1987 in Australian television

Events

Television

• January - Alan Bond, who already owns QTQ-9 & STW-9 purchases TCN-9 & GTV-9 from Kerry Packer for $1.055 billion. The expanded Nine Network becomes the first coast-to-coast network.
• February - Fairfax, owners of ATN-7 & BTQ-7 purchase HSV-7 from The Herald and Weekly Times Ltd for $320 million. The move sees the replacement of most Melbourne-produced programming with networked programming from Sydney, including long-running shows such as World of Sport & sees Mal Walden sacked as newsreader. The revamped news service, read by former STW-9 newsreader Greg Pearce plunges to as low as zero in the ratings.
• July 1 - Neighbours screens the wedding of Scott Robinson and Charlene Mitchell, which later in November 1988 saw the most-watched all time episodes in the UK.
• July - Westfield buys Network Ten from Rupert Murdoch's News Limited for $842 million.
• July 19 - Long-running ABC music program Countdown broadcasts its final episode.
• August - New cross-media ownership rules force the sale of the Seven Network. Fairfax sells its stations to Christopher Skase's Qintex company for $780 million.
• December 27 - Kerry Stokes' ownership of ADS-7 (while owning Network Ten outlets in Perth and Canberra) and TVW-7's ownership of SAS-10, result in the stations deciding to swap callsigns and affiliations. ADS-7 becomes ADS-10 and aligns to the Ten Network and SAS-10 becomes SAS-7 and aligns to the Seven Network.

The following quote came from Seven National News reporter Alan Murrell on the 27 December 1987 edition regarding the move:

“Tonight will mark the end of the callsigns ADS-7 and SAS-10. Tomorrow, it’ll be ADS-10 and SAS-7. It’s the first time such a change has been made. The switch follows a media shake-up earlier this year, which left ADS in the hands of the owners of the Ten Network. Already, the cosmetic changes are being made at Strangways Terrace in Gilberton. But viewers will notice little difference. They’ll still turn the knob to Ten for Channel Ten programs, and to Seven for Seven programs.

“The only difference will be that the local personalities will be seen on different channels. So if you want to watch Steve Witterman and Caroline Ainslie reading the news tomorrow night, you simply turn the dial three positions, from Seven-to ADS-10. And it’s as easy as that.”

Debuts

New International Programming

Television shows

1950s

1960s

1970s

• Hey Hey It's Saturday (1971 – present)
• Young Talent Time (1971 – present)

1980s

• Wheel of Fortune (1981 – present)
• Perfect Match (1984 – present)
• Neighbours (1985 – present)
• Sunday (1981 – 2008)
• Today (1982 – present)

Ending this year

Returning this year

TV movies