What location produces Seven Gold Coast News. Perhaps Northern NSW news could be moved there if there is room then Canberra and Wollongong News could be produced out of Canberra and possibly a second Victorian News bulletin to served regions outside of Albury/border region.
At this point only for another 6 and half years plus the WIN northern NSW affiliation with Ten in ends in 18 months. I have no idea why they would only sign a 2 year agreement when SCA did a 5 year one with Ten.
I know that its still a while to go, but 5 years ago any thoughts Nine and WIN would reconcile was thought to be pure nonsense. I figure anything is possible
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I expect WIN have done a deal on the expectation that theyâll merge/be acquired by Nine in the ensuing period, at which time they will need to divest the Northern NSW licence.
It would be ironic if Prime started doing news from the Gold Coast again: long ago they had a full TV station including playout in what was then Prime House next to the old Gold Coast hospital at Southport. TV does not have a good reputation on the Gold Coast with staff, as there were some that got sacked twice - once when Seven did a local news then shut it down and a second time when Prime shutdown their TV station at Southport. A few of those people work in radio now and unload when you get them started.
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SCA only signed up for two years also, to line up with the end of what was then Primeâs current deal. If Prime somehow lost 7, WIN NNSW would surely have gone the same way as the SC10 stations.
Of course, the 7 affiliation isnât going to be in play anymore, but we didnât know that then.
Seven Gold Coast is produced via the same BTQ control room that produces the BTQ 6pm News back to back, but with separate studio on the Gold Coast.
I doubt Seven would consider moving the Prime Northern NSW bulletins there. It would probably be more likely the 7QLD bulletins could possibly move to BTQ at some point if Maroochydore is shut down?
And I very much doubt Seven would produce a separate Victoria wide regional bulletin (minus the existing Albury bulletin) as the existing Seven Melbourne bulletin does the job mainly now anyway.
Time will tell, but am sure Seven wonât announce what plans they have until well after they finally gained control. But I can not see how Watson would continue past 18 months at the latest under Seven.
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Does anyone know if Prime7 (if acquired by Seven) and WIN (if acquired by Nine) can still operate joint ventures in smaller markets?
I donât see why not. Nine already jointly owns 10 Darwin.
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Are those JV licences restricted to being operated by an existing licence holder in that market?
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At 60 High St, later acquired by the Torvs for their Hot Tomato radio station. 5yr leaseback to Camerons which I gather will continue to ARN.
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Therefore Seven will become a joint 10 affiliate in Mildura and regional WA with WIN?
Or is there a âsignificant eventâ clause either in legislation or ACMA licence that triggers a sale to the existing JV partner or opens up the licence to the full market bar the incumbent(s)?
Nine being a JV partner with SCA for 10 Darwin is more historic being Nine under Alan Bond bought NTD I believe well before SCA started, and the Govt decided to treat Darwin TV1 as a 2 competing licence aggregated area similar to Tasmania, Albury, regional WA and later Central Australia, hence 10 Darwin being a JV still to this day.
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Think you might have meant Griffith (which had only MTN until Prime (AMN) started in 1997), Albury has always been a 3 station market since aggregation in 1992.
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Iâm not sure, but in the case of WA and Mildura, Iâm sure WIN would prefer to just own the JV outright, considering they practically operate them in their entirety anyway (except sales).
There is - but I have no clue how a company would trigger it, unless Seven wanted to trigger it to rid themselves of loss making Ten affiliate stationsâŚ
If youâre ever that way inclined, this is the decision in the TDT case that sets precedent here - Macquarie Media Holdings Ltd v Australian Communications and Media Authority (Corrigendum dated 25 November 2008) [2008] FCA 1711 (14 November 2008)
Iâm very much not a lawyer, but Iâve tried to cite legislation in internet arguments enough over the years to roughly get the gist of the decision here, but paragraph 33 is the most concise one to read, which Iâd paraphrase as saying, that the person to which the immunity to the breach of the 2 station rule applies, is the operator of the license that allowed the allocation of the S38B license in the first place, so âowner of TNTâ is the person who is allowed to breach the 2 station rule to own TDT, regardless of who that person is and how often the ownership transfers.
I could be wrong, but that seemingly makes it clear Seven would be able to keep their half of the joint ventures.
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So would that mean, in the event of Seven taking ownership of Prime in Mildura and WA, that WIN ends up being the only operator left in the license area that âallowedâ the allocation of the JV license? Meaning WIN could just buy Sevenâs half of MDT and WDT if Seven wants to sell it?
On my reading, Seven would be able to retain their part of the JV - the TDT case seemed to find (on my reading, so it could be wrong) that the change provision is triggered if the companies listed on the ownership register for Primeâs licences in those markets changes, not if the ownership of those companies change.
What would happen if one JV partner wants to sell out I donât think is as clear - I would have thought it would trigger a change provision, but does it only trigger on the part of the JV that is intending to sell or does it trigger for both JV parties
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I imagine itâd apply separately - if WIN bought out the Mildura joint venture licence, for instance, I canât see why they wouldnât continue to be exempted as they were never âout of controlâ themselves.
Worth also noting that although the general 38B âcontrolâ rules may still hold as per that TDT court ruling, it wouldnât be exempted from the ânumber of voicesâ rules as it stands currently, at least in the non-remote markets. I suspect Seven would be more likely to run foul of that in parts of WA (unless they can spin off some of the regional newspapers that they own through WA News), rather than a purported 38B breach in the vein of the TDT/MSCM case.
not long to got before prime media share holders vote on 7 take over dec 23 
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if prime shareholders vote for the merger to go ahead nothing stopping 7 removing Prime from the watermark once they get the ok