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ABC to rebrand multichannels in 2024

A shake up is coming to ABC Kids, ABC TV Plus and ABC ME next year.

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EXCLUSIVE:

ABC is looking to rebrand and restructure multichannels in 2024 to offer local audiences more original content.

Chief Content Officer Chris Oliver-Taylor told TV Tonight, “We are reviewing our multi channels and looking to make some announcements in the first quarter of 2024. We hope to be commissioning original Australian content for those channels.”

The rethink follows an internal restructure of ABC Kids commissioning to Children’s and Family under exec Libbie Doherty.

ABC TV Plus pressents as “A place to feed the mind, the heart and the funny bone” but last week lacked any original commissions at ABC’s 2024 Content Showcase.

It was previously known as ABC Comedy and ABC2 prior to that. In a recent Multichannel Survey by TV Tonight, the broadcaster was unable to highlight any Australian content.

While ABC Kids, on the same channel bandwidth, is home to Bluey, Play School, Kangaroo Beach, Ginger & the Vegesaurs, Beep & Mort, it managed a respectable 2.4% primetime share last week.

But ABC TV Plus still lacks a distinct identity.

ABC ME launched as ABC3 to a blaze of publicity with then-PM Kevin Rudd in 2009. Aimed at tweens and teens it is home to shows such as Logie-winning Crazy Fun Park, The Spooky Files, The Disposables, The PM’s Daughter and Wildlifers!

Unlike ABC TV Plus, it only drew a 0.4% share last week.

An ABC Family channel and another with broad Entertainment could be on the cards… watch this space.

15 Responses

  1. I don’t understand why there are so many multi-channels! Both public and commercial networks have rebranded and renamed.
    My problem is most multi-channels have limited new content and endless repeats.
    I follow shows and watch them on whichever channel they are on!
    Kudos to ABC having Australian content on some channels. Most multi-channels have overseas content dominating air time!

  2. Now we know why television executives are paid a massive amount to do. Think up new names for their channels instead of coming up with ideas for content. Content is what drives audiences, not marketing spin.

      1. Sure, David. But the point is, 9GEM can rate 10% with cricket because that’s what viewers want to watch.
        Sport-lovers would still watch the cricket on Channel 92 whether it’s called 9GEM, 9Ugly or 9Barbie.
        Just give viewers what they want to watch. Then they’ll watch!

  4. The rebrand and restructure really needs to go something like this:

    ABC One The Corporation’s primary channel.
    ABC One HD A high definition simulcast.
    ABC Two HD Home to more specialist programming, including comedy, documentaries, dramas, movies and minority interest programmes.
    ABC Three / ABC ME Home to mainly programming geared towards 16-34-year olds. (8.30pm-6.00am) / For children aged seven and above. (6.00am-8.30pm)
    ABC Four / ABC Kids Documentaries and educational programmes. (7.30pm-12.00am) / For children under seven. (5.00am-7.30pm)
    ABC News A dedicated news channel. 24Hrs.
    ABC Parliament The Corporation’s dedicated politics channel, covering Federal Parliament, State & Territory Parliaments as well as international politics.

  5. I agree with just keeping the numbers. ABC1, ABC2 etc. These channel names have changed a lot. You don’t see BBC 2 or BBC 3 changing its name all the time.

    1. I agree with all networks….I so dislike having to look up the name of a channel to find the number to go there….very annoying…and often turns me off bothering to watch…I do not like chasing programs around.,

  6. ABC Comedy had some good British shows. Upstart Crow, Ghosts, Brassic, Fresh Meat, Friday Night Dinner, The Witchfinder. Now it is only Ghosts which has 6 more eps. They did put on some Lucy Woosley and other docos on ABC Plus to start with but now, after Bluey, it’s just repeats of ABC’s Daytime Repeats and some old movies, so they may as well just put up a test pattern.

  8. ABC2 was great back in the day, but once it became ABC Comedy, I stopped watching as it was all reruns. Worse is ABC TV Plus, it’s again just repeating main channel content, endless reruns of Spicks and Specks, (can’t stand that show), and the SD picture quality is horrendous. Plus the name is terrible.

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