Southern Cross Network in Victoria wanted to do similar. Similar, though not aggregation related, but TVW7 and STW9 in Perth offered to fund a second “public service” channel into Perth in lieu of having new competition from Ten.
Seems various incumbents were prepared to try any trick to avoid competition 
Prime got an amazing deal out of aggregation - by far the smallest player in all their markets, and having the middle option of network.
Victoria is the weirdest one for me - AMV get slotted in with their single license, yet GLV/BCV and BTV/GMV got the other licenses, seemingly without anything in return for having brought half a state each into things. Not sure how you’d have made that fair, but aggregation certainly gifted some small licenses huge markets, when their competitors would have spent huge amounts building the networks in the first place.
Having things be that lopsided for one of the licenses in each of the aggregated markets probably helped ensure that one station would choose aggregation over mutlichannels.
Similar situation in Queensland where the smaller stations (SEQ/MVQ) were breaking into larger markets (DDQ/SDQ and TNQ/RTQ), so the Seven affiliate got a bit of a windfall gain by losing share in its smaller heritage market but gaining share expanding into adjacent larger markets.
Aggregation, or something similar, was always going to happen one way or another. Labor saw it as a way to win votes and piss off the National Party. The Liberals would have seen it as a way of bringing in competition and appeasing their friends at 7 and 9.
The problem was, the legislation was shit, the implementation was shit and the aftermath resembles the scene from Threads (or The Day After) - everything has gone to shit and very little remains. No protection for local content until it was way too late, and even then, the local content laws are shit.
Of course they were. Prime had the AFL, WIN had rugby league, plus Bruce wanted to expand like a malignant tumour.
NBN had one hell of a monopoly. Of course they didn’t want to have it spoiled by the coasties and the inbreds from west and north. 
NBN weren’t the only ones offering to install SBS - I believe the Victorian stations wanted to do that too. But why they felt it was up to them to help out a national broadcaster like SBS is before me.
SBS not being available until the 2000s denied teenage me of “quality” SBS programming.
Of course they were. You do anything to keep the competition out and have all that sweet sweet government green to yourself.
One of the many, many, many, many, many, many, many reasons I despise both parties.
I don’t know if you can say NBN had a monopoly. Officially maybe they did but they also realised they had to compete with 7, 9 and 10 cause with the right antenna you could easily pick them up in Newcastle. Picture quality depended on where you were. Remember my Uncle once lived on top of Lookout Road and could pick them up so well you would swear they were local stations
At the time (leading into aggregation in Country Vic), Prime heavily promoted the fact they had the AFL as their trump card, VicTV were the most keen to promote the fact they were going to have Local News for each market (with Denis Walter), while Southern Cross 10 were left to promote the Simpsons, Twin Peaks, and 90210… (All USA shows). Neighbours was still popular, but not 1988 popular.
Southern Cross weren’t enthusiastic at all, understandably. Their 1 hour locally produced Eyewitness News local/national hybrid with Rob Gaylard was a valiant ‘Hail Mary’ effort that didn’t last long.
True for MVQ but not SEQ. The Wide Bay/Burnett region had about 190,000 people in 1990 and that’s before you added the Sunshine Coast. Darling Downs had about 180,000 in total and Central Queensland less than 150,000. Even though Rockhampton and Toowoomba were bigger centres individually, the Wide Bay region had more people with the combined Bundaberg, Maryborough, Hervey Bay and Gympie, even before adding the Sunshine Coast.
So SEQ had a larger market already and their market would have been seen as more a “prize” for RTQ and DDQ getting access to the Sunshine Coast and high growth Hervey Bay.
Definitely true for MVQ though which had the smallest population TV market in Queensland apart from Mt Isa.
Arguably the weakest two stations with the most to gain were MVQ (smallest market) and DDQ (a good sized market, but had to deal with Brisbane overspill in its biggest population centre, Toowoomba itself). Most people I knew in Toowoomba in the 80s got Brisbane TV.
Officially they did. Biggest regional market. Sydney networks be damned.
QTV (TNQ/FNQ) intended to hook up with Nine. That fell through when WIN bought RTQ, leaving QTV to do a last-minute alignment with Ten. (Apologies if I got it wrong)
For the same reason you gave to another member, to keep out competition by hoping the MCS option would appeal to politicians and the public.
Geoff Vallance read the VIC TV Shepparton and Albury/Wodonga bulletins at the start of aggregation (from Shepparton). Can’t recall how long for.
Do you have a date for the leaflet? I’m wondering whether their change was post Ramcorp (Paul Ramsay) buying in
Pretty sure it was late 1986. I got it among some other paraphernalia I’d got from GMV6 for its 25th anniversary at that time.
They were still producing some news bulletins until 2010 iirc. Not sure if it was the full 30 minutes though.
That kind of fits - I recall reading somewhere that Ramsay bought in because he saw potential with aggregation.
I’m pretty sure that’s right if I recall correctly. TNQ definitely had an affiliation with Nine before aggregation.
TNQ/FNQ was part owned by Nine and had been negotiating a program supply deal with Nine for three years leading up to aggregation, but it had still yet to sign the dotted line as the deadline approached as they could not come to agreement on program fees. That’s when WIN swooped in.
Good move to repeat it in full. Cause initially i though they just picked up from where it left off.
Pretty sure I recall seeing QTV with 9’s dots in the lead up to the start of aggregation in Bundaberg.. perhaps on a test pattern/card in the weeks prior to start of transmission.
DDQ/RTQ was to be named Star Television IIRC .. I can remember a test pattern/card with that on it too.
The switch of QTV from 9-10 was very last minute.
