Editing Nine Network (section)

===Origins===
The Nine Network's first broadcasting station was launched in Sydney, New South Wales, as [[TCN-9]] on 16 September 1956 by ''[[The Daily Telegraph (Sydney)|The Daily Telegraph]]'' owner [[Frank Packer]].

John Godson introduced the station and former advertising executive [[Bruce Gyngell]] presented the first programme, ''This Is Television'' (so becoming the first person to appear on Australian television). Later that year, [[GTV (Australia)|GTV]]-9 in Melbourne commenced transmissions to broadcast the [[1956 Summer Olympics]], later forming the '''National Television Network''' alongside [[QTQ]]-9 in Brisbane in 1959 and [[NWS (TV station)|NWS]]-9 in Adelaide, the basis of the current Nine Network, in 1959. Before its formation, TCN-9 was then affiliated with [[HSV (TV station)|HSV]]-7 (because alongside the [[Seven Network]], they were both Australia's first television stations, having opened in 1956),<ref>{{Cite web |year=2008 |title=Hey You! |url=http://www.classicaustraliantv.com/HeyYou.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120321184726/http://www.classicaustraliantv.com/HeyYou.htm |archive-date=2012-03-21 |access-date=2012-02-22 |website=Classic Australian Television}}</ref> and GTV-9's sister affiliate was [[ATN]]-7.

The network, by 1967, had begun calling itself the '''National Nine Network''', and became simply the '''Nine Network Australia''' in 1987. [[Kerry Packer]] inherited the company after his father's death in 1974. Before the official conversion to colour on 1 March 1975, it was the first Australian television station to regularly screen programmes in colour with the first program to use it premiering in 1971{{citation needed|date=September 2017}}, the very year [[NTD (Australian TV station)|NTD]]-8 in [[Darwin, Northern Territory|Darwin]] commenced.

The [[New South Wales Rugby Football League]] <!-- (NSWRFL) --> grand final of 1967 became the first football grand final of any code to be televised live nationally. The Nine Network paid $5,000 ({{Inflation|AU|5,000|1967|r=-3|fmt=eq}}) to attain the broadcasting rights.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Masters |first=Roy |date=4 October 2009 |title=Messenger can watch a better league broadcast in the US than south of the border |work=Brisbane Times |publisher=Fairfax Digital |url=http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/business/messenger-can-watch-a-better-league-broadcast-in-the-us-than-south-of-the-border-20091004-ghve.html |url-status=live |access-date=2009-05-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091007142959/http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/business/messenger-can-watch-a-better-league-broadcast-in-the-us-than-south-of-the-border-20091004-ghve.html |archive-date=2009-10-07}}</ref>

Nine Network station [[STW]]-9 Perth, which opened in 1965, became [[owned-and-operated station]] when [[Alan Bond]] purchased the network for one billion dollars in 1987, a deal that became effective after government approvals in 1988. However, in 1989, Bond Media sold the station to [[Sunraysia Television]] for [[Australian dollar|A$]]95 million, due to the federal cross-media ownership laws which restricted the level of national reach for media owners.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Webb |first=Richard |date=20 April 1989 |title=Sunraysia settles STW-9 purchase |work=Australian Financial Review}}</ref> Nine, which then also included Channel 9 in Brisbane, fell back into the hands of Kerry Packer after Alan Bond's bankruptcy in 1992.

On 1 March 2011, GTV 9 Melbourne moved from 22 Bendigo Street, Richmond, to 717 Bourke Street, Docklands. 22 Bendigo Street started out as the Wertheim Piano Factory, then became the Heinz Soup Factory, then GTV9. The building in Bendigo Street still stands, now as luxury apartments.