7two
7two is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, which was launched by the Seven Network on 1 November 2009.
The channel broadcasts a variety of programs, targeting a 25-and-over audience. 7two offers a broad selection of programs covering a variety of genres including lifestyle, drama, adventure, reality observational-documentaries and comedy.
History
The channel was officially announced by the Seven Network on its breakfast program, Sunrise, at 7:45am AEDT 23 October 2009. Earlier, speculation suggested that Seven would launch its secondary channel around November 2009, with possible names including 7PLUS, PLUS7, Channel Mate and 7TWO. Seven's then-programming chief Tim Worner stated after the reveal that some of the potential names were red herrings to keep details of the channel a secret. PLUS7 and Channel Mate were later used for Seven's internet TV catch-up service and Seven's second digital multi-channel, respectively.The channel launched with the airing of a promotional video called "It's Time", featuring Seven Network personalities and clips of shows and movies intended to be broadcast on the channel, followed by normal programming. This video was also launched on the multi-channel's website and received cross-promotion on the primary Seven channel. The Seven Network continues its policy of cross-promoting each channel's content across all four channels to this day. Seven presenters Tom Williams and Johanna Griggs initially served as the "face" of the channel and were seen presenting 7two's Friday and Sunday night lifestyle line-ups in early 2011.
The channel did not launch on the same day to many regional areas. 7two was launched for Southern Cross Television viewers in Tasmania and Darwin on 1 December 2009, and for Prime Television viewers in Regional Victoria, Northern & Southern NSW and the ACT on 23 December 2009 from 9am. From launch, Prime broadcast the channel as '7TWO on Prime'.
In January 2011, regional broadcaster Prime Television changed the name of its primary channel to 'Prime7', to reflect its strong relationship with its metropolitan partner, Seven. This led to Prime's transmission of 7two being rebranded as simply 7two, like the metropolitan counterpart.
In July 2020, 7TWO underwent a major rebrand, its first since its inception. The logo applies the same orange 7 ribbon logo but with TWO in lower case and the channel now referred to as 7two.
Programming
From launch, premiere seasons of previous Seven shows including Lost, Ugly Betty, Heroes and 24 were broadcast, along with a mix of other new and classic programming along with movies sourced from Disney.Prime-time programs used to screen under themed nightly blocks such as 'Action Time' and 'Movie Time', however these disappeared as the focus of the channel changed in 2010. The revised channel included 'Best of British' content such as thrice-weekly British murder/mystery, British comedy, and British lifestyle. The launch of male-skewing sister channel 7mate in September 2010 led to a number of programs moving across from Seven's already existing channels, including 7TWO, to the new channel. 7TWO's target audience was also refined to people 55-plus. Programs that made the move from 7TWO included Air Crash Investigations, Scrubs, NWA: On Fire, Whacked Out Sports, Lost, Last Comic Standing, That '70s Show, AFL Game Day, Gary Unmarried, Club Reps, Fifth Gear, Monster Garage, and The Sopranos.
The weekday daytime schedule has seen numerous changes since launch as channel executives tried to find the right mix with viewers. At launch, 'Kid's Time' broadcast a block of children's programs each morning such as Yin Yang Yo! and Digimon Data Squad, soap operas aired in the early afternoon and 'Kitchen Time' featured in the late afternoons with Essence of Emeril and The Martha Stewart Show among the programs broadcast. In 2010, soap operas including Shortland Street, Coronation Street and, briefly, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks joined classic Australian soap Sons and Daughters and early years of Home and Away into its mid-morning schedule along with early episodes of quiz show Deal Or No Deal. In early afternoon, a mix of repeated fare such as Mistresses, Murphy Brown, Doctor Finlay, and movies from the Sony Pictures library are shown. Occasionally, shows which first aired the previous night on the main Seven channel are encored on 7TWO during the day. While initially, dramas such as Grey's Anatomy were encored, more recently this has remained true only for Seven's local reality shows such as The X Factor and My Kitchen Rules. An early morning weekly omnibus of the previous week's new episodes of Home and Away airs on Sundays.
By the end of Summer 2010/11, 7TWO had proven itself to become the most watched multi-channel in the country dominating primetime slots with a total 6.4% audience share via the network across the 5 major cities and winning 9 weeks over 9Go!'s two weeks which is largely attributed to the channel's increased broadcast of British-originated content across the week. In 2011, following 9Go!'s ratings share success in 2010, 7TWO has stolen their crown as the number one multi-channel and the number one most-watched multichannel of the decade and century in Australia.
