Indigenous Australian broadcaster NITV celebrates 10 years free-to-air

With support from the Anangu and community of Mutijulu, NITV will broadcast a special live event from Uluru.  Source / Pixabay.

Indigenous Australian television network, National Indigenous Television (NITV), is set to celebrate its 10-year anniversary as a free-to-air broadcaster.

On 12 December, it will be a decade since NITV launched free-to-air and began beaming into every Australian household as part of the SBS network. This followed an Australian government decision in 2012 to restructure the network – which was first established in 2007 and previously broadcast over cable service – following a wide-ranging review of Indigenous broadcasting. 

To mark the occasion, NITV will present a special live broadcast event – From the Heart of Our Nation, a celebration on NITV and SBS – at Uluru in Australia’s Northern Territory.

A line-up of some of Australia’s best Indigenous artists will come together to perform “in celebration of the strength, resilience and talent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and usher in another decade of Blak excellence,” an NITV statement says.

The event will be hosted by Wiradjuri man Luke Carroll (Big Mob Brekky, Play School, Redfern Now) and Whadjuk Noongar woman Narelda Jacobs (The Point, Studio 10) live from inside Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park at the foothills of Uluru, with support from the Anangu and the community of Mutijulu.

The anniversary celebrations will continue throughout summer, with an original line-up of NITV programming including a suite of news, food, entertainment, documentary and drama premieres.