Anyone know more information about Video-Tran? It was a division of NWS9 Adelaide going by what the television commercial from 1985 says.
3 Likes
I remember Australia had its own version, hosted by Axle Whitehead (formerly the narrator of World’s Strictest Parents) from the Poland set.
Another one of those game shows that didn’t last long (The Master, anyone?).
3 Likes
How good was the music for this TVQ ident? This just screamed 80s and shut up and watch us you pack of gronks. 
3 Likes
So catchy! Go TV0!
If Ten Brisbane (and Ten Melbourne for that matter) werent able to arrange to swap the Channel 0 frequency with a regional network, how would programming strategies like the Give Me 10 campaign would have went.
What type of alternative strategy would they have adopted if Brisbane and Melbourne were still channel 0 then AND even now?
1 Like
I reckon they would have eventually adopted the Ten branding even if they stayed on Channel 0.
There could also have been the possibility that NEW in Perth might have been assigned a UHF frequency as the government at the time had decided that all new TV services were to be on the UHF band, so potentially there could have been NEW-31 in Perth as part of the network. As it turned out a number of significant exceptions were made to this rule, eventually NEW was assigned 10 and Imparja was assigned 9 for Alice Springs.
this is probably the most logical potential outcome. Another possibility might have been using the “TV Australia” name from the 1989 relaunch, had Ten not have run into legal trouble over use of the name. It was already trademarked to someone else AFAIK, so Ten had to remove any reference to it in its branding. Awks.
1 Like
The other thing I thought was if there was a push for ALL regionals to be moved to UHF frequencies to ensure a level playing field, which would free up Channel 10 in those regions adjacent to Melbourne and Brisbane
Would that have caused problems for SBS?
why would it?
No just wondering, if all channels shared the UHF band, would there have been interference?
not particularly given that in most regional areas almost all stations were on UHF except for the legacy pre-aggregation ones and any Band II channels that hadn’t been forced off VHF. Not really sure that it would have been worth the effort/expense to do so, however.
1 Like
I’d heard NEW being on channel 11 was quite likely for a while, but not them being pushed to UHF.
I think we’d have just seen a unique brand for the 0-10 network if Melbourne never switched. Can’t imagine how bad Channel 0 reception would have been near the end of analogue though - the ABC was bad enough on 2.
2 Likes
The Government decided in 1985 that all new TV services would go to UHF: The Sydney Morning Herald - Google News Archive Search
what was the reasoning for that? I know there were one or two GWN translators using VHF 10 within range of Perth, but they were easily re-allocated to other channels. That wouldn’t have been enough to push NEW to 11?
There was already SSW-11 (GWN) covering Avon Valley/Central Agricultural (Mawson/York/Northam) only about 100 kms east of Perth and that was a reasonably high power signal. And there was GTW-11 (also GWN) at Geraldton too. No reason why NEW couldn’t use 10 in Perth?
The irony somewhat was that SSW-11 had to move to UHF when Digital TV started, as NEW-10 were (like all other metro markets) given 11 for their DTV signal.
SSW11 was originally on Channel 10. When they went to 11, the existing BTW11 at Wagin moved to Channel 6. All to allow 10 in Perth.
3 Likes
ABC WA relay station ABMW-10 moved to Channel 60 in 1987 to accommodate 10 Perth.
Thanks didn’t know Mawson was 10 before that, wonder why they didn’t move to 6 so Wagin could stay where it was on 11
There were a few channel 6’ers around the place nearby.