming form”.
Dr O’Donnell is an honorary fellow in RMIT University’s School of Media and
Communication, a past president of the Producers and Directors Guild of Victoria
and former executive producer at Film Victoria.
He is available for interview.
For interviews: RMIT University’s Dr Vincent O’Donnell, (03) 9925 3028 or
0400 009 243.
For general media enquiries: RMIT University Communications, Gosia
Kaszubska, (03) 9925 3176 or 0417 510 735.
14 December, 2009
NEWS 
