Well that’s what I saw on the 7flix FAQ page. It’s not that uncommon for regional stations to start showing the same channel months after the channel first debuted in capital cities.
For example it took Darwin 15 months to get GO! after that channel first debuted in big capital cities.
No regional stations can just refuse to show a particular channel. It will probably be late of course, but they will eventually show it when they are ready.
The advertising markets in smaller cities and regional areas are only so big. If there is not enough ad dollars to support the channel - they won’t carry it.
If Prime7 can’t sell enough advertising at a high enough rate to cover the costs of carrying 7flix - would you suggest they carry it at a loss?
So the best bet for regional viewers is to wait until 7 buys or merge with prime / GWN before something finally happens? Still waiting for the reach rule to be scrapped?
It’s interesting that you should mentioned that. I remember recently reading a Wollongong City Council report which suggested that the Bunnings site at Warrawong be used for other purposes in the future. For the people who are not aware of the area, the Northcliffe Drive, Berkeley site is approximately 7 kilometres to the west of Bunnings Warrawong. Either way, it’s a shame that the Prime Television studios are set to be demolished. If i’m not mistaken, the entrance sign to the studio still has the old “Prime” logo and not the current Prime7 logo!
Unless their affiliation contract obliges them to do so then yes they can refuse to carry a channel.
Well I privately hope that WIN loses the court case against nine regarding 9 now, because if WIN wins the court case, it could open the door for prime and southern cross to deny their viewers access to 7 plus, it would mean that regional viewers would effectively lose access to 7 plus that includes 7 flix.
So I’m much hoping that WIN loses to Nine regarding 9now.
Agreed if Prime are not going to give us Flix they should not take away our only source of it!
How many individual TV stations does the Prime Media Group own across ACT, NSW and VIC that broadcast under the Prime7 banner?
There’s 4:
CBN - Southern NSW/ACT
NEN - Northern NSW
AMV - Victoria
PTV - Mildura
And those can be broken into:
Sthn NSW: Canberra, Wollongong, Orange, Wagga Wagga.
Nthn NSW: Newcastle, Central Coast, Tamworth, Coffs Harbour, Lismore, Gold Coast.
Vic: Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton, Albury, Gippsland, Mildura.
16 in total?
Does Prime still go through Griffith (AMN)? I know it’s a WIN-only market but they used to relay Prime as a secondary channel.
On the NSW North Coast, I’m pretty sure that Prime7 has versions of the channels for Taree (which of course, Port Macquarie would also get), along with the Coffs Harbour and Lismore versions.
Also I remember some discussion on the old forum about how Far South Coast of NSW receives some localised versions of the main Wollongong/Illawarra channels…does Prime7 participate in that?
I think I remember hearing somewhere that the relay of Prime to Griffith has since ceased and that WIN now provides the region with basically a localised relay of Channel Seven Sydney.
I think you are right TVExpert: there are 4 stations
CBN Orange - which broadcasts to ACT/SNSW
NEN Tamworth - broadcasts to NNSW
AMV Albury - broadcasts to Victoria
PTV Mildura
So, how many stations does the Prime Media Group own in WA? I did some research…I bet no one will get it right. (hint, GWN is not a station - it’s the on air brand)
Yes, along with SC10. From my brief observations on my trip to Eden last October, WIN South Coast is basically a relay of WIN Illawarra, complete with ads of Wollongong & Southern Highlands businesses.
They own 4:
SSW - South West (Bunbury, Albany)
VEW - Kalgoorlie
GTW - Geraldton
WAW - Remote WA
Taree would get the Prime7 north coast bulletin, wouldn’t they?
That is correct. Prime7’s North Coast bulletin covers Forster to Tweed Heads, spanning across 3 viewing areas (Taree, Coffs Harbour & Lismore).
No, MTN uses ATN for all their 7 feeds now. From memory, this changed in 2012. MTN doesn’t use the shopping channels or Racing.com from what I could see when I was in the region about a month ago
Standard response being given to enquiries regarding HD on Prime7 on their Facebook page:
"Thank you for your enquiry. Unlike the metropolitan television situation, delivering a complex array of HD and SD services that vary by regional broadcast area, is technically challenging and takes significant time and resources to implement.
You should also be aware that the 7HD service is only available in the MPEG4 format and some digital televisions are not able to receive an MPEG4 signal.
We will keep viewers updated of our plans and when the changed services may become available in regional areas, but for the time being PRIME7 and 7TWO will continue to be broadcast in SD and 7mate will continue to be broadcast in HD (in the MPEG2 format)."
Prime7 aren’t even broadcasting 7Flix yet, so I think a main HD channel would’ve been far too much to ask for.
Besides as I’m sure we’re all too aware, viewers in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth (half or more of the metro population!) are still patiently waiting for our main channel from Seven to be broadcast in HD! Only Melbourne and Adelaide have Seven’s main channel in HD at this stage.
As for the comments on MPEG4, well doesn’t Prime7 broadcast (or at least used to, things may have changed since they dumped 4ME) iShopTV in MPEG4?
Why is Prime seeming to just be sitting there and doing nothing ? We hear a lot about SC and WIN but nothing about Prime adding HD to their main channel or 7 Flix launching . Unless things are changing but they haven’t announced it yet.
Maybe closer to the Olympics we will hear something about 7HD and Prime 7 HD ?
On TV Tonight back in February the last I heard was :
Meanwhile PRIME has advised it currently has no commercial arrangements in place with Seven for 7FLIX.
“The addition of any new channel is technically challenging, takes time and requires substantial capital investment. From a broadcast engineering perspective, regional broadcasters are far more complex businesses than metro operations, covering larger geographic areas with multiple signals that service a large number of local areas across regional Australia,” it told viewers via Facebook.