Aggregation anniversaries: NNSW and VIC

It is twenty years since the final stages of the aggregation of regional markets were launched in the eastern states – finally bringing viewers in those areas the same amount of choice of commercial television as their capital city cousins.

Following implementation in Southern NSW and Canberra (1989) and Regional Queensland (1990) came the aggregation of Northern NSW markets (Newcastle/Hunter Valley, Tamworth/Upper Namoi and Taree, and Coffs Harbour and Lismore/Gold Coast) starting from 31 December 1991.

The change saw NBN Television (NBN3 Newcastle) align to the Nine Network for program supply, Prime (NEN9 Tamworth, ECN8 Taree) to the Seven Network, and NRTV (NRN11 Coffs Harbour, RTN8 Lismore) to the Ten Network, as they expanded their coverage into each others’ markets.

Prime had a delayed launch in the Coffs Harbour and Lismore/Gold Coast markets – scheduled for completion by May 1992 – while NRTV (now Southern Cross Ten) had delayed its expansion into the Tamworth/Upper Namoi and Taree regions until late January.

And from 1 January 1992 came the first stage in the aggregation of regional Victorian markets Ballarat, Bendigo/Central Victoria, Shepparton/Goulburn Valley, Albury/Upper Murray and Gippsland – with VIC TV (BTV6 Ballarat, GMV6 Shepparton) and Southern Cross Network (BCV8 Bendigo, GLV8 Gippsland) launching their signals in competition across the expanded market.  Aggregation was initially scheduled for 1993 for Regional Victoria but had been brought forward a year. 

VIC TV (now a part of the WIN network) was affiliated to Nine for programming, and Southern Cross Network (now Southern Cross Ten) linked to the Ten Network.

Albury-based Prime (AMV) had a delayed expansion across the remainder of the regional Victorian market, commencing transmission in its new regions by March 1992.  Like its NSW counterparts, Prime was affiliated to the Seven Network.

The delayed implementation of Prime across regional Victoria effectively denied viewers outside of Albury any access to Seven Network programs for two months.  With Seven having telecast rights to major sporting events the Australian Open tennis and the Australian Masters golf over those two months, Southern Cross came to a special arrangement to broadcast those events across the aggregated market despite them being a Ten Network affiliate – but Prime ensured it was up and running across Victoria in time to cover the AFL season!

Mildura, in north west Victoria, was excluded from the aggregation scheme, with its local channel STV8 part of the VIC TV network, therefore gaining access predominantly to Nine Network programming only.  Some exceptions were made for major sporting events and other special telecasts from the Seven and Ten networks to be broadcast into Mildura via VIC TV.

With aggregation then completed in the major regional markets of New South Wales (including ACT), Queensland and Victoria the next step was to consider options for additional choice of commercial television in other regional markets and smaller capital cities.  Aggregation was then introduced into Tasmania in April 1994, with Hobart-based TAS TV (TVT6) and Launceston-based Southern Cross Network (TNT9) expanding into each others’ markets in competition with each other – while Darwin, Mildura and Regional Western Australia would each be assigned a second commercial licence in the late ‘90s. 

The satellite-based remote commercial television services of Imparja (primarily covering central Australia but also isolated regions of Victoria and NSW) and Ten Satellite (remote Queensland) were permitted to expand into each others’ coverage areas in competition from 1999 – with Imparja aligned to the Nine and Ten networks for programming, and Ten Satellite re-branded as Seven Central (now Southern Cross) for its new affiliation to the Seven Network.

It was to be the early 2000s before the regional South Australian markets of Mount Gambier, Riverland and Spencer Gulf (including Broken Hill) would get a choice of commercial TV channels with their existing monopoly broadcasters permitted to open a second channel.

The advent of digital television has since seen the launch of a third commercial signal in Tasmania, Darwin, Mildura, Regional Western Australia, regional South Australian markets and central Australia.

More on aggregation at Television.AU

Regional Qld ready for digital… almost?

At around 9.00am (EST) today, analogue television transmissions in the Regional Queensland aggregated market will be switched off.

