I disagree completely. I think Prime7’s brand has been well executed. It’s days are numbered obviously but the hate makes me laugh. It adheres to every Seven design, has the 7 logo in it and never obstructs or tries to claim something as its own. Its interchangeability with 7 works pretty well.
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Wouldnt it be a trigger event due to a change in control of the network?
See the relevant legislation here - https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2021C00389/Html/Volume_1#_Toc83810378
There’s a specific definition of a trigger event for the increased local content requirements, which the acquisition of Prime meets, as it’s fairly specifically crafted to basically be an “if the metros buy the regionals” clause, so we are very unlikely to be in a situation like the joint venture station situation with whether the local content rules trigger event applies.
The law from my reading passed as proposed in the summary table above from Nick. There’s a 6 month period before the new requirements actually take effect.
Some exceptions are that this trigger event doesn’t flow on to Ten West/MDT - section 38A/38B licenses are specifically excluded, there’s also about 3 pages of legislation to explain that GWN doesn’t have to service all 4 of their legacy call sign areas separately - with the points total counting as the whole regional WA market.
So I suppose good news for Mildura, as Prime should be required to at least have dedicated local news, though obviously GWN already far exceeds their requirement.
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Expect more lobbying to see those laws abolished or watered down over time.
Don’t get me wrong, I am all for further local content, but not at the expense of seeing metro content replaced.
I predict noodle updates for Mildura, and local windows in the existing 6pm metro bulletins for Canberra, Wollongong, Far South Coast (possibly will get the Canberra window), Newcastle and regional VIC except Albury. As to Gold Coast, being Seven also owns Seven Gold Coast, will Prime Gold Coast get the Seven Gold Coast bulletin timeshifted or in simulcast? GWN obviously unchanged unless they localise with windows within the Perth metro bulletin and dispense with the statewide GWN bulletin. Am sure people in Bunbury do not need to know or care about garbage collection issues in Geraldton.
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They should just switch those duplicated services off. Makes no sense for one broadcaster to be broadcasting a near identical copy of their channel into the same market.
Seems like a really easy cost saving.
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What happens in Gosford where currently it gets both Seven and PRIME7?
Do they have to choose between providing 7 Sydney or 7 Central Coast and switch one off?
Would it be better for sales to move the current PRIME7 feed to the 7 LCNs since they can sell local ads with a boosted audience?
Why reduce two sources of revenue to one?
They’re starting a non returnable precedence if they decide to switch off their “duplicate” signals on the Gold and Central coast.
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They won’t be? Since the Seven feed is the same one in Sydney. If anything they’d save on broadcast costs.
Otherwise they’re spitting their audience. Most I’d imagine would watch 7 Sydney so being able to move local ads onto the larger audience would mean making it more attractive to advertisers.
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Think of Prime’s situation right now, they spend resources trying to sell local Gold Coast businesses on advertising on a channel that likely gets a tiny fraction of the viewership of the 7 Gold Coast service. I skipped through a recording from Prime Gold Coast I had, and the only “local” ad was a Queensland Government one, which was in the same ad break as one for buying NSW custom license plates from the NSW Gov.
If you just had one service, you’d have more options to offer advertisers - and a substantially higher audience to sell them. You could basically sell an ad as being “BTQ wide”, at the standard rate it is now, and then you could offer Gold Coast only ads to Gold Coast businesses - for a much higher price than Prime could sell them for, while then selling the Brisbane side of that ad slot at a discount or as a top up/package buy thing - and end up making more money off the same 30 seconds than Seven and Prime did separately.
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Sounds great in theory but I believe there is a licence condition which precludes local Gold Coast only advertising on the metro signal (except political advertising in local news).
Nine don’t seem to have an issue with two Nine’s (Nine GC and NBN9) running together. Don’t know why Seven would have issues?
If you’re looking at making savings, it has to be on the list to be considered (even if after due-diligence its determined that its not possible).
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If that’s the case then just shut off the metro Seven and run the Gold Coast “prime” variant only on LCN 6/6x. Non-issue
Nine should have issues! Such a waste of spectrum and broadcast costs. If Seven shuts down one service I predict Nine will follow.
As others have said, either way it’s a win-win for Seven (and Nine too!). Centralise revenue and better sales opportunities for local Gold Coast advertisers. Plus save the duplicated broadcast costs.
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Nine don’t have a choice, the legislation dictating broadcast areas was based on where local broadcasters already were situated back in the 80s when aggregation was invented.
The only way it could feasibly change is once all three networks own both Brisbane and NNSW and there would be no reason for a non-existent regional broadcaster to have a foothold in the Gold Coast overlap.
That may create many headaches eg what stories do they drop each night etc
I would think its more likely to follow the QLD model of a half hour bulletin, but I would not be surprised if Seven Local News (or whatever it is called in QLD) would move to before the National News noting it has been previously encored on 7Two at 6:30pm. Mildura news probably screening within a western Victoria edition.
In time, if Today Tonight was to return, I could see it screening earlier with The Chase or whatever is the game show at the time screening earlier National News in its current time or moved to later like Nine Perth and Adelaide have done. If Today Tonight was to return, that could screen on regionals after the local news encore on 7Two.
I dont expect anything to change until at least after Easter given the fact they will probably have to hire additional staff to cope with increased production and possibly reallocate resources in whatever scenario eventuates.
Pretty sure there won’t be any change to the start time for the number one news service in regional Queensland.
7 Local news hasn’t been shown on 7Two since the middle of 2020.
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Or maybe a Bendigo edition, just like WIN does.
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I would think they would want consistency across all stations in regional markets. But again noting Nine Perth and Adelaide switching the afternoon news and Hot Seat around gives the impression that timeslot consistency isn’t as important.
I posted what I would like to see from Seven in 2022 for the afternoon and early evening. Not likely to happen but I thought it might meet the needs/expectations of viewers if it could be implemented. I have suggested 6pm local news for consistency, with a possible 5:30pm local news window for regions where local news at 6pm is not viable eg Newcastle and Gold Coast
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for regional vic either The Chase would have to be cut short or 7 news at 6 would have to be cut like 9 news use to be to fit in win news when win news was @ 6
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However, removing the Central Coast and Gold Coast also reduces their (regional) audience reach which reduces the cost-benefit of any remaining resources and potentially the attractiveness to regional clients.
Advertisers would likely be pushed to pay higher rates, and tv sales isn’t about screwing clients, it is about facilitating value for money as a partner. The industry cannot take advertisers for granted these days.
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WIN News was only at 6pm during the 10 affiliation (and 10 Eyewitness News was already ran 5-6 anyway)
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