50 years of TV in Canberra

Canberra may be the national capital of Australia and the hub for the country’s political decision makers, but it was the second last capital city in Australia to receive television.

Almost six years after television made its official debut in Sydney and Melbourne, television came to Canberra on 2 June 1962 with the official launch of CTC7.

The channel had been five years in the making – starting in 1957 when The Canberra Times and radio station 2CA agreed to sponsor an application for a commercial television licence in the national capital. 

In 1958, Canberra Television Limited was incorporated with a capital of £300,000.

The company was granted the licence for Canberra’s first, and then only, commercial television channel in November 1960.  The new channel – CTC7 – was to broadcast from studios located on Black Mountain.  Construction of the studio premises and transmission tower was completed in little over six months at a cost of just under £78,000.  The studios were equipped with two state-of-the-art Image Orthicon cameras worth £8000 each.

Test programs were being broadcast from April 1962 with the official opening by Postmaster-General Mr C. W. Davidson on Saturday, 2 June 1962 at 7.00pm. 

CTC7: Saturday 2 June, 1962 6pm Program Preview 6.30 Documentary: Establishment Of CTC7 7pm Official Opening CTC7 7.20 Preview: Future Programs and “On Camera” Personalities 7.40 Queen’s Birthday Procession at Duntroon 8pm The BP Super Show 9pm Michael Shayne 10pm Official Opening CTC7 (Rpt) 10.20 Sunday Program Announcements, Epilogue, Close Source: The Canberra Times, 2 June 1962.

The new channel launched with a schedule of around 30 hours of programming each week.

CTC7 has had a number of different owners over the years, including Fairfax, Kerry Stokes and Charles Curran.  In 1994 it was bought by Southern Cross Broadcasting – now Southern Cross Austereo.

Just as it had a number of owners, CTC has also had many different identities on-air – including CTCTV, Super 7, Capital 7, Capital Television, Capital 10 TV Australia, Ten Capital and now Southern Cross Ten. Some of the presenters to have appeared from CTC over the years have included Karen Barlin, Frank Jones, Laurie Wilson, John Bok, Geoff Hiscock, Christine Kininmonth, Mal Grieve, Greg Robson, Sonja Allitt, Peter Chapman, Rosemary Church and Mike Larkan.

The arrival of aggregation in March 1989 saw Capital align to the Ten Network for programming and expand its signal into the Wollongong/Illawarra and central western regions of NSW, while the Prime and WIN networks from those areas expanded into the Canberra market to represent the Seven and Nine networks.

Capital continued to produce a nightly local and national news bulletin for the Canberra market until owners Southern Cross Broadcasting axed a number of local news services across its wider network at the end of 2001.  The actions of Southern Cross and rival network Prime, which had also axed a number of regional news services at around the same time, led to the then Australian Broadcasting Authority set up an investigation into the adequacy of local news coverage in regional areas.  The outcome was the adoption of a points-based system which obliged regional operators to meet a required quota of local news in individual markets – although networks like Southern Cross and Prime are meeting their obligations in most markets with a scattering of two-minute local news updates throughout the day in individual markets, mostly produced from centralised facilities.

The Canberra studios of Southern Cross Ten, based in the suburb of Watson since the 1970s, now serve as the master control for much of the wider Southern Cross Austereo television network – including Southern Cross Ten in Queensland, New South Wales/ACT, Victoria and South Australia, and Southern Cross Television in Tasmania, Darwin and central Australia – and the regional co-ordination of the networks’ digital multi-channels.

Next week, just days after the 50th anniversary of the launch of CTC7, all local analogue transmissions in Canberra and the Southern NSW market will be switched off.

Source: The Canberra Times, 2 June 1962.

‘Hooroo!’ from Prime7 newsreader

Prime7 newsreader Doug Hogan (pictured) last night presented his last news bulletin, ending an era of 30 years for viewers in Wagga Wagga and the Riverina district of NSW.