The switch-off will affect local transmissions for ABC, Seven Queensland (STQ), WIN (RTQ), Southern Cross Ten (TNQ) and SBS in the markets of Cairns/Far North Queensland, Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton, Maryborough/Wide Bay and Toowoomba/Darling Downs/Southern Downs – covering a total market population of around 1,764,000 viewers, making it the largest analogue shutdown in Australia to date.

According to the latest Digital Tracker survey, covering the period July to September 2011, around 85 per cent of households in the Regional Queensland market have converted at least their main TV set to digital.  While retailers have experienced the expected last minute rush for digital set top boxes and TVs, it is estimated that two per cent of viewers in the affected market may still be unaware of the switch to digital-only transmission.

Today’s switch-off will mark the end of almost fifty years of analogue television transmission in regional Queensland.  The first regional channel to sign-on was DDQ10 Toowoomba in July 1962, followed later in the year by TNQ7 in Townsville.

RTQ7 Rockhampton followed in 1963, then WBQ8 Maryborough/Wide Bay (1965), FNQ10 Cairns (1966), SDQ4 Southern Downs (1966), MVQ6 Mackay (1968) and ITQ8 Mount Isa (1971).

ABC began rolling out television services in regional Queensland with the launch of ABRQ3 Rockhampton and ABDQ3 in December 1963.

In 1986 the ABC began broadcasting radio and television services to remote and outback regions via the new domestic satellite AUSSAT.  This was joined by commercial station QSTV, operated by Telecasters North Queensland (TNQ7/FNQ10), in 1988.

Also in 1988, the Toowoomba channel DDQ10 changed its call-sign and frequency to DDQ0 to allow Brisbane channel TVQ0 to change to the Ten frequency.

Aggregation of the regional markets of Townsville/Cairns, Rockhampton/Darling Downs/Southern Downs and Wide Bay/Mackay took place on 31 December 1990, giving local viewers a choice of three commercial channels – Sunshine Television (now Seven Queensland), WIN and QTV (now Southern Cross Ten).  

In 1999, Alice Springs-based Imparja Television expanded its remote area service to Mount Isa and the remote Queensland market in competition with Seven Central (previously ITQ8 and QSTV, now Southern Cross Television).  The region is now also covered by Ten Central, a joint venture between Imparja and Southern Cross as a digital-only service providing a dedicated Network Ten schedule.

Viewers in the remote market covered by analogue terrestrial transmissions of Imparja and Southern Cross Television will still have access to analogue until 2013.  Today’s switch-off only affects the regional Queensland aggregated market.  Brisbane and the Gold Coast will continue to receive analogue television until 2013.

The Federal Government has made allowances for financial assistance to eligible households in converting either to digital television or, where digital television reception is not possible, to gain access to the satellite-based VAST system.

Viewers in locations where locally-based “self-help” transmission facilities are not being upgraded to digital may also need to convert to VAST.

For details on the digital conversion, assistance options or access to VAST, refer to the Digital Ready website or telephone 1800 20 10 13.

After the Regional Queensland market the next region to lose analogue transmissions will be Southern NSW and the ACT in June 2012.

Nine Darwin – 40 years today

Although television started in Sydney and Melbourne in 1956 it wasn’t too much longer before other capital cities joined in – Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth in 1959, Hobart in 1960, Canberra in 1962 – but for people in Australia’s smallest and most isolated capital city it was a much longer wait.

It was 1971 before television arrived in the Northern Territory capital of Darwin.  The first channel to air was ABC’s local outlet ABD6, opening in August 1971.

Darwin’s first commercial channel, NTD8, opened three months later – 11 November, 1971.  The first program on opening night was an Australian classic, Skippy The Bush Kangaroo.

Although Darwinites are known to like a drink, apparently the arrival of television had a major impact on attendances at Darwin pubs as many would race home to enjoy the wonders of the new medium.  This would potentially be of concern to the local brewers, except that at the time Swan Breweries was a major shareholder in NTD8 and, as the sole commercial channel in town, business was thriving.

Colour television was to arrive formally in March 1975.  In a TV Times article in October 1974, it was reported that NTD8 was confident that it was on schedule to have its facilities upgraded for colour in time for the March deadline.  The ABC, however, was less optimistic.  With a vast network of hundreds of transmitter sites Australia-wide to be converted, ABD6 was far down the list of sites to be enabled for colour – with a tentative conversion date of sometime in 1978!

