It seems to indicate that Seven are open to an alternate partner which would/should make a few at prime a little nervous.
This might work to flush out what Catalano’s intentions are too
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It would likely trigger a few changes to ownership (like in queensland where seven and SCA both have regional stations)
They wouldn’t be operating two stations in the same market
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Hmm. Time to mock up some PRIME10 logos 
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It’s in Seven’s best interest to create some competitive tension and give Prime a kick up the backside (so to speak) that them continuing to affiliate with Seven isn’t as guaranteed as they might think/believe it is
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10 a ratings powerhouse?
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I reckon two of the 3 networks will go national leaving one regional affiliate. I think there’s only room for one affiliate (Network 10) in the next few years.
In the west, Seven would be relegated to joint venture status if GWN (Prime) switches to 10.
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Not necessarily - if SCA takes up the Seven affiliation (either through acquisition or agreement) it could leave GWN with the Seven affiliation as SCA has no presence in regional WA, ala WIN and 10 in NNSW.
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It’s been mentioned above that SCA most likely will exit TV in 2023. I don’t think they want to hang around any more than they need to.
Seven Network could buy the SCA licenses and convert them to Seven and Prime/GWN switches to 10.
My predicted lineup.
SCA stations switch to Seven ownership
WIN stations switch to Nine ownership
Prime affiliates with 10.
In QLD, SCA-10 stations switch to Prime ownership. Seven remains as Seven.
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Regardless of whether the Seven affiliation gets shuffled in a few years, you can’t deny that at the moment, Seven have got it good in terms of local news.
O&O local news in every QLD market, statewide regional news in WA, statewide composite of metro quality in Tasmania, and local news on the Spencer Gulf. Plus Prime7’s offerings of local and national news in 5 out of 13 markets across NSW, ACT and VIC.
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Something you are all forgetting is the SCA TV network is virtually worthless, they will provide very little or none of their own content to it, & they sold all their TV infrastructure to BAI, the only thing they hold are the licences for the spectrum used.
If the proposed reduction in channels from 5 to 3 comes in, around 3-5 years time, there’s every possibility SCA will lose those licences too & have to merge/form a joint venture transmission of 2 or more networks on the one channel, but possibly someone else (BAI?) might hold the licences if they become the transmission company. TXA currently hold a number of licences for all of the Commercial networks & the ABC/SBS at some of the metro translator sites, so the networks themselves don’t have to hold licences to broadcast, they can & will just become content providers, whether over the air broadcast continues or online managed/hosted by an outside company (similar to the current play-out & transmission setup).
10 might buy out the SCA TV network (licences) in a couple of years if it suits them & they get them for next to nothing, BAI are already (albeit still being fought out in court) the transmission company for 10 metro, so essentially nothing will change except the licence holders name will change, BAI will continue to own & operate the transmission infrastructure & 10 will continue to feed programs to the transmitter sties.
It’s highly unlikely 7 will buy out the SCA regional TV network & drop affiliation with Prime, when they could (if things play out right) buy out Prime & they’d have the regional network ready to go expanding the metro networks, if they bought out SCA, they’d be building the regional network from scratch.
SCA/10 probably only did a 2 year affiliation deal because of possibly 10 buying it out around that timeline &/or SCA not having enough money/not wanting to pay to extend it further on a longer term, hoping maybe they could renegotiate a better term/cost & given themselves 2 years to work it out?
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10+SCA on air branding pls. That’s a thread I’ve waited my whole life to moderate 
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Affiliation swaps and buy outs aren’t the only reason to do a short deal.
I would say it is price based - obviously Ten want more money and SCA want to pay less - that’s just general business. SCA have evidence that they’ll make less under a Ten affiliation and Ten still want a deal to get something, so rather than lock something in for a long period, agree on something for now and revisit in two years to see how it goes. If Ten perform well, they could end up getting more then, if not, SCA might get a better deal.
I think it’s actually a smart strategy in the current climate. It’s clear that traditional TV is in decline, but no one really knows how that will look in the future or when things will happen - so rather than being locked into a deal for years and years they can keep making shorter deals over more predicable periods.
The length of a deal wouldn’t matter then because Ten would just be buying into a deal with themselves.
In that case I would predict that the transmitter licences would be held by JV companies similar to DAB+. ASIC would want to be involved.
But it doesn’t matter who holds the transmitter licences, SCA would still hold the overall licence to broadcast content on their slice.
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If Mandurah DAB+ is anything to go by, I can’t wait for the inevitable ACCC investigation into whether the joint venture companies in solus markets are excluding (non-existent) competition.
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SCA is running on-air 10 promos
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No real numbers released, except for this paragraph from Southern Cross:
SCA expects its television earnings under the new affiliation agreement with Network 10 to be neutral compared to the current Nine affiliation (excluding JobKeeper and PING funding).
In other words, reduced revenue “expected” to be fully offset by reduced affiliation costs.
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as in sca9 or sca radio stations?>
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SCA9 TV.
I didn’t get to catch much of it as I only saw the last few seconds of it.
But Ten promos are definitely being rolled out now.
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But the overall licence to broadcast content is worthless without the subsequent apparatus/transmitter licences, it’s just a piece of paper in that case telling ACMA where to go & who to hold responsible when a complaint about the content comes in, the latter licences is where all the money is & what holds & allows anyone to use the extremely valuable spectrum. You don’t need to hold a BSL (Broadcast Service Licence) to Transmit “Broadcast” anything, but you do need an apparatus/transmitter licence to do so.
TX Australia holds 168 apparatus/transmitter licences to rebroadcast multiple commercial & ABC/SBS services around the country, but doesn’t hold any BSL’s, if TXA didn’t hold those licences the networks couldn’t broadcast anything in those areas without getting their own app/trans licences, there’s no responsibility held by TXA for the content transmitted, interference etc. yes, but any complaints etc. about the content goes back to the networks via their BSL. TXA can also turn off the transmitters in these locations & while it’d cause a s#*t fight, there’s nothing the networks can do & they’d then have a fight to gain control of that spectrum to start broadcasting again themselves.
In SCA’s case BAI own the transmitters & infrastructure & can turn them off at any time if they feel like it, but SCA still hold the apparatus licences so could install their own transmitters & start broadcasting again, but in the case I pointed to with TXA, the same can be done, but the networks would have to fight for & apply to get some spectrum & a apparatus licence as well as install their own new transmitter infrastructure, before they could start broadcasting their content into those locations again.
In Broadcast Radio or TV, all the power is in the ownership/control of the apparatus licences & transmitters, without those things in-place & working, for radio, it’s just a person sitting in a room talking to themselves, in TV land, it’s just like a DVD playing with the TV turned off, whether you’re allowed to/licenced to, sit in a room talking into a microphone, or to play a DVD doesn’t matter, you’re not going to make any money nor entertain anyone, the whole purpose of your business.
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This also works in reverse - TXA (for example) couldn’t broadcast anything if there’s no corresponding BSL held by a broadcaster. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship.
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As these licences are rebroadcast yes, but a general apparatus licence no, TXA could get their own BSL &/or just go to any content provider, with the best deal.
It’s kinda counter productive, but nothing stopping TXA transmitting (in the case of DTV), 23Mb of null packets, essentially giving everyone a black screen, & blocking anyone else from getting hold of/using that spectrum due to non use, though that clause doesn’t exist outside of the Narrowcast radio use it or lose it.
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