Starting out in 1974 as a cadet reporter for the Cootamundra Herald in his home town, Hogan later ended up at radio station 2LF in Young in 1976.  He made the move to television in 1982, joining Wagga Wagga station RVN2 (now a branch of the Prime7 regional network) as a senior reporter for the local news as well as hosting children’s game show TV Powww!

Hogan then progressed to the role of sports editor and then news editor and, in 2002, took over as newsreader.

In 2010, Hogan moved to Canberra when studio production of the Wagga Wagga bulletin shifted to Prime’s centralised studio facility in the national capital.

Although he has stepped away from the news desk Hogan will continue to work behind-the-scenes at Prime7 News as deputy network news editor – overseeing the production of the network’s local news bulletins across NSW, Victoria and GWN7 in Western Australia – and editor of Prime7’s Orange and Dubbo news bulletins.

Hogan has told the Cootamundra Herald that he leaves the newsreading role with happy memories:

“I’ve had a ball doing a job that I never imagined I could ever do, I somehow turned the improbable into a reality. It’s been a real thrill every day that I presented the Sport or read the News over the past 30 years.”

“I’ll miss it for sure, but I take with me life-long memories of my storytelling days on the box. I’ve shared a special experience with the people of the Riverina and south-west and loved every minute of it, but for now, Hooroo!”

Starting Monday, Prime7 weather man and presenter Daniel Gibson will take over as newsreader for the Wagga Wagga edition of Prime7 News.

Source: Prime7, Cootamundra Herald

More stations turning the big 5-0

Two weeks ago Newcastle-based network NBN celebrated its 50th anniversary.  This weekend saw two more NSW regional stations hit the same milestone – though with perhaps a little less fanfare.

The first was CBN8, based in Orange and serving the Central Tablelands region of central western NSW, launching on Saturday, 17 March 1962.

CBN8: Saturday 17 March 1962: 6.15pm Faith For Today 6.45 Official Opening CBN8 7pm News, Sport 7.30 The Phil Silvers Show 8pm The BP Super Show 9pm Palladium Spectacular 10pm Alfred Hitchcock 10.30 Close

CBN8’s signal was broadcast from a transmission tower atop Mount Canobolas which, at approximately 1400 metres above sea level, made it the highest transmission tower in Australia.  This gave the station’s signal a wide coverage area, with reception of test transmissions recorded as far away as Canberra, the Blue Mountains and Sydney’s far western suburbs.

The station’s premises, a few kilometres east of Orange, were equipped with two indoor studios and an outdoor studio that was to be used for local agricultural displays and other programs of rural interest.

CBN8’s first general manager was Alan Ridley, a long-time resident of Orange who joined the station with 25 years’ experience in regional radio.  Other senior staff appointments came with experience in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Hobart, the United Kingdom and Canada.

The new channel, owned in partnership with local radio station 2GZ, promised an initial schedule of around 35 hours of programming each week.  Most programming was imported from the US but the station also established local programming, including a news service with bulletins each weeknight at 6.45pm and 10.00pm and at 7.00pm on weekends.  The newscasts combined local news stories with national and international stories sourced via Australian United Press.

BP Pick-A-Box, the BP Super Show and The Mobil-Limb Show were some of the first ‘national’ Australian programs to appear on the channel. 

CBN8 also produced programs like the long-running Jackpot Quiz, hosted by Bob McGready and which also introduced a young Sue Smith (pictured), who would later go on to a career in news and current affairs with the Nine Network.

In 1965 CBN had secured the licence to operate the new television station for Dubbo and the Central Western Slopes district.  The new channel, CWN6, was essentially operated as a relay station from CBN. 

CBN8 won a TV Week Logie in 1979 for a documentary, Goin’ Down The Road.

By the 1980s CBN-CWN had affiliated with another regional station, MTN9 Griffith, to form Mid State Television.  Then in the late 1980s, CBN-CWN had become part of The Prime Network (now Prime7), a newly-formed network of regional stations as the industry was preparing for the new era of aggregation.  Prime had aligned itself with the Seven Network for the provision of programming.  In March 1989, Prime extended its signal to cover the Wollongong and Canberra regions to compete with those areas’ local channels. 

