'WIN Television' is an
Australian
television network owned by the
WIN Corporation that is based in
Wollongong, Australia. WIN commenced transmissions on
March 18,
1962 as a single
Wollongong-only station, and has since expanded to 24
owned-and-operated stations with transmissions covering a larger geographical area than any other
television network,
18 throughout
Queensland,
New South Wales,
Victoria, the
Australian Capital Territory,
South Australia,
Tasmania, and
Western Australia.
The network's name, ''WIN'' is a reference to its original Wollongong station WIN-4, itself an acronym of 'W'ollongong 'I'llawarra 'N'ew South Wales. Through its news division,
WIN News, WIN Television broadcasts a half-hour news service to twenty regional markets.
16
History
The Beginning
'Television Wollongong Transmission Limited (TWT)', was incorporated on
October 4,
1955 by a group of local businessmen. Five years later, it was awarded a licence by the
Postmaster-General's Department broadcast to the
Illawarra and South Coast regions, over a number of other groups aligned to Sydney-based stations
ATN-7 and
TCN-9.
1 The new station was to broadcast on the
VHF-4 frequency, using the callsign WIN (which stood for ''Wollongong (and the) Illawarra Network'' or alternatively ''Wollongong Illawarra New (South Wales)'', in line with other
Australian callsigns). Soon after, a plot of land was purchased at Fort Drummond, approximately two kilometres south of the
Wollongong central business district, for the station's
television studios.
Prior to the opening night's transmissions, WIN-4 undertook a television conversion program, aimed at encouraging residents to acquire new tuning equipment and converting television sets in the area to receive the station's allocated frequency. A transmitter was to be erected on
Knight's Hill, however test transmissions were delayed due to rain.
17
1960s to the 1970s
WIN-4 commenced transmissions at 5:15 p.m. on
March 18,
1962. The first night was met with a number of technical issues, most notably the complete loss of audio.
[1] TCN-9 and
ATN-7 refused to sell programming to the station, leading to a unstable financial situation which, at its peak left the station with only 42 hours' programing.
[2]
In
April 1963, Media Securities, owned by
Rupert Murdoch, acquired a controlling interest in the station and soon appointed a new general manager, Bill Lean. Both
TCN-9 and
ATN-7 began purchasing several hours of first-run
American television programming from WIN-4, following contractual arrangements signed by Murdoch.
2 Throughout this period WIN-4 expanded its repeater transmissions to include
Moruya,
Batemans Bay,
Narooma,
Bega and
Eden. Local programming and the station's near-monopoly in the area meant that by
1973, viewership had increased to occupy 63 percent of the audience.
Murdoch sold the station in
1979 to the head of
Paramount Pictures' international distribution arm,
Bruce Gordon, in order to purchase controlling interests in capital city stations
TEN-10 Sydney and
ATV-0 Melbourne.
1980s to the 1990s
During this period, WIN expanded to include new stations in
Victoria,
Queensland, and
New South Wales. In
1984, WIN became the first regional television station to transmit in stereophonic sound.
[3] Close links between WIN Television and the
Nine Network, ensured it the Nine Network affiliation for southern
New South Wales when
aggregation took place in
1989. The changes meant that WIN expanded into the rest of southern New South Wales, launching new stations in
Canberra,
Orange,
Bathurst,
Dubbo and
Wagga, amongst others in
1989, and at the same time acquiring new facilities in Orange, Wagga and Canberra. It also provided the network with two additional competitors,
The Prime Network and
Capital Television.
In
1990 WIN purchased
Queensland station Star TV, shortly before regional Queensland was to be aggregated. The new station was set to become a
Network Ten affiliate, however WIN's links with the
Nine Network caused the Nine affiliation to move from
QTV, which itself became affiliated to Ten.
ENT Limited, a
Launceston-based company that owned a number of television and radio stations in regional
Victoria and
Tasmania, was bought in
1994.
[4] Vic Television and
TasTV were, as a result, incorporated into the WIN network and subsequently renamed WIN Television. The network further expanded to
Griffith in
1998, when WIN purchased
MTN-9 Griffith and its supplementary station AMN-31 from its local owners. Although station had previously been part of the Prime Television network, MTN already had links with WIN and took its feed from the network's Wollongong base.
