What Time Is The Block On in Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane? Australian Reality TV Times by Capital City

Ask what time The Block starts in Perth and you will get two different answers, both delivered with confidence. One camp does the arithmetic — Perth is two hours behind Sydney, so a 7.30pm episode must land at 5.30pm. The other camp lives in Perth and says it comes on at half past seven, same as always.

The second camp is right, and the reason is worth knowing, because it applies to every reality show on Nine, Seven and 10, and it is the single most common mistake in Australian TV listings written from outside the country.

Does Australian reality TV air at the same time in every state?

In the capital cities, yes. Nine, Seven and 10 do not push one clock out across the continent. Each metropolitan affiliate runs its own feed, delayed where it has to be, so that a 7.30pm program is on at 7.30pm whether you are watching in Hobart or Perth.

We checked this rather than assumed it. Taking a single Sunday and opening the guide for seven capitals one after another, The Block and The Voice carried the same 7.00pm start in all of them, and the following Monday's 7.31pm Block listing in Perth matched the eastern one to the minute.

Local clock in each city, from that city's own guide. The odd minute in Perth is the affiliate's own junction, not a different episode.

Why doesn't Perth run two hours behind?

Because a two-hour gap would put prime time at dinner. Western Australia sits on AWST, eight hours ahead of UTC, and the eastern capitals sit on AEST at ten. If Perth took the eastern feed live, a Sunday reveal would start at five in the afternoon and the Monday build night at half past five.

So the Perth stations hold the tape and play it out against the local clock. Adelaide and Darwin do the same thing with a thirty-minute offset. It is a broadcast decision, not a time-zone calculation, which is exactly why converting the Sydney start time gives you the wrong answer.

What time is each show on?

The three we follow keep to fixed slots rather than moving around the week. The Block runs Sunday at 7.00pm and Monday to Wednesday at 7.30pm on Nine, with reveal nights taking the earlier start because they run longer. Nights, scores and the auction are all in our Block viewing guide.

The Voice sits on Seven at 7.00pm on Sundays and 7.30pm on Mondays through its finals, and the dates that are confirmed are kept in the finals page. Big Brother is the one still without a slot: 10 has said October and nothing more precise, which is the whole subject of our Big Brother page.

What changes when daylight saving starts?

The clocks move in five places and stay put in three. New South Wales, Victoria, the ACT, South Australia and Tasmania go onto daylight saving on the first Sunday in October and come off it on the first Sunday in April. Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia do not observe it at all.

What that does to your TV is less dramatic than it sounds, because the affiliates keep scheduling to local clocks. The gap that opens up is between cities, not between you and the show: Brisbane and Sydney share a clock for half the year and sit an hour apart for the other half, which matters if you are comparing notes with family interstate or working out when a live eviction actually happens.

Live events are the exception worth watching. A genuinely live broadcast — a Big Brother eviction, a grand final result — cannot be delayed for Perth without spoiling itself, so those nights get scheduled differently. We flag them in the weekly schedule when a network confirms one.

How do I check my own city's guide?

Three habits cover almost everything. Open the guide inside 9Now, 7plus or 10Play, because the app knows where you are and shows the local line-up rather than the Sydney one. Then check the finish time, not just the start: reveal and finals episodes run 100 to 120 minutes and push everything behind them.

Third, if a show seems to have vanished, check whether sport has taken the slot before you assume it has been axed. Nine and 10 both move reality out of the way for finals football. Our night-by-night posts in the Block section say what is on and what replaced it, and the results file has who went home once the episode has aired.

Where does catch-up fit in?

It flattens the whole question. 9Now, 7plus and 10Play all put the episode up free shortly after it finishes on air, so the practical answer for anyone with two shows in the same slot is to watch one live and the other after.

That is not a small consideration this season, with Nine and Seven parking their biggest reality nights at the same 7.00pm. If quiz shows are more your evening, our sister site covers the weeknight line-up at AU Quiz On Air.

FAQ

Is the Perth broadcast the same episode? Yes. It is the same episode played out later in absolute time, not an earlier one. Avoid social media if you care about reveal scores.

Do regional viewers get the same times as their capital? Usually, because regional affiliates carry the metropolitan feed. Northern New South Wales, regional Queensland and remote services have made their own changes before, so the in-app guide is the one to trust.

Why do listings sites disagree with each other? Most publish a national schedule built from the Sydney feed and convert it. Guides that let you pick your city are pulling that city's actual line-up, which is why the numbers differ.

Sources

• On TV Tonight — city-by-city evening guides for Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Hobart and Darwin, used for the start times in the table.
• TVmaze episode guide — The Block season 22 episode list, showing the 19:00 Sunday and 19:30 weeknight pattern.
• 9Now — Nine's live channel and catch-up service, and the source of the in-app local TV guide.

By the AU Reality On Air desk · Updated 8:40 a.m. AEST