Since 2010, studio production of Prime7’s local newscast for the Orange and Dubbo regions was relocated to the network’s centralised facility in Canberra.

WIN4, serving Wollongong, the Illawarra region and the south coast of NSW, made its official debut on Sunday, 18 March 1962.  The station’s first program on opening night was a news bulletin presented by Don Dive and which included a greeting to viewers by general manager Robert Lord.

The opening program also included a short film to give viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the new channel.

Other program highlights from the opening night included the 1944 movie Destination Tokyo and the variety show Playboy’s Penthouse, featuring Sammy Davis Jnr.

WIN4’s regular weekday schedule commenced at 5.15pm with the children’s show The Channel 4 Club, hosted by Ralph Fairbrother, followed by various imported serials such as Lone Ranger, Robin Hood and The Invisible Man before Don Dive presented a 15-minute news at 6.45pm.

Like its Newcastle-based counterpart NBN3, WIN4 also found itself having to compete with imposing signals from Sydney – and with its own signal creeping into the southern suburbs of Sydney the station faced opposition and a lack of co-operation in sourcing programs from the Sydney-based commercial channels. 

WIN also had to educate local viewers with existing or older sets that they may need to convert to be able to receive the Channel 4 frequency as the technical specifications of the frequency differed from what was in the original broadcasting standards formed several years earlier.

The channel was later bought out by budding media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, who also owned Adelaide station NWS9 at the time.  In 1979, Murdoch had to sell off his interests in WIN4 in order to permit his bid to gain control of TEN10 Sydney and ATV0 Melbourne, the major stations in the 0-10 Network.

WIN4 was then bought out by businessman Bruce Gordon, who continues to own what is now a nationwide media organisation.  Through the aggregation of regional television markets and various acquisitions made along the way, WIN Corporation’s television outlets now broadcast throughout Southern NSW/ACT, regional Queensland, regional Victoria, Tasmania, Mount Gambier and Riverland in South Australia, and regional Western Australia.  The company also owns channels STW9 Perth and NWS9 Adelaide as well as a handful of radio stations and production company Crawfords Australia.

Source: TV Week, 17 March 1962.

Prime7 backs down on Tamworth axe

The Prime7 television network has backed down from last month’s decision to relocate production of its Tamworth-based news bulletins to Canberra.

Prime7 chief Doug Edwards told Tamworth staff that the news production unit of around 14 staff will now stay in Tamworth as opposed to the previous plan which was to see some production staff redeployed to Canberra and the local news presented by network weather presenter Daniel Gibson.

The move of the Tamworth-based news bulletins, covering the Tamworth and Taree regions, was scheduled to take place in April.

The turnaround is reported to have come after a review of the logistics in producing as many as five regional newscasts out of Canberra – with the Prime7 studios in the national capital already compiling local news bulletins for the Orange, Wagga Wagga and Albury markets each weeknight.  The original plan would have seen some pre-recording of newscasts and this raised the concern that late-breaking news stories could be left out from the evening bulletins, although Prime7 at the time said it would still have the capacity to cover late-breaking news to local markets.

Political lobbying against the move to Canberra – led by federal MP Tony Windsor – plus strong viewer and staff reaction are also believed to have been contributing factors in the network’s reviewed strategy.

The Tamworth studios have been producing local news since 1965 when the station originally known as NEN9 commenced transmission.  The station became part of the Prime network in the late 1980s in the lead-up to aggregation.

Source: Northern Daily Leader

Northern NSW going digital in November

Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy has announced 27 November 2012 as the date for the switch-off of analogue television services in the Northern NSW coverage area (pictured).

The switch-off will affect local transmissions of ABC, Prime7 (NEN), NBN, Southern Cross Ten (NRN) and SBS in the Northern NSW regions of Newcastle/Hunter Valley, Tamworth/New England, Taree/Manning River, Richmond/Tweed Heads and Northern Rivers.

