Public broadcasters outdid commercial TV in the nominees for 2009 TV.

The ABC and SBS were big winners in the 2009 AFI Award nominations announced today.

While commercial television's prize showpiece Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities and UKTV's False Witness miniseries led the nominees, it was actually the public broadcasters that saw a lot more of their product represented across the board.

Shows like East West 101, The Librarians, Review with Myles Barlow, Very Small Business, Spicks & Specks, The Gruen Transfer, RocKwiz, Lawrence Leung's Choose Your Own Adventure, The Last Confession of Alexander Pearce, Classic Tales, Figaro Pho, 3 Acts of Murder and Saved were all nominated.

The variety from commercial television was far more modest: Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities, Packed to the Rafters, Scorched, The Elephant Princess, Time Trackers, The Adventures of Charlotte & Henry and Zeke's Pad.

Other snubbed dramas include City Homicide, All Saints, Neighbours, Home and Away, Sea Patrol, Rescue: Special Ops, Rush, plus East of Everything, The Cut and Carla Cametti PD.

Underbelly scored seven nominations including Best Television Drama. It will compete with East West 101, Packed to the Rafters and Satisfaction. Nine's drama is also up for awards in Direction, Screenplay, plus actor nominations for Roy Billing, Asher Keddie, Kate Ritchie and Damian de Montemas.

UKTV's international thriller miniseries False Witness also scored seven nominations as Best Telefeature, Mini Series or Short Run Series with acting nominations for Dougray Scott, Rachael Blake, Jeremy Lindsay Taylor, Richard Roxburgh and Claire Forlani.

Both Underbelly and False Witness were produced by Screentime Productions, with renowned director Peter Andrikidis working on both.

He also directed the second season of East West 101 which has five nominations including Don Hany and Susie Porter up for Lead Actor awards.

Other names to get an acting nomination include Rebecca Gibney, Robert Menzies, Anni Finsterer, Kathryn Beck and Bille Brown.

In the comedy stakes, husband and wife performers Robyn Butler and Wayne Hope will compete with co-star Kym Gyngell and Phil Lloyd. Chandon Pictures, 30 Seconds and Lawrence Leung's Choose Your Own Adventure are also in competition.

The peer-voted AFI Awards will be hosted this year by Julia Zemiro on December 12th at the Regent Theatre in Melbourne and screened on the Nine Network.