WIN News (2015-Feb 2025)

It is the capital of the state, and also has the most populated town.

I agree. Using a green screen is basically giving Tasmania the metro set for low cost. It can look decent if you do it well.

Live backdrop of Hobart is not appropriate with the population split between Hobart / Launceston and reinforces negative historical contexts with WIN “neglecting” the Northern Tasmania audience. (Historically WIN was based in Hobart, SC based in Launceston).

I suspect they will avoid a city backdrop.

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What would they use then? Currently, all bulletins incl. Darwin/NBN have a city shot (although images for Darwin/NBN). Maybe the generic one NBN is using?

Just have something thought up in the boardroom of Nine Sydney.

A revolving backdrop of a Tassie Devil and Young Einstein.

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While the north south divide does still exist… a lot. If done right they could probably get away with a shot of the Hobart skyline or if they really could do it, an alternating one, eg Hobart one night, Launceston another. I think WIN did similar years ago for a little while.

The way 7Tas does it currently is good, after the breaks they have the fly over shots from all different places in Tas so it is known as a Tas bulletin, the sports one changes too and alternates between Bellerive in Hobart, York Park in Launnie and West Park in Burnie.

They don’t want to be too Hobart-centric as they will need to steal viewers from across the whole state but they could potentially get away with a Hobart skyline still as long as the content still feels fully Tasmanian catered.

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Tasmania historically has the anomaly of being the only state where more people live outside the capital than inside.

If you want to have any hope of moving people from 7, which is strongest in the north of the state (due to it being the station pre-aggregation), a Hobart backdrop isn’t necessarily the best idea

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I agree. 600k viewers in the Gold Coast and even more in areas like Ipswich in Queensland are just fine with a Brisbane backdrop, as well as people in Geelong which is the second largest city in Victoria. Also shows where the bulletin is made.

To gain more viewers, go on location most nights like QTQ, NWS and NTD do, for example go to the Royal Hobart Show, or maybe a event at the Botanical Gardens in Launceston etc. Makes a point of difference compared to TNT who is always in the studio.

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Could always go for a shot of Devonport beach - capital cities shouldn’t always be the backdrop

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If they’re going to use the NBN set in Tasmania I hope they actually take the effort to make adjustments and improvements. The set has good bones, but it needs changing.

Think along the lines of the BBC News video wall. You can still have flat screens, but if it’s framed with a curved set and decent lighting it’ll look a million bucks.

On the NBN set when the camera is framed tight, the screens don’t look half bad. It’s all the stuff you see in wide shots that lets it down.

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@admins might also be a good idea to move Nine News Tasmania discussion to a new topic?

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I agree. As others have said, the NBN set needs to get better lighting and more colour. It currently looks sad and grey, the walls are gray, the floor is black and the only coloured things is the desk, presenters, TVs and LEDs.

I think northern Tasmania needs to get over this north vs south thing,

Hobart is more than twice the size of Launceston. Its also the state capital, the economic and finance hub, along with it now becoming the sporting hub of Tasmania. Who cares if they have a background of Hobart.

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CBN7 has a generic “Town” background, which doesn’t seem to offend viewers. Might as well be Hobart.

Isn’t the main thing to make it clear it’s NOT coming from Melbourne?

I would have thought it’s better to be ‘honest’ about the studio location or go with something generic like Darwin.

My view has always been to not treat an audience like mugs. They will know where the news is made (it’s the whole point of introducing a locally produced bulletin) and should lean into that. Otherwise the studio may as well be a broom cupboard at GTV.

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My thoughts exactly. Just be honest. Hobart is more local than Melbourne!

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Yes. Doesn’t ABC do that? If I am correct…

Do you want to know what Nine Sydney, Nine Melbourne, Nine Brisbane, Nine Gold Coast, Nine Adelaide, Nine Perth, Nine Darwin, Seven Sydney, Seven Melbourne, Seven Brisbane, Seven Adelaide, Seven Perth, Seven Gold Coast, Seven Queensland (Cairns, Townsville, Rockhampton, Mackay, Toowoomba, Wide Bay, Sunshine Coast), ABC Sydney, ABC Melbourne, ABC Canberra, ABC Darwin, ABC Hobart, ABC Brisbane, ABC Perth, ABC Adelaide, NBN Newcastle (and other NBN markets during local inserts), CTC, BCV/GLV, TNQ (during composite Nine Regional bulletins) and 7Regional (in markets without bulletins) all have in common? They all have city backdrops of the ones the broadcast in! Nearly all stations in the country do that!

WIN, 7Regional (areas with bulletins), SBS and SCA are the only ones who don’t have city backdrops. So why shouldn’t Nine Tasmania have one?

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Great idea, while we’re at it Qld and WA can get over the daylight savings thing; Melbourne and Sydney can drop their rivalry too.

North and south Tasmania have a historical divide, which whilst not as pronounced as previously, does still exist and is pretty firmly entrenched.
They drink different beer, have different newspapers, different radio stations (including ABC local radio).