But on Christmas Day, 1974 – barely two months after the article’s publication – Darwin was devastated by Cyclone Tracy.  Much of the city was destroyed and Darwin faced a mass evacuation to bring the population down from 45,000 to 10,000 within days as the recovery effort took place.

The cyclone took out all television and radio stations but the ABC, as the national broadcaster, was able to get ABD6 and its radio services back on the air within days.  NTD8, however, was less fortunate and took until October 1975 to return to the airwaves – providing even then a fairly rudimentary service.

But in the years to follow the city of Darwin was re-built as was NTD8.  The channel also undertook a $2 million redevelopment of its studios in the early 1980s, although transmission hours by 1982 were still largely limited to the evenings, with daytime broadcasting only on Sundays and Wednesdays.  The channel was also limited in communication infrastructure to the major cities, as the only inbound microwave link available to Darwin was leased full-time to ABC – leaving NTD with little means of timely access to national news stories or program material from interstate.  The channel did, however, maintain local programming including local sports coverage and discussion and a current affairs program, Spectrum.

The monopoly situation with the microwave link was rectified by 1982, finally giving NTD8 an instant connection to the major cities and enabling it to launch its first news service, News At Seven, in October of that year, initially in affiliation with the Nine Network but later changed to Seven.  One of the original members of the News team was Andrew Bruyn, who became the channel’s general manager in 1991 and continues in that role today.

By the mid-1980s, NTD8 was part of a bid to obtain the licence to operate a Remote Commercial Television Service (RCTS) to remote central Australia via the new AUSSAT domestic satellite.  The bid was unsuccessful, with the licence instead going to Imparja Television, operated by the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA). 

NTD lodged an appeal against the decision but in the meantime the channel was bought out by Kerry Packer, who sought to negotiate operating the new channel as a joint venture with CAAMA but at the last minute his company withdrew the appeal and CAAMA proceeded to launch Imparja in January 1988.

When Packer regained control of the Nine Network in 1990, NTD8 was brought into the network.  Despite ownership by Nine, NTD8 as the sole commercial broadcaster in Darwin continued with the Channel 8 branding, providing a composite schedule of programming from all three commercial networks. 

In 1994, Darwin became the last capital city in Australia to gain access to SBS – and it was 1998 before a second commercial channel, Seven Darwin, was launched in Darwin.

The launch of Seven Darwin (now Southern Cross Television) then saw NTD8’s schedule change to a mix of Nine and Ten network programs until New Year’s Day, 2003, when the channel was re-branded as Nine Darwin, even though it was still broadcasting on Channel 8.  The change saw the loss of most Network Ten programming and local access to a full-scale Ten schedule was not to arrive until 2008 with the launch of Darwin Digital Television (DDT).

DDT launched as a digital-only channel operated jointly between Southern Cross and Nine and the new channel gave incentive for viewers to convert to digital television, leading to Darwin adopting digital television at a faster rate than most other markets.  In the latest Digital Tracker survey, of the markets still in simulcast between analogue and digital, Darwin is leading the nation in digital conversion – with 89 per cent of households having converted their main television set, compared to the national average of 81 per cent.

Despite the arrival of competition – and the subsequent suite of digital multi-channels – into what is Australia’s smallest capital city (population: 120,000) Nine Darwin continues to take pride as the market leader and maintains its local reputation with its flagship being the local Nine News bulletin, fronted by Jonathon Uptin (pictured).  Production of the local newscast has recently been revamped to match the look and style of its Nine Network counterparts in the eastern states. 

As well as maintaining the Nine Network schedule the channel also conducts occasional local programming initiatives, ranging in topics including local history and recreational activities, and provides commercial production facilities to its local clients. 

Nine Darwin also provides transmission of Nine’s digital channels GO! and GEM.  Darwin is scheduled to switch to digital-only television transmission in the second half of 2013.

Source: NTD, Digital Tracker, TV Times, CAAMA, Australian Television Archive

Alice Springs and Mt Isa ready for digital

Viewers in the capital cities may take for granted that their main commercial channels have been broadcasting in digital for over a decade, and that a range of other channels have since sprung up to offer some more viewing alternatives – but for viewers in the more remote parts of Australia those options are only just appearing.

