THE MOVE TO MULTI-CHANNELLING

In last year's Annual Review, I remarked that we were entering the most exciting phase of Australian television since the introduction of colour TV.

True to form, Network Ten was the first commercial free-to-air television operator to fully embrace - and act upon - the opportunities inherent in digital multi-channelling.

The successful launch in March of our 24-hour digital sports channel, ONE, has provided a distinctive offering to market, as evidenced by the strong advertiser support it attracted from the outset and despite the constraints within the advertising market more broadly.

ONE is growing steadily in audience, as well as through the addition of new sports programming rights and the continued growth of support by advertisers.

The audience for ONE comes from all digital TV households, which now sits at 52.2 per cent*, significantly higher than the number of subscription TV households (30.8 per cent**) in Network Ten's five-city broadcast markets. That audience will continue to grow as more households make the switch to digital over the coming months and years.

For the television sector as a whole, the move to offering new digital channels continues to entrench free-to-air television as the cornerstone of the community's information and entertainment diet. While we remain alert to ensuring we provide distinctive and appealing offerings to our target audiences for both TEN and ONE, the experience in other markets has shown that the addition of extra digital channels is good news for creating audience growth in free-to-air TV.

*Source - OzTAM Establishment Survey Quarter 2 2009
**Source - OzTAM Metropolitan Television Universe
Estimates (UEs) 2009: STV Households