Some towns within the above regions may be identified for analogue switch-off before the November date, however a list of towns affected is yet to be finalised.

Excluded from the November switch-off will be the Gold Coast and Gosford/Central Coast areas which both fall within the Northern NSW market but overlap with the Brisbane and Sydney television licence areas respectively.  Those areas will have analogue services terminated in late 2013.

According to the latest Digital Tracker survey – covering the period October to December 2011 – 84 per cent of households in the Northern NSW market have already converted at least their main TV set to digital, compared to the national average of 82 per cent.

In preparation for the analogue switch-off, broadcasters are establishing seven new transmission sites to improve areas of poor digital reception, but viewers within the coverage area that are unable to receive an adequate digital signal by 27 May may be eligible for transition to the satellite-based VAST system which will provide access to all free-to-air networks and their digital multi-channels.

Households requiring practical or financial assistance in making the transition to digital television may be eligible for government support and are advised to consult the Digital Ready website or telephone 1800 20 10 13.

The Northern NSW analogue switch-off will follow that of the Southern NSW, Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area and ACT markets which are due to switch to digital-only transmission on 5 June this year.

Source: DBCDE

Prime7 shifts Tamworth news to Canberra

It’s another nail in the coffin of regional television production with news that Prime7 plans to shift production of Prime7 News’ Tamworth and Taree bulletins to Canberra.

The move, due to happen in April, comes after the centralisation of production of the network’s other newscasts from Orange, Wagga Wagga and Albury to Canberra.

With five newscasts ultimately to be produced from Canberra every weeknight there will be a certain amount of pre-recording of bulletins, meaning that reporters will now have earlier deadlines to get stories prepared for airtime.  But Prime7 chief Doug Edwards told ABC Radio that this would still not impact on the standard of local news reporting and that late breaking news will still get to air.

Mr Edwards said that the move to centralise its news production is to take advantage of digital facilities installed in Canberra and also gives the network scope to adopt new technologies such as mobile apps and online streaming of news stories.  He also said that the three production staff to be made redundant in Tamworth are looking to be redeployed to Canberra.  There is not expected to be any change to news reporting staff in Tamworth, although newsreader Fiona Ferguson will not be making the move to Canberra – with the newsreading role to be taken over by Daniel Gibson, weather presenter for Prime7 who is also newsreader for the Albury bulletin.

The move out of the Tamworth studios located in Goonoo Goonoo Road will mark the end of almost fifty years of production from the site.  The station opened in April 1965 as local channel NEN9.  The channel later partnered up with Taree station ECN8.

In the late 1980s, NEN9/ECN8 became part of the Prime regional network.  From December 1991, NEN9/ECN8 formed Prime’s move into the expanded Northern NSW/Gold Coast market with aggregation as the Seven Network affiliate.

Last year, Prime changed its on-screen branding to Prime7.

Apart from Prime7 News the only other local television news into the Tamworth-Taree regions are inserts into the Newcastle-based NBN News and brief updates broadcast throughout the day from Southern Cross Ten’s Canberra news room.

Source: ABC, Northern Daily Leader.

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

TV4 coming to the Seven Network

The Seven Network has announced that it will be broadcasting the datacast channel TV4 on its digital signal from early December.

TV4, operated by marketing and production company Brand New Media, has been broadcast on the digital signal of Seven’s regional affiliate Prime7 since 18 September.

The channel promises “information rich content around lifestyle, finances, community, education and shopping”.

If online discussion about Prime7’s broadcast of TV4 is any indication, Seven Network viewers can expect the channel to largely consist of infomercials – low-rent programming that is normally reserved for mid-dawn timeslots.

