ABC Me
ABC Me (stylised as ABC ME) is an Australian English language children's free-to-air television channel owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It was officially launched by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on 4 December 2009 as ABC3.
Logo used since 2016 | |
| Country | Australia |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Nationwide |
| Network | ABC Television |
| Headquarters | Sydney, New South Wales |
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | English |
| Picture format | 576i (SDTV) 16:9 |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | ABC |
| Sister channels | ABC TV ABC TV Plus ABC Kids ABC News |
| History | |
| Launched | 4 December 2009 (as ABC3) |
| Former names | ABC3 (2009–2016) |
| Links | |
| Website | abc.net.au/abcme |
| Availability | |
| Terrestrial | |
| ABN Sydney (DVB-T) | 548 @ 12 (226.5 MHz)[1] |
| Digital terrestrial television | Channel 8 (Hobart) Channel 12 (Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth) Channel 30 (Darwin) |
| Streaming media | |
| Catch Television Terrestrial sat Cable | ABC iview live stream |
History
In September 2009, the Australian government announced a proposal to launch a new digital-only children's channel, ABC3.[2] A new ABC channel appeared on television receivers in 2008, as a placeholder for the future ABC3 channel.[3] ABC3 was considered by the Australia 2020 Summit and given as one of the recommendations to the Government. In April 2009, the Government's official response to the Summit approved the idea,[4] and in the 2009–10 Commonwealth Budget $67 million was allocated towards ABC3 as part of the Government's $167 million funding increase to the ABC.
On 18 June 2009, the corporation began its first public ABC3 campaign to scout for new hosting talent. On 22 October 2009, eight presenters were announced. Amberley Lobo and Kayne Tremills would host Studio 3, with Ben Crawley as a roving reporter, he later joined the show What Do You Know? alongside Dr Rhythm. Scott Tweedie would host Prank Patrol, while Hannah Wang and Mitch Tomlinson were named as co-hosts of Rush TV and Stephanie Bendixsen and Steven O'Donnell were hosts of Good Game: Spawn Point, made for younger gamers, a spin-off of the ABC2 TV series Good Game, made for older gamers.
On 4 December 2009 at 5pm, the hour-long Countdown to 3 special was broadcast on the channel and was simulcast on ABC1. It featured special performances from Australian artists Cassie Davis and Short Stack, an introduction to various ABC3 presenters and shows and the station's launch around 6pm by then-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.[5][6][7]
In 2011, James Elmer joined as co-host of Studio 3 along with Kayne and Amberley. On 4 December 2011, the winners from the MeOn3 contest were revealed as Alfie Gledhill and Olivia Phyland. On 14 September 2012, Alfie left Studio 3 to pursue acting dreams. In October 2012, Comedian Khaled Khalafala joined Studio 3, and stayed with the crew until early 2013 before leaving. In March 2013 the Janitor (Dave Cartel) and Bubbles the goldfish supposedly left Studio 3 for Venezuela, with Bubbles being replaced with a new goldfish called Alexis. Tim Matthews, Grace Koh and Ivy Latimer later joined James and Liv in June 2014 after winning The 3 Factor competition.
In August 2016, it was announced that ABC3 would rebrand as ABC ME on 19 September 2016.[8][9][10] The rebranded channel is reported to be "designed to reflect and celebrate the lives, interests and diversity of young Australians" and will increase its focus to primary school children.[11][12] To mark the rebrand, ABC ME teamed up with 16-year-old Australian singer Angel Tairua to record a new song Unique (Me2U) to celebrate the launch of ABC ME.[13]
In June 2020, many of the ABC Me staff located in Melbourne lost their jobs after the redundancies at the ABC were announced, include the presenters of the channel at the time; Pip Rasmussen, Drew Parker and Ava Madon.[14] The network continued to be broadcast without presenters.[14]
Management
ABC ME is operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation part of ABC Television. Overall strategic responsibility for all of the ABC's domestic services rests with the Director of Television, David Anderson (since 2017).[15] The direction of ABC ME itself rests with Michael Carrington the current Head of Children's and Education responsible for commissioning all ABC ME content across television, online, and iview.[16]
Programming
The channel's programming runs from 6:00 am to around 10:30 pm everyday, and targets the 7-18-year-old age group. During the station's off hours, the station displays a signpost saying "returns at 6:00 am" with audio from the digital radio station ABC Jazz before reopening again the next day.[17] It broadcasts a range of genres, including comedy, drama, music, animation, extreme sports, wildlife and news-based programmes.