Although ABC and SBS and their respective multi-channels have been broadcast in digital for some time, tomorrow (Monday) will mark the commencement of digital transmission in the remote towns of Alice Springs and Mount Isa for commercial channels Imparja Television and Southern Cross Television.

Up until now viewers have still only had the option to see those networks via analogue transmission.

The day will also mark the commencement of the new third commercial channel operated by Central Digital Television Pty Ltd, a joint venture between both Imparja and Southern Cross to offer viewers with a regular Network Ten signal.  The channel will broadcast exclusively in digital and marks the return of regular Network Ten programming to these areas since Imparja dropped its Ten affiliation in 2008.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) advises that the commercial networks will be offering the full suite of digital channels as are currently available via the VAST satellite platform.

Alice Springs viewers will find their channels on the following frequencies:

	Analogue	Digital
ABC	VHF7	VHF8
Southern Cross	UHF31	UHF38
Imparja	VHF9	UHF30
Central Digital (Ten)	n/a	UHF40
SBS	UHF28	VHF6

And Mount Isa:

	Analogue	Digital
ABC	VHF6	VHF7
Southern Cross	VHF8	UHF37
Imparja	UHF32	UHF39
Central Digital (Ten)	n/a	UHF31
SBS	UHF29	VHF9A

ACMA advises that a further 26 transmission sites within the Remote Central and Eastern television region will be upgraded for digital transmission of the above networks according to an implementation schedule to be submitted by the broadcasters.

The Remote Central and Eastern television regions are scheduled to lose all analogue transmission in the second half of 2013. 

Source: ACMA

Victorian towns in analogue switch-off

Regional Victoria is not scheduled to lose analogue transmissions until May next year, but a handful of towns have been the exception and have already had their analogue signals switched off – with more towns to follow in the new year.

Local analogue transmissions in the Mansfield Shire towns of Howqua and Bonnie Doon were switched off today.  ABC and SBS have already been broadcasting in digital in Bonnie Doon, with Prime, WIN and Southern Cross Ten commencing digital broadcasting today as the analogue services were switched off. 

In Howqua, all five networks commenced digital broadcasting today to coincide with the switch-off of analogue.

The towns of Hopetoun, Lorne, Jeeralang/Yinnar South and Boolarra will also have a similar transition from analogue to digital-only broadcasting in February next year.

Prime, WIN and Southern Cross Ten have also joined ABC and SBS in digital broadcasting today in Mansfield, Eildon and Alexandra – with those towns included in the statewide analogue shutdown in May.

The town of Jamieson is served by community-based transmission infrastructure which will not be upgraded to digital after analogue switches off in May.  Viewers in Jamieson will have access to VAST satellite service to gain access to ABC, SBS and commercial television broadcasts, and government subsidies are available to eligible households to assist in the transition.  VAST will give viewers who can not access digital terrestrial television the full range of digital channels via ABC, SBS, Imparja (Nine), Southern Cross Television (Seven) and Ten Central plus a local news channel.

The early and quick transition to digital-only broadcasting in these towns is due to lack of availability of broadcast spectrum to enable simulcasting between analogue and digital for all networks.

The remainder of the regional Victoria market (outside of Mildura/Sunraysia which has already lost analogue transmission) will lose all analogue TV broadcasts on 5 May 2011.

More information on the digital transition, including details of the household assistance schemes, can be found at the Digital Ready website or telephone 1300201013.

Source: Digital Ready

Regional viewers offered digital equality

The Federal Government has partnered with regional broadcasters to ensure that viewers in remote and regional areas will have access to the same amount of channels as their capital city counterparts.

In a media release issued today, the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy announced that the Government will provide $34 million over four years to enable commercial broadcasters in regional South Australia, remote and regional Western Australia, and remote and central Australia to install the transmitters that will give viewers access to all digital TV channels via terrestrial broadcast:

“This is an historic outcome for regional Australia   For decades, viewers in smaller TV licence areas have put up with having only two commercial TV channels, often missing out on some of the country’s most popular programming.