Datacast services are intended for the transmission of information or niche format content and are precluded from providing general entertainment or mainstream programming.  An extended trial of datacasting was conducted in Sydney via Digital Forty Four, providing access to shopping and religious programming, government information and parliamentary broadcasts as well as an electronic program guide (EPG) for all free-to-air channels.  The trial also provided a free-to-air outlet for National Indigenous Television (NITV), whose access in most areas is otherwise limited to pay-TV platforms.  The trial concluded in 2010.

Seven will be broadcasting TV4 on digital channel 74 in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and regional Queensland.  TV4 is currently available on digital channel 64 via Prime7 in regional NSW, Victoria and the ACT.

South West WA ready to go digital

Regional WA’s two commercial networks, GWN7 and WIN, have announced the date that their respective networks will be switching on digital transmission in Bunbury and the South West region of the state.

The switch on, scheduled for 28 July, will not only see the launch of digital transmission of the primary channels GWN7 and WIN but will also include Ten West and multi-channels 7TWO, 7mate, GO!, GEM, One and Eleven.

The commercial channels will join the existing local digital broadcasts of ABC and SBS.

Although GWN7, WIN and Ten West launched digital broadcasts in Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Mawson, Mingenew and Karratha a year ago, their transmissions included only the primary channels.

Bunbury will be the first market in Regional WA to receive the extra commercial multi-channels, with the rollout expected to be completed across the state by early 2012.

GWN7 Chief Executive Officer Doug Edwards welcomed the new digital era for local viewers:

“Regional WA viewers will now be able to enjoy the whole digital experience. Put simply – this means more choice of free-to-air television with superior quality picture and sound. With the addition of 7TWO and 7mate, we are now offering greater choice for our audience”.

WIN’s manager of Legal, Regulatory & Network Affairs Shirley Brown said the digital launch brings some equality to viewers when compared to their city cousins:

“The roll out of the full suite of digital channels has been a long wait for the viewers of regional WA, we are pleased that the wait is nearly over and viewers will receive the same services as viewers in Perth have received for some time.”

Regional Western Australia is one of the last markets in Australia to receive digital broadcasts of commercial television – more than a decade after the first digital television broadcasts were launched in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.  As a result, Regional WA currently has the lowest conversion rate to digital television – with only 58 per cent of households currently converted to digital television, well below the national average of 79 per cent.

Regional WA is set to complete the transition to digital television with the shutdown of all existing analogue signals in the second half of 2013.

Good Friday Appeal tradition continues

Flashback to 1972… and Temptation and Great Temptation hostess Barbara Rogers and Homicide star Leonard Teale (pictured) are promoting the Good Friday Appeal telethons for Melbourne’s HSV7 and Adelaide’s ADS7.

The Adelaide telethon has long gone, but Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal continues to tap into the generosity of Victorians to raise funds for one of the world’s great children’s hospitals.  More than $211 million has been raised since the Appeal’s modest beginnings as a sports carnival in 1931.  Radio station 3DB joined the Appeal during World War II and HSV7 first took part in 1957.

This year’s telethon, the culmination of twelve months of various fundraising efforts across the state, will be held at Melbourne’s Etihad Stadium and broadcast across Victoria through HSV7 and regional affiliate Prime Television.  Melbourne radio stations 3AW and Magic 1278 as radio partners of the Appeal will also cover the day’s activities.

The Appeal promises to feature many of Seven’s on-screen personalities from various programs including Home And Away, Packed To The Rafters, Winners And Losers, Australia’s Got Talent, Seven News, Dancing With The Stars and The Morning Show.  Royal Children’s Hospital ambassador and former Seven personality Dan Webb, probably best known as host of game show Video Village in the 1960s and journalist with Seven National News in the 1970s and ‘80s, will also be making an appearance.

Last year’s Appeal raised a record total of $14,462,000.

The Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal.  Friday 22 April, from 9.30am.  HSV7 (Melbourne) and Prime Television (Regional Victoria) – in association with the Herald and Weekly Times and radio stations 3AW and Magic 1278

UPDATE @ 12.40 AEST 23.4.2011 The Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal has signed off with a record-breaking final total of $15,156,000.

