They’ll just delete the Seven channels off the multiplex if there’s no deal.
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Or they could just show my Random Mock lol.
There was some confusion a while back over what callsign in Griffith was transmitting the Seven signal. For a while it was AMN but at some point, MTN took the Seven feed.
I went in person and checked last year, SES is Nine, SDS is Seven+10, MGS is off air.
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If WIN don’t do a deal they should be forced to give back the spectrum so that the local council or other entity can set up the channel as just a relay if the Capital city channel.
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I am writing a piece tomorrow but in short… and I got a statement from ACMA.
- Every area has three commercial licences - not 1 in the case of a monopoly area.
- In the case of a monopoly area - 1 person CONTROLS all three licences
- If a broadcaster (such as WIN) surrenders a license for one of those ‘signals’ such as what happened in Mildura and now with Riverland / Griffith then another network can apply to ACMA to run the licence
- So even though its a monopoly, it has three licences and CAN be controlled by three different networks
- Paramount could have applied for the Mildura license and kept it going
- Seven can apply for the licence and keep Seven running
- This all applies for future ‘cease broadcasting’ examples that may come to WA and Tasmania.
In the end it may be cost prohibitive and networks would rather not have the signal turned on in some markets, but many articles seems to be pointing to WIN having all the control and nothing can be done if a network ceases broadcasting in an area
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The above does match my understanding of things as well - though I’d clarify on point 5 that there’s no time limit here unless there’s an alteration to the channel plan, so in theory there could be months or years without Ten/Seven and then it return.
Though it’s exactly what Ten themselves did with Mildura, pretend they have no agency in the situation and request the Government to do something - trying to find a way that these channels get subsidised to keep existing as a public service.
The moment they actually step in to keep the broadcast in place the grift is up. Tasmania is probably worth it, and the Mildura events happened when Paramount had no regional TV assets, though no doubt made them take notice how much risk there is relying on affiliates to broadcast their signals.
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Perhaps the way I framed. I did mean back then they did nothing… but there is no time limit. They could still apply now or in the future
Agreed, and that’ll leave those wanting their AFL fix scrambling for alternatives. Curious question though, how many people watch the AFL in Griffith as opposed to the NRL? Isn’t NSW an NRL state? 
NSW is an NRL state but I am led to believe that AFL does have a significant following in southern NSW towns like Wagga Wagga and, potentially, Griffith. Possibly reflected in the “Barassi Line” Barassi Line - Wikipedia
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But Griffith is only a few hundred kms away from Wagga. Surely the Wagga TV market could easily be extended to include Griffith and nearby areas. What’s stopping them from doing so?
The Broadcasting Services Act?
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If 10 bought the licence though, wouldn’t it trigger the change in local content requirements like when 7 bought it and the rest of the prime stations? And 10 probably wouldn’t want to do updates and other stuff.
The local content requirements are area specific and are not dependent on who owns them and/or if they own stations elsewhere.
I know it’s a bit old but:
As far as local news goes, he did NOTHING for northern NSW. I guess he forgot it once (early 1990s) AND forgot it again after he purchased it from SCA until he sold ot recently.
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No chance in this day and age, if it was twenty to thirty years ago, you might have had a point. It’s a struggle to maintain with Nine let alone Ten affiliation, why do you think most of the resources were cut in 2016 and again in 2021!
Agree to this comment- perhaps WIN are trying to leverage the fact how little SWM paid for the remote and TAS assets from SCA (and the fact WIN themselves recently sold NRN for <15% of what they paid for it in years gone by)
The primary WIN affiliation in SA over the years has sat with all 3 metro networks at some point in time.. so not necessarily surprised with the hardballing
I actually took exception at the comments that about “maintaining investment in regional news as far as they were allowed to”. Nothing stopped them from investing in northern NSW other than themselves.
In my opinion, All Australian News was an insult to regional areas that received this BUT no local news bulletin. Northern NSW didnt care abour what was happening in Tasmania or even Toowoomba.
Yes, the low return on investment would have been the reason for not pursuing local news bulletins, but to say make such a broad statement is inaccurate to an extent.
I think a more accurate assessment would have been that they maintain investment in local news in areas when others didnt to the extent they were allowed
By this token, anyone could theoretically apply for an abandoned broadcast licence?
Wonder what the cost of that would be
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