“True equalisation of TV services in Australia was long considered impossible; the Gillard Government is proud to have achieved the realisation of what has been a long-held dream for many people in regional and remote Australia as part of the digital switchover program.”

The Government promises to provide 50 per cent of capital and operational costs for the new transmitters until the end of the transition period from analogue television in 2013, with regional broadcasters meeting the remaining and ongoing costs.

Commercial channels will initially be offered in standard definition only, while the full suite of ABC and SBS channels – including high-definition channels ABC News 24 and SBS1 HD – will be offered.

Once the rollout of the digital TV channels is completed, if any viewer is still unable to access the channels via terrestrial broadcast then they can access the channels through the VAST platform, announced earlier this year.

Regional South Australia – comprising Loxton/Riverland, Mount Gambier/South East, Spencer Gulf and Broken Hill (NSW) markets – is due to lose all existing analogue signals on 15 December this year.  Viewers in these markets can currently access ABC, SBS and local versions of all three commercial networks in digital but as yet none of the extra commercial channels, such as GO!, GEM, 7TWO, 7mate, One or the upcoming channel, 11 – although Southern Cross, covering Spencer Gulf and Broken Hill, has already been assigned broadcast capacity to start broadcasting additional channels after the analogue switch-off is completed in the area.

Commercial operators in Western Australia – Prime (GWN) and WIN – are only now rolling out the first stage of digital transmission, giving viewers access to GWN, WIN and the new Ten West, but today’s announcement will lead to a roll-out of the additional commercial channels. 

Regional commercial broadcasters WIN, Prime, Southern Cross and Imparja will announce the rollout schedule for the new channels in coming days.

Source: DBCDE

New regional channels on the way

The expansion of digital television across the country will get an extra boost with the licencing and launch of digital-only channels in remote and regional Australia.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has announced that it has licenced a digital-only commercial television service to Central Television Pty Ltd to serve the Remote Central and Eastern Australia market, including the Mount Isa licence area.

Central Television Pty Ltd is a joint venture between the market’s existing commercial broadcasters, Imparja Television and Regional Television Pty Ltd (Southern Cross Television).  Imparja currently provides a Nine Network schedule to the region, while Southern Cross is a Seven Network affiliate.

The new channel has twelve months to commence broadcasting.

Meanwhile, ACMA has also announced a launch date for the digital-only television service to cover Regional Western Australia.  The new channel, announced almost a year ago, is a joint venture between existing broadcasters GWN (owned by Prime) and WIN and is set to commence rolling out across the state from 10 June.

The new channel will coincide with the rollout of digital simulcasts of the existing WIN and GWN services.

Source: ACMA, ACMA

NITV gets funding lifeline… for now

Indigenous broadcaster NITV recently issued a plea for support to gain a commitment for Government funding after the current funding period which is due to expire on 30 June 2010.

The Federal Government has now committed $15 million in funding to keep NITV broadcasting for the next 12 months.

NITV chairperson Ms Terri Janke has said in a statement:

“I thank Minister Garrett and the Rudd Government for their commitment to NITV and the Indigenous production sector. We now have the certainty for the immediate future to commit to staff, the Indigenous production sector, commercial partners, and most importantly our audience.  Demonstrated by the deluge of letters and messages of support we have received from right across the country, it’s clear NITV is the trusted voice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and a critical cultural reference point for all Australians.”

However Arts Minister Peter Garrett has explained that a review of the Government’s funding of indigenous broadcasting activities, including NITV and other broadcasters such as Imparja Television and community radio, will be carried out.  Input will be sought from the indigenous community and broadcasters such as NITV as part of the review.  The review will explore options for the future funding and carriage of indigenous media to the wider audience and may include involvement with the recently-announced VAST operation.

NITV is currently broadcast on free-to-air television in Alice Springs, Mount Isa, Broome and approximately 150 remote area sites.  It currently has no free-to-air carriage in any capital city apart from a trial broadcast on Sydney’s Digital Forty Four which is soon to be discontinued.  NITV is also available on pay-TV operators across Australia.

Source: NITV, Media Release from Ministers Peter Garrett, Jenny Macklin, Stephen Conroy.