Prime7 signs off from Albury

It was an end of an era for local television in Albury on Friday night with the final news bulletin from the Prime7 studios in Union Road, Lavington.

The newscast marked the end of over 46 years of production from what was initially AMV4 before it later became part of the Prime regional television network.  The network was re-named Prime7 earlier this year.

Newsreader Helen Ballard (pictured with colleague Paul Murphy) gave a tearful farewell as the bulletin came to a close:

“It’s been a privilege to be invited into your lounge room every night with the news from across our region.  It’s been an honour to play such an important role in our community as presenter of your local news.

“For the final time, thanks for joining us and good night.”

Former and current employees, friends and families packed the normally-quiet control room at the studios to witness the final news bulletin going to air.

From Monday the Albury edition of Prime7 News will be presented by the network’s former weather presenter Daniel Gibson, who will present the half-hour bulletin from studios in Canberra. 

Ballard, who has been with Prime7 since 2001, will stay based in Albury as a senior reporter.

The move to the Canberra-based studios will coincide with a change of timeslot for the Albury newscast – moving from 5.30pm to 6.00pm, putting it up against WIN’s local relay of Nine News from Melbourne.

The Melbourne edition of Seven News will now follow Prime7 News at 6.30pm, with Today Tonight now moved out of the schedule in Albury.  For the rest of regional Victoria, Seven News and Today Tonight will continue in their usual 6.00pm and 6.30pm timeslots on Prime7.

AMV4 was officially launched from the Union Road studios on Monday 7 September 1964.  The opening night was highlighted by a 75-minute feature Were You There, presenting coverage of recent events and highlights from around the channel’s viewing area as well as performances from local artists.  Early local productions from AMV4 included children’s program Cohns Cobbers with Olgamary Whelan, who also hosted women’s program Roundabout.  AMV4’s relay of ABC’s national news was supplemented with local news presented by former Melbourne radio news man John Worthy (pictured).  Other programs included quiz show The Mates Show and interview program Face with Ross Sellars.  Sellars also presented Friday and Saturday night sports programs. 

Albury’s second TV station, ABC’s ABAV1, was launched in December 1964.

But despite the belated debut of ABAV1 and AMV4, local viewers were quite familiar with the television medium.  Many households had erected large antennas so that they could receive television transmission from Shepparton stations GMV6 and ABGV3 which had been broadcasting since 1961 and 1963 respectively.  Local GMV6 personalities had also visited Albury for promotional efforts prior to AMV4’s arrival.

In the early 1970s AMV4 merged with Wagga Wagga television station RVN2, with both channels soon linked by microwave and the eventual  transmission of a common program schedule across both channels from the RVN2 studios – though AMV would continue to produce news locally from Albury until June 1987 when RVN began producing a single evening news bulletin for both markets.  The move was unpopular and production of the Albury-based bulletin was restored early in 1988.

In the mid-1980s, RVN-AMV and Orange-based station CBN8 formed a new regional television network, The Prime Network.  The new network soon struck up an affiliation with the Seven Network for the supply of programs as the Federal Government’s aggregation policy was looming, requiring regional networks to align with a capital city network.

By 1989, AMV’s operations were “de-merged” from RVN2 as Wagga Wagga became part of the Southern NSW aggregated market with CBN8 and AMV was to operate as the hub for Prime’s expansion across the regional Victorian market via aggregation.  In 1992, aggregation came to Victoria with Prime expanding across the state in competition with Ballarat-based VIC TV (now WIN) and Bendigo-based Southern Cross Network (now Southern Cross Ten).

The move of Prime’s local news bulletin from Albury follows similar moves from Prime’s Wagga Wagga (ex-RVN2) and Orange (ex-CBN8) studios to the centralised facility based in Canberra.

