I was under the impression that they only ever got national updates and weather updates. Did not know that they now go local updates. Apologies for any confusion.
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BCV (or rather SCA) may not want to take it on as a financial liability.
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I donāt think itās going to be that simple
- Itās not a ānormalā licence for starters, itās issued under special provisions of the act and it is not currently clear whether those provisions allow the licence to be held by someone else
- What happens in the case of a licence being handed back may be a little unclear at the moment - it has not happened in the TV space for some time (if at all), so the provisions for what happens next may be a little unclear
- I suspect SCA wouldnāt want it and I doubt the Government would force them to take it on
- There will be some care taken on this one because it could be the start of something - itās now clear that there will need to be consideration given to how to handle this moving forward as itās hard to see this wonāt happen again in the future.
Will be interesting to see if there is some kind of Government response this week (even if its to refer the matter to ACMA)
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And Govt taxes and charges on top.
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This proves my point that any regional TEN licence is a stranded asset that nobody wants to buyā¦ $250m deal to reshape radio market collapses
Local 7 news updates launched around February this year. Seven even employed a producer/reporter to put them together from Canberra.
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Well glad to see that Seven is somewhat investing in local content (even if forced to by the ACMA)
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Thereās a few interesting things to consider here. I have read the legislation and believe it is unclear, because it was not written in a world where this was expected to happen.
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The legislation says that the 3rd digital only licence may be setup by the owners of the other 2 licences, either as a JV, or by just one if the other is not interested.
There appears to be nothing saying that it cannot be on-sold once it is setup, but this has never been tested. -
The wording of the announcement is that MDT will be insolvent once 7 and WIN withdraw their financial support. Generally this would mean a liquidator or administrator would need to be appointed, but if 7 and WIN are the only creditors and are happy to write off any amounts owed to them, this could be avoided. If a liquidator or administrator were appointed, their job would be to realise the best value possible for all assets, which would mean selling the licence if theyāre able to. Iām sure 7 and WIN would prefer for no one to take over the licence to reduce their competition.
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Given that the press release calls for reform, it sounds like 7 and WIN are trying to use this as a negotiation tactic with the Government. Iād say their intention is to get some reform in their favour and keep operating. Similar to what happened with WDT went dark for 2 days in 2016 before reaching a new affiliate agreement.
Theyāve given two months notice to get some wheels in motion, and have no doubt chosen 30 June because thatās the end of their affiliation agreement and therefore when they are contractually required to air programming until. -
The problem with the JVās is that the need to be run more independently than the aggregated stations and therefore donāt get the same economies of scale.
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If the licence were to become available to other operators, SCA would be best placed to run it. Their existing Victorian TV operations and presence in Mildura with the radio stations would mean it would fit in with minimal additional expense. They already have an sales and advertiser base. They already have playout setup. It would really just be the cost to power the transmitter. But would SCA want to do this? Maybe not now that their future and the future of regional TV is so uncertain.
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Iād be very surprised if Mildura is the only market without a 10 affiliate for very long. Either something will happen to get it back on air, or the dominoes will start to fall with some of the other JVās.
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Think you are right so as to provoke some kind of response from the Fed Govt. As both sides of Parliament have been kicking the can down the road for a very long time. The analogue era licence regime has not kept pace with what is going on, especially with the rapid structural decline that is broadcast FTA, more so in regional areas. Appears the existing Regionals are trying to force Equalisation back onto the Govt again instead of the mess that is Aggregation. Equalisation wherein they go back to being solus monopoly markets, but instead of the single service as prior to Aggregation, a single operator would be permitted 2 services or 3 if they desire. In other words, back to being able to cherry-pick what they screen and pay for from the metro networks and bargain them down to bargain basement monopoly prices, just like in the bad old days before Aggregation. It wonāt matter anyway, as the independent regional operators canāt stream their metro affiliates content, they will be bypassed increasingly over time. Independently owned regional TV businesses are no longer viable in the long term. Best to bite the bullet for the Fed Govt to cancel their licences and compensate them and licence the metro networks with a national footprint. Or is the Govt waiting for them to go bust so as to avoid compensation and by default allow Seven, Nine and Ten to broadcast nationally? To an extent, Seven mostly does now, bar TAS, NT, regional SA, Griffith and non-WA remote areas. And no doubt Seven would still want compensation if their non-metro licences were cancelled along with those of the independent operators if they were paid out?
Why would SCA give up their 7 stations when they invested millions into news bulletins and content for these stations? Why would they buy Channel 10 JVās?
I doubt anyone is interested in a loss making JV station in Mildura.
These stations arenāt profitable and on their last legs. DDT has shut down their local sales office and now managed by NTD sales.
Imparja has publicly stated their loss making on CDT and how they arenāt interested in the business.
They never wanted to advertise on 10 in the first place. The slots on these stations are insanely cheap due to this and mostly taken up by TV Shopping.
Regional advertisers run to stations with either local content or sporting rights
Itās clear the network as a whole is on a decline. Mildura is just the start of it.
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So the joint venture operated by Imparja is on borrowed time.
I wouldnāt put much stock on that as it is about the subsidy paid by each of the joint owners in keeping it open. The affiliation agreement (even if they have x months/years left) would not be more important than ensuring the business is solvent and continues to be a going concern, which it will not be on the morning of 1 July.
People who live in smaller population centres are not always going to get access to everything that larger population centres offer
Nonstop flights to most of cities
High quality dining
High end retail
Department stores
High end hotels
Big box retailers
Retail diversity and competition
Channel 10
Itās just the reality. If something iw not economically viable itās not the governments job to fund that
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You forgot financial institutions, almost every other week you hear about branch closures for the reason you outlined above
But also offers a cheaper and more relaxed lifestyle, assuming you have a job or finances.
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US networks get around this with duopolies etc. Chuck The CW on Channel 12.3 or something, that would involve say the Seven Mildura channel carrying the main 10 channel on a multichannel, but nobody would make any $ by doing that. Thatās why the licensing laws need wholesale changes here and not remain stuck in 1990.
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Add Government Services, Education, Universities, Defence, etc to the list.
Would MDT have stood a better chance of survival had MDT remained as a 9 network station as was the case between 2016 and 2021 and that if WIN had remained as a 10 network station? Would the outcome have been different?
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and in respect to FTA, Mildura viewers now get a far greater choice than they had in the past. The full range of ABC and SBS services, plus a range of channels and multi-channels via Seven and WIN. It is not exactly like-for-like with the cities in regard of commercial channels, but itās not insignificant, either.
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