MEDIA
Melbourne's two daily newspapers are the broadsheet The Age and the tabloid Herald-Sun. Two national newspapers are also available – The Australian (Monday to Saturday) and the Australian Financial Review (Monday to Saturday). All are widely distributed throughout Melbourne and regional Victoria.
In Melbourne, there is a handful of good free publications, including Beat and Inpress, two jam-packed indie music and entertainment magazines out each Wednesday. Duck into any good café, pub, music or clothes store and grab a copy. The populist MX newspaper, available each afternoon from Monday to Friday, offers a gushy mix of entertainment, sport and juicy gossip. You'll find it at train stations and major city street corners.
Aiming to raise awareness of social issues, The Big Issue Australia is sold in Melbourne, with part of the cover price supporting the homeless and unemployed. For international newspapers and magazines, head to Mags Nation (88 Elizabeth Street in the CBD) or Borders in either Melbourne Central in the city centre or The Jam Factory at 500 Chapel Street, South Yarra.
Radio
Melbourne has a host of commercial and community radio stations. The best of a pretty broad bunch are the various Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) stations (try ABC Radio National on 621 for news and current affairs or Triple J on 107.5 for alternative rock), and community stations 3RRR (102.7) and 3PBS (106.7) for funk, reggae, death metal, techno, esoterica, the works.
Televison
Compared to the US or Italy, Australian TV won’t blow your mind. The commercial stations (Channel 7, Channel 9 and Channel 10) broadcast a steady diet of reality TV, chatty news reports, talk shows, soaps, game shows, sport (including live Aussie Rules), drama and movies. Slightly more upmarket, the national broadcaster ABC (Channel 2) screens mostly quality British drama and sitcoms, comedy and current affairs. The most diverse station is SBS (Channel 28), which broadcasts in more languages (60+) across SBS TV, Radio and Online than other network in the world. SBS TV broadcast innovative local comedies, in-depth current affairs, foreign-language news, drama and films, and has excellent coverage of international sport, especially soccer. SBS has its Melbourne studios situated at Federation Square just behind the Melbourne Visitor Centre.
Australia's two pay TV stations, Foxtel and Optus, attract a monthly fee and offer myriad programming choices. A number of Melbourne pubs have pay TV subscriptions, and screen live sporting events, including Super 12 rugby and English Premier League soccer.
Melbourne is home to one of Australia's most successful media exports, television series Neighbours, which has been running since 1985 and has been sold to 57 countries around the world.
Melbourne also hosted the following internationally acclaimed TV mini-series, The Pacific (2010) and Nightmares and Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King (2006).
Film
Melbourne is the birthplace of Australian film and television as well as the world's first feature film, The Story of Ned Kelly, made in Melbourne in 1906.
International films made in Victoria include: Orange (2010), Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2010), Where the Wild Things Are (2009), Ghost Rider (2007) Charlotte's Web (2006), Salaam Namaste (2005), Queen of the Damned (2002), Chopper (2000), Mad Max (1979), and On the Beach (1957).
