About Nine

Nine

Nine is Australia's primary commercial television channel and the flagship of the Nine Network, owned by Nine Entertainment. Broadcasting nationally since 16 September 1956 — when TCN-9 Sydney, launched by Daily Telegraph owner Frank Packer, became the first television station in Australia to go to air — Nine is one of the country's original commercial networks, home to Nine News, Today, 60 Minutes, Married at First Sight, The Block and the NRL. As of 2025 it is Australia's second-rated television network and primary channel. (Nine's official site is nine.com.au / 9now.com.au; Wikipedia lists 9now.com.au as the network's website, though it could not be load-verified here.)

Overview

Nine is the main channel of the Nine Network: the primetime home of the network's news and current affairs (Nine News, A Current Affair, 60 Minutes), breakfast television (Today), Australian reality franchises (Married at First Sight, The Block, Love Island Australia, Australian Ninja Warrior), drama (Underbelly), and sport — the NRL, tennis (the Australian Open), and cricket. The network's slogan, "Still the One" (revived in 2021 after its 1977–2006 run), reflects its long ratings rivalry with Seven.

The channel broadcasts in high definition (9HD, relaunched 26 November 2015) and is streamed live and on demand through 9Now, Nine Entertainment's streaming platform. Its multichannels — 9Gem, 9Go!, 9Life and 9Rush — extend the Nine brand across demographics.

History

Nine's first station, TCN-9 Sydney, launched on 16 September 1956 by Daily Telegraph owner Frank Packer — the first television station in Australia to go to air, beating its rivals by weeks. Station announcer John Godson introduced the station; former advertising executive Bruce Gyngell presented the first program, This Is Television — becoming the first person to appear on Australian television, greeting viewers with "Good evening, and welcome to television," the sentence that launched an industry. Later in 1956, GTV-9 Melbourne commenced transmissions for the 1956 Summer Olympics — television's first great sporting event in Australia. In 1959, TCN-9, GTV-9, QTQ-9 Brisbane and NWS-9 Adelaide formed the National Television Network — Australia's first television network, and the basis of the current Nine Network. (Before the network's formation, TCN-9 was affiliated with HSV-7 — the two were Australia's first television stations, both opened in 1956 — and GTV-9's sister affiliate was ATN-7.) The network called itself the National Nine Network from 1967, becoming Nine Network Australia in 1988. Before the official colour conversion on 1 March 1975, Nine was the first Australian station to regularly screen programs in colour, from 1971.

Kerry Packer inherited the company after his father's death in 1974, and the Packer era defined Nine: World Series Cricket (1977) revolutionised sports broadcasting — cameras at both ends of the field (after Packer complained about seeing "cricketer's bums" every second over), instant replays, coloured clothing, day-night matches — and Nine's cricket coverage became a summer institution, the soundtrack of Australian summers for four decades. In 1987 Kerry Packer sold Nine to Alan Bond for $1 billion — the most famous transaction in Australian media history; he bought it back in 1990 for roughly half that, one of the great deals ever done. Publishing and Broadcasting Limited was formed in 1994 from the merger of Nine Network Australia and Australian Consolidated Press — the Packer media empire at its peak.

The network's golden era (1977–2006) saw Nine dominate Australian ratings — "Still the One," the jingle that became a statement of fact — before Seven's 2007–2018 ratings run. Nine won the 2019 ratings year for the first time since 2006 (Married at First Sight beating My Kitchen Rules, which posted its lowest figures on record — the reality-TV changing of the guard), and retained the lead through 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic's disruption of every network's schedule. In November 2020, Nine moved its Sydney studios from Willoughby — "the home of Australian television for 63 years," where it all began in 1956, home to 60 Minutes, Today, Midday and generations of stars — to the purpose-built 1 Denison Street, North Sydney, bringing together television, news, digital and radio (including the Sydney Morning Herald on level 6 and the Australian Financial Review on level 4) in a "creative campus." The Willoughby site — 3.2 hectares — was sold for redevelopment; the transmission tower was demolished. The last broadcast from Willoughby was Weekend Today; the first Nine News from Denison Street marked the new era.

Nine's digital expansion: GO! (9 August 2009, now 9Go!), GEM (26 September 2010, now 9Gem), 9HD's relaunch and 9Life (26 November 2015), and 9Rush (5 April 2020, a joint venture with Discovery).

Programming and Content

Nine's programming spans news, current affairs, reality, drama and sport — the mass-appeal commercial schedule. Its news brands — Nine News (the 6pm flagship), Today (breakfast, the show that has battled Sunrise for decades), A Current Affair, 60 Minutes (the Sunday-night institution) — are among the country's most-watched; the 2010s saw Nine News's resurgence and Today's growth underpin the network's ratings revival. Its Australian reality franchises — Married at First Sight (the show that won Nine the 2019 ratings year), The Block (the renovation juggernaut), Love Island Australia, Australian Ninja Warrior, The Voice — dominate primetime. Its drama includes the Underbelly franchise and Sea Patrol. Its sport spans the NRL (rugby league's free-to-air home — the 1967 NSWRFL grand final was the first football grand final of any code televised live nationally, for $5,000), the Australian Open tennis, and cricket — the summer game Nine owned from World Series Cricket until the rights moved.

Coverage and Audience

Nine broadcasts nationally: owned-and-operated stations in Sydney (TCN), Melbourne (GTV), Brisbane (QTQ), Adelaide (NWS), Perth (STW) and Darwin (NTD) — the six metropolitan licences — with regional affiliates (WIN Television across Queensland, NSW, ACT, Victoria, Tasmania, WA and SA; NBN in northern NSW; Imparja in central Australia; Southern Cross in Spencer Gulf/Broken Hill) carrying Nine programming across regional Australia. It is available on digital terrestrial television, the VAST satellite service and 9Now. As of 2025, Nine is Australia's second-rated network and primary channel — behind Seven, ahead of ABC TV, Network 10 and SBS: the eternal bridesmaid, and occasionally the bride.

Ownership

Nine is owned by Nine Entertainment Co., one of Australia's largest media companies, which also owns the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the Australian Financial Review, 9Now, Stan (the subscription streaming service), Domain and the 2GB/3AW talk-radio network — a vertically integrated empire spanning broadcast, print, streaming and radio. The network is headquartered at 1 Denison Street, North Sydney — the creative campus that brought Nine's Sydney operations together in 2020.

Digital Presence

Nine's programming is streamed live and on demand through 9Now (9now.com.au), Nine Entertainment's free streaming platform, which also carries the multichannels — the revamped catch-up service launched alongside 9HD and 9Life in November 2015. Nine News is distributed through nine.com.au and its social channels. For Australian viewers, Nine remains the "Still the One" network: Nine News, Today, 60 Minutes, Married at First Sight and the NRL — free, national, and streaming on 9Now. Seventy years after Bruce Gyngell's first greeting, Nine's proposition endures: Australian television's home of news, reality and sport — "Good evening, and welcome to television," then and now. The network that launched Australian television in 1956 remains one of its defining voices: Nine — "Still the One," seventy years on. From TCN-9's first broadcast to the Denison Street campus: the network that began Australian television, still telling its stories.