I just checked TV Guide for Broken Hill, looks there has been a switch ABC NSW, as 7:30 is airing at 7 PM.
Online guides can be misleading but an interesting observation if it has changed. Historically it was always a relay from Adelaide but maybe it has changed.
Iād suggest that given they direct viewers to ABC NSW in this outage message, thatās probably what they broadcast locally. Additionally the reception site shows that the DTV Channel 25 is ABC Sydney not ABC Adelaide as would be expected from an SA fed site.
The flipside is analogue radio is all SA based, so I suppose thatās the balance.
1 Like
More directly:
Broken Hill in New South Wales shares a time zone with South Australia but ordinarily receives the ABCās New South Wales TV services. Given the time zone difference, some programs are broadcast outside their classification time zone.
2 Likes
I tried to transcribe the promo in question to the best of my ability since the video and audio quality of the clip you linked is rather low:
Thereās a new star in town with the same big laughs, your favourite, brightest talent, stellar and spectacular sporting action and illuminating drama programs. Throughout your own neighbourhood and right along Australiaās east coast, entertainmentās new star continues to bring you all the fun, all the excitement, and all the drama. But only on Southern Cross Ten, the very best in entertainment.
Was CTW-31 a legitimate callsign of Access 31?
No i think it was ATW
1 Like
I also think ATW. CTW is the callsign for its successor West TV.
0 was always a terrible channel name and had bad connotations,I always think itās odd they didnāt go with a non numeral name when they launched, either using ATV as the network name or something else, Iām aware all the stations came on at different times but was there ever discussion around not using 0 as the brand?
5 Likes
Channel Zero, Channel Naught, Channel Nothing, Channel Oh. āOhā probably sounded the best out of them as identifying stations with channel numbers (along with call signs) was the practice at the time.
Someone told me some years ago that Ten Sydney was supposed to be allocated Channel 0 when the idea was first put forward for a third commercial channel. That idea didnāt last long and Channel 10 was chosen instead.
3 Likes
Not that I know of. Right from when the channel was being licenced it was always referred to as ā0ā.
I think they were the joke names that Graham Kennedy and people from the other channels used to refer to it as 
Channel None was another one!
Many years ago I got a āhistory of Channel Tenā, which was just a typed up timeline that their publicity team must have whipped up to send to nerds like me that would ask for it, which mentioned that United Telecasters had opted to use 10 instead of using 0. I guess at least they had the option to choose, in Melbourne (and Brisbane) there was no other option.
3 Likes
I donāt think it was that way for locals, it was just the name and they quickly came to accept it. Otherwise I donāt think the viewers thought twice about it. But interesting to think what the other options might have been like Zero.
Also back in the 1960s and 70s branding wasnāt as sophisticated as it became later. It wasnāt really until the late 70s that there was some concern raised about the channel number 0, particularly when its ratings at around that time were particularly diabolical and the number 0 became an industry joke about the channelās ratings.
In Brisbane it tried to address the negative connotations by re-naming Channel 0 as TV0 to take the emphasis off the ā0ā part.
1 Like
Other channels that had the 0 frequency included relay station ABMN Eastern Riverina, DDQ Darling Downs (after the frequency swap with TVQ), and of course SBS (up until 1986).
Iāve often wondered if ATV had stayed on Channel 0 and not moved to 10 when they did. Would they have adopted the TV0 name like Brisbane? So many āwhat ifsā, lol. They would have eventually moved to Channel 10 later down the track anyway or rebranded as Ten and stayed on Channel 0.
1 Like
If the Melbourne and Brisbane stations didnāt change over from 0 to 10 in the 80sā¦ I would assume that the network (in the 90s) would have eventually taken on abbreviations of letters for its network name and branding. The 10 and 0 channel station numbers could have been dropped from on air advertising.
1 Like
With the introduction of DTV they could more easily change to 10 as that would have to be their LCN with 0 not a viable option.
1 Like
While the channel 0 issue was eradicated in the 80s, our old mate Bob Shanks reportedly had plans as part of the 10 TV Australia revamp to eventually remove the ā10ā part and put the emphasis on TV Australia. So something like that could have been useful had 0 still been around for them.
Of course a trademark conflict put an end to that and eventually the TV Australia part was removed altogether.
It seemed to be a thing (by new ownerships) in the late 80s/90s to experiment with abbreviations to represent something similar to a network overseas. Seven = ATN
1 Like