New deal for remote digital TV

Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy has announced a landmark deal that will see digital TV made available to viewers in remote and regional parts of Australia not accessible by terrestrial digital television.

A joint venture company, Viewer Access Satellite Television (VAST), has been formed between Macquarie Southern Cross Media and Imparja Television to provide digital TV, in standard and high definition, via satellite to eligible viewers in the central and eastern states.  Macquarie Southern Cross currently provides a Seven-affiliated television service to central and outback Australia, and Imparja provides a Nine Network affiliate to the same area.

VAST will provide access to programming from Seven, Nine and Ten networks as well as ABC and SBS.  This will include access to new channels ABC2, ABC3, SBS2, 7TWO, GO! and ONE and a dedicated local news channel as well as ABC’s upcoming 24-hour news channel.  Viewers in Queensland and Northern Territory will be able to view standard-definition channels via VAST in Brisbane time, while viewers in South Australia, Victoria, NSW and Tasmania will receive standard-definition channels in Sydney time.  High-definition channels will be available across the entire coverage footprint in a single time zone.

Viewers in the Mildura/Sunraysia region that may lose access to television signals with the shutdown of local analogue television services on 30 June 2010, and not able to receive the equivalent local digital signals, will now be able to access the VAST service.  VAST will also be available to eligible households in regional and capital city markets that are not able to receive terrestrial digital television.

Eligible households wishing to access VAST will receive a $400 subsidy from the Government.  To access the VAST service, viewers will need to purchase a new satellite set top box with an access ‘smart card’, a satellite dish and cabling.  Viewers currently accessing satellite free-to-air TV via Optus Aurora will be able to change over to the VAST service with the purchase of a new set top box.

The Government is currently in negotiation with the licencees of television stations in regional Western Australia – Prime and WIN – with a view to providing the same access to digital TV via satellite in WA.

Source: DBCDE

Imparja news signing off

Imparja Television, Australia's last independently-owned regional TV operator, is reported to be closing down its regional news and current affairs unit.

ABC reports that the Alice Springs-based, indigenous-owned broadcaster is closing its local news operations in a round of cost cutting.   Already seven jobs are believed to have been cut with more to follow.

The cutbacks follow the station's recent move into a multi-million dollar complex in Alice Springs and its failed bid to purchase the Nine Network's Darwin station NTD8.  Curiously, the bid to purchase NTD had to include a commitment to maintaining local news and staffing levels in the top end capital.

Earlier this year Imparja made significant changes to its schedule by aligning itself with the Nine Network line-up, adding the Nine Network 'dots' to its logo and scrapping programs sourced from Network Ten.  The station also cancelled its nightly half-hour locally-produced news bulletin, in favour of a relay of National Nine News from Brisbane, and aligned its schedule to Eastern Standard Time instead of Central Standard Time.  Local news was to be provided only via one-minute updates during the evenings and a new weekly program Footprints.

Imparja was launched in 1988 with a commitment to producing and promoting Aboriginal culture.  With the cutbacks to its local news coverage the station's only indigenous-based production now is a weekly children's program although Imparja does provide facilities and transmission capacity to the indigenous broadcaster NITV. 

Now for around 430,000 viewers located in remote and outback Australia the only local news coverage on television can be found on bite-sized news updates on Southern Cross Seven Central, produced from a newsroom in Canberra, and the news service of the fledgling NITV whose broadcast coverage is limited.

The cancellation of local news by Imparja follows some other regional broadcasters going down a similar path, with Prime and Southern Cross Ten in much of their eastern states coverage areas providing limited news coverage that barely fulfils the guidelines set down by the broadcasting authority.  In contrast, regional networks WIN, NBN, GWN and Southern Cross Television provide more substantial local news coverage with full-scale evening bulletins across their respective regions.

Source: ABC

Imparja says ta-ta to Ten

Central Australian TV viewers will now lose a few regular programs from their schedules with the Alice Springs-based Imparja Television now aligning itself solely to the Nine Network for its national programs.



For almost the last decade, Imparja has had program supply from both the Nine and Ten networks. Prior to the aggregation of Imparja's service area with Queensland-based Seven Central, Imparja was able to 'cherry pick' programs from all three commercial networks.

