A VERY interesting article and great news for Water Rats and Blue Heelers fans et al 
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Of all the classic soaps out there, this is one I would never have picked to get another airing.
Echo Point, Ten’s short-lived 1995 soap… 130 episodes. I’m surprised it even lasted that long!
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I’m still waiting for Nine to add Chances to 9Now. I don’t believe that ever got a repeat screening on Australian television.
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I don’t think it has. Some episodes got a DVD release a few years back but IIRC, Nine burned off the last batch of episodes late night on weeknights in December 1992 to get them all done and dusted before the new year… and never to speak of it ever again 
What about Paradise Beach?
Look! Warner Bros. Movie World!
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Another classic dug out of the woodwork for bingeing on… A Country Practice. Seasons 1 and 2 (1981-82) on 7plus.
As well as the regular cast, the pilot features Dasha Blahova (later Maria Ramsay in Neighbours) and Tom Richards (who just after this appearance began as David Palmer in Sons & Daughters)
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In Australia, I think Televisions biggest problem that even with all these secondary channels, how many classic Australian shows do we see nowadays?
Ten had Comedy Company, E Street, Prisoner, Carson’s Law and Col’n Carpenter (amongst others)
Nine had The Flying Doctors, The Sullivan’s, Water Rats, Stingers, Chances and Altogether Now (amongst others)
Seven had A Country Practice, Cop Shop, The Young Ramsey, Fast Forward, Blue Heelers, All Saints, Rafferty’s Rules, Always Greener and Kingswood Country (amongst others).
Traditional TV is losing out to streaming
A classic TV channel like Cozi TV or one of the many in the US would be popular here, a mix of Australian classics, UK and US comedy and dramas. Strictly retro drama and comedy. Themed nights, special wraparounds. Plenty of opportunities.
A classic TV channel could work.
Another possibility could be an all Australian channel mixing older programs with newer ones - possibility time shifting some shows by say 2 to 3 hours. You wouldn’t time shift everything but if Channel Seven did a channel like this then shows like Sunrise of a weekday could be delayed to say a 7am start time weekdays and 9am on weekends on a secondary channel, Even the AFL Grand final could be on such a channel as a on delay prime time event
How many of those shows they’d still have the rights to (and be willing to pay to show again on terrestrial), compared to the ad money they’d get, is another matter. I do get that Seven for instance do have whole streams of 7plus focused on the likes of ACP and their 90s classics like Blue Heelers and All Saints - but this perhaps proves your point.
Of all the media companies out there, the one probably most in the best place to do that is WIN with all the Crawfords content - they even have the most suitable name for a channel for it too. 
But they would rather just sell them via mail order and keep that as a datacast-style channel for the infomercial money.
Apart from Channel Seven who owns Home and Away, A Country Practice, All Saints, Rafferty’s Rules and Always Greener; the other shows aren’t owned by the networks but owned either by the production companies that own it through acquisition (e.g. Fremantle, EndemolShine), WIN Corporation if it’s a Crawfords title or a DVD company and will only see the certain show on a shelf at JB Hi-Fi. Which is why I guess we don’t see some of these old shows repeated as much or at all.
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And part from Home & Away… Seven no longer makes in-house drama.
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And i think even then Seven has limits on how it replays old episodes which IIRC caused it to stop showing classic episodes on 7two. I don’t know what the limits are but i can only guess it might come down to obligations to pay royalties to the actors? Someone here may know better.
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Was Winners & Losers a Seven production?
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Yes. However Fremantle Media is in charge of their distribution. When i worked there i had to go through Winners & Losers for one of the US FAST channels.
Another reason could be copyright clearances with the music in the background especially during the Diner scenes. And with the early episodes there isn’t a way in replacing it.
Neighbours had sort of the same issue, which is why not all of the classic episodes are on Amazon. And the ones currently on had to go through those clearances.
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