Losing VIC TV still hurts.
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At the time I didn’t care, but after all the dodgy cover ups WIN were using I thought god I wish we still had VIC.
Me too. I wonder what it would’ve been like if WIN didn’t buy VIC TV?
VIC TV rolls off the tongue better.
Considering the close relationship between Nine and VIC, I’m guessing it would have been Nine Victoria years ago.
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That was the plan set out - originally just 3 stations 2, 7 and 9. Later they had to finh spectrum for an extra commercial but 10 was taken in adjacent areas in Melbourne and Brisbane so 0 had to be introduced.
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ATV0 van seen in a flashback in one of tonight’s Kath & Kim episodes. It was mentioned in the previous episode by Kath that Sandy (the character pictured) “worked at Channel O in Nunawading.” You’ve got to love the attention to detail.
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the original ‘provisional’ channel allocation plan had 2, 7, 9, 10 designated for the major capitals – I guess even then anticipating a 4th channel of some sort. But much of what was assigned in that plan for other cities and regional areas was heavily revised – such as 10 being assigned in Gippsland and Darling Downs and then that combined with overall congestion on the VHF band led to the expansion to add channels 0, 5A and 11.
But how they settled on the channel numbers 2, 7, 9 and 10 as a standard for the major cities I do not know. They probably could have just as easily gone with any other combination.
Source: Australian Broadcasting Control Board Annual Report 1956-57
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Good find! Interesting that they were proposing 4 channels for Hobart, for some reason they didn’t list Channel 3 for Canberra (I think 10 was only ever the Woden relay for 7?).
I think it could potentially have been 7 for ABC and 10 for the commercial channel.
The initial channel allocations for regional QLD also for example painted a very different picture to what eventuated:
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That’s great to know!
Do you have the NSW regional TV channel plans?
I’ve seen that episode so many times and I’m only just seeing this now… 
One channel for the Blue Mountains areas. Now that would have been interesting in terms of profitability.
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Great read that! Interesting seeing some of the restrictions like TCN only allowed 15 minutes to broadcast on Sundays - 4 to 4:15pm I think it was.
This one was interesting too, it looks like from the beginning they could have made Hobart like the metros and given them the same 2, 7, 9, 10 allocations but instead they went differently and then gave Launceston 7 and 10 but TNT then started broadcasting on 9 instead which was allocated to the North West Coast. I’m a bit confused by all of those and why they changed but I’m intrigued as to what the reasoning was for the change with Hobart because that could have changed things when all the networks became national Hobart could potentially have had all the same metro services.
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According to the Department of Transport and Communications’ Radio and Television Broadcasting Stations 1988 document, the commercial channels (BTQ, QTQ, TVQ, RTN) started broadcasting out of Mt Tamborine in July 1983, whilst the ABC started in May 1985.
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Didn’t early reports show Geelong potentially having its oven station?
How different Melbourne’s television landscape would have been if Geelong had a commercial station. It would have been similar to NBN4 in Newcastle.
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Which would have meant Geelong being aggregated into regional VIC and having Prime, WIN and Southern Cross.