Agree with pretty much everything in your post. Prime and SC Ten in areas like Newcastle, Wollongong and Canberra have not been local for 20 years or more.
It has been a charade for a long time that throwing a Prime in front of things make a station local.
I don’t think a brand should make any difference to localism. Does Adelaide think SAS7 is a local station? Probably, as they know they get local news and the right type of football.
Were MTN and TNT9 less local when they adopted the 9 Network logo in the 80s? Nope.
If saving money on cheesy branding means more local cameras to make actual TV, then that’s a good thing. Not sure if that will happen, but given me programming over branding any day.
As for the glory days of one channel markets - I think country audiences were poorly served overall. Yes, there were local programmes, but being stuck watching crickets for days on end in the 80s was horrendous.
Definitely. History shows what happens when local stations don’t have a network deal, viewers install enormous TV aerials to watch metro stations or stations from the next market over. Streaming is today’s equivalent.
We saw what happened to WIN when they tried to do their own daytime programming in the 90s - pretty dreadful.
The role for broadcasting is access and relevance. Viewers will choose broadcast if it’s the easiest way to get the show they want, or if it’s the source of the content they want.
Local stations have a good opportunity to enhance network feeds with quality local programming that attracts advertising dollars - but few seem willing to take the gamble.
Broadcast TV has to work very hard to attract viewers these days, no point in affiliates moaning if they are not going to be part of the solution.
I can’t hide my sadness and disappointment that the prime and gwn brands are being retired. They should have at least kept it for the local news like WIN and NBN does
The 2nd 7 ident from last night was played out before a 7 News update, which suggests it was inserted by Prime to cover a metro sponsor billboard. That or Seven stuffed it up.
u fooled me
