Origins The present Seven Network began as a group of independent stations in
Sydney,
Melbourne,
Brisbane,
Adelaide and
Perth.
HSV-7 Melbourne, licensed to
The Herald and Weekly Times Ltd (owners of two local papers at the time,
The Herald and
The Sun), was launched on 4 November 1956, as Melbourne's first television station to use the
VHF7 frequency. The two stations did not immediately share resources but instead formed content-sharing partnerships with their VHF9 counterparts by 1957: ATN-7 partnered with Melbourne's
GTV-9, while HSV-7 paired up with Sydney's
TCN-9. The new grouping was soon joined by other capital-city channel 7 stations, ADS-7 Adelaide and BTQ-7 Brisbane. The new network began to produce and screen higher-budget programs to attract viewers, notably
Homicide, a series that would continue for another 12 years to become the nation's longest running drama series.
Color television was introduced across the network in 1975, and a new color logo was adopted.
Rupert Murdoch made an unsuccessful bid for the
Herald and Weekly Times, owners of HSV-7, in 1979, later going on to gain control of rival
ATV-10. Fairfax successfully bought a 14.9% share of the company later that same year.
Wheel of Fortune began its 25-year run in July 1981, produced from ADS-7's studios in Adelaide. The
1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow were shown live on the network the year before. The network was listed on the stock exchange in 1993, soon after the entry of
subscription television provider
Australis. One of Seven's popular series,
A Country Practice, ended in 1993 after 1058 episodes.
Blue Heelers was also introduced in 1993, and, after a number of time-slot changes, was moved to Wednesdays in 1998. This was to make room for a new series, the medical drama
All Saints. Both dramas rated quite highly and along with new lifestyle shows
Better Homes and Gardens and
The Great Outdoors, resulted in a stronger ratings position for the network. In 1995,
Sunshine Television, a Seven Network affiliate in regional Queensland, was purchased by the network's parent company, Seven Network Limited. Sunshine Television's regional stations effectively became a part of Seven Network, identical in appearance and programming to the rest of the business' stations.
Australian Gladiators proved popular; Series 1 and 2 were filmed in Brisbane in 1995-1996, and Series 3 was filmed in Sydney. Seven Queensland won the annual audience ratings for the first time in 1998. Between 1995 and April 2001,
Alan Jackson of
Nylex was the non-executive director of Seven, after being asked by Stokes to lead the company. A successful $1.3 billion bid for
United Artists was made in conjunction with
Kirk Kerkorian in 1996, but the network sold its stake two years later for $389 million USD. Seven took control of
Australia Television, the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Asian satellite channel, in 1997. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation still maintained a share in the network and continued to produce news and current affairs programming for it.
2000s ; the Seven Network's current headquarters in
Sydney '', located in the city's
Docklands precinct. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, a high-definition national broadcast facility was constructed in
Docklands, Melbourne, replacing the previous facility in
Epping, Sydney. This new facility would also house HSV-7's Melbourne offices and studios. The year 2000 saw former Nine executive
David Leckie appointed as head of television operations, re-launching the network with an updated logo and a new advertising campaign timed expressly for the network's coverage of the
2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. The opening ceremony was one of the highest-ever rating television programs in the country, with 6.5 million viewers, contributing to the network winning the ratings year for the first time in twenty-two years.
Digital television was introduced to most of the network's coverage area on 1 January 2001. This was soon followed by the gradual introduction of wide screen and high definition programming. In January 2006, Seven Network,
Pacific Magazines and online portal
Yahoo! Australia and New Zealand combined in a joint venture to form
Yahoo!7, representing all three companies' online assets. On 15 September 2007,
7HD was officially announced with the
Seven Media Group announcing their intention to start a high definition multichannel that was initially expected to launch in December 2007. 7HD became the first free-to-air commercial television channel introduced to metropolitan areas since 1988, when it launched prior on 15 October 2007, with
25th Hour being the first program broadcast at 10:30 pm. On 14 February 2008, the Seven Media Group and
Foxtel officially signed an agreement allowing Seven's digital signal to be transmitted via Foxtel's cable and satellite services. Seven became available on Foxtel in early 2009. On 25 September 2009, Seven announced its new digital channel,
7two, which officially launched on 1 November 2009.