In 2012, the Seven Network introduced new weekday morning blocks of children's programming to air on both 7TWO and 7mate. Branded as Total Girl, the 7TWO block featured female-skewing Disney series such as Hannah Montana, Wizards of Waverly Place, Sonny with a Chance and Good Luck Charlie, while the 7mate block aired male-skewing programs branded as K-Zone. Saturday Disney aired on 7TWO between 2012 to 2016, for two hours of its weekly episode. From 2013 onwards, local Australian children's programs from the Seven Network were moved to air weekdays on 7two. These titles included game shows such as Match It, animated series such as The Deep, The Wild Adventures of Blinky Bill and Beat Bugs, and programs for preschoolers including Pipsqueaks.
7two broadcast a wide range of both classic and new films that were sourced from RKO Radio Pictures, Icon Productions, Entertainment One, StudioCanal, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, United Artists, Orion Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Universal Pictures, Columbia Pictures and TriStar Pictures.
Current programming
Comedy
Kath & KimMrs. Brown's BoysDocumentary
Air Crash InvestigationsCities of the UnderworldCoastwatch OzRSPCA Animal Rescue- ''This Rugged Coast''
Drama
A Touch of FrostDoc MartinDownton AbbeyEndeavourFather BrownFoyle's WarHeartbeatThe Indian DoctorInspector George GentlyThe Inspector Lynley MysteriesInspector MorseJudge John DeedThe Last DetectiveMurdoch MysteriesRosemary & ThymeGame shows
The Chase UKLifestyle
60 Minute MakeoverAuction SquadBargain HuntBest House on the StreetBest Houses AustraliaBetter Homes and GardensCreek to CoastEscape to the ContinentEscape to the CountryThe Great South EastHarry's PracticeHomes Under the HammerThe Lucky CountryMelbourne WeekenderMighty Cruise ShipsQueensland WeekenderSelling Houses AustraliaSydney Weekender- ''WA Weekender''
Lottery
Monday LottoOz Lotto Tuesday Wednesday Lotto Powerball Thursday- '' Saturday Lotto''
News
NBC Meet the Press- ''NBC Today''
Religious
Amazing FactsDavid JeremiahIt Is Written- ''Michael Youssef''
Sport
- The Cricket
- ''Horse Racing on Seven''
Former programming
Adult animation
- ''King of the Hill''
Children's
Action Man A.T.O.M. A.N.T. Farm Austin & Ally Avenger Penguins Beat Bugs The Book Place Bottersnikes and Gumbles Bubble Town Club Castaway Combo Niños Count Duckula Danger Mouse (1981) The DaVincibles The Deep Digimon Data Squad Dive Olly Dive Dog with a Blog Drop Dead Weird The Emperor's New School Erky Perky Flipper Flushed Get Arty Get Clever Ghosts of Time Good Luck Charlie Gravity Falls Hairy Legs Hannah Montana Harry's Mad History Hunters I Didn't Do It I'm in the Band In Your Dreams It's Academic Jessie JONAS Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil Kickin' It Kitty is Not a Cat Lab Rats Lab Rats Challenge Larry the Wonderpup Legend of Enyo Liv and Maddie Match It Motown Magic News of the Wild Mighty Med Oh Yuck! Pair of Kings Phineas and Ferb Power Rangers: Jungle Fury Power Rangers: Mystic Force Power Rangers: Operation Overdrive Power Rangers RPM PrankStars Press Gang Pucca The Replacements Sally Bollywood: Super Detective Saturday Disney Sea Princesses Shake It Up Sonny with a Chance So Random! Spit It Out Stitch! Tashi Teenage Fairytale Dropouts Trapped Treasure Island Ultimate Spider-Man Victor and Hugo: Bunglers in Crime The Wild Adventures of Blinky Bill The Wind in the Willows Win, Lose or Draw Wizards of Waverly Place The Woodlies Woof! Yin Yang Yo! Zeke and Luther Zeke's Pad- ''ZooMoo''
Preschool
All for Kids The Fairies Handy Manny Jay's Jungle Lah-Lah's Adventures Larry the Lawnmower Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Pipsqueaks Raggs- ''Toybox''
Comedy
AlfAre You Being Served?As Time Goes ByThe Benny Hill ShowBewitchedBig BiteBless Me, FatherCitizen KhanDad's Army Designing WomenDoctor at LargeDoctor at SeaDoctor in ChargeFather TedFawlty TowersThe Fenn Street GangFortysomethingFull HouseGavin & Stacey George and MildredGrowing PainsHead of the ClassI Dream of JeannieKeeping Up AppearancesKingswood CountryLove Thy NeighbourM*A*S*HMad About You Man About the HouseMen Behaving BadlyMother and SonMurphy BrownOne Foot in the GravePerfect StrangersPlease Sir!Samantha Who?ScrubsSome Mothers Do 'Ave 'EmStep By StepThat '70s ShowUgly Betty- ''Who's The Boss?''
