Free TV Australia’s silence on the matter is a stark contrast to the Mildura closure. It’s been known for weeks. No press releases, help pages or media interviews. No assurance on the supposed DVB-IP end user device they’re developing for situations like these. Nothing.
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The ACMA can actually take the 7 licences back if there is not a signal on air - this FTA mess is because of the legislation not keeping up with changes in the TV landscape: The Licence Plans often stipulate the broadcasters transmit from a specific location which is owned by a monopoly provider like BAI or in some cases TxA or a vertical real estate company. In bigger regional markets there can be 100 000 antennas pointed at the monopoly providers site, so if the terms at that site are uncommercial then the service disappears.
If this was mobile phone services instead of FTA TV the ACCC would be right onto it - Telstra used to be the BAI of mobiles but they have been forced to seperate their infrastructure from their telco business and open it up to other operators. BAI’s class B sites in National Parks where there is no commercial TV site nearby would be declared under the telco regulatory regime. I am not holding my breath waiting for this to happen to FTA TV any time soon.
Problem is Seven want money from something no longer generating revenue while WIN continues to pay for broadcast i.e.: transmission. WIN can’t afford to pay this whilst ensuring the remainder of the network stays operative.
If such a situation were to force WIN to pay Seven to resume that broadcast then savings will be found elsewhere within the network to subsidise that. Careful what you wish for.
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Funny you say that, on the ex-Prime stations the picture quality of the MPEG-4 HD service on let’s say 7HD Newcastle is OK but not fully superb. Now the ex-SCA stations are certainly best in terms of picture quality.
I’m concerned though that with SWM now O&O these stations, playout for these stations will probably be transferred to where playouts for the Prime7 stations are currently occurring and thus may result in a picture quality downgrade of sorts.
Please don’t alter with the HD picture quality in e.g Tassie or the Spencer Gulf, SWM. 
No real surprise - this is 100% a commercial dispute. The industry body isn’t going to insert itself into that.
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Playout of the ex-SCA7 (and ex-SCA10) stations are already based out of NPC Media where Seven and Nine are based. Now that they’re Seven O&O I doubt they would be moved.
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MediaHub? Isn’t that where the ex-Prime stations’ playout is coming out of?
I have been saying this all along. Just guessing here, why would Seven possibly supply their signals free of charge to WIN being WIN can not be bothered to run local TVC content to generate revenue to pay for affiliation from Seven? Being that former Griffth, Mt Gambier and Loxton advertisers have been locked out by WIN to advertise on those Seven services for over a year now, more so higher rating AFL, so as to move that local TVC add revenue to prop up the WIN9 service in those areas? The WIN10 services in those regions will be hit next when they come closer to affiliation renewal too. Been saying forever, these relic TV1 licence area plans from a long gone analogue pre-internet era should be done away with and 7/9/10 allocated a nationwide licence same as ABC/SBS. The days of Regional TV middlemen skimming off the top of metro supplied content are well and truly over. Meanwhile the Fed Govt idly sits by and does nothing, the ball is well in their court to fix this mess in a substantive way and not with meaningless tinkering on the side.
No, ex-Prime7 services are played out from TBS MediaCloud. They left MediaHub just before selling to Seven.
Thank you.
For one I hope the Tasmanian 7 playout operations aren’t moved to TBS MediaCloud, otherwise that’s a fair dip in HD picture quality. The current NPC Media playout system deserves to stay for ex-SCA7 Tasmania.
For the Spencer Gulf region (and possibly Darwin and Remote/Central Australia) though, again if noodle updates is all there’s gonna be, have the updates come out of Canberra and playout for the station transferred to TBS MediaCloud (where the ex-Prime stations’ playout is based out of).
That happens, we stop asking for full bulletins (the very few of us that do want actual bulletins and bulletins axed in certain markets reinstated in full).
Not a fan of the new facelift website
What do you mean? Are TBS channels worse quality than NPC channels?
I’m not sure why you think Seven’s choice of centralised playout really matters. Why does the type of news production determine it? Canberra and Tasmania can produce and ingest their news to any playout.
So just to be clear, you and some other users will continue to advocate for full bulletins for Spencer Gulf/Broken Hill, Remote Central and Darwin if updates are produced anywhere but Canberra, and playout must be from NPC, but only if it’s a full bulletin because local updates don’t deserve the better HD picture quality?
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The ex-SCA7 stations come from NPC Media, which is part owned by Seven. I literally said this in that post.
Why 
would they move out of Seven’s playout centre now that Seven owns them ?
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When you said…
I was saying playout might probably be moved to TBS MediaCloud. I know the ex-SCA7 stations come from NPC Media.
Interesting. Then how about the ex-Prime stations’ playouts be moved to NPC Media? The picture quality of the HD ex-Prime stations via TBS MediaCloud is good but still at times the picture can still be a little bit crusty, especially in some of the ads.
Also now that Seven O&O these stations, for a start in Tasmania Seven needs to have more of their Tasmanian Nightly News promos inserted during ad breaks, taking promos beaming out of Melbourne doesn’t help as you’ve got the Melbourne bulletin with Peter Mitchell being advertised to Tasmanians instead of the proper local news service, including on the multichannels. There’s only 1 run of the Tasmania News promo at the end of a news update during The Chase UK (during the 3pm-4pm timeslot) but that just doesn’t cut it.
I’m sure they’ll start marketing it more now with content quotas being updated. More noodle updates in Tasmania throughout the day (and hopefully more runs of the Tassie Nightly News promos) to meet local content requirements, alongside the usual 6pm Nightly News.
Because contracts. Because expenses. Because they are running a business. All good things take time and are not instant.
It’s not the same as just going in and editing a Wikipedia page or fanboying/fangirling/fanpersoning on a forum for a bunch of other media nerds while pretending to be an expert.
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Don’t know what feed you were watching but numerous 7 Tasmania News updates and promos were definitely airing on a very regular basis across the local signals.
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The free digital editions of Fremantle Herald and The Perth Voice can be found here
Seven West Media acquires Southern Cross Media Group television assets | DLA Piper
DLA Piper has advised Seven West Media (ASX:SWM) on its acquisition of Southern Cross Media Group Limited’s (ASX: SXL) television licenses and associated assets operating in Tasmania, Darwin, Spencer Gulf, Broken Hill, Mt Isa and Remote, Central and Eastern Australia.
The acquisition largely completes Seven West Media’s national broadcast network and opens new markets to Seven.
The cross-practice DLA Piper team was led by M&A partner David Holland, who was supported by senior associates Conor Dolphin and solicitors Donna Kwon and Andrew Bell (all Corporate). Real Estate counsel was provided by partner Stephanie Lambert, senior associate Winnie Liang and solicitor Jordan Brewer. Tax guidance was provided by partner Eddie Ahn.
David Holland said: “This is an important strategic acquisition for Seven West Media, which not only completes their national broadcast footprint but also positions them strongly to expand into new regional markets.”
“Our team worked closely with both parties to navigate the complexities of this deal, ensuring a smooth process and a transaction that is immediately accretive to Seven West Media’s earnings,” David added.
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Almost completes 
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