Network 10

From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum



Background

Network 10 is one of Australia's three commercial television networks. Launched in 1964 on ATV-0 in Melbourne and TEN-10 in Sydney, the network was first known as the Independent Television System then as the 0/10 network, in reference to the channel numbers of its first two stations. By 1980, ATV-0 had moved frequencies to channel 10, aligning itself with the rest of the network, which was rebranded as Network Ten. The network was and still is aimed more at a younger demographic than the other commercial networks, embracing the swinging sixties at launch and becoming renowned for its teen-oriented programming, such as Cheez-TV in the 1990s. In the 2000s, the network reached its peak with reality shows such as Australian Idol, The Biggest Loser and later Masterchef Australia bringing ratings success, though by the late 2010s, this success had faded and in June 2017 the network went into administration, before being bought out by CBS Corporation (later ViacomCBS, now Paramount Global) in October of that year. Following the buyout, the company was restyled in 2018 as "Network 10", replacing the word with a numeral, and an entirely new logo was introduced for the first time in 27 years.


Network Ten (first era)

1st ID (1983-1984)

The capture/video on the left depicts the standard variant, while the right capture/video depicts the Melbourne/Adelaide variant

Visuals: A series of vertical bars rotate until they are horizontal and forming a false-3D effect. From the resulting "horizon", a white light flashes on the back of the lines with blue light appearing in the background. The logo, which is the word "TEN" in a circle, designed to resemble a neon sign, rises upwards and the camera zooms towards it as it briefly sparkles.

Variant: A variant with a different logo was used on ATV-10 in Melbourne, after it changed frequencies and briefly on SAS-10, Adelaide in 1984.

Technique: All Scanimate effects.

Audio: The then-current network jingle, "You're Home on Ten".


2nd ID (1985-1989)


Visuals: A series of glass-textured rectangles fly into place on an orange-red background to form a map of Australia. Then, the logo from the previous ident, this time in gold flies in. The pans to a zoomed bird's eye over the map so that the rectangles cover the background as the logo settles into place

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A brassy fanfare based on the promo song being used at the time called "10 out of 10 Australia".


3rd ID (1988-1989)


Visuals: Two translucent shards emerge from a horizontal plane and cross over each other to form an X. the X rotates while settling into place as the word "TEN" flies in at the bottom

Variant: In 1989, the ident was enhanced. This version has a more vibrant and contrasting colour scheme and appears more glossy.

Technique: Once again, CGI. The 1989 enhancement may have partially used live action models similar to the PBS ident of the time.

Audio: A new saxophone-driven fanfare.

Audio Variant: The music in the 1989 version is higher-pitched.


Ten TV Australia

ID (1989-1991)


Visuals: A box with a large numeral "10" in a serif font and a stylised map of Australia against a series of horizontal bars next to it rotates into place against a brown background. As the logo rotates in, light streaks can be seen emitting from behind it.

Variants:

  • The logo can have "TV AUSTRALIA" above.
  • Sometimes, the name of a station's region will appear below.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A triumphant guitar and brass fanfare.

Legacy: This ident and branding has become associated with Network 10's near demise. Financial difficulties with their parent company resulted in the network's near collapse in the early 1990s. The resulting relaunch in 1991 after a sale to Canwest lead to the network's "golden era" during the '90s and 2000s.


Network Ten (second era)

1st ID (1991-1994)


Visuals: Three circles with streaks behind them fly over a coastline with a small cluster of buildings on it. The circles then fly offscreen before returning in the opposite direction, streaking straight across the screen as the words "THE ENTERTAINMENT NETWORK" are seen, one in each circle's streak. The circles reappear from behind the letters and pass the "T, E, and N" at the start of each of the aforementioned words. The circles, now with said letters in them circle around and form the new Network Ten logo. A yellow "ten" wordmark in the Eurostile font in a blue circle with a silver ring.

Variants:

  • Sometimes a local area indicator will appear below, depending on the station.
  • The "That's entertainment" slogan appears below in a scrawly font in one variant
  • One variant for the 1994 Commonwealth Games has "Your Commonwealth Games Station" at the bottom

Technique: CGI from Zero Plus using Alias on SGI workstations.

Audio: A triumphant fanfare based on the song from the then new "That's Entertainment!" promo.

Legacy: The logo launched with this ident would remain in use (albeit with some minor updates over time) for the next 27 years before the 2018 rebrand, making it the network's longest lasting logo to date.

2nd ID (1995-1996)


Visuals: The logo starts with rapidly cut clips of young people walking and playing sports before finally cutting to a live action Ten logo on the ground with a swirly ceramic-like pattern in the blue section.

Technique: All live action, edited in a very '90s style.

Audio: A new Eurodance (the first video) or hip-hop (the second video) style tune with a vocal group singing "Give me 10"


3rd ID (1997-1998)


Visuals: The logo starts with clips from various shows on the network including Xena, Warrior Princess and Seinfeld. On the last clip (Kramer falling off a chair), the shot zooms out to reveal a cartoonish vintage-style TV on a dark blue background as the slogan "Turn Me On" and the Ten logo appear below.

Technique: Live-action clips and CGI.

Audio: A rock-style theme.


4th ID (Early 1999)

Ident starts at 0:15. Warning! Initial promo is slightly NSFW

Visuals: For the first ident, there is a butterfly changing colour and rotating within a frame, with Ten's logo in front of it, and the sky is in black and white. Then we see a dog and the butterfly from the first scene is in the background this time. After that, there's a woman walking the dog, then the woman looks at us with her sun glasses down and then the Ten logo appears.

Technique: 2D computer animation and live-action.

