I’m not so sure if solos market would be the best solution. If Imparja had 7, 9 and 10 as multi channels, I somehow doubt they would have made much money at all. I don’t think it would have made any difference
Maybe southern cross should have picked up 9, 10 and 7 in the remote market and let imparja convert to a community channel maybe.
You’d probably have WIN crying foul there!
The situation with WIN probably isn’t all that different to Imparjas given the number of transmitters and markets they operate in with the added burden of local news (which Imparja isn’t required to do).
WIN has a potential audience of something like 5 million. That’s a lot of viewers that WIN can sell advertising to. Imparja has an audience of about a 10th of that and spread over just as wide an area and given the relative remoteness of most of its viewers probably not as desirable to advertisers.
I just crunched some numbers.
Excluding self help retransmissions and excl N.NSW (which is 10), WIN has 348 transmitters, IMP has 60.
I estimate WIN runs 23 different main channel feeds vs Imparja’s 2.
I know WIN has a lot more viewers, but when you factor in the above, I don’t think their situation is all that much different.
Which is a major factor in the comparison. WIN has a much (at my estimate, 10x) larger, and in many cases, much more urbanised, audience. Much more attractive to advertisers than sparsely populated outback and remote areas with only a couple of major centres, e.g. Alice Springs, Mt Isa.
You’d think so, but the redacted reports they lodge with the charities’ commission suggests “programme purchases” are probably in the order of a million, maybe two - it’s certainly seven figures - which would be fine except they earn less than $10 million a year already, then have to shoulder employee costs, part of the VAST costs, and so on. On the other hand, it’s probably less a percentage than the “50%” Nine is supposedly squeezing out of WIN. 
I guess that whole fact about Imparja still would complicate any takeover, too… it -is- set-up as a non-profit and it’s likely its constitution would prohibit its takeover by anything that contradicts its indigenous mission, and indeed any winding-up would require it to distribute retained money and assets to projects in line with that - and that would include their TV licence.
And I’m pretty sure they’re not going to give that part up, even now it’s a few steps apart from the CAAMA who set it up these days. In fact they’ve been trying to lean further into it by earmarking 10% of incremental national revenue (coming from Nine indirectly representing them now, via taking over WIN’s staff) to local indigenous concerns, although whether that’s simply a thing to try and not lose their charitable status would be in question.
We’re much more likely to see Imparja have to slowly wither and die before any fill-in by another entity such as Nine would be permitted. That’d certainly be a shame, but it’s like seeing something sink in slow motion.
One wonders why they and SCA are paying for any of the VAST uplink costs at all; that’s the bigger question - perhaps they wouldn’t be if there one of the players wasn’t a commercial entity (and of course the same could be said for GWN/Seven and WIN which is a slightly more competitive market).
I wouldn’t wish that on anybody, not even imparja. I would rather see a big business purchase a struggling business in a quick manner than seeing a business sink in slow motion
I am saying, there are likely large complications for who and what can take it over given the way Imparja is structured. Probably also limits who can inject equity into the company (although those that benevolent can donate to them and get their tax back I guess). So there are limited ways they could dig themselves out of the proverbial hole here.
Those less dogged might have already handed back the licence to ACMA, but I don’t know whether it’s like the UK where they’d then be financially penalised for that.
Note that these is general thoughts only, given only knowledge of what they make public in their reports and public statements.
I hope im wrong but I’m afraid to say that the days of running independent regional television stations are just about over sadly.
Already finished, WIN was the last one which finished 2021. All schedules are Seven Nine and Ten-run and branded now. If you can’t run your own schedule, you are not independent.
Not quite finished yet. You forgot imparja
Switched to Nine branding a few months ago.
They are a Nine programming relay for 364.8 days of the year, and have been for years.
What’s the 0.2 days a year?
Probably info commercial ads in the early mornings
Probably something NT/Indigenous-related?
i think it was a comment probably not meant to be taken too literally
There was a Saturday? night where Imparja were showing different content for a few hours sometime last year or the year before. It was talked about earlier in this thread.
During election coverage maybe? Or if a documentary was an active court case?
Ever since the Imparja got the Nine dirty feed, the informercials/home shopping is from the dirty feed and not Imparja themselves