Nine News Local

I have to honestly say I agree with the residents or Darwin. I much prefer the old Darwin set and the news format that existed up to the 8th September. I don’t like the new format and it’s very disappointing to see the live shot of Darwin has all gone. They should have used the old Brisbane or Darwin set.

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NQ Montage uploading

Darwin montage:

Sam presenting night updates - they used to do Darwin and Rural in the weather super, now only Darwin.


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Yep - that’s just a 30-min delay of what aired in Townsville.

They could’ve easily used a still image from the live camera to try and fool viewers with the backdrop.

At least it would be consistent with NNSW news and would be an easier transition for Darwin viewers (and a step up for RQLD viewers).

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This new Darwin product is junk

Like I’ve said in the past, it’s the only commercial television news in the NT, yes Nine won’t be making money off of it but it’s loose change for NEC

Should have never been merged into the regional news product, and NBN’s shouldn’t either

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Bulletin highlights from Sunshine Coast tonight

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I’ll be watching ABC News and even those updates Southern Cross air instead of this new Nine News Darwin QLD based garbage when I go to Darwin!

Except from 19:00 they’d be recording the “updates” to be shown very shortly thereafter (and repeated later on of course).

I feel sorry for Darwin viewers; it’s a shame Nine didn’t keep the NT’s only commercial news bulletin.

When a bulletin crosses state boundaries this format really struggles, some of which we see in the ACT but this is worse (at least the ACT viewing area has lots of surrounding NSW in it, unlike Darwin).

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If Tasmania can have two local news bulletins (WIN and Southern Cross), why can’t NT?
Perhaps Nine felt that the Darwin-produced news didn’t make much money in advertising since it did not air in the rest of NT. (Imparja viewers gets Nine News Brisbane)

Are TV ratings even measured for the Darwin market? If they are, I suspect that ABC News at 7pm will now overtake the reformatted Nine News as “Darwin’s #1 News”!

I also agree that Nine News Darwin being lumped in with the Regional Queensland bulletins is worse than Nine News Canberra being lumped in with Southern NSW. At least in the case of Canberra TV market, it does cover parts of NSW as well as the ACT!

Nine News Darwin also airs on 9Gem via Imparja.

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The Darwin bulletin didn’t look too bad from that montage but hopefully over time they polish it up and make it better. At least weather now has the same graphics as the rest of the country.

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It’s really messy. I dare say that 9 network made a big mistake. Darwin is too remote and that it can never fit in with the Queensland market. It will save money short term but it will cost them heaps in the long run.

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I checked the ebroadcast guide and Nine News Darwin is not on 9Gem’s line-up.

I’m not sure if you’re only counting the commercial stations on purpose, but if you include the ABC, Tasmania has 3 local news bulletins, all of which are produced within the state.

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Tasmania’s population: 518,500
NT’s population: 244,000 (Darwin 145,804)

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I don’t think so.
A market of 130k simply wouldn’t generate enough ad revenue for even a ratings hit of 50% drop to equal the savings or not running a 7 days a week local newsroom in Darwin. And 9 knows it.

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In the Southern Cross Nine markets they repeat the same night update over and over a few times. But they recorded a few different ones in Darwin, in the final one Sam wishes viewers a good night:

Finance and weather caps from bulletin:

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Nine News North QLD montage

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Nine should have made Darwin a regional hub generating bulletins for other markets (North QLD/Northern WA). They could have expanded their Darwin service into the rest of the NT via Imparja and Northern WA via Nine West given Darwin’s close proximity to areas like Kununurra compared to Perth, that could have bumped up the viewing area and probably save the locally made bulletin from the axe.

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