Throughout this time, the stations operated independently of each other, with schedules made up of various simple, and relatively inexpensive, programs, such as Pick a Box and spinoffs of popular radio shows.

[10] In the early 1960s, coaxial cable links, formed initially between Sydney and Melbourne, allowed the sharing of programmes and simultaneous broadcasts of live shows.

[14] Neighbours began on Seven in 1985, but low ratings in Sydney led to the cancellation of the new series at the end of the year, which later moved to Network Ten and went on to achieve international success.

[14] Perth based businessman Robert Holmes à Court, through his business the Bell Group, bought TVW-7 from its original owners, West Australian Newspapers in 1982.

[14] Cross-media ownership laws introduced in 1987 forced Fairfax to choose between its print and television operations – it chose the former, and later sold off its stations to Qintex Ltd., owned by businessman Christopher Skase.

[11] Real Life, a national current-affairs programme hosted by Stan Grant, similar in format to the Nine Network's A Current Affair, was launched in 1992 but was later replaced by the more successful Today Tonight.

[19][20] A successful $1.3 billion bid for United Artists was made in conjunction with Kirk Kerkorian in 1996; the network sold its stake two years later for $US389 million.

[25] However, 7HD became the first free-to-air commercial television channel introduced to metropolitan areas since 1988, when it launched prior on 15 October 2007, with 25th Hour being the first programme broadcast at 10:30 pm.

[31] In September 2011, Seven broadcast a report featuring journalist Tim Noonan and writer and adventurer Paul Raffaele visiting Brazil's Suruwaha tribe and describing them as child murderers, "Stone Age" relics, and "one of the worst human rights violators in the world".

After the channel refused to correct the inaccuracies in the program, Survival filed a complaint at the Australian Communications and Media Authority, who opened a formal investigation.

The ACMA ruled that the Channel was guilty of breaking its racism clause – having "provoked or perpetuated intense dislike, serious contempt or severe ridicule against the Suruwaha people on the grounds of ... national or ethnic origin ... race [or] religion".

[39][40] Sydney, Brisbane and Perth temporarily received 7HD as a simulcast of the primary channel for the duration of the 2016 Summer Olympics before the change was made permanent during and after the 2017 Australian Open tennis.

The change in logos also included their on demand platform 7plus now stylised as ″7+″ as part of a major branding overhaul of its multi channel stations.

The first edition went to air live at 5.30am on 24 July 2023, with hosts Natalie Barr and Matt Shirvington, newsreader Edwina Bartholomew and sports presenter Mark Beretta, followed by The Morning Show's Larry Emdur and Kylie Gillies.

This raised public criticism, with many arguing that the entire tournament should be free-to-air, as was the 2022 (men's) World Cup in Qatar, on SBS Television.

[63][64] On 22 January 2024, TVSN and Seven West Media signed a new broadcast deal, which means the channel will be on Seven from 1 July 2024, shifting from 10 and WIN Television.

[65][66] On 14 April 2024, the network was under-fired for misidentification of Jewish student named Ben Cohen as the perpetrator of 2024 Bondi Junction stabbings[67][68] Always Greener, launched in 2001, received two million viewers in its Sunday timeslot, however, it was axed after its second season due to declining audience numbers.

[69] In 2004, Seven launched the internationally well-known game show Deal or No Deal hosted by Andrew O'Keefe, to the 5.30 pm weekday timeslot as a lead-in to the networks' struggling flagship news bulletin replacing the network's long-running and ever-popular Wheel Of Fortune as the show moves to 5pm weekdays, and later in the year Dancing with the Stars, based on the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing, was also launched.

The following year, a number of new programmes premiered, from the United States network ABC, including Desperate Housewives and Lost.

[80] From 2010, the Seven Network began to implement the tactic of creating a five to 20-minute delay in the scheduled start time of non-live programming after 7:30 pm in an attempt to minimise viewer channel surfing between prime-time shows.

The network formerly broadcast catalogue movie and television titles from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer produced in the 1990s prior to 2011, Disney from 1980s to 2023, Miramax from 2007 to 2012, DreamWorks from 2007 to 2015, and Paramount from the 1990s to 2022.

During the early hours of 4 am to 6 am, Seven rebroadcasts some of American television network NBC's news and current affairs programming, including Today and Meet the Press.

[84] The network had the exclusive coverage of the 2000 Sydney Olympics, which attracted a TV audience of over 6.5 million Australians for the opening and closing ceremonies.

[85] Seven had exclusive Australian free-to-air, pay television, online and mobile telephony broadcast rights to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

In stark contrast, SBS TV provided complementary coverage focused on long-form events such as soccer, road cycling, volleyball, and table tennis.

by Verizon Communications in June 2017, Seven announced plans to launch a wholly owned standalone service to replace PLUS7 within the following six months.

[95] AFL Premiership Season and Cricket matches are not accessible through the 7plus live streaming service due to the digital broadcast rights being owned by Telstra Media and Kayo Sports respectively.

Border Security International repeats play on the channel's live stream in the event's place until the match is over and then returns to normal programming.

[95] Some titles were exclusively available in Australia on PLUS7, including Other Space and Sin City Saints, as well as the British version of My Kitchen Rules, which were not broadcast on the Seven Network.

The ribbon logo was used between 2000 and 2003 in five colour variants: red, orange, yellow, green and blue, to symbolise passion, involving, fun, life and energy respectively and represents the five stations of the network.