2010s On 18 January 2010, Seven launched the online catch-up TV website called
PLUS7. On 25 September 2010, in conjunction with the 2010 AFL Grand Final, Seven launched its second multi-digital channel
7mate. 7mate is targeted towards a male audience, particularly those aged between 16 and 49. In January 2011, the big red 7 logos were expanded to
GWN7 and
Prime7's rebranding respectively. The news bulletins were renamed as
GWN7 News and
Prime7 News. In September 2011, Seven broadcast a report featuring journalist Tim Noonan and writer and adventurer Paul Raffaele visiting Brazil's
Suruwahá tribe and describing them as child murderers, "Stone Age" relics, and "one of the worst human rights violators in the world".
Survival International, the global movement for tribal people's rights, sent a complaint to Seven outlining the many errors and distortions in the report. After the channel refused to correct the inaccuracies in the program, Survival filed a complaint with the
Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), which opened a formal investigation. In September 2012, the network was found guilty by the press regulator of serious violations of the broadcasting code. The ACMA ruled that the channel was guilty of breaking its racism clause – having "provoked or perpetuated intense dislike, serious contempt or severe ridicule against the Suruwahá people on the grounds of ... national or ethnic origin ... race [or] religion". It also ruled that the channel was guilty of broadcasting inaccurate material. Seven sought judicial review, but in June 2014 the
Federal Court upheld the ruling. In October 2012, Seven began cost-cutting by shedding a number of behind-the-scenes technical positions. Seven also reduced their
SNG transponder link capacity on
Optus D1 from three (at 12.661,12.671 & 12.681
GHz) to two (at 12.644 & 12.653 GHz), which are used by
ATN Sydney for Sunrise and national news location up-links, as well as for other local station location up-links. In November 2012, Seven changed its on-air theme. This included a new look for program advisory ratings, program listings, program advertisements, and promotions. As of 10 December 2013, Seven no longer broadcasts on analogue TV and is now only available through digital TV or digital
set-top box. On 26 June 2015,
Racing.com began broadcasting on channel 78 as a joint venture between
Seven West Media and
Racing Victoria following a blackout of Victorian horse racing by
Sky Racing. Initially broadcasting an interim live feed from the Racing.com website, the channel was officially launched on 29 August 2015. In January 2016, Seven changed its on-air theme. This included a new look for program listings, program advertisements and promotions. On 7 February 2016, during the ad-break of
Molly, after months of speculation, Seven officially announced their new channel as
7flix on channel 76. 7flix was launched at 6am on 28 February 2016. On 10 May 2016, 7HD returned as a high definition simulcast on channel 70. Initially, the Melbourne and Adelaide markets received 7HD as a HD simulcast of Seven's primary channel, while the Sydney, Brisbane and Perth markets received 7HD as an HD simulcast of 7mate; this was to allow
Australian Football League (AFL) matches to be broadcast in HD in those markets. Sydney, Brisbane and Perth temporarily received 7HD as a simulcast of the primary channel for the duration of the
2016 Summer Olympics before the change was made permanent during and after the
2017 Australian Open. Up until 16 January 2020, breakaway programming was used to show further AFL matches and Australian cricket matches in HD. In June 2017, following the acquisition of
Yahoo! by
Verizon Communications, Seven announced plans to launch a wholly owned standalone service to replace
PLUS7. In September 2017, Seven announced the new service would be known as
7plus and would launch in November 2017. As of September 2017, Seven's live streaming service, now named 7Live, is no longer accessible from within the PLUS7 and the Yahoo7 portal. On 1 December 2018, Seven announced
7food Network, a new digital channel, which launched on channel 74. The announcement with Discovery Network followed
SBS Food network losing its deal with Discovery-owned
Scripps Network. The channel ceased broadcast on 28 December 2019, just over a year after it launched, though Seven continued to utilise the
Food Network branding elsewhere. the series was pre-recorded in a warehouse in Sydney, described by TV Blackbox as "Survivor in a warehouse". The exact location is
North Head Sanctuary, also known as The Barracks. On the night Big Brother premiered, Seven also changed their on-air theme. On 19 June 2020, it was announced that
The Daily Edition had been cancelled by Seven Network after 7 years with hosts
Sally Obermeder and
Ryan Phelan leaving the network. The final episode aired on 26 June 2020. In July 2020, Seven Network unveiled new logos for its multi-channels, beginning with
7mate, followed by
7two and
7flix. The re-branding also extended to its on-demand platform,
7plus, which was stylised as "7+" as part of a broader branding overhaul of its multichannel services. In March 2021, it was announced that Seven Network would move out of
