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ABC News 24 turns 1

ABC News 24 turns 1 today, but soon viewers will be getting extra presents.

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ABC News 24 is one year old today.

In the competitive multichannel field, the channel is frequently overshadowed by entertainment channels but ABC says its average weekly reach is 2 million (3 million including Regionals), up 500,000 on 2010.

Over the next 12 months, the channel plans to introduce:

Expanded news programs on the weekends.

A thought-provoking series of discussion programs on the big questions facing Australia’s future called Future Forum, a joint venture between ABC News 24 and the H.C. Coombs Policy Forum at the ANU.

More comprehensive and broader international coverage through partnerships with other international news broadcasters.

The channel will also expand its sports coverage and have a stronger focus on social media.

The most popular titles on the channel include: ABC News Breakfast, Afternoon Live, The Drum and the evening news program, The World.

ABC News Director, Kate Torney said: “It has been a strong and encouraging start for ournews channel. ABC News 24 has provided Australians with access to live television news coverage of big stories as well as improved access to the best of our existing news and current affairs content.

“Our aim, on all our platforms, is to provide Australians with the most comprehensive, independent and up-to-date news and analysis of local, national and world events from an Australian perspective, and ABC News 24 is doing that.”

It’s been a busy 12 months from “Spillard,” Queensland and Victorian floods, Cyclone Yasi, the Chile miners’ crisis, the Pike River mine disaster in New Zealand, the earthquake in Christchurch, the catastrophic tsunami in Japan and the uprisings in Egypt and across the Middle East.

But it was the tsunami striking Japan in March that was compelling viewing. Japanese crews filmed unforgettable footage of the tsunami, broadcast live to air in Australia while other networks missed getting it to air live.

ABC News 24 Controller Gaven Morris said, “The past year has shown us that there is a demand for a 24 hour news channel, freand accessible for all Australians, and people are switching on to it,particularly during times of crisis. We are always working to improve the service and the channel will continue to grow. We aim to make ABC News 24 not only the best possible live news service but also the television home of informed discussion and debate,” Morris said.

16 Responses

  1. I had just finished watching the encore of Insiders with Barry Cassidy, when the headlines for the upcoming news were broadcast. I sat down to watch the news grab that read (at bottom of screen) since i switched to channel 24 of the Hundreds attend the anti carbon rally tax in Sydney. I waited and waited and waited and waited and waited, …… they announced the breaking news that some guy had been sacked from a football team named Dean….. somebody…as if i cared.

    But the news never came on about the anti carbon rally…..so i waited and waited and it became increasingly clear that that news was going to be held back from the public…..

    making it quite clear that censorship is alive and well at all ABC stations and the commies are getting more brazen…….

    we don’t want censorship here in Australia, we are big enough and ugly enough to make our own opinion on what we see and hear……

  3. I’m watching Philip Williams right now reporting live from the sight of the Oslo bombing. Good on you ABC News 24. (I spend at least a quarter of my tv viewing watching it).

  6. Since ABC News 24 began i have been watching it more and more, i thoroughly enjoy its programes. Before ABC News 24 i was watching One Hd more but since it was turned on its head i barely watch it anymore. I think this has proven to be a successful move by the public broadcaster.

  7. I find myself watching a lot of News24 outside primetime when other channels usually offer nothing compelling. My faves are The Drum, Newsline, BBC World News & Lateline repeats.

    That said, I’m a little worried about the line, “… will also expand its sports coverage.” If sport is considered part of news then Entertainment Tonight must be a news program. Maybe they should add E! News to their schedule in future? Are Fox Sports & ESPN viewers subjected to *actual* news updates every hour? No, I didn’t think so! So why do news viewers have to put up with sports updates all the time? Btw, it’s not a direct dig at News24, just all news channels…

  8. Happy birthday, but please return ABC1 to HD! There are a lot of programmes shown on ABC1 that we should be seeing as they were intended…. Why does a news channel need to be in HD anyway?

  10. Happy Birthday and congratulations! 🙂

    I’ll admit I love it for mainly the repeats and news not necessarily at the usual primetime timeslot. Although it looks like I’ll miss this week’s Four Corners because I couldn’t watch it Monday. Tuesday night had the Murdochs’ and others which I was hooked to on ABC News 24 . Plus they tried the one week experiment of repeating 4 Corners at a sensible time of 10.30pm one week and went back to the 8pm clash with most other channels on Saturday. Including this week. Argh. I’ll admit I wish they’d have repeats of At the Movies and Foreign Corespondent not against the news at 6 or 7pm too i.e. other reliable times late at night please although keep them there too to keep those viewers happy. I do get nothing is perfect however.

  11. SKYNEWS Australia also broadcast the tsunami striking Japan live too, not just ABC News 24. What I want to see is an actual 24/7 news channel, that only shows news and no other programs!

  14. “Independent” maybe, but as much as I’d like to like it, the ABC’s left bias really grates.

    Couldn’t hurt them to liven it up a bit every now and then, either. News can be in-depth but still interesting.

  16. Wish they would stop talking “weekly reach including regionals” when spruiking their ratings.

    No other network does that.

    Talk in the same currency as everyone else.

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