There are three commercial free-to-air television networks broadcasting to Melbourne and Geelong - Seven Network, Nine Network and Network Ten.
Outside of Melbourne and Geelong, the commercial broadcasters are Seven Network and two independently-owned networks - WIN (affiliate of Nine Network) and Southern Cross Austereo (affiliate of Network Ten). These regional networks mainly broadcast the content of their Melbourne stations or affiliates, but also include some individual content, typically in the form of local news bulletins and advertisements which are targeted to their specific broadcast area.
There are two public broadcasters owned by the government that transmit throughout Victoria - the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) and the multicultural and multilingual SBS (Special Broadcasting Service).
C31, a non-profit community television service, broadcasts to Melbourne and Geelong.
TV broadcasts are either in standard definition (SD) or high definition (HD).
ABC | ABC SD: channel 2, 21 HD: channel 20 |
ABC TV Plus / ABC Kids SD: channel 22 |
ABC Me SD: channel 23 |
ABC News 24 SD: channel 24 |
SBS | SBS SD: channel 3 HD: channel 30 |
SBS Viceland HD: channel 31 |
SBS World Movies HD: channel 32 |
SBS Food SD: channel 33 |
NITV HD: channel 34 SD: channel 36 |
SBS WorldWatch SD: channel 35 |
Seven Network |
Seven SD: channel 7, 71 HD: channel 70 |
7 Two SD: channel 72 |
7 Mate HD: channel 74 |
7 Bravo HD: channel 75 |
7 Flix SD: channel 76 |
Racing.com SD: channel 78 |
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Nine Network |
Nine SD: channel 9, 91 HD: channel 90 |
9 Gem SD: channel 92 HD: channel 95 |
9 Go! SD: channel 93, 99 |
9 Life SD: channel 94 |
9 Rush SD: channel 96 |
Extra SD: channel 97 |
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Network Ten |
Ten SD: channel 10 HD: channel 1, 15 |
10 Peach SD: channel 11 |
10 Bold HD: channel 12 |
Nickelodeon SD: channel 13 |
TVSN SD: channel 16 |
Gecko SD: channel 17 |
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C31 | C31 SD: channel 44 |
Seven Network Regional |
Seven SD: channel 6, 61 HD: channel 60 |
7 Two SD: channel 62 |
7 Mate HD: channel 64 |
7 Bravo HD: channel 65 |
7 Flix SD: channel 66 |
iShop TV SD: channel 67 |
Racing.com SD: channel 68 |
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WIN Television |
Nine SD: channel 8 HD: channel 80 |
9 Gem HD: channel 81 |
9 Go! SD: channel 82 |
9 Life SD: channel 83 |
TVSN SD: channel 84 |
Gold SD: channel 85 |
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Southern Cross |
Ten SD: channel 5, 51 HD: channel 50 |
10 Peach SD: channel 52 |
10 Bold SD: channel 53 |
Nickelodeon SD: channel 54 |
SBN SD: channel 55 |
Sky News Regional SD: channel 56 |
Gecko SD: channel 57 |
In the regional area around Mildura, Southern Cross stations are replaced by offerings from Mildura Digital Television. 10 Mildura is available on channel 5 (SD) and 50 (HD), 10 Bold on channel 51 (SD) and 10 Peach on channel 52 (SD).
Official mainstream analogue television broadcasts began in Australia during 1956, spurred on by the Olympic Games being held in Melbourne later that year. By the time the Olympic Games opened in November, three television stations in Melbourne were operational and broadcasting.
Television broadcasts began to regional areas of Victoria in 1961.
TV broadcasts were originally in black and white, switching to colour in 1975.
Digital TV transmissions commenced in 2001, offering superior video and audio quality compared to analogue. Between 2010 and 2013, analogue TV transmissions were progressively phased out across Australia.
Also known as "pay TV", subscription television services are delivered over the internet or through a satellite dish, offering a much wider range of content than free-to-air services, but at a cost. Internet television services typically offer on-demand streaming access to TV content and movies.