TEN (TV station)

History

TEN often lagged in the ratings behind the more established commercial channels TCN (Nine) and ATN (Seven) who had dominated viewing habits in Sydney for eight years. The turning point came in 1972 with the premiere of the raunchy soap opera series Number 96 which immediately lifted TEN's overall profile and helped raise the ailing network to No. 1 position by 1973.

TEN launched Australia's first metropolitan nightly one-hour news bulletin in 1975, while NBN-3 in Newcastle was first to air a one-hour news service in Australia in 1972. In 1978, Katrina Lee became only the third female TV newsreader on Australian TV – the first being Melody Illiffe on QTQ-9. The current anchor for the 5pm Sydney news on weeknights is Sandra Sully.

TEN performed strongly in the 1980s, highlighted by the broadcast of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, top rated game show Perfect Match, Eyewitness News and early high ratings for acquired serial Neighbours starting in 1986. However a decline set in from 1987, when the station, along with ATV-10 in Melbourne, was bought by Frank Lowy's Westfield Group. In 1989, falling ratings and revenue prompted a major relaunch by American TV executive Bob Shanks. The station (and entire network) were rebranded as 10 TV Australia in 1989, however this did little to help Ten's fortunes with the network soon going into receivership. The network began to be turned around in 1991 under the control of Gary Rice, and was relaunced with a new logo and brand, The Entertainment Network. This logo continues to this day. In 1992, Westpac Bank bought Ten out of receivership and later sold the network to a consortium headed by Canadian group CanWest. In 1994, The network was managed in receivership and it was in this period that it sold its North Ryde studios and moved to the city in at a warehouse in Ultimo. TEN-10 began a slow and steady recovery, to the point where now, as the flagship station in the network, TEN-10 is the most profitable of the three Sydney commercial stations.

TEN commenced digital television transmission in January 2001, broadcasting on VHF Channel 11 while maintaining analogue transmission on VHF Channel 10.

The analogue signal for TEN was shut off at 9.00am AEDST, Tuesday, 3 December 2013.

Studio facilities

TEN-10's broadcast facilities have been in the inner city suburb of Pyrmont since 1997. These studios feature a large open plan newsroom and news-set where all Ten's national and local Sydney news bulletins are produced. This facility is also the network's head office and broadcasts the network signal to other cities. When TEN-10 opened in 1965, it operated from newly built studio facilities at North Ryde, these were sold in the 1990s when the network underwent financial turmoil. The North Ryde complex, which was used by Global Television in recent years, was demolished in September 2007. Following the move from North Ryde in 1990, TEN relocated to a small warehouse in Ultimo, followed by their final move to the new studios in Pyrmont in May 1997. Most series are produced on location or at external studios by external companies, but a few programs are made in-house by TEN.

Current programs produced at TEN's Pyrmont Studios

Past productions at Ten's Sydney Studios

News and Current Affairs

TEN-10 produces a 60-minute local news program on weeknights from its studios at Pyrmont. Ten Eyewitness News Sydney is presented by Sandra Sully with sport presenter Matt Burke, weather presenter Tim Bailey and traffic reporter Vic Lorusso.

The 5pm bulletin was presented for almost eleven years by Ron Wilson and Jessica Rowe, between 1996 and 2005, when Rowe moved to present the Nine Network's Today. She was replaced by the network's US correspondent Deborah Knight from 2006. Wilson anchored the nightly Sydney news until January 2009 when he became a presenter of the national Early News and was replaced by Bill Woods. Knight was replaced by Sully in October 2011 following the axing of the network's long-running late night news program, as a result with Knight's decision to move to the Nine Network. Sully became sole anchor after Bill Woods' departure on 30 November 2012, following the network's decision not to renew his contract.

Fill-in presenters include Natarsha Belling (News), Adam Hawse or Scott Mackinnon (Sport) and Amanda Duval or Amanda Hart (Weather).