The ancient MySwitch site says “no” to digital from Mount Cenn Cruaich (the CBN signal), 170 km away…but only just.
But that suspects that fortuitous reception from Walgett via analogue may have been possible, and those in nearby towns like Coonamble (1h15 away by car) and Narrabri (2 hrs away) may find -some- interest in what is happening in the next town across. Plus those with VAST satellite can access the local news feeds though how much Prime would care about that I dunno.
It’s not much, but it’s also not entirely isolated - a Google video search has popped up four stories mentioning Walgett on Prime Central West news in the last six months.
It’s definitely a public service thing to do as they wouldn’t be getting any local content points at all for that, from my understanding - Walgett not being in the same licence area, let alone sub-market, unless it’s a pan-regional story with other local content.
The question is, where does the Central West (old CBN licence area) and North West (old NEN licence area) cut out. Potentially it could be say 20 or 40km out of Walgett, so people that live closer to Walgett than other localities would be interested in Walgett events.
Ultimately, do the stations that are said to cover Walgett ( Imparja and Southern Cross) even provide even the remotest news service to Walgett?
Looking up the maps looks like it’s no more than 50km to the East (Nthn NSW) and the South (Sthn NSW), and both boundaries are closer to Walgett than the next biggest towns.
Prime also have the historic presence of a translator site in Cobar, which would imply in theory the CBN license area might be different to the standard Southern NSW one?
Cobar is just a historical anomaly isn’t it? I can’t find any specific reference to a separate CBN licence area, but under the Southern NSW licence area description it does mention Cobar . For whatever reason this is not reflected on the map - but it probably just goes back to CBN having that historic presence.
within the Local Government Area of Cobar (A); Collection District Numbers 151901, 151902, 151903, 151904, 151906, 151907 and 151908
According to myswitch both Prime and 7 Central rebroadcast in Cobar but I’ve no idea if this is reflected in reality, but I’m sure someone else around here does.
That advice from ACMA is just a guide and could be much closer. Due to various relay stations it is still possible to receive stations in localities not listed under the ACMA guidelines
So does that mean Prime7 and GWN7 are rebranding to Seven at midnight tonight? I’m assuming also the news bulletins will rebrand to Seven News as well?
that