Television broadcasting in Australia began officially on 16 September 1956, with the opening of TCN-9, quickly followed by national and commercial stations in Sydney and Melbourne, all these being in 625-line black and white. The commencement date was designed so as to provide coverage of the Olympic Games in Melbourne. It has now grown to be a nationwide system that includes a broad range of public, commercial, community, subscription, narrowcast, and amateur stations.
NXE Australia Pty Ltd, trading as the Foxtel Group, is an Australian pay television company—operating in cable television, direct broadcast satellite television, and IPTV streaming services. It was formed in April 2018, superseding an earlier company from 1995. The service was established as a 50/50 joint venture between News Limited and Telstra, with News Corp and Telstra holding 65% and 35% ownership shares respectively.
Arena is an Australian general entertainment cable and satellite channel available on Foxtel, Austar, and Optus Television's subscription platforms.
MTV was a 24-hour general entertainment channel specialising in music and youth culture programming which serves Australia and New Zealand. Paramount Networks UK & Australia headquartered in London with a local office at Network 10's headquarters in Sydney is responsible for marketing and advertising in Australia and New Zealand. The channel was replaced by MTV Global in August 2023.
Austar was an Australian telecommunications company founded in 1995 as Community Entertainment Television (CETV). Its main business activity was subscription television. It was also involved with internet access and mobile phones.
Subscription television in Australia is provided using technologies such as cable television, satellite television and internet television by a number of companies unified in their provision of a subscription television service. Notable actors in the sector include Foxtel, Netflix and Stan. Regulation of the sector is assured by the Australian Communications and Media Authority.
LifeStyle is an Australian pay-TV channel currently owned and operated by Foxtel Networks. The channel was launched by XYZnetworks on September 1, 1997. The channel primarily broadcasts non-fiction content covering contemporary lifestyle interests including food and wine, home and garden, real estate, shopping, travel, leisure, and real life drama.
SelecTV was an Australian satellite based subscription television broadcasting service. As of January 2011, the service is no longer available. Services were carried on the Intelsat 8 satellite.
TBN Inspire is an American Christian broadcast television network owned by the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). It is carried on the digital subchannels of TBN's stations.
Disney Channel was an Australian pay television channel. It was the flagship television property owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company a localized version of the namesake American television channel launched in 1996, the network targeted towards children and their families, with original series and movies.
Discovery Turbo is a pay television channel devoted to programming about transport. It is similar to Discovery Velocity and Motor Trend. It was also briefly available as an on-demand service in the US in the late 2000s.
National Geographic Wild is a global pay television network owned by National Geographic Partners, a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (73%) and the National Geographic Society (27%). The channel primarily focuses on wildlife and natural history non-fiction programming. It is a sister network to National Geographic TV.
Universal TV is an Australian cable and satellite television channel, owned and operated by NBCUniversal International Networks. It has been available on most subscription television platforms in Australia since 1998.
KidsCo was an international children's television channel active from 2007 until 2014. It was a joint venture between Corus Entertainment, DIC Entertainment and NBCUniversal whose content was mainly commissioned by DIC and Corus subsidiary Nelvana. At its peak in 2011, it was available in at least 95 countries in 18 languages.
Animal Planet is a television channel which launched locally in Australia exclusively on Optus Television in October 1999. The channel is dedicated to the U.S. cable television channel, programming that highlights the relationship between humans and animals. It has since expanded to multiple carriers.
TLC, is an Australian and New Zealand television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery Asia-Pacific. The channel launched in 2004 in Australia and in 2015 in New Zealand. In Australia TLC is available on pay TV provider Foxtel and IPTV provider Fetch, and in New Zealand the channel is available on pay TV provider Sky.
Real History, formerly known as Fox History, The History Channel and simply History is a television channel in Australia and New Zealand, that broadcasts non-fictional programs regarding historical events and persons, as well as various metaphysical, pseudoscientific, and paranormal phenomena—often with observations and explanations by noted historians, scholars, authors, esotericists, astrologers, and Biblical scholars as well as reenactments and interviews with witnesses, and/or families of witnesses.
MTV Classic was an Australian and New Zealand subscription television music channel. The channel focused on music from the 1980s to 2000s. The channel first launched in Australia on 14 March 2004 and in New Zealand on 1 June 2011. On 1 July 2011 MTV International channels launched new logos.
Showcase is an Australian premium drama cable and satellite television channel. It was initially part of the Showtime Australia channels and was managed by PMP chief executive officer Peter Rose. In 2007 Rose said Showcase "provides a real home at last for quality drama in Australia, and this list of outstanding event television is just the start". Showcase launched with the Australian TV premieres of Dexter and Australian-made series Satisfaction.
Discovery Kids was an Australian subscription television channel, aimed at 2-6 year olds screening factual and educational programming. The channel launched on Foxtel on 3 November 2014.
