Origin

The Seven Network began as a group of independent stations in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.^[16] 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 the first station in the country to use the VHF7 frequency.^[16] It launched on 4 November 1956, soon joined on 2 December by Amalgamated Television Services ATN-7 in Sydney.^[17]

TVW-7 Perth began broadcasting almost two years later, on 16 October 1959, as the city's first commercial station. It was licensed to TVW7, a subsidiary of West Australian Newspapers, publisher of The West Australian.^[16] BTQ-7 followed on 1 November, signing on as Brisbane's second commercial television station.^[16][17] In 1969 the Melbourne based Herald and Weekly times group purchased WA Newspapers . The HWT group already owned HSV 7 and ADS 7 and under the media laws of the time was required to sell TVW 7. A new company was formed and floated on the Perth Stock Exchange, TVW Enterprises Pty Ltd.

ADS-7 in Adelaide launched on 24 Oct 1959 as the final capital city VHF7 station. TVW Enterprises purchased Adelaide's SAS 10 in 1971. In 1987 ADS 7 station swapped frequencies with SAS-10, with the latter becoming SAS-7.^[16]

1980s ownership changes

Perth-based businessman Robert Holmes à Court, through his business the Bell Group, completed a takeover on TVW Enterprises in 1982.^[17] The Herald and Weekly Times, owner of HSV-7 and ADS-7, was sold to Rupert Murdoch in December 1986.^[17] Murdoch's company, News Limited, sold off HSV to Fairfax soon afterwards, for $320 million, while ADS 7 was sold to Frank Lowys Northern Star ( owners of the 10 Network stations in Sydney and Melbourne).^[17] Fairfax went on to axe a number of locally produced shows in favour of networked content from its Sydney counterpart, ATN-7 (also owned by Fairfax at the time).^[18]

In 1987, Fairfax sold off its stations to Qintex Ltd., owned by businessman Christopher Skase.^[18] Qintex had previously bought, and subsequently sold off, stations in Brisbane and regional Queensland before taking control of the network.^[17] The next year, another new logo was introduced along with evening soap opera Home and Away and a relaunched Seven National News, now known as Seven News. The network expanded in 1988 when Skase bought out Bell Groups two stations for $130 million creating the first owned and operated national network of the five mainland city Channel 7 stations.^[18]

A failed $1.5 billion bid for MGM Studios in the same year sent Qintex into receivership.^[17] Christopher Skase fled Australia in 1990 in order to escape extradition.^[18] The business' assets were bundled together by receivers and made into a new company, the Seven Network Limited, in 1991.^[17]

Advent of Kerry Stokes

The network was re-listed as a public company on the stock exchange in 1993 with News Limited holding 14.9% and Telstra holding 10%. In 1995, Stokes acquired 19.9% of the public company and was elected chairman. He asked Alan Jackson to be its CEO for a number of years in the late 1990s.^[19] Shortly after it acquired Sunshine Television, a Seven Network affiliate in regional Queensland, Sunshine Television's regional stations effectively became a part of the Seven Network, identical in appearance and programming to the rest of the business' stations. Seven Queensland won the annual audience ratings for the first time in 1998.^[20]

The year 2000 saw Seven as the host broadcaster for the Sydney Olympics. The Network adopted a new logo. In 2003, Stokes appointed David Leckie as CEO of Seven and Peter Meakin as Head of News and Current Affairs. In January 2006, the Seven Network, Pacific Magazine and online portal Yahoo! Australia and New Zealand combined in a joint venture to form Yahoo!7, representing all three companies' online assets.^[21] This venture is now Australia's most popular internet portal and the joint venture is driving a range of online and IPTV businesses. Seven is building and acquiring a range of broadband businesses, including wireless broadband group Unwired, VOIP operator Engin and has become the Australian licensee for TiVo,^[22] due to be launched in 2008. The group has also established a strategic 20 per cent shareholding in West Australian Newspapers Ltd.

Since 2007, the Seven Network has been the highest rating television network in Australia, ahead of the Nine Network, Network Ten, ABC and SBS.^[23] In 2011, the Seven Network won all 40 out of 40 weeks of the ratings season for total viewers.^[24] Seven is the first to do this since the introduction of the OZtam ratings system in 2001.^[25] As of 2014 it was the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach.^[26]

68% owned by Kerry Stokes (as of 2014), Seven Network is a network of commercial free-to-air television stations in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide, as well as regional Queensland and Perth.^[27] The platform, as well as a 33 per cent stake in Sky News Australia, now reaches 98 per cent of Australians. Seven has also established a major magazine publishing business, Pacific Magazines which, as of 2014, accounted for more than 20 per cent of magazines sold in Australia.

In 2006, Seven Network and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR)^[28] created a new joint venture, Seven Media Group, a multi-faceted media company combining a presence in broadcast television, magazine and online applications.

7HD was officially announced on 15 September 2007, with the Seven Media Group announcing its intention to start a high definition multichannel.^[29] By the end of 2007, the Seven Network had become the most watched network in the country, dominating morning and prime time slots.^[30]