Is it waning, yes, but it’ll take a lot longer than just telling someone to get over it.

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Oh well… Launceston better get use to it. Hobart is the dormant market in this case. Only a matter of time until SCA7 moves it’s operations south too.

Perhaps they might take the Nine News Regional approach of green-screening in separate backdrops, that’s if Launceston and Hobart have separate feeds.

As a Tasmanian, and specifically a Hobartian, Hobart is a very different place than when TNT started in the South on UHF31, and TVT moved into the north.

Tasmania is no longer the butt of weak jokes from jealous mainlanders, Hobart is growing strongly and steadily, regional Tasmania is in the same boat, and unfortunately our secrets out…Locally its called the MONA affect, MONA (Mr David Walsh) singlehandedly transformed Tasmania from a cultural backwater (no offence intended) to a world class art, education, manufacturing, tourism and experience island…and were better for it.

So I am not sure the whole North South divide is a big problem anymore.

I think we are probably less worried about the back drop, but both the quality of journalists and stories. One thing SCA does incredibly well is localism, they advertise in the local papers, they have had busses and billboards, they have historically turned up at school carnivals etc. Tasmanian love local stories…were not Australian’s were Tasmanians. The local papers survive because they cover local stories…Heck today News (the Mercury) ran a story with a picture about a new fairy shop…

People will want to see Nine branded Microphones, Cars, Buses…be seen at our summer festivals, and someone local telling us the local stories.

SCA has had for years strong LOCAL talent, that was/is trusted every night. If Nine think a Melbourne ‘ring-in’ will be good enough, they are going to struggle. They need someone known to locals, prepared to turn up at the local show, the local CWA meetings north and south, and someone who could easily be your next door neighbour.

Whilst probably not an option, as she has a new born child, but I think Lucy Breadon (hope I spelt that right) from ABC Hobart Drive would fit the bill perfectly. Engaging, known, ex-WIN News, local and whilst this will seen sexist, would look good on a billboard and could go head to head with the current female SCA presenter. Maybe even Alexandra Alvaro, the ABC’s weekend newsreader…

As for backdrops, ABC News runs a backdrop of Hobart and it looks average, its clearly been tweaked by someone who doesn’t live in Hobart, red aircraft lights…ahhh nup. What’s wrong with a live skyline of Hobart Monday, Tuesday Launceston, Devonport River Wednesday…ETC…Tasman Bridge during winter to see the lights and skyline of the city, or during our longer summer evenings, Cradle Mt…

I really want Nine to succeed, not that I have anything against SCA, but would love to see more product, produced locally in the Tasmanian market, building the talents of jurnos, cammo’s, techo’s, producerso’s (ran out of o’s).

Tasmania has a concentrated media market, SCA, ABC, ARN, ACN and News are the big players…and do a great job. Online upstarts like Pulse and Vigilante News do a great job, but don’t have that Nine News brand to show off…

Such a strong player like NEC, entering the market has got to be a win for Tassie.

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Let’s steer away from the North vs. South Tasmania thing.

Like I said, If Nine want to beat SCA Seven in ratings (or at least boost them) they need to be very community centric. Have the weather on location most nights like Brisbane, Adelaide and Darwin. During events like the Royal Hobart Show, have the bulletin presented from there with this desk with a “Nine News Tasmania” logo:


Meanwhile Seven Tasmania is inside a studio!

Weekend bulletins are already in Hobart.

That’s the good thing about green screened virtual sets, basically both Hobart and Launceston get a metro set but can have their own backdrops without building two brand new sets. Solves the

It would be good if Launceston got a prerecorded window like NBN currently does and what Nine News Regional did before COVID. Southern Cross used to do this before merging them both.

If Nine starts to put weather on-location and gets a real good community view which will affect SCA’s ratings, I am 95% sure SCA will be moving the entire production down to Hobart, reintroducing local windows for Northern/Southern Tasmania, making weather on location and going to lots of community events etc.

Yes!

Being seen at summer festivals is very important, as it can promote the brand. Having a pop-up studio like the ones currently at the Royal Melbourne Show etc. would also be good. Putting the branding on buses and buildings would be great, try to steal some off SCA7.

I can see Brett Costello’s getting the job based off that. Known by Tasmanians for sport, lived in Hobart his whole life, and has been at WIN for 18 years. It will also help save not finding someone else. If not news anchor I could see him being AT LEAST sport presenter.

Yes it is. It already looks much better than the ex-SCA bulletins Nine produced for SCA, as it will be produced locally (unlike the others that were produced in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane) and that it is 7-days a week. I think Nine will continue 4pm news from Melbourne (SCA/NBN already do) but still is a very good investment.

Like I said, Tasmania needs a good, metro style set, but I think it would only happen with our good friends, named “green screen” and. “chroma key”. Them two with a image of the metro set can help give Tasmania the studio they deserve, without spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a set. All they need in the studio is a metro-style set (light box image like NBN) cameras, lights and green walls/floor.

Thank you for the detailed comment @Chris_Woolley! What do you and others think?

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