100 Years of Broadcast TV: Reflecting on its Impact and Future in Australia

RMIT University's Streaming Industries and Genres Network (SIGN) proudly presents the 100 Years of Broadcast TV Symposium, reflecting on the impact of the broadcast signal across media and communication industries in Australia.

Switching off broadcast TV is already being debated in other markets, and this is no doubt going to be a question Australia will have to grapple with. But what do we stand to lose?

Australia was a latecomer to broadcast television in 1956, 30 years after John Logie Baird’s first public demonstration of a true television broadcast signal in 1926. Broadcast TV disrupted existing news, media and entertainment to form a billion-dollar industry engaging and assembling audiences and reaching into every part of Australia, from cities to remote communities.

But the disruptor has become the disrupted. Streaming, social media and countless media convergences have irrevocably changed the broadcast TV industry.

This symposium brings together experts in television production, news, advertising, and policy to discuss the burning question: what happens if we switch off broadcast TV?

Across one day we explore this deliberately provocative question through a keynote address by Professor Jock Given from Swinburne, and expert panels drawn from television production, news, advertising, and policy, plus RMIT's Dr. Alexa Scarlata, Dr. Damien O'Meara, Dr. Josie Vine, Associate Professor John Tebbutt, and Professor Lisa Waller.

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100 Years of Broadcast TV: Reflecting on its Impact and Future in Australia

Icon / Small / Calendar Created with Sketch. 06 Feb 2026
Icon / Small / Location Created with Sketch. Melbourne

RMIT University's Streaming Industries and Genres Network (SIGN) proudly presents the 100 Years of Broadcast TV Symposium, reflecting on the impact of the broadcast signal across media and communication industries in Australia.

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Creative Antarctica: Australian Artists and Writers in the Far South

Icon / Small / Calendar Created with Sketch. 20 Feb 2026 - 02 May 2026

'Creative Antarctica' is a multifaceted exhibition featuring Australian artists and writers who have been influenced by their observations and experiences of the Far South.

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Acknowledgement of Country

RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Sentient' by Hollie Johnson, Gunaikurnai and Monero Ngarigo.

Learn more about our commitment to Indigenous cultures