Why would WIN swap, what should be, a profitable station reaching well over a million people, I think the biggest regional market in the country, for a remote station with higher transmission costs and lineball profitability for a smaller and fractured audience?
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If WIN and Nine merge, given the media rules in Australia, it will mean Nine or WIN would have to dispose of a northern NSW entity, most likely NRN/RTN and it depends on whether Southern Cross would want to buy or swap assets or if Ten Network bought out the licence.
These are scenarios if a Nine/WIN merger occurred, which i think is a likely outcome given all of the competition that traditional Free to air TV networks now face.
I suppose WIN could remain separate and risk losing the Nine affiliation every 5 to 7 years to Southern Cross Media.
I think Bruce Gordon and WIN Television will sure up their position in the not too distant future to prevent losing the affiliation with Nine again
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Not entirely convinced SCA will want to repurchase the NRN stations. They sold them on the basis they couldnât make a decent profit from them and Gordon came knocking with an offer.
SCA reportedly also wants to get out of TV but has knocked back some low ball offers (ACM was one) so a potential future buyer may not be around.
Paramount could be a possibility but even theyâd be smart enough to do a report on potential earnings and if itâs not worth their while, they donât bother. Itâs a market heavily dominated by Nine (NBN) and Seven (Prime7) and they might not be bothered.
Could be a possibility of a radio player entering the Regional TV market too, especially for cross promotion opportunities, but the only possible players would be ARN for Hot Tomato Gold Coast and Power FM Muswellbrook or Super Radio Network but Bill has shown limited interest in TV.
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That was at a time when they needed to do a lot of extra work to have 10 on NRN as the rest of their network was the 9 affiliate. It also worked well with their plan to handle sales for NBN.
That hasnât really been proven. Iâve heard it too, but I believe this has more been around the production/transmission/playout side which have now been mostly outsourced. SCA seem happy enough to run an ad sales network.
If they really wanted out theyâd have worked harder to make the offers theyâve received work.
Ultimately I think SCA will be happy to keep TV provided it makes them money, which it seems to be doing these days.
Indeed they may not wish to buy and fair enough
Although, selling it for $55 million five years ago and then buying it back for considerably less would give SCA the last laugh and be a slap in the face for WIN lol
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That would be a distinct possibility if WIN were forced into a position where they had to sell.
Another possibility would be if the media laws were relaxed more so that News Corporation could buy NRN, but I could only see that happening if they could get the Southern Cross stations too.
If it were purchased by News Corp, they wouldnt necessarily be forced to adhere to a strict Ten Network schedule - something similar to what WIN did where they had the Ten affiliation eg screen a morning/breakfast show before Studio 10
Why would News buy a singular regional station?
Possibly expand Sky News and Fox Sports News brands regionally?
Yes they do it on a multichannel but I wonder if Murdoch would like to see Bolt & Co on a main FTA channel?
Shift 10 programming onto multichannels and Sky News/Fox Sports News on main channel.
Need to purchase both NRN and SCAâs 10 assets to make it worthwhile though.
Thats why I said I could only see it happening if they could get the Southern Cross stations too
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WIN Coffs Harbour are now located in the Nine building in Orlando Street. All stations now located within 200m of each other.
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WIN are now using the Southern Cross style billboard in their NNSW 10 markets. Maje Saba remains doing the voiceovers (he is an i98FM radio presenter and also does the WIN 9 billboards):
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Interesting. I had a feeling weâd be seeing on-air changes like this with WINâs offloading of 10 sales. Iâll have to keep an eye out for them on WDT!
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Yet, also maintains WINâs music backing. Quite strange IMO considering this is worse as it is not branded visually at all.
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Ironically, the only market that doesnât use the 10-style billboard is the 10 affiliated station. Very strange.
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I guess. Neither SCA or WIN really care about branding their 10 sponsor billboards anyway. 10 NNSW was the only exception. The rest of the WIN-operated 10âs use(d) this style.
Thanks for that, three different styles for the same thing, oh dear.
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I never knew that. Good to put a face to the voice!
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Seven and 10 appear to be off air in Newcastle due to a fibre cut between Mt Sugarloaf and West Wallsend exchange. Telstra claim their DVN network is redundant but it isnât true because they only have one fibre up there.
To make things worse⌠10 and Seven only just moved off DDAâs microwave network and onto Telstraâs non-redundant DVN fibre at Sugarloaf, they are probably regretting that now.
9NBN has survived because they use TPG Telecomâs microwave backbone to carry their pictures.
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Doesnât WIN own DDA? Is there any reason why they wouldnât be using the DDA link even as a backup?
Iâm pretty sure WIN sold DDA to Telstra. Maybe DDA are not making enough money.
So Telstra Media are migrating everyone off the DDA Microwave and onto DDN fibre.
But Telstra media are a separate org to Telstra, so they order Wavelengths off Telstra.
But in this case, Telstra told Telstra Media that the Sugarloaf link is redundant, but that is not the case at all
Since TPG still operate a microwave network for 9NBN maybe TEN&7 could consider using TPG as a backup.
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