Audio: A pop like tune.


5th ID (1999-December 31, 2000)


Visuals: Unknown

Technique: Unknown

Audio: Unknown


6th ID (January 1, 2001-2002)

Visuals: Unknown

Technique: CGI.

Audio: Unknown

Legacy: The "Seriously" slogan introduced in this ident would last the next 17 years and would be heavily associated with their "Golden era" from the early 2000s to the early 2010s.


7th ID (2002-2006)


Visuals: Stars of various Ten shows, both locally produced and imported, interact with the camera on a white background in monochrome. This usually ends with the individual touching the camera, causing the Ten logo to appear alongside the slogan "Seriously".

Variants:

  • The idents were updated over time to feature different people.
  • The first half of an ident would often lead into the program lineup, after which, the end of the ident would play out.

Technique: Unknown

Audio: Various, depending on the ident.

Legacy: The basic concept of this ident would be used for the next decade and a half in various forms.


8th ID (2002-2006)


Visuals: Network Ten stars appear in monochrome on a white background like before with the "seriously" slogan on screen in front of them. Each individual peels letters, which seem to be some kind of stickers, and rearranges them the word into a different word or phrase, sometimes even writing in new letters with a marker. The screen then cuts to the Ten logo.

Variants: Here are the idents currently known to exist:

  • Presenter and Australian TV icon Bert Newton creates the word "Bertiously".
  • Neighbours actor Stefan Dennis (Paul Robinson) creates the phrase "I'm sly".
  • Fellow Neighbours actor Patrick Harvey (Connor O'Neill) replaces the word entirely with "Neighbours".
  • Comedian and presenter Rove McManus changes the word into the title of his show "Rove Live".

Technique: It's mostly live action.

Audio: A contemporary techno beat.

Legacy: A very quirky, fun ident that is very typical of Ten's style at the time.


9th ID (2004-2008)


Visuals: Unknown

Technique: A combination of live-action and 2D animation.

Audio: An excerpt of "Don't Panic" by Coldplay.


10th ID (2008-2012)

Visuals: An updated version of the previous ident's concept, now featuring Ten's updated glossy logo and a stylised pointing hand as a secondary graphic.

Technique: Live-action and 2D animation mixed.

Audio: Unknown


11th ID (January-May 2012)

Visuals: Unknown

Technique: Unknown

Audio: Unknown


12th ID (2012-2013)

Visuals: Unknown

Technique: Unknown

Audio: Unknown


13th ID (2013-2014)

Visuals: Unknown

Technique: Unknown

Audio: Unknown

Legacy: This package marks the debut of the fourth and final revision of the 1991 logo and a shift for the network away from its youth-oriented theming in an attempt to become a more broad-appealing channel like Nine or Seven.


14th ID (2014-2018)

Visuals: Unknown

Technique: Unknown

Audio: Unknown

Legacy: This package is associated with what is considered to be a historic low point for the network, which at this time was consistently at the bottom of the ratings with the exception of some mild, yet consistent successes including Have You Been Paying Attention? and The Living Room. The network went into voluntary administration during this period, eventually leading to the buyout from CBS. This also marks the final graphics package to use the 1991 logo after close to three decades of use.


Network 10

ID (2018-)


Visuals: One of a number of animations or live action scenes occurs around the new Network 10 logo, a circle with a large white numeral "10" inside it. The circle's colour changes depending on the ident, though blue is the standard colour.

Variants: The following is a very incomplete list of the idents seen so far:

  • "Generic": On a blue background, a multicoloured streak traces part of the circle which then extrudes itself from the background as the "10" numeral appears. This animation is also used for the new logo of the production division.
  • "Hearts": On a yellow background, a series of origami-esque hearts flutter away to reveal the logo in pink.
  • "Beach": On a beach sunset background, there is a surfer run past the camera, the 10 logo in the place of a large sun shifts into focus.
  • "Beach 2": There is a view of a beach from above with two surfers walking away and beyond the top of the frame. The 10 logo is seen drawn into the sand.
  • "Water Park": There is a water park with a floating-river attraction, the screen pans up to reveal a yellow and purple water slide. As we continue to pan is that one of the slide's corkscrews is forming the circle of the logo with the white 10 in the middle.
  • "Santa": We see Santa Claus shake a present then give a "shhh" gesture before pointing at the camera, we then transition to a Santa version of a face from the "emoticon" ident which winks at us before dissolving and reforming into the 10 logo. The screen then cuts back to Santa who puts on a pair of sunglasses. Finally, there is a circular shape filled with baubles which empties itself to reveal the 10 logo.
    • A shorter alternate cut of this ident has Santa shake the present twice before cutting to the baubles section of the ident.
  • Tie in idents for PAW Patrol: The Movie, Peter Pan 2 and Godzilla vs. Kong also exist.
  • Before reverting their affiliation to Nine in 2021, WIN stations used the same idents with the WIN logo in the place of the numeral.

Technique: A mix of live action and CGI depending on the ident.

Audio: The initial idents of this era mostly used various segments of Good Morning by Max Frost, the song which was used to introduce the new branding. While it is still used, albeit very occasionally and in very short segments, more recent idents have moved away from this in favour of ambient sounds from the scene or other appropriate sound effects.

Availability: Seen regularly on the network since 2018, although the "Beach", "Beach 2" and "Santa" idents are seasonal, only shown during the holiday period. Promotional variants become more prevalent when their associated shows are airing. The tie-in idents are relegated to recordings taken during the period those movies were in cinemas.

Legacy: This is considered to be one of the best looking graphics packages on Australian television currently.

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