Photos of The 2000s

In 2001 ABC Television, Radio and Online marked the Centenary of Federation with special programs and coverage of events around Australia. Radio National's marathon broadcast, 100 Years in a Day was broadcast from 9am to 7pm on 6 May tomark the Centenary of Federation.

Later in the year ABC Radio and Television and Online provided extensive coverage of the aftermath of the 11 September attacks on New York and the subsequent war against terrorism with the broadcaster's own foreign correspondents giving exclusive on- the-spot reports, scooping the international media on several major stories. This was the broadcaster's biggest news and current affairs operation in its history.

The most significant development in television as the ABC moved into the 21st century was digitisation of production, post-production and transmission, probably the greatest advance in television technology since the introduction of colour. The Television Broadcasting Services (Digital Conversion) Act in 1998 set out a timeframe for the conversion; digital transmission for all free-to-air channels was to begin in metropolitan areas on 1 January 2001 with programs being simulcast in the old analog system until 2008. Digital transmission began in some regional areas and was legislated to begin everywhere in 2004. The Broadcasting Services Amendment (Digital Television and Datacasting Act 2000 allowed multichannelling and datacasting for the ABC with some restrictions on the type of content. Early digital widescreen productions for the ABC were Something in the Air in Melbourne and Grass Roots and In the Mind of the Architect in Sydney. The ABC began multi-channelling and launched the first digital channels in Australia.

2000

A state-of-the-art studio complex was opened in Sydney adjoining the old Gore Hill television site.

ABC TV attracted large audiences for extensive, exclusive coverage of the Paralympic Games, held in Sydney.

2001

ABC Television broadcast over 3,800 hours of Australian programs, 58 percent of all program hoursbroadcast between 6am and midnight. This is the highest percentage of local content to this time.

The ABC launched two digital channels: ABC Kids and the youth channel Fly.

Four Corners celebrated 40 years of investigative journalism.

2002

• The ABC officially launched the international television network ABC Asia Pacific which broadcasts to the region 24 hours a day;

Through the early years of the 2000s work continued on the replacement of existing studio equipment by digital systems. This included replacing the on-air consoles in metropolitan studios and installing the Netia system around the country. The suitability of Netia and digital mass storage systems for Radio Archives was confirmed.The next stage in digitisation was the replacement of routing and automation systems that connect studio centres to each other and to transmitters.

2000

• As official Australian non-commercial radio rights holder for the Sydney 2000 Olympics the ABC Local Radio network provided continuous coverage attracting more listeners than any other radio coverage. The ABC was an official media supporter of the unique Torch Relay around Australia which led up to the opening of the Games and ABC Local Radio around the country became an integral part of the event. The ABC has provided reports on every Olympics since 1932 and ABC staff have worked on all Games since Helsinki in 1952. All ABC networks provided special programming including coverage of Olympic Arts Festival events;

2001

• ABC Radio celebrated 100 years of Radio on all networks. Special programs marked the event, and a promotional CD issued with the radio magazine 24 Hours featured historic highlights through the decades since the ABC began broadcasting in 1932. On 12 December, the date Marconi first successfully transmitted a radio signal from Cornwall to Newfoundland in 1901, all six networks of the ABC for the first time in history carried the same broadcast - a salute to radio by John Doyle, live from a commemorative function in Melbourne;

2002

• ABC NewsRadio began streaming its regular news and information service on the ABC NewsRadio website when the Parliamentary News Network was carrying Parliamentary broadcasts;
• ABC Radio recruited and trained an extra 50 broadcasters who were assigned to 32 regional ABC stations around Australia in a move to boost regional program output. This initiative was made possible by additional Government funding in the 2001/02 Federal Budget;
• ABC NewsRadio began broadcasting to Queensland's Gold Coast, the network's first move into a new market since it extended its broadcasting into Darwin in 1997;

2000

• ABC Multimedia was renamed ABC New Media and became an output division of the ABC alongside ABC TV and Radio;
• The New Media Division was involved in the early development of the ABC's digital television services;

2001

• In March the ABC Broadband News service began. This was followed by the launch of other broadband channels including Rage, Kids and FlyScreen for the youth audience;
• In May ABC New Media was involved in the interactive TV (iTV) trial with Optus; the commercial trial commenced December 2001;

2002

• ABC Online now hosts more than 600,000 pages of content across a broad range of genre gateways;

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