December 1988 / January – Young Talent Time was rested by Network Ten during the Cricket / Australian Open season[citation needed]. One week into January 1989 the network announced that the show would not return. Reasons given for YTT's axing are very bad ratings. It was unable to match its rivals from Seven or Nine.
6 February – The Afternoon Show (1987–1993) returns to the ABC for another year with a brand new lineup of two programmes presented by James Valentine. The two programmes include the debut of the British children's animated series Count Duckula and a repeat of the very first episode of Doctor Who to feature Tom Baker, Robot.
11 February – Long running Australian soap opera Home and Away starts airing in the UK for the very first time on ITV.
13 February – Australian investigative journalism/current affairs program Four Corners (1961–present) returns to the ABC for another year with Andrew Olle as presenter once again.
28 February – A brand new live comedy series The Big Gig premieres on ABC (1989–1992).
28 February – Australian miniseries Edens Lost debuts on ABC at 8:30pm. The series only ran for three episodes and was shown on three days and one week with a budget of only $A3.9 million.
6 March – The Adventures of Spot, a British children's animated TV series based on the books by Eric Hill and aimed at pre-schoolers, debuts on the ABC.
7 March – Australian drama series G.P. (1989–1996) debuts on the ABC.
13 March – Australian version of the children's game show Double Dare (1989–1992) airs on Network Ten.
15 March – First episode of the new Australian police drama Police Rescue (1989–1996) airs on the ABC.
23 March – Long running Australian soap opera Home and Away begins airing on British forces television on BFBS and SSVC Television. The networks have transmitted the show in a range of countries including Germany, Cyprus and the Falkland Islands.
8 May – Australian media analysis television program Media Watch (1989–2000, 2002–present) presented by Stuart Littlemore debuts on the ABC airing on Monday nights.
26 May – Neighbours launches a newly revised theme song, with an overload of new cast members who will be "boned" or "suspended" from the soap indefinitely between now and 1994. Between August and November 1989 Neighbours suffered poor ratings with 290,000 national viewers compared to Seven's Home and Away 1,500,000 nationally. The new-look and re-recorded Neighbours theme was again sung by Barry Crocker, which was used until mid-1992.
13 June – Australian children's sitcom Pugwall (1989–1991) debuts on the Nine Network.
16 June – SBS launches a new television series called Eat Carpet (1989–2005). Hosted by Annette Shun Wah who was also the host of SBS's other television series MC Tee Vee and The Noise
3 July – A new nightly version of the former long-running weekly Australian music television show Countdown airs on ABC with a new title Countdown Revolution hosted by Andy McLean, Lisa Collins and Daniel Woods. The show itself received a modest following and was axed the following year.
22 July – American animated series ThunderCats airs on Seven Network in Victoria for the first time.
23 July – After poor ratings, disgraced[citation needed] network Network Ten is relaunched as 10 TV Australia, introducing a new lineup with increased game show content. Most of the new shows are axed by the end of the year following bad ratings.
29 July – Australian game show The Price is Right, again hosted by Ian Turpie, returns to television airing on 10 TV Australia at 7:30pm on Saturdays as part of the network's attempted revamp. Despite the show returning, only 12 episodes were lasted in the face of stiff competition of AFL coverage on most-watched[citation needed] rival Channel Seven.
September – Network Ten is sold to Steve Cosser, head of Broadcom Australia, for $22 million.[citation needed]
9 October – Neighbours, Australian television's long running soap opera has been snapped up for television broadcasting in Germany when the series begins airing on Sat. 1 with the title beginning translated to Nachbarn.
November – Jacki MacDonald quits Hey Hey It's Saturday after 11 years. McDonald is replaced by Denise Drysdale when the show returns in 1990.
17 November – Australian dating game show Perfect Match airs its final episode on 10 TV Australia. The show was cancelled due to poor ratings, failing to match the success of its 1984 series, which broke records for 5:30pm.
31 December – Phase 2 of Aggregation of Television services occurs in Orange & Wagga Wagga, with aggregation occurring in Wollongong and Canberra in March.
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.
Hill Street Blues
Minder
ThunderCats
Sea Urchins