While Days of Our Lives and The Young and the Restless both air in Australia, they are set to move to a different network. Having been several months behind, these new deals will have our friends Down Under watching new episodes on the same days we get them.
Big Aussie Changes Are Coming
General Hospital was very popular in Australia, although it often jumped from one channel to another over the years, including Network 10 which aired it from 1990 to 1997. Usually running anywhere from years to weeks behind the American first-run broadcasts, the sudser hasn’t been seen on Australian TV since 2011. Network 10 has been airing The Bold and the Beautiful — one of the most popular American soaps worldwide — nearly since its inception in 1987, and the soap also plays on its online streaming service, 10 Play. However, the show is 14 episodes behind the American first-run ones.
Since September 2019, both Y&R and DAYS have aired on the Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel 9Gem, another called FOX One, and its streaming service, 9Now. But contracts have been renegotiated, and the shows are moving to different Australian networks. Y&R is seven months behind the American broadcast, while DAYS is a whopping 15 months behind.
Network 10 Dominates Soaps
Channel 10 posted a video on X, formerly Twitter, that played the opening of DAYS which was followed up by a voiceover saying, “Fast-tracked and Free! Days of Our Lives is coming to 10Play, June 3.” The accompanying caption also describes something we don’t have here in the U.S.: “Days of Our Lives is coming fast-tracked and FREE! ⏳🎬” It airs free because NBCUniversal has a contract with News Corp, which broadcasts all NBC shows digitally over the airwaves, so the Peacock streaming service is not available Down Under.
According to TV Tonight, Y&R is also making the jump from 9Gem to 10Play on July 1. 9Gem will continue to play out the rest of the episodes of both soap operas until Y&R’s contract runs out near the end of 2024, and DAYS’ ends toward the latter half of 2025. 10 will also be airing episodes of The Drew Barrymore Show on June 3, and continue to broadcast the popular Australian soap, Neighbours, which DAYS alum Chrishell Stause has just joined.
“Fast-tracked” means that the shows will broadcast their episodes the same day we see them here in America, so there’ll be no more lag time.
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