Imparja has decided that it was costing too much money to have dual affiliation status, even though it gave them access to programming from two networks, they only have one channel to use it on so a lot of content that was being paid for wasn't going to air.

The change means that viewers in Imparja's coverage area will not have access to Ten programs such as Neighbours, So You Think You Can Dance, House, Rove, The Biggest Loser and Big Brother. Significantly, for AFL supporters, the change will also mean that Network Ten's AFL coverage will also be missing from local screens. This could be a blow for viewers in the Northern Territory and South Australia where AFL has a strong following, though Imparja claims that most of its viewers reside in Queensland which, being NRL territory, means the loss will be less felt. It also puts into doubt access to the AFL Grand Final every second year, as Imparja's rival Seven Central will relay this year's telecast from the Seven Network but may not have access when it's Ten's turn next year.

In aligning itself to Nine's program, Imparja is now structuring its schedule in line with the eastern states' timezone whereas in the past it had scheduled according to Central Standard Time.

Imparja is also said to be increasing its news capacity using the savings made by not paying for Ten's affiliation, but curiously has used this change to program structure as an opportunity to axe its nightly Alice Springs-based news bulletin and replace it with National Nine News fed from Brisbane. The local news component will now be comprised of 10 one-minute daily updates, and a new weekly current affairs program.

Imparja CEO Alistair Feehan said that losing access to Network Ten programs was regrettable but was hopeful that a third commercial outlet will be licenced to the region in coming years, enabling access to Ten Network programs. However it may also be possible for rival Seven Central to instead take on a dual Seven/Ten program affiliation as its sister station Southern Cross Television in Darwin had already done after the Darwin-based NTD8 dropped its Nine/Ten schedule to a solely Nine-based lineup.

Source: Imparja
YouTube video: WATelevision

Imparja turns 20

Today - 2 January - marks the twentieth anniversary of Imparja Television, Australia's only indigenous-owned commercial TV station.

The path to launch day was less than a smooth ride. When the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal (the predecessor to today's ACMA) invited potential licencees to apply to operate the remote commercial television service (RCTS) for the Northern Territory and South Australia in 1984, there were eight applicants.

The field ultimately boiled down to two - the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA - owner of Imparja) and Television Capricornia (a company formed by Territory Television, the licencee of Darwin's NTD8).

After two rounds of licence hearings, CAAMA was found to be the most suitable operator of the licence, but Television Capricornia appealed the decision - and lost. Television Capricornia then took their case to the Federal Court, but by the time the case was to be heard, Territory Television had been bought out by Kerry Packer's Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (PBL), owners of the east coast Nine Network. PBL made a last minute decision to drop the appeal, and CAAMA was allocated the licence.

Imparja's first programming, Australia versus Sri Lanka in the Test Cricket, appeared on 2 January 1988. For the first time, viewers in Alice Springs and other remote communities in Northern Territory and South Australia were given an alternative to watching the national broadcaster ABC. Imparja was broadcast via terrestrial transmission in larger remote centres, but the signal was also available to direct-to-home satellite receivers within Imparja's satellite footprint - a result of the new domestic satellite AUSSAT which had launched three years earlier.

Imparja was officially launched on 15 January 1988, providing a mix of typical commercial network programming (sourced from all three capital city networks) interspersed with Imparja's own indigenous-themed programming such as children's programs and local news.

By 1999, Imparja had expanded its coverage to include Mount Isa in Queensland, and the South East and North East satellite footprints - extending its signal to remote communities in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania not covered by existing terrestrial television signals - in competition with the Queensland-based satellite service aligned to the Ten Network that in turn had expanded into Imparja's own coverage area.

The Queensland-based service, operated by Telecasters Australia (now part of the Macquarie Media Group), was then re-aligned to the Seven Network, leaving Imparja with a dual Nine and Ten network feed.

From July 2007, the new national indigenous television service NITV has been carried as a second channel on Imparja's satellite platform.

Imparja has continued to provide its own independent news service and in December 2007 announced plans to expand its news and current affairs portfolio to include more coverage from across its coverage area - an area of 4.5 million square kilometres.

Source: Imparja, Australian TV Archive, CAAMA Report (1987)