Source: Border Mail, Maikha Ly

TelevisionAU Update 7-Jan-2011

http://www.televisionau.com

FLASHBACK #57:
In 1981 former The Box actress Judy Nunn made a guest appearance in another Crawford Productions drama, Skyways.  Her guest role is as Bessie Langhurst, a World War II pilot who makes a mysterious re-appearance after going missing on a solo war flight in 1944, and looking exactly as she was when she disappeared - with the 37-year mystery of the missing ghost flight leading to a dramatic climax.  Judy Nunn would later go on to appear in drama series Sons And Daughters, followed by the long-running role of Ailsa in Seven's Home And Away.  She is now an accomplished writer with several titles of adult and children's fiction to her credit.  Picture: TV Week, 3 January 1981.

CLASSIC TV GUIDES
Melbourne:
1957 (Opening Night GTV9)
1976 (TV Week Logie Awards)
1976 (Opening Ceremony, Olympic Games)
1993 (Announcement of host city for 2000 Olympic Games. The Footy Show begins)

Victoria:
1965 (Official Opening STV8)
1980 (Melbourne Cup Day)

New South Wales:
1962 (Official Opening CBN8)
1962 (Official Opening WIN4)

Canberra:
1993 (Prime 6 O’Clock News launches)
2000

GREAT OZ TV FLOPS
The Bounce (Seven, 2010)
Warnie (Nine, 2010)

TELEVISIONAU - THE HISTORY OF AUSTRALIAN TELEVISION
http://www.televisionau.com
http://blog.televisionau.com
http://www.twitter.com/TelevisionAU
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/televisionau
http://au.youtube.com/user/TelevisionAU

Prime News exits Albury

Prime Television has announced this week that it will soon no longer be producing Prime News from its Albury studios and will instead be shifting production to centralised facilities in Canberra.

The Albury-based bulletin, which screens 5.30pm weeknights in the Albury and Upper Murray district as the lead-in to the Melbourne-based Seven News, has been in production since local station AMV4 (the local predecessor to Prime) began broadcasting in 1964.

The move to the Canberra facility follows similar moves from Prime’s Orange and Wagga Wagga station facilities earlier this year.

The Albury studios were recently upgraded, at a cost of $200,000, to accommodate widescreen production of its local news, an upgrade that prompted optimism that the network was planning to maintain production in Albury and that it might extend its local news coverage across Victoria to tackle rival network WIN, which has a monopoly on local newscasts across the rest of regional Victoria.

Prime chief executive Doug Edwards said that to fully convert the studios for digital television would cost around $1 million and that the network would be better to use existing facilities:

“We’ve got six newsrooms and it doesn’t make a lot of sense to go out and fully digitalise six newsrooms when you can invest that money into a super facility in Canberra and be able to present much better news. We are looking at new sets, new technology and I think we can do that by investing money into a presentation facility in Canberra that will give a better product on screen.”

Mr Edwards said that the move will not result in any job losses, although two crew staff in Albury will be offered roles in Canberra. Newsreader Helen Ballard (pictured) is expected to stay based at Albury but only as a senior reporter.

Prime News will move production from Albury in the new year.

Source: Border Mail, BradF89

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

7mate: Opening Night

The opening night’s schedule for Seven’s new high-definition channel, 7mate, which launches next Saturday, 25 September:

6pm That ‘70s Show
6.30 Gene Simmons Family Jewels
7pm How I Met Your Mother
7.30 Scrubs
8pm My Name Is Earl
8.30 Punk’d
9pm Family Guy
9.30 Movie: Anchorman

Although 7mate actually makes its debut from 12.15pm next Saturday afternoon with the high-definition simulcast of the AFL Grand Final.

(Programs and times are for the Melbourne market, other areas or time-zones check local guides)

7mate will be available via a high-definition tuner or set top box, and can be found on digital channel 73 via the Seven Network (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Regional QLD) or digital channel 63 via Prime Television (Regional NSW, Regional Victoria, ACT, Gold Coast).

Regional update on digital channel roll-out

The Nine Network’s two major regional affiliates, WIN and NBN, have both announced that they will launch Nine’s new digital channel, GEM, in their respective regional markets on the same day as in the capital cities.