WIN became regional
Western Australia's second commercial television network on
March 26,
1999.
[5] Prior to the launch of the new station,
GWN held a commercial monopoly on the market. GWN became an affiliate of the
Seven Network, while WIN took a combination of Nine Network and Network Ten programming. Despite the
Nine Network's traditional ratings dominance throughout most of the country, GWN has remained the market's most-watched station.
[6] The second ratings survey of
2006 placed WIN Television with a 34.7% commercial audience share in
prime time, compared to the Golden West Network with 65.3%.
[4]
In the same year, WIN purchased two stations in
South Australia, SES-8 in
Mount Gambier and RTS-5a in the
Riverland region. They became known as ''
WIN South Australia'' and until recently featured news bulletins presented from studios at both stations (bulletins are now presented from the set of studios in
Mount Gambier). In
2002 supplementary licences were granted under
Section 38A of the Broadcasting Services Act, allowing the network to launch additional channels, using the callsigns ''MGS'' in Mount Gambier and ''LRS'' in the Riverland, and known as ''WIN Ten''.
[8]
2000s
WIN Television began to introduce
digital television soon after it became available to metropolitan areas in
January,
2001. Under
Section 38A of the ''Broadcasting Services Act'', the network has been able to introduce, in partnership with other stations, additional digital-only
Network Ten affiliates. These have included
Tasmanian Digital Television, launched in late
2003 in partnership with
Southern Cross Broadcasting, and
Mildura Digital Television in
January 2006, with
Prime Television Limited.
On
May 30,
2007,
Southern Cross Broadcasting announced its sale of
NWS to the
WIN Corporation for AU$105 million. Similarly,
STW Perth, owned by
Sunraysia Television and affiliated to the
Nine Network, was purchased on
June 8,
2007, when the station was sold to WIN Television's parent company,
WIN Corporation, for AU$163.1 million.
[9]
Despite the station's ownership of Nine Perth, WIN in Western Australia broadcast
Ten News Perth, produced for and shown on rival station
Ten Perth up until
August 27,
2007. Preceding this in
June,
2007, the network announced their intention to show
National Nine News.
[10]
A conflict between WIN and its long-time metropolitan counterpart the
Nine Network arose in mid-
2007.
PBL Media, Nine's parent company, requested up to 40% of the network's advertising revenue in return for program supply. WIN's owner,
WIN Corporation rejected this offer, expecting to pay only 29% (a 3% decrease from the previous contract and in line with many of the network's competitors, such as
Prime Television and
Southern Cross Ten.
[11] The network's owner,
Bruce Gordon, subsequently threatened to sever the network's affiliation after negotiations stagnated, stating that his previous position at the
Paramount Pictures Corporation meant he could program the network independently.
[12] On
August 16,
2007 WIN Television dropped key Nine Network programs from its
daytime television schedule, including ''
Mornings with Kerri-Anne'' and ''
National Nine News: Morning Edition''.
[13] An affiliation deal with the
Seven Network was announced on
September 4,
2007, for the network's eastern South Australian stations in
Mount Gambier and the
Riverland. The new program schedule is expected to replace the current
Nine Network based schedule in
October 2007.
[4]
Programming
WIN Television is a sole
Nine Network affiliate in most broadcast areas, with
Network Ten affiliation in regional
Western Australia, and
Seven Network affiliation in eastern
South Australia. WIN Television has always produced local programming, including the flagship local news service ''
WIN News'', that supplement programs sourced from affiliates.
Since inception the network has produced and broadcast notable programs including ''Sportsview'' and ''Sportsworld'', a review of international, national and local sporting events.
17 From the first week of transmissions
children's television series ''The Channel 4 Club'' was produced, with children's
television program ''Stopwatch'' beginning in
1979.
17 English-language educational programme ''You Say the Word'' began in
1971, catering to non-
English-speaking immigrants. Short-lived
cooking show ''Variety Italian Style'' premiered in
1972, with Malcom Elliott initially hosting the long-running ''
Tonight Show'' in
1981 being replaced by John Tingle years later. To commemorate WIN Television's 21st year of broadcasting, a one-and-half-hour retrospective montage special was produced in
1983. WIN Television also co-produced telemovie ''Last Chance'' in
1986 with a
Canadian television production company.
