24 January – Ten launches Richmond Hill, a
Grundy Organisation production, created by
Reg Watson. Billed as a sister-soap to Neighbours, it airs on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 19:30-20:30.
January – Five months after Countdown's demise, Molly Meldrum returns to television and joins Nine's Hey Hey It's Saturday as part of the weekly Molly's Melodrama segment.
18 January – A Current Affair launches on the Nine Network after a ten-year absence, hosted by
Jana Wendt.
24 January –
Network Ten unveils new logo, the "X" logo.
26 March – In Neighbours,
Daphne Clarke becomes the first character in history[citation needed] to die to do so after being in a coma in a car crash four months earlier.
28 March – The
ABC's current affairs program Four Corners presents a television special called Wither the ABC? which was a debate over the future direction of the national broadcaster. Hosted by
Andrew Olle there will be interviews with ABC managing director
David Hill,
Gareth Evans,
Max Walsh,
Terry Hayes,
Peter Luck and Ted Thomas.
25 April – The 10:30 pm timeslot becomes an unlikely battle ground as
Graham Kennedy returns to the
Nine Network after a 13 years absence to co-host Graham Kennedy's News Show (re-titled Graham Kennedy's Coast to Coast when the show returns for 1989) up against
Seven Network's Newsworld with Clive Robertson and
Network Ten's Late Night Australia with
Don Lane.
29 April – QSTV (now
Seven Central) starts broadcasting to
remote Eastern Australia via satellite.
20 May –
Perth's third commercial television station
NEW-10 opens, giving Perth the same number of stations as the eastern states.
June – After six months of middling ratings, Ten Network cancels struggling soap opera, Richmond Hill, with production ending later in the year. Coincidentally, the new serial had just been purchased by the ITV network for broadcast in the United Kingdom.
17 July – In Neighbours, this was Charlene Robinson's final episode.
Kylie Minogue leaves the show to focus on her recently launched recording career.
10 September – Brisbane's TVQ-0 becomes
TVQ-10. On the same day,
Toowoomba's DDQ-10 became
DDQ-0.
3 October – Long running Australian soap opera Home and Away starts airing on
Network 2 (originally RTÉ2) in Ireland.
5 October – Ten Network's soap opera, Richmond Hill, launches on the ITV network in Britain. Originally intended to air early evening across the country, its cancellation in Australia leads to it airing in a graveyard mid-afternoon slot and it makes no impact whatsoever.
24-25 October – In Neighbours, Mrs. Mangel marries Englishman John Worthington, immigrate to the UK and lived happily ever after.
31 October – The British long running science fiction series Doctor Who returns to the
ABC with the very first serial of
Season 24Time and the Rani, which marked the first episode to star
Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor. Because the show is no longer airing at an early evening timeslot, it now airs as part of the hit weekday afternoon magazine series The Afternoon Show at 5:30 pm. The show will also end on 23 November with the last part of
Remembrance of the Daleks to celebrate the series' 25th anniversary.
November – Australian soap opera Home and Away airs on television in Canada for the first time on the country's already newly launched cable television channel
YTV.
4 November – In Neighbours, Bronwyn Davies (Rachel Friend) and Henry Ramsay (Craig McLachlan) get together.
This is a list of programs which made their premiere on an Australian television network that had previously premiered on another Australian television network. The networks involved in the switch of allegiances are predominantly both free-to-air networks or both
subscription television networks. Programs that have their free-to-air/subscription television premiere, after previously premiering on the opposite platform (free-to air to subscription/subscription to free-to air) are not included. In some cases, programs may still air on the original television network. This occurs predominantly with programs shared between subscription television networks.
24 January – Ten launches Richmond Hill, a
Grundy Organisation production, created by
Reg Watson. Billed as a sister-soap to Neighbours, it airs on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 19:30-20:30.
January – Five months after Countdown's demise, Molly Meldrum returns to television and joins Nine's Hey Hey It's Saturday as part of the weekly Molly's Melodrama segment.
18 January – A Current Affair launches on the Nine Network after a ten-year absence, hosted by
Jana Wendt.
24 January –
Network Ten unveils new logo, the "X" logo.
26 March – In Neighbours,
Daphne Clarke becomes the first character in history[citation needed] to die to do so after being in a coma in a car crash four months earlier.
28 March – The
ABC's current affairs program Four Corners presents a television special called Wither the ABC? which was a debate over the future direction of the national broadcaster. Hosted by
Andrew Olle there will be interviews with ABC managing director
David Hill,
Gareth Evans,
Max Walsh,
Terry Hayes,
Peter Luck and Ted Thomas.
25 April – The 10:30 pm timeslot becomes an unlikely battle ground as
Graham Kennedy returns to the
Nine Network after a 13 years absence to co-host Graham Kennedy's News Show (re-titled Graham Kennedy's Coast to Coast when the show returns for 1989) up against
Seven Network's Newsworld with Clive Robertson and
Network Ten's Late Night Australia with
Don Lane.
29 April – QSTV (now
Seven Central) starts broadcasting to
remote Eastern Australia via satellite.
20 May –
Perth's third commercial television station
NEW-10 opens, giving Perth the same number of stations as the eastern states.
June – After six months of middling ratings, Ten Network cancels struggling soap opera, Richmond Hill, with production ending later in the year. Coincidentally, the new serial had just been purchased by the ITV network for broadcast in the United Kingdom.
17 July – In Neighbours, this was Charlene Robinson's final episode.
Kylie Minogue leaves the show to focus on her recently launched recording career.
10 September – Brisbane's TVQ-0 becomes
TVQ-10. On the same day,
Toowoomba's DDQ-10 became
DDQ-0.
3 October – Long running Australian soap opera Home and Away starts airing on
Network 2 (originally RTÉ2) in Ireland.
5 October – Ten Network's soap opera, Richmond Hill, launches on the ITV network in Britain. Originally intended to air early evening across the country, its cancellation in Australia leads to it airing in a graveyard mid-afternoon slot and it makes no impact whatsoever.
24-25 October – In Neighbours, Mrs. Mangel marries Englishman John Worthington, immigrate to the UK and lived happily ever after.
31 October – The British long running science fiction series Doctor Who returns to the
ABC with the very first serial of
Season 24Time and the Rani, which marked the first episode to star
Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor. Because the show is no longer airing at an early evening timeslot, it now airs as part of the hit weekday afternoon magazine series The Afternoon Show at 5:30 pm. The show will also end on 23 November with the last part of
Remembrance of the Daleks to celebrate the series' 25th anniversary.
November – Australian soap opera Home and Away airs on television in Canada for the first time on the country's already newly launched cable television channel
YTV.
4 November – In Neighbours, Bronwyn Davies (Rachel Friend) and Henry Ramsay (Craig McLachlan) get together.
This is a list of programs which made their premiere on an Australian television network that had previously premiered on another Australian television network. The networks involved in the switch of allegiances are predominantly both free-to-air networks or both
subscription television networks. Programs that have their free-to-air/subscription television premiere, after previously premiering on the opposite platform (free-to air to subscription/subscription to free-to air) are not included. In some cases, programs may still air on the original television network. This occurs predominantly with programs shared between subscription television networks.