Martin Place to Eveleigh in 2022 after almost two decades. On 1 November 2021,
Seven West Media announced that it would acquire all the shares and subsidiaries of
Prime Media Group. This was Seven West Media's second attempt at purchasing Prime, after its previous attempt in 2019 was thwarted by
Australian Community Media boss Antony Catalano and rival
WIN Corporation owner
Bruce Gordon, who cited Seven's debt problems at the time and its poor ratings performance as their reason for their refusal. This development would mark an end to the Prime branding after 33 years in favour of Seven Network's branding and would see all news bulletins carry the Seven News brand. Prior to this,
Prime7 (and sister
GWN7 in regional and remote Western Australia) was the only network not to fully use its metro affiliate branding despite carrying Seven branded promos, since WIN Television (except for WIN News) and Southern Cross Austereo use full
Nine and
Ten network branding on their stations. It was also announced that Seven would look to expand its investment in local news following the merger. A majority of Prime's shareholders voted in favour of the deal on 23 December, with the sale completed on 31 December. Commencing June 2022, Seven moved to a national brand across all of its regions, in time for the
2022 Commonwealth Games. Introduced to regional audiences on 6 June 2022, viewers in those markets began to see the
Prime7 and GWN7 logos transition into the national Seven branding. Seven announced in October 2022 it would launch a new free-to-air channel,
7Bravo on 15 January 2023, on LCN 75 in metropolitan areas and LCN 65 in regional areas. As a result,
ishop TV moved from LCN 65 to LCN 67 in the former Prime7 areas. 7Bravo shows reality shows and
true crime. The launch is a partnership between Seven Network and
NBCUniversal International Networks & Direct-to-Consumer. On 30 November 2022, various channel changes on Seven Network happened to accommodate for the new 7Bravo channel, including a 7mate SD (Channel 73) switch-off. On the same day, 7Bravo on channel 75 appeared on the Seven multiplex, and ishop TV moving to channel 67 placeholder in seven regional areas. In June 2023, 7NEWS moved their operations from
Martin Place to their new purpose-built studios in
Eveleigh. In July 2023, Sunrise hosted its first broadcast at its new studios. The first edition went to air live at 5:30am on 24 July 2023, with hosts
Natalie Barr and
Matt Shirvington, news presenter
Edwina Bartholomew and sports presenter
Mark Beretta, followed by
The Morning Show's
Larry Emdur and
Kylie Gillies. For the first time in more than 40 years, the whole Seven Sydney operation, including all staff, were under one roof. The new space offers space five times larger than the previous Martin Place location, with permanent sets for all programs. In July–August 2023 when the
2023 FIFA Women's World Cup was hosted by Australia and New Zealand, there was some controversy worldwide about
broadcasting rights to it, when broadcasters' offers were very low. FIFA's handling of the rights was also criticised. Seven Network won the rights to broadcast 15 of the matches. These included four round of 16 games, two quarter-finals, the semi-finals, and the final, along with all of the
Matildas games. The pay channel
Optus Sport has rights for every game in the tournament. This raised public criticism, with many arguing that the entire tournament should be free-to-air, as was the
2022 (men's) World Cup in
Qatar, on
SBS Television. In September 2023, a female Queensland contestant in an upcoming Seven Network reality show was charged with multiple counts of indecent treatment of children aged under 16, multiple counts of rape, sexual assault, torture and assaults over a 15-year period. Her partner was also charged with a number of assaults. Seven refused to confirm whether it will cancel or alter the program. On 22 January 2024,
TVSN and Seven West Media signed a new broadcast deal, which means the channel will be on Seven from 1 July 2024, shifting from
10 and
WIN Television. TVSN will be on channel 77 in metropolitan areas and regional Queensland, channel 67 in other regional areas and on
7plus nationally. On 14 April 2024, the network was under fire for misidentification of a Jewish student named Ben Cohen as the perpetrator of
2024 Bondi Junction stabbings. In May 2025, Seven West Media announced its intention to purchase
Southern Cross Austereo's regional
Seven Network affiliate stations in Tasmania, Darwin, Spencer Gulf, Broken Hill, Mount Isa and Remote Central and Eastern Australia for $3.75 Million. The sale was completed in July 2025. Following a failure in negotiating a new affiliate deal with WIN Television, the Seven Network temporarily ceased broadcasting in Riverland, Griffith, and Mount Gambier from 1 July to 3 July 2025. Following Seven's acquisition of Southern Cross Austereo's television assets, Seven and
Southern Cross Media Group (owners of SCA) announced in September 2025 their intention to merge. The merger was completed on 7 January 2026 with Seven West Media delisted from the ASX.