Documentary
10 Things You Didn't Know About...Beyond TomorrowChris Tarrant: Extreme RailwaysCoastwatch NZCountry CalendarThe First 48Forensic InvestigatorsGlobe TrekkerThe Great Australian DoorstepI Shouldn't Be AliveIn The Bush with Malcolm DouglasIndia with Sanjeev BhaskarInfamous AssassinationsInside Maximum SecurityLife Inside the MarketsMan Made MarvelsMichael Palin's New EuropeOlympians – Off the RecordSCU: Serious Crash Unit- ''Super Factories''
Drama
24 A Place to Call HomeAll SaintsBand of BrothersBetween The LinesThe BillBlack Sheep SquadronBlue HeelersBody of ProofBrothers & SistersCastleChicago FireCold CaseColumboCommander in ChiefCriminal MindsDangerfieldDesperate HousewivesDirty Sexy MoneyDoctor FinlayDown to EarthEli StoneEmpireFive Mile CreekFor LifeFortysomethingGrey’s AnatomyHart to HartHeroesHolbyBlueHow to Get Away with MurderIn JusticeJonathan CreekKingdomKingsKojakThe LakesLewisLife BeginsLostMagnum, P.I.MercyMinderMistressesMoonlightingMr SelfridgeMurder, She WroteOnce Upon a TimeThe PacificPrivate PracticeRevengeRoyal PainsSharkThe ShieldSix Feet UnderThe SopranosStargate AtlantisThe UnitWaking the Dead- ''Without a Trace''
Lifestyle
Ainsley's Big Cook OutAntonio Carluccio's Southern Italian FeastAustralia's Best BackyardsAustralia's Best HousesBeautiful Homes & Great EstatesChefs at SeaChing's KitchenCoastal KitchenCoxy's Big BreakDinner in a BoxDiscover TasmaniaEssence of EmerilThe F Word Fantasy Homes by the SeaFriends For DinnerGardeners' WorldGary Rhodes' Cookery YearGary Rhodes' Local Food HeroesGiorgio Locatelli Pure ItalianGoing BushThe Great OutdoorsThe Hairy Bikers' CookbookThe Hook and the CookHot PropertyHow Not to DecorateIntolerant CooksJames Martin: Yorkshire's FinestJamie's Outdoor RoomLyndey Milan's Taste of AustraliaMake My Home BiggerThe Martha Stewart ShowMercurio's MenuRestaurant AustraliaRoom for ImprovementSA Life FavouritesThe Travel BugTravel OzGame shows
Deal or No Deal- ''The Master''
Light entertainment
Breaking the Magician's Code: Magic's Secrets RevealedBritain's Best DishClub RepsThe Emeril Lagasse ShowI Survived a Japanese Game ShowKidspeakSellOutReality
American GladiatorsAnimal AirportAnimal SquadBeauty and the Geek AustraliaThe BorderBorder Security USABorderlineCheatersDancing with the Stars AustraliaDestroyed in SecondsDisorderly Conduct: Caught on TapeDog PatrolDog SquadDownsize Me!Drug BustFifth GearFour in a BedHighway PatrolHouse DoctorLast Chance LearnersMake Me A Supermodel USThe Mole Monster GarageMonster HouseNeighbours at WarThe Real SeachangeRestaurant RevolutionSoap opera
All My Children Coronation StreetEmmerdaleheadLandHollyoaks Home and Away: The Early Years Shortland StreetSport
The Davis CupFINA World Swimming ChampionshipsOlympics on Seven- ''Paralympics on Seven''
Others
Adventure GolfAinsley's Gourmet ExpressAmerica's Court with Judge RossAnimal AcademyAround The World in Eighty TradesAustralia's Wild SecretsBarry Humphries' FlashbacksBazaarCops, Cars and SuperstarsCowboy BuildersEscape to the SunThe Food TruckHuman Body: Pushing the LimitsThe Jonathan Ross ShowJourney of a LifetimeLeading The Way with Dr Michael YoussefLeyland Brothers' WorldLive Healthy, Be HappyMaigretMcCallumMedical RookiesMegaStructuresMighty ShipsMurphy's LawMy Shocking StoryThe Naked ChefNaked CityNick's BistroNight CourtNorthNot Going OutNWA: On FireOne Foot in the GraveOnly Fools And HorsesOpen All HoursOutback Wildlife RescuePelican's ProgressThe People's CookbookPie in the SkyPlaying TricksPrime SuspectThe ProfessionalsRamsay's Boiling PointRebusRhodes Across IndiaRick Stein's Food HeroesRick Stein's Seafood Lovers' GuideRiver