The channel aims to feature at least 50% Australian-produced content.[18] News To Me was a show that was hosted by the channel's presenters, which premiered on Monday 19 September 2016 at 5:10 pm and aired its last episode on New Year's Eve 2018. It was replaced with a new show called Stacked, airing a new episode every weekday at 4:25 pm and is produced by the in-house Children's production team, alongside Good Game: Spawn Point, and Let's Go. Other programs which air on the channel include the historical drama My Place, sitcom Mal.com, animation series Little J & Big Cuz, a news and current affairs show produced by the team from Behind the News (the longest running program on ABC ME) and a sketch comedy You're Skitting Me.[19] ABC3 created Pet Superstars which also aired on ABC 4 Kids.
Program playout for ABC ME is controlled from ABQ, the ABC's Brisbane station via the ABC's playout facility, MediaHub. Programmes such as Studio 3 and Prank Patrol were filmed and produced at ABV in Melbourne.
Unlike commercial channels, ABC ME is not constrained by a local content quota[20] and portions of its programming are sourced from foreign broadcasters such as CBBC (as Children's BBC), ZDF, Cartoon Network, and Yoopa. In 2017, ABC Me became an associate member of the EBU and earned the contract from SBS and Blink TV to start to select participants and it first broadcast the European Broadcasting Union Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2017 as well as the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018 and Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2019.
Presenters
- Stephanie "Hex" Bendixsen (2009–2016)[note 1]
- Dave Cartel ("The Janitor") (2009–2013)
- Ben Crawley (2009–2011)
- Gemma "Gem" Driscoll (2018–present)[note 1]
- Amberley Lobo (2009–2015)
- Ava Madon (2019–2020)
- Steven "Bajo" O'Donnell (2009–2017)[note 1]
- Drew Parker (2019–2020)
- Pip Rasmussen (2016–2020)
- Mitch Tomlinson (2009–2012)
- Kayne Tremills (2009–2015)
- Scott Tweedie (2009–2013)
- Hannah Wang (2009–2012)
- Gus "Goose" Ronald (2011–2018)[note 1]
- James Elmer (2011–2016)
- Alfie Gledhill (2011–2012)
- Olivia Phyland (2011–2015)
- Khaled Khalafalla (2012–2013)
- Grace Koh (2014–2018, 2020)
- Ivy Latimer (2014–2015)
- Tim Matthews (2014–2017)
- Lawrence Gunatilaka (2018–2019)
- Dallas Reedman (2018–2019)
- Ilai Swindells (2018)
- Jael Wena (2019)
- William Yates (2019–2020)[note 1]
- Angharad "Rad" Yeo (2017–present)[note 1]
Notes
References
- ^ (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 January 2017. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Free kids' TV channel is as easy as ABC3". The Age. 23 September 2007. from the original on 16 September 2008. Retrieved 1 September 2008.
- ^ "The state of Children's television". Radio National. 6 December 2007. from the original on 13 January 2009. Retrieved 1 September 2008.
- ^ "New children's channel for ABC". ABC News and Current Affairs. 22 April 2009. from the original on 25 April 2009. Retrieved 12 May 2009.
- ^ "Countdown To 3". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 4 December 2009. from the original on 8 December 2009. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
- ^ Knox, David (4 December 2009). "Countdown to ABC3". TV Tonight. from the original on 27 December 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
- ^ "Countdown To 3". ABC Television. 4 December 2009. from the original on 8 December 2009. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
- ^ "STRICTLY EMBARGOED MEDIA RELEASE: ABC3 becomes ABC ME". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 19 August 2016. from the original on 19 August 2016. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
- ^ ABC3 becomes ABC ME! on YouTube
- ^ Knox, David (19 August 2016). "ABC3 rebrands as ABC ME". TV Tonight. from the original on 20 August 2016. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
- ^ "ABC3 to rebrand as ABC ME". Mediaweek. 19 August 2016. from the original on 23 August 2016. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
- ^ Canning, Simon (19 August 2016). "ABC drops 3 for ME in children's channel rebrand". Mumbrella. from the original on 20 August 2016. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
- ^ "ABC ME introduces Angel". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. from the original on 3 May 2018. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
- ^ a b Knox, David (25 June 2020). "ABC ME staff gone from Melbourne". TV Tonight. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
- ^ "David Anderson". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. from the original on 25 March 2018. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
- ^ "ABC TV appoints Michael Carrington". from the original on 12 July 2016.
- ^ About ABC3 8 December 2009 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed on 9 December 2009.
- ^ "ABC3 announces new Aussie kids shows". TV Tonight. 18 June 2009. from the original on 21 June 2009. Retrieved 25 June 2009.
- ^ Green, Liz. . ABC. Archived from the original on 24 June 2009. Retrieved 24 October 2010.
- ^ Michael Bodey (22 October 2009). "ABC to launch new kids digital TV channel ABC3". The Australian.