The reach rule is not there now.
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Well, it wouldn’t surprise me to see SC sell out then.
Do we ever think we’ll see 7 News Darwin?
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They can only sell if Seven wants to buy.
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Guarantee that if Seven did a local bulletin in Darwin, that Nine News would become a standalone Darwin-only bulletin again.
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Unlikely IMO. They did try it in the early 2000s, presented from Townsville, but it didn’t last long.
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I doubt the networks would bother purchasing Tasmania, less than half of the least populated aggregated market RVIC. It’d be lucky if they went beyond the aggregated markets RQLD/NNSW/SNSW/RVIC. The other markets may not have the population reach to justify purchase.
I think it would be healthy for affiliates to maintain the smaller markets in WA/SA/DAR/TAS/CENTRAL.
For tiny Griffith and Mildura, either have an existing affiliate own them, or possibly sell to a local news publication that could produce even a 15 minute bulletin (remake Mildura into a monopoly as population is on par with Griffith and massively less than either of the two SA monopolies).
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With that being said though Tasmania is a state not a Territory so it should be alligned with every capital city and state. So it really should not be classified as “regional”
Tasmania would be a good buy for Seven. There are half a million ppl living on the island.
It also fits in with their AFL investment.
Darwin is the same, although that market is much smaller.
Perhaps, but it’s only the capital cities classed as “metro” due to their high populations, the rest of each state is “regional”. They would never classify the whole state of Tasmania as metro.
Hobart itself, nor Tasmania as a whole has nowhere near the populations of the metro markets, even the smallest Adelaide which is around 1.3 million. Neither does Tasmania have the population to warrant full aggregation (3 affiliates) instead of a JV. There might be a slim chance of separating Hobart from the rest of Tasmania, like Darwin, but doubtful.
Darwin and surrounds population, going by the ACMA’s 2016 determination, is 121k. A bit more less than half of Tasmania’s 492k. Darwin would be worse than Tasmania for the networks to purchase.
If RegionalTAM estimated the SA/DAR/CENTRAL market populations as well, we’d have more recent figures to compare.
If SCA sold their SCTV station to Seven in Tasmania, would they also need to sell their JV or could SCA retain the JV with WIN for 9?
I can’t see Seven being interested in operating a station based on their rivals content.
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I don’t think so although it’s be nice if they did. I am under a impression that the existing nine news bulletin is losing popularity in Darwin because the people there strongly dislike their local news being read by Queenslanders. So yeah I’d be favour of Jonathan Upton reading a localised 7 news bulletin for Darwin.
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Seven would likely go about centralised Darwin news as well. I could see them borrowing the Gold Coast set to read live 6PM news for Darwin 7 days a week. I think that’s where Nine has blundered, they could be making a proper Darwin bulletin on Sat/Sun as well, but they’ve chosen not to.
I personally think the networks might be interested in buying regional stations in the aggregated East Coast markets, but only at the right price. Seven might be interested in having the dominant Tasmania & WA stations under their wings (again, only at the right price) but I doubt Nine or Ten would bother investing in those markets.
The other smaller regional/remote markets (which as far as I can tell, aren’t even surveyed by RegionalTAM) probably wouldn’t generate any network interest whatsoever.
With Jonathan Uptin having moved on from the Regional QLD/Darwin bulletin to presenting the weekend editions of Nine News Queensland in recent months, I would not expect him to have any interest in moving back to local Darwin news anytime soon.
I also don’t think Seven will be rushing to invest in the Darwin market (whether it be in news or generally) anytime soon.
I don’t believe there’s any requirement to do so. I believe the rules around the JV’s simply meant that the existing licencees could jointly (or solely if the other wasn’t interested) launch another channel to be able to offer the full suite of content available, and they can sell them if they so desire. It’s a moot point though, no broadcasters is willingly going to allow another competitor into the market. Seven, and the existing broadcasters, would much rather control have some control of their competitiors content and take a cut of the profits than have someone else operate it.
Well these are the figures SCA had a while back:
Central: 438,600
Spencer Gulf: 138,700
Loxton/Mount Gambier: 127,300
Darwin: 129,600
Those figures are at least a year old but I wouldn’t be expecting huge change since in those numbers by any means
The Darwin Digital Television (TEN Darwin) JV is 50% owned by NEC…
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Where did you find these please?
Weekend Tasmania news:
It looks like they vary the closing titlecard depending on whether Jo or Rachel is presenting:
From Friday:
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They always do that with the latest technology at their hands since relaunch. They even don’t have to limit the headlines to just four or five at the beginning unlike the previous package.
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Yep, has been that way with the old package as well with Jo and Rachel alternating depending who had been on. I think when it was someone else hosting (rarely on a weekend) then they would use the Rachel one.
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