Additional programs Always Greener, launched in 2001, received two million viewers in its Sunday time slot. It was cancelled after its second season due to declining audience numbers. In 2004, Seven launched the internationally known game show
Deal or No Deal hosted by
Andrew O'Keefe, in the 5.30 pm weekday time slot as a lead-in to the network's struggling flagship news bulletin. Deal or No Deal replaced the network's long-running
Wheel Of Fortune, as the show moved to 5pm weekdays. Later in the year,
Dancing with the Stars, based on the BBC's
Strictly Come Dancing, was also launched. The following year, a number of new programs premiered from the United States network
ABC, including
Desperate Housewives and
Lost. At the same time, Seven's news and public affairs ratings began to increase in viewers, with
Today Tonight beginning to challenge rival
A Current Affair, with the new format of
Sunrise leading to increased competition with its rival, the
Nine Network's
Today. Seven's evening
news bulletins also started to take the lead with successes in most cities. The network launched a number of new series in 2006, including
Heroes,
Prison Break,
Dancing with the Stars spin-off
It Takes Two,
How I Met Your Mother, and
My Name Is Earl, and saw long-running series
Blue Heelers ending its 13th season run after declining ratings since late 2003. Despite the ongoing success of these programs, Seven still finished second behind the
Nine Network for the fifth time in six years, primarily due to Nine's coverage of the
2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. The following year, Seven defeated Nine by a significant margin, winning 38 weeks compared to the
Nine Network's 2, to become the number one network in Australia. In 2008, Seven launched new local drama
Packed to the Rafters which became the year's top rated show with an average of 1.938 million viewers. In 2009, a new weekly public affairs show
Sunday Night launched in the Sunday 6:30 position to a shaky start but by the end of the year was easily winning its slot and rating up to 250,000 more than rival
Nine Network's long-running
60 Minutes. In 2010, Seven launched new AFL- and NRL-based entertainment shows to take on Nine's
The AFL Footy Show and
The NRL Footy Show and provide a bargaining chip in negotiations for AFL and NRL broadcast rights. The AFL-based series
The Bounce, hosted by
Peter Helliar, was pulled from the air after just five episodes. An NRL-based series called
The Matty Johns Show, hosted by former
Footy Show host Matthew Johns, lasted one season. In 2011, Seven put
Packed to the Rafters on hiatus and put new Melbourne drama
Winners and Losers in its place. The show won the highest ratings for the night. In 2013, Seven Network launched its fifth new drama
A Place to Call Home, which also achieved high ratings. In September 2015, the network began
The Chase Australia which is a spinoff of the British series,
The Chase, with Chasers
Anne Hegerty (from the British series), Brydon Coverdale (winner of $307,000 on
Million Dollar Minute), Matt Parkinson and Issa Schultz. In 2016,
Mark Labbett made his debut as one of the Chasers, joining fellow UK Chaser, Anne Hegerty and in 2018,
Shaun Wallace made his debut as its sixth chaser. Seven also launched
800 Words starring
Erik Thomson to high ratings, making it the highest-rated drama of 2015. In June 2020,
Big Brother Australia made a return on Seven Network with a rebooted pre-recorded program. It was also announced in 2020 that Seven had acquired the reality series
The Voice Australia in 2021 as well as a reboot of
Australian Idol. Seven confirmed in December 2020 it had commissioned a return to a new "all stars" event version of
Dancing With The Stars. The
Australian Idol reboot returned to the screens of Seven in 2023. ==Programming==