Free-to-air television in Australia

There are five free-to-air television networks in Australia. This includes three commercial networks, Seven Network , Nine Network and Ten Network , and the public broadcasters Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) .

The three commercial networks use different names in different areas of Australia, such as WIN (Nine Network) and Southern Cross (Network Ten) in Canberra, and also broadcast slightly different television programs and commercials.

All of the networks use terrestrial radio broadcasts to distribute their channels across much of Australia. This involves using large radio transmitter towers to transmit the channels by radio signals.

All five networks are available on Australian cable television networks. When delivered in this way, the channels do not suffer from interference - which you might see as 'snow' on the screen or hear as white noise - caused by extreme weather or in areas of poor radio reception.