Don’t really think they can decline any further.
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Maybe next year.
…and like how political parties sometimes do dodgy things right after an election in the hope that any public outrage will be minimised and forgotten by the next one, you can bet that WIN intentionally waited until after both the NSW & Federal elections before axing the bulletins!
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Reaction from Nationals leader and deputy prime minister Michael McCormack:
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Is there any chance that Prime7 might move into these markets?
Prime7 is under financial pressure, so probably not I think.
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As if the Nationals really think they can get WIN to reverse this decision. The issue here is WIN most likely truly can’t fund the operations of these newsrooms. Serious government intervention is required to keep regional news alive. To be perfectly honest however, we are at a point in history where news is digital and that’s the only way it will exist, it’s been going down that pathway for a long time. News organizations only have themselves to blame if they don’t survive the digital transition.
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Compared to our national public broadcasters and metropolitan commercial networks who’s online/social media presences generally range in quality from OK to excellent, what sort of digital presences do each of the regional network news services have?
Unfortunately, I think we’d be more likely to see Prime7 axe or cutback some of their news services before they expand.
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They’re back in power in both NSW and in Canberra, they simply don’t need to spend it. WIN won’t give a shit, unless the Nationals simply don’t invite WIN to any press conferences, take them out of any mailing lists, etc. Nationals are fucking gutless wonders.
McCormack is an idiot. Moving the ABC out of Ultimo is NOT going to save the ABC any money.
May as well give the ABC more money and order them to do regional news if the commercial stations keep cutting back.
They already do. Prime7’s lineage dates back to the founding of RVN2 Wagga, AMV4 Albury and CBN8 Orange.
Again, the Nationals are fucking dipshits. They are better off either forcing serious government intervention to make the metros force their regional affiliates to air as much serious and substantial local content, or, have the ABC do it. They won’t do either, as they’re cucks to the Liberals.
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The only way would be for the metros to reduce their affiliation fees and there is no way that will happen. They have the hide to think it should be higher!
after reading peoples comments on here i retract the things i said about win tv. The board and management dont really about there reporters or there readers or the behind the scenes crew, all they care about is ratings.After being here in ballarat for 6 months i dont think people watch win news for the fact for what the board and the managment did taking way the local win studios and reproducing the news in Wollongong.as i said earlier in one of my posts what i believe is that win news here in vic esp here in ballarat is failling for that very reason . and i think 9 news would be in front esp here in ballarat becuase even tho its in melbourne its some what local and its still in victoria and i still belive that unless the board and management of win tv wake up to them selfs and listen to people that win news here in vic days would be numbered
I would have thought WIN was one to have that scale
I doubt it, and I doubt Gordon would even consider selling it
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I think it’s more to do with WIN now taking 10 programs. They no longer make the same profit they once did when partnered with Nine. They’ve lost half their audiance. This has lead to centralisation of studio production to Wollongong and the axing of local news bulletins. If ratings don’t improve with network 10 programming, expect more bulletins being axed.
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Well I watch 10 but not through win this is also Bruce’s fault so it’s not all 10s fault.bruce has changed all the water marks to bold water marks which puts off viewers. And also on Saturdays he goes it alone on 10 peach putting on shows from long ago .so no 10.isn’t all at fault it’s wins fault as well
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Prime7 Local News had reports on WIN’s closures in affected areas.
Central West - Report at 2:40
Riverina - Report at 4:25
Albury - Report at 5:25
Not a single mention on Seven News Wide Bay in regards to WIN’s axing there.
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What? Don’t you live in Ballarat?
How else do you watch 10 programmes
I’m the same. When I actually want to watch a 10 show instead of capping or channel surfing, I’ll watch 10 and 10 Peach from Perth and I live in the middle of nowhere. I do this because I hate WIN’s watermarks and their PQ but at the same time I know the majority of people simply wouldn’t care about little things like that. I think Jason is completely wrong in thinking a watermark has destroyed WIN. That’s just silly and not how it works. I don’t even think Bruce’s scheduling decisions have had an impact.
The only fault I can lay on WIN is their insistence on keeping the status quo with their news productions - never trying anything new or bold or innovative. Shifting timeslots, posting their bulletins online somewhere, experimenting with podcasts or news bites on Facebook or something, anything that isn’t a half hour of 90s style news. IMO it’s the most stale production of the three regional bulletins available. The rest is on 10 and their struggle to get out of 3rd or 4th place.
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Yet another long post incoming!
Yep, I agree. There are probably three markets where the future of WIN News is relatively safe:
*The Illawarra - WIN’s home market and surely the last one they’d axe local news in?
*Canberra - gotta keep federal politicians happy.
*Tasmania - with over 500k residents, I think WIN would rather stick it out here than risk the possibility of a Nine News Tasmania being established at some point.
But I’m not particularly confident about the futures of the others. The fact that Nine has a limited presence in the Goulburn Valley and bailed out of the Darling Downs market (where Seven has a considerably more substantial news product) won’t make an iota of difference to the futures of WIN News in those two regions.
The Cairns, Townsville, Rockhampton & Sunshine Coast markets are still a three way battle between Seven, Nine & WIN but I can’t see that lasting overly long even if they are more populated markets than those where the last WIN News will go to air next Friday. The Western Victoria, Central Victoria & Gippsland bulletins have the potential to outlive the Queensland ones, but sadly it wouldn’t overly surprise me if we reach a point where Nine is the only player in local news down there.
Having said all that, this is a rare case of a prediction that I genuinely hope ends up being completely wrong!
Wow, pretty high up in the running order too - 2nd story in the Central West after the region’s cold weather! 
Also quite interesting to see that Prime7 chose Helen Ballard to file Albury’s report when she would know all too well about the effects of regional media cutbacks…
Well said. The so-called “watermarks” on general programming are the least of WIN’s problems when it comes to local news. It’s their failure to re-invent a bulletin format that’s stuck in the 1990s, the affiliation switch of nearly three years ago and perhaps to some extent at least, Nine/SCA entering the market which have been the real killers.
For all the faults of Prime7 Local News and Nine News’ regional bulletins, at least they’ve been trying new things like the addition of live or pre-recorded crosses in their bulletins. I’m not aware of WIN doing anything like that with their news services recently.
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We haven’t had WIN News over here for years, but I’ve been randomly tuning in to the eastern states bulletins for a long time and every single time it’s the exact same experience. Everything about the production is old and predictable. Flick over to Prime and it’s fresh and different and the presenters appear to be able to relate to stories and show a little bit of emotion when it’s needed. I never get that from WIN. It’s way too formal and structured for any of that clap trap.
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