GEM, providing an entertainment-based line-up aimed at female viewers aged 35+, will be available in WIN’s and NBN’s respective digital coverage areas (excluding South Australia and Western Australia) on high-definition digital channel 80.  The new channel will be officially launched on Sunday 26 September.  WIN’s Perth and Adelaide channels, STW9 and NWS9, will also broadcast GEM from the same day on high-definition digital channel 90.

Viewers of the Nine Network’s Darwin channel will be able to view both channels GO! and GEM from early October, following upgrades to the channel’s transmission infrastructure.

Meanwhile, Tasmanian viewers may soon learn that they will be getting the Seven and Ten networks’ new digital channels, 7mate and 11.  Southern Cross Media, representing both Southern Cross Television and Tasmanian Digital Television, has previously said that they were not committing to carrying the new channels in the short term. 

It now appears that Southern Cross will be relaying the male-focused 7mate channel from mid-October, after the Commonwealth Games, while TDT could be carrying the new channel 11 from when it launches on the mainland in the new year.  There is no indication yet, however, whether Southern Cross Ten in regional NSW, Victoria, Queensland and the ACT will be carrying 11.

Southern Cross has had to consider significant investment and upgrade of its Canberra-based broadcast facility to allow it to provide the new channels, at a time when the broadcaster’s parent company has had to wear a $82.7 million loss from the last financial year.  Most of this loss was attributed to an American subsidiary which has been sold off, but the pressure is obviously on the Australian business to off-set the losses as much as possible.

Meanwhile, Prime Television in NSW, Victoria, ACT and the Gold Coast is expected to carry 7mate from when it launches in the capital cities next Saturday, 25 September.

Source: The Mercury, Freeview, Ninemsn

New channels on Tassie waiting list

The recent announcements of new digital channels 7mate and 11 have yet to be followed up with confirmation from local affiliates that they will be carried in Tasmania.

Craig Davies, Tasmanian general manager for Southern Cross Media (representing both Southern Cross Television and Tasmanian Digital Television), told The Mercury that neither of the new channels will appear in Tasmania at the same time as they launch on the mainland, but added that an announcement is coming:

"We are not sure of the timeframe because we haven't got an agreement from Seven or Ten to bring these channels into Tasmania and we also do not have the capacity to broadcast these channels into Tasmania (but) it is within our best interests to get them on air as soon as we possibly can.”

Mr Davies added that further extensions to Southern Cross’ network infrastructure, based in Canberra, is needed to bring the new channels to Tasmania.

The delay will mean that Tasmanian viewers may be denied the opportunity to see the high-definition broadcast of the AFL Grand Final, as it will serve as the opening program on Seven’s 7mate channel. The standard-definition broadcast is expected to be relayed via Southern Cross Television as normal.

The delay in bringing Ten’s new youth-focused channel, 11, to Tasmania via TDT may impact on fans of Neighbours and The Simpsons as both shows are set to move exclusively to 11 when it launches in the new year.

Both new channels 7mate and 11 are also expected to carry a significant schedule of exclusive programming not available on the main Seven and Ten channels.

The launch of Seven’s first digital channel, 7TWO, was delayed to Tasmania by one month and Ten’s sports channel, One HD, was delayed by approximately three months. However, Nine’s digital channel GO! was broadcast via Tasmania’s local affiliate, WIN, from the beginning.

The Nine Network is also expected to announce an additional digital channel soon.

Tasmania is a market of around 500,000 viewers – making it one of the smallest populations for a competitive market in Australia – yet in the space of ten years it has gone from two commercial channels (WIN and Southern Cross) to six commercial channels (WIN, Southern Cross, TDT, 7TWO, GO!, One HD) and also receives the full suite of digital channels offered by ABC and SBS.

Meanwhile, Prime Television, the Seven Network affiliate serving the regional markets of New South Wales/ACT and Victoria, have said they will be carrying 7mate from the time it launches on 25 September.

Source: The Mercury, Regional TV Marketing