Where it all started displays how it evolved from as early as the 60's the government had wanted another channel for their countries entertainment. It was the August the 1st when Network Ten or what was then known as ATV-0 opened to air in Melbourne. It was owned by Ansett transport and media group. All the different cities from then on got a channel but each had a different name like nowadays Channel Ten in the metropolitan areas is called Southern Cross in the rural. April 5, 1965 TEN-10 opened in Sydney and it was owned by UTSL and in the same year in July Brisbane's TVQ-0 and Adelaide's SAS-10 opened in Adelaide shortly after. It was also the year it was dubbed the Independent Television System as it was not owned by the Federal Government. The other two channels that it was competing against was Seven and Nine. In the 70's nobody had much faith not even the owners as they predicted that that channels as it was not achieving satisfactory ratings. The Network was then called 0-10 Network. The most miraculous decision to occur was when the soap opera 'Number 64' graced the televisions in March 1972 picking up the ratings and the revenue which was 1 million in 1971 and in 1972 it reached 10 million and more because of the soapie. 'Number 64' was Australia's top rated program until 1975. The Network was quickly evolving throughout its early years as it became Network Ten on the 20th of January, 1980. The channels over the states had reflected this new change like Melbourne as it had changed from ATV-0 to ATV-10. It wasn't until 1987 when disaster struck and the Network expanded as during the year Northern Star hit by the stock market crash and this impacted Network Ten because Sydney and Melbourne Ten was then owned by Westfield Capital Corporation which held a 20% stake in Northern Star Holdings and being an independent channel this was not good news as expressed in the below post about revenue and funding. News Corporation was the previous owner of Ten Sydney and Melbourne and if they hadn't have sold then the Network may have salvaged some money but history would have evolved another way.Though that had happened SAS-10 gave ADS-7 affiliation rights of Network Ten and they became ADS-10.1988 was another big year as Brisbane's TVQ-0 changed to TVQ-10, but it wasn't until September the 10th when Perth had finally a channel from the Network called NEW-10; this was only achievable because modern satellites had made it possible to broadcast in Western Australia. Science had influenced Network Ten by giving it the chance to expand and get more viewers if it weren't for the satellites then the whole population of Western Australian would have to be sacrificed in the ratings. In 1989 Westfield sold Network Ten to a consortium led by Charles Curran and Steve Cosser and because of low ratings Bob Shanks had relaunched the Network as 10TV Australia. The network was building a reputation and in 1990 it had received the label of the Entertainment Network. In the early 90's Network Ten nearly folded into Seven because it was doing so poorly but the power of Kerry Packer who was former owner of Nine Network was resisted and it why we still have Network Ten to this day. In 1992 Network Ten changed ownership once again to a Canadian based corporation called CanWest. In 1995 TEN was re-established as a complete Network as they purchased ADS and NEW from Capital Television. Modern Technology including the internet influenced how Network Ten had branched out as they had launched their website in April of 1999. They bought $780 million for the AFL rights which allowed them to own the rights from 2002-2006. In 2005 the tsunami had made Network Ten join Seven and Nine in the national appeal for the disaster. In 2006 they secure the rights to the AFL again from 2007-2011. From 2006-2008 Network Ten was the official broadcaster of Sydney's New Year's Eve Fireworks. This social event and the AFL allowed them to cater for more audience and had built up the reputation that we have today. It was a special day on 14th September in 2007 as Network Ten launched TEN-HD. During this year Foxtel allowed TEN digital signal to be transmitted via Foxtels cable satellite service as this helped cater for shows and programs from the USA. January of 2008 TEN secures rights to broadcast Dehli Commonwealth Games with Foxtel and in April TEN launches Making Your Mark as they try to battle the evironmental issues that are still current today.25 March, 2009 TEN-HD ceased and was replaced with ONE HD and on the 24th September CanWest was in debt so they were selling 50.1% of Ten Network Holdings for $680 million and had $4 billion debt in radio, tv, advertising in several countries. This debt would have impacted greatly and the Network would have needed a lot of support. Earlier CanWest was in discussions in 2005 with John Fairfax holdings about a possible sale. Newspapers like Fairfax could not own television companies before. This was a turning point for the television and newspaper industry. In 2010 James Packer had bought 17.88% if shares in Ten Holdings and he wanted to make changes to sport broadcast regulation and as CEO Grant Blackley's contract had terminated in early 2011, Lachlan Murdoch had bought 9% of TNH and was appointed as CEO. Lachlan is the son of Rupert Murdoch who is a powerful man who is very influential as he owns News Corporation and Fox Broadcasting Company. The current substantial shareholders now are J.P Morgan Nominees Australia Ltd. (15.93%) HSBC Custody Nominees(Australia) Ltd. (12.98%), National Nominees Ltd (11.16%), Birketu Pty Ltd.(11.03%) and RBC Dexia Investor Services Australia Nominees Pty Ltd(6.65%). On the 26 August 2010 Southern Cross Ten was launched and on the 11 January, 2011 ELEVEN was launched and 8 May ONE HD provided more entertainment for males.
As seen in the aforementioned changing ownership had good points and bad points. The good points were that some cases the Network became stronger and more prominent and powerful in the television community whereas the bad points was with CanWest and Northern Star they had quite a few harsh blows which would have impacted on the Network in a negative way. The events such as the tsunami, AFL rights, the satellite for Western Australia and other things in the aforementioned has made the Network progressed and evolved so much that now TEN is not struggling for ratings but is one of the most watched channels in Australia in the 16-39 demographic and this has been awarded in various years.
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