Nine Network
The Nine network (slogan Still The One) is an Australian television network owned by Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (Kerry Packer's media company). It broadcasts directly into Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, and Brisbane, and through affiliates (who carry virtually all of Nine's lineup of shows) into virtually all of Australia's populated area. It is Australia's highest-rating television network. Publishing & Broadcasting Ltd. also owns NTD-8 in Darwin, Northern Territory - though this station is now marketed as Channel Nine.
Nine carries the usual lineup of programs, some made in Australia and some imported (mostly from the United States). Nine is the highest-spending network, with a stable of "star" hosts who are moved from program to program (including the innumerable "lifestyle" programs that have spread throughout the schedule in the 1990s), and often "warehoused" - paid large retainers to do nothing rather than go to another media outlet.
Its summer schedule is based around broadcasts of cricket, for which it has owned the local broadcast rights since World Series Cricket in the late 1970s. Its cricket broadcasts in that era revolutionised the way the sport was covered, featuring camera placed at both ends of the field (after Packer famously complained about seeing "cricketer's bums" every second over), instant replays, and other innovations.
The network also owns the rights to broadcast the NRL national rugby league competition - the highest-profile winter sport in New South Wales and Queensland - and from 2002 acquired broadcast rights for Friday night and Sunday games in the Australian Football League, the elite Australian Rules Football competition. The deal assigned the rights for finals broadcasting to the Ten network, a deal which reportedly flabbergasted Packer.
The call signs for the Nine Network stations are:
Its affiliate networks in the parts of Australia outside the five largest cities are:
- WIN-TV - Southern New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania, Western Australia, South Australia, Australian Capital Territory
- NBN-TV - Northern New South Wales