The first of these third licences was granted to United Telecasters (a consortium of Amalgamated Wireless, Colonial Sugar Refining Company, Email, Bank of New South Wales and the NRMA) on 4 April 1963.

However, the network's true financial reprise came about due to the fact that the controversial adult soap opera serial Number 96 premiered in March 1972 on the night that "Australian TV lost its virginity".

The gradual evolution of Network Ten into its current form has its origins in the ongoing attempts by media mogul Rupert Murdoch to acquire a prized commercial television licence in Australia's largest capital city market, Sydney.

However, Westfield was badly hit by the stock market crash of 1987, and in 1989 sold Network Ten to a consortium led by Charles Curran and former television journalist Steve Cosser.

Northern Star officially took hold of TVQ-10 later in the year because of swapping frequencies with neighbouring DDQ-0 in Toowoomba and rebranded CTC Canberra under the network banner in time for aggregation.

However, by the end of 1989, the ratings failed to improve and most of the new programs were cancelled, except for its Eyewitness News bulletins, Neighbours and E Street (debuting in late 1988).

The company was subject to an inquiry by the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal in relation to media ownership rules and had run into financial difficulties following the 1987 stock market crash two years earlier.

The proposals included selling off the network's three smaller stations (ADS in Adelaide, NEW in Perth and CTC in Canberra) to Charles Curran's Capital Television Group.

In 2005, Canwest was in discussions with newspaper publisher John Fairfax Holdings about a possible sale of the network, after the federal government indicated it may consider relaxing Australia's media cross-ownership laws.

On 21 August 2005, the network celebrated its 40th birthday with a two-hour highlights package called Ten: Seriously 40, which was hosted by Bert Newton and Rove McManus.

In late 2009, Canwest filed for creditor bankruptcy protection, due to CA$4 billion mounting debt across radio, television broadcasting and publishing assets in several countries.

[14] On 20 October 2010, four years after he sold his shares in PBL Media to private equity firm CVC Asia Pacific, James Packer purchased 16 per cent of Ten.

Ten launched Spree TV, an Australian free-to-air datacasting television channel mainly carrying paid programming and home shopping, on 17 September 2013, on LCN 15,[22] with Brand Developers.

[24] On 15 June 2015, Foxtel (co-owned by News Corp) bought 15% shares in Ten Network Holdings, pending approval from the ACCC.

Ten subsequently negotiated a five-year affiliation deal with WIN;[28][29] the new affiliations took effect on 1 July, with WIN becoming the carrier of Network Ten programming in regional Queensland, Northern NSW, Southern NSW, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, Western Australia, the Australian Capital Territory and the Gold Coast.

[36] On 13 June, Ten asked the Australian Securities Exchange that their stock be placed in a 48-hour trading halt while it assessed its options concerning receivership.

[50] CBS also moved to re-establish an in-house advertising sales department for 2019, bringing to an end Ten's four-year period with the Foxtel-affiliated Multi Channel Network (MCN).

[60] The following month, it was announced that the former Viacom channels in Australia would be brought under the Network 10 sales department, moving away from Foxtel Media (formerly MCN) in April.

[61][62] Network 10 also began to co-commission new programmes with Channel 5, including the drama miniseries Lie With Me and documentary series The Royals Revealed.

The network carries children's programmes in the daytime hours (drawing primarily television from Nickelodeon), while evening and primetime hours will feature "edgy" series and films targeting young adults, including television programmes from Comedy Central and MTV, and CBS late-night talk show The Late Late Show with James Corden.

[66] In March 2021, 10 announced that it would return to Southern Cross Austereo as its regional affiliate in most markets beginning on 1 July 2021, in a deal that will last at least two years.

The network formerly broadcast catalogue movie and television titles from 20th Century Fox from 1980s to 1997 and 2007 to 2017, Regency Enterprises from 2015 to 2017, Sony Pictures produced in the 1990s prior to 2020, NBCUniversal from 1988 to 2016, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer from the late 1990s to 2004, Touchstone from 2017 to 2022, Roadshow from 1980s to 1990s and 2018 to 2024 and Lionsgate Films from 2019 to 2024.

This allows Network Ten the rights to air all CBS News footage, as well as access to its 60 Minutes, Dr. Phil, Late Show with David Letterman and 48 Hours programs.

From 2002, this was interspersed with a loop of high definition demonstration material during business hours, for viewing in the showrooms of television retailers, at the conclusion of an equivalent service by Network 10.

[107] ViacomCBS also announced that the second season of Five Bedrooms would premiere on Paramount Plus' launch date and that Australian original series including Spreadsheet, Last King of the Cross and movie 6 Festivals were in production for the platform.

[112][113][114] In 2023, Paramount+ released original series Last King of the Cross, One Night, NCIS: Sydney, The Betoota Advocate Presents, The Inspired Unemployed (Impractical) Jokers and movie The Appleton Ladies' Potato Race.

[citation needed] The Federal Minister for Communications, Senator Helen Coonan, was reported to have said that she would be keeping a "close watch on the show's 2006 series".

In two separate findings, the Australian Communications and Media Authority determined Network Ten breached clause 2.4 of the Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice.

[121] This incident generated significant publicity for the show, even prompting the Prime Minister of Australia to call on Network Ten to "do a bit of self-regulation and get this stupid program off the air.

The first version consisted of a white, silver or metallic ring enclosing a blue circle with "ten" in yellow lowercase text.