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ABC Entertains

ABC Entertains is an Australian English language general entertainment free-to-air television channel owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It was launched on 4 December 2009 as a children's channel called ABC3. It was rebranded on 19 September 2016 to ABC Me. It rebranded once more on 3 June 2024 to ABC Entertains, now focusing on general entertainment programming.

History

In September 2007, the Australian government announced a proposal to launch a new digital-only children's channel, ABC3. A new ABC channel appeared on television receivers on 11 February 2008, as a placeholder for the future ABC3 channel. ABC3 was considered by the Australia 2020 Summit and given as one of the recommendations to the Government. In April 2009, the Government's official response to the Summit approved the idea, and in the 2009–10 Commonwealth Budget $67 million was allocated towards ABC3 as part of the Government's $167 million funding increase to the ABC. The channel would aim to feature at least 50% Australian-produced content. It was not constrained by a local content quota.

On 18 June 2009, the corporation began its first public ABC3 campaign to scout for new hosting talent. On 22 October 2009, eight presenters were announced. Amberley Lobo and Kayne Tremills would host Studio 3, with Ben Crawley as a roving reporter, he later joined the show What Do You Know? alongside Dr Rhythm. Scott Tweedie would host Prank Patrol, while Hannah Wang and Mitchell Tomlinson were named as co-hosts of Rush TV and Stephanie Bendixsen and Steven O'Donnell were hosts of Good Game: Spawn Point, made for younger gamers, a spin-off of the ABC2 TV series Good Game, made for older gamers.

On 4 December 2009 at 5pm, the hour-long Countdown to 3 special was broadcast on the channel and was simulcast on ABC1. It featured special performances from Australian artists Cassie Davis and Short Stack, an introduction to various ABC3 presenters and shows and the station's launch around 6pm by then-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

In April 2011, James Elmer joined as co-host of Studio 3 along with Tremills and Lobo. On 4 December 2011, the winners from the MeOn3 contest were revealed as Alfie Gledhill and Olivia Phyland. On 14 September 2012, Alfie left Studio 3 to pursue acting dreams. In October 2012, Comedian Khaled Khalafala joined Studio 3, and stayed with the crew until early 2013 before leaving. In March 2013 the Janitor (Dave Cartel) and Bubbles the goldfish supposedly left Studio 3 for Venezuela, with Bubbles being replaced with a new goldfish called Alexis. Tim Matthews, Grace Koh and Ivy Latimer later joined James and Liv in July 2014 after winning The 3 Factor competition.

In August 2016, it was announced that ABC3 would rebrand as ABC Me on 19 September 2016, as more children watched television on a mobile device. The rebranded channel is reported to be "designed to reflect and celebrate the lives, interests and diversity of young Australians" and will increase its focus to primary school children. To mark the rebrand, ABC ME teamed up with 16-year-old Australian singer Angel Tairua to record a new song Unique (Me2U) to celebrate the launch of ABC ME.

In June 2020, many of the ABC Me staff located in Melbourne lost their jobs after the redundancies at the ABC were announced, include the presenters of the channel at the time; Pip Rasmussen, Drew Parker and Ava Madon. The network continued to be broadcast without presenters.

On 9 May 2024, it was announced that ABC Me would rebrand as ABC Entertains on 3 June, shifting its format to general entertainment programming (with its launch anchored by premieres of new series of Interview with the Vampire and Wreck). Youth programming moved to ABC TV Plus, which concurrently relaunched as ABC Family; although some programs for primary school students still air in the morning as the ABC iView brand known as ABC Big Kids. The ABC ME YouTube channel has also rebranded to ABC Big Kids r and the ABC Education block (from 9-11 am on weekdays) largely remains untouched. The ABC is also promoting ABC iview as the main home of its youth and children's output.