17 Spanning close to a decade, children's television series ''
Goodsports'' was produced by WIN Television from
1991 to
2000.
WIN Television's current Australian programming productions consists of television shows including; ''
Susie'', ''
Destinations'', and ''
Fishing Australia''. On
May 17,
2007, WIN Television announced a new midday program called ''
Susie'', however this was subsequently moved to a morning timeslot.
[15]13 WIN Television also broadcasts a range of exclusive overseas and domestically sourced programming including ''
The Ellen DeGeneres Show'', ''
The Brady Bunch'' and ''Good Chef Bad Chef''.
News & Current Affairs
WIN News is the network's local news service. Twenty bulletins are presented from studios in
Wollongong,
Canberra,
Ballarat,
Mount Gambier and
Rockhampton, in addition to ''
National Nine News'' bulletins presented and produced from the network's metropolitan stations,
STW in
Perth, Western Australia and
NWS in
Adelaide.
[16] Although in most areas it is the only local news bulletin, in some markets it may compete with ''
Prime News'', ''
Seven Local News'', ''
GWN News'', or ''
Southern Cross Nightly News''.
WIN has produced independent news reports and bulletins since
1962 for its original
Wollongong station. As well as the flagship nightly bulletin, WIN Television has in the past produced
current affairs programming including community affairs program ''Roving Eye'', and ''Sunday Review'', a weekly review of international, national and local stories.
[17]
Current schedule
Western Australia
'Note':
''News & Current Affairs'' are in 'Grey';
''Drama'' is in 'Blue';
''Sitcoms'', ''Animation'' and ''Comedy'' are in 'Purple';
''Lifestyle programs'' are in 'Green';
''Factual programs'' and ''Documentaries'' are 'Yellow';
''Reality'', ''Game shows'' and ''Talk shows'' are in 'Red';
''Sport'' is in 'Orange';
''Movies'' are in 'Pink'.
The above represents WIN Television's usual primetime schedule in the majority of broadcast markets. It does not reflect one-off events, and program starting times may vary from those shown. For up-to-date information, see WIN's online television guide. (link)
Availability
WIN Television simulcasts in
analogue,
standard definition and
1080i high definition in all areas except
Western Australia where only analogue transmissions are currently available.
[18] Free-to-air transmissions are available from both
terrestrial transmitters in major regional centres, and
satellite transmissions across remote and regional Western Australia on the
free-to-view Optus Aurora platform.
Subscription cable is also provided by
TransACT in the
Australian Capital Territory, and
Neighbourhood Cable in
Ballarat and
Mildura.
[19][20]
WIN broadcasts to a larger geographical area than any other
television network,
18 in the world, through
owned-and-operated stations including
RTQ Queensland,
WIN Southern New South Wales,
VTV Victoria,
TVT Tasmania,
MTN Grifith,
STV Mildura,
SES Mount Gambier,
RTS Riverland, and
WOW Western Australia.
NWS Adelaide and
STW Perth, both owned by
WIN Corporation, follow a schedule similar to that of the network's regional stations.
Logos
'WIN Television' has used many logos throughout its history.
| | | | |
|---|
| 1970 - 1979 | 1980 - 1989 | 1989 - 2006 | 2006 - present |
|---|
'Note': ''Pre-network logos can be found at the following articles; RTQ, VTV.''
References
1. Local TV on March 18
2. W'gong Television Station Deprived of Top Programmes
3. WIN boasts list of firsts
4.
5. WIN TV: A new rural view
6. Trends in audience share
7.
8. ABA determines simulcast start dates for regional digital TV services
9. WIN buys Channel 9 Adelaide
10. Poor state of Perth 9 shocks new owner
11. PBL talks with Gordon on regional TV close to collapse
12. WIN boss threatens to sever Nine link
13. War as WIN junks key Nine shows
14.
15. WIN Television to produce new regional daytime program 'Susie'
16. Local content on regional TV
17. WIN4 Company Records and News Film
18. About WIN Corporation
19. TransTV Channel Lineup
20. Neighbourhood Cable Channel Lineup
See also
★
WIN Corporation
★
Australian television
★
Australian television broadcasting
★
Regional television in Australia
External links
★
Official Website
العربية
中国
Français
Deutsch
Ελληνική
हिन्दी
Italiano
日本語
Português
Русский
Español