CityRomeRoute 66The RoyalRoyal Upstairs DownstairsRuth Rendell MysteriesSafari ChefScotland RevealedSecond SightSeconds From DisasterSimply BakingSophie's Sunshine FoodSouthStreet CafeStrikeforceStyle By JuryThe SweeneyTaggartTake on the TakeawayTamasin's WeekendsThe Tanner BrothersTasteThat's My BoyTin ManTo The Manor BowenTwo's CompanyThe UnitUpstairs, DownstairsValerie / The Hogan FamilyVeraViciousWedding PlannerWhat A Carry On!What About BrianWhen Weather Changed HistoryThe WhistleblowersWild Harvest with Nick NairnWilliam and Mary (TV series)World's Toughest FixesWorld War II: The Lost Films- ''Wycliffe''
News
From launch until early 2013, 7two re-aired all daytime and prime-time national Seven News updates, no more than two commercial breaks after their original broadcast on the main Seven channel. These were all produced in Seven's Sydney news studio and presented by either Chris Bath or Mark Ferguson.On 5 August 2013, a national news bulletin began airing on 7two, titled Seven News at 7, airing at 7:00pm Monday to Friday. It was presented by Melissa Doyle, with David Brown on weather. Many months after the Nine Network's rival 7pm bulletin on 9Gem had ended, 7two aired their last Seven News At 7 bulletin on 2 May 2014.
Sport
Additional coverage of sports on 7two extends to equestrian racing events.In 2010, 7two broadcast classic AFL and Australian Open tennis matches from the Seven archives between midnight and dawn.
7two televised live coverage of tennis tournament Wimbledon for the first time in 2011, first going to air at 8:30pm AEST on 7two whilst the primary channel continued normal programming before switching over to Seven at around 10.30pm. This practice has continued each year since.
Between 2012 and 2018, 7two televised smaller tennis tournaments from Seven's Summer of Tennis, including the Brisbane International, the Sydney International and the Kooyong Classic. This allowed Seven's main channel to continue with normal programming. From 2015 to 2018, 7two started providing secondary coverage of the Australian Open for the first week.
In August 2016, 7two broadcast the 2016 Summer Olympics and 2016 Summer Paralympics from Rio de Janeiro in September.
Availability
7two is available in standard definition and also in high definition through Seven Network owned-and-operated stations including ATN Sydney, HSV Melbourne, BTQ Brisbane, SAS Adelaide, TVW Perth, STQ Queensland, Northern NSW & Gold Coast, Southern NSW & ACT, Regional Victoria, Mildura and Western Australia. As well as this, Seven also broadcasts the service through TNT Tasmania and TND Darwin. WIN Television Griffith launched 7two on 5 June 2012, the day of the analogue switch off. Seven in began broadcasting in January 2012 and Regional WA soon followed.Logo and identity history
7two began transmission on 1 November 2009. Following the launch, the logo uses the generic Seven logo in an orange colour scheme, with the word "TWO" being added next to it. Despite the main logo being slightly changed in 2016, this logo is still in use as a secondary logo. On 24 January 2016, to coincide with new on-air presentation, 7TWO modified their 2009 logo slightly by downsizing the Seven logo.On 24 July 2020, just days after 7mate's rebrand, 7TWO unveiled their new logo for the first time since its launch in 2009. The word "TWO" is now in a different font with the letters becoming lowercase to be now known as 7two. It was part of the Seven Network’s major rebrand of their multichannels.
Slogans
- 2009–2010: It's Time
- 2010–2012: To Inspire, To Solve, To Laugh
- 2012–2016: You Belong
- 2016–2020: ''Can Do''