ATN

{{Infobox broadcast}} may refer to:

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This article is about the Australian television station. For other uses, see ATN (disambiguation).

ATN is the Sydney flagship television station of the Seven Network in Australia. The license, issued to a company named Amalgamated Television Services, a subsidiary of Fairfax, was one of the first four licenses (two in Sydney, two in Melbourne) to be issued for commercial television stations in Australia. It began broadcasting on 2 December 1956.

The station formed an affiliation with GTV-9 Melbourne in 1957, in order to share content. In 1963, Frank Packer ended up owning both GTV-9 and TCN-9, so as a result the stations switched their previous affiliations. ATN-7 and HSV-7 joined to create the Australian Television Network, which later became the Seven Network.

The Studios and Transmission Tower

The station opened in 1956 with principal offices and studios located at Mobbs Lane, Epping (a suburb about 12 kilometres NW of Sydney). The initial black and white cameras and other equipment was supplied by the Marconi Company of England. Conversion to PAL colour occurred in 1974/75. Digital DVB-T commenced on January 1, 2001.

The initial transmission tower in 1956 was located near the ABC tower at Gore Hill, Sydney. This was eventually demolished after ATN was invited to share a new site at Artarmon which was built by a new 3rd, commercial broadcaster TEN-10.

Digital and Analog Broadcasts

ATN's Sydney transmissions - both DVB-T terrestrial digital and analog PAL - are on VHF RF Channels 6 and 7 respectively and are broadcast from masts operated by Transmitters Australia (TXA) at Artarmon and/or Willoughby. Retransmission translators to UHF channels service Sydney viewers from Kings Cross and North Head at Manly and north of Sydney at Bouddi, Gosford and Forresters Beach (see the Digital Broadcast Australia (DBA) web site.

The on-air programs are sent by digital link from the Seven Network's national program play-out centre at Docklands in Melbourne.

Epping Site Satellite Links

In 1983, one of the first full-time commercial TV satellite links was established between Los Angeles and Sydney using the mid-Pacific Intelsat satellite. This was unique for what was known as a half transponder link, as it carried 2 NTSC TV programs each with stereo sound and data. (Comsat pretested this at their Clarksberg MA center). The video was multiplexed using Thomson "Vidiplex" and the audio and data equipment was from Wegener. The various news and other programs were fed out of Seven's News Bureau at Century City in Los Angeles and then north to a Comsat satellite earth station at Santa Paula.

Because in 1983 the satellite power was very limited, a receive satellite dish (TVRO) for east-coast Australia needed to be in the order of 18 metres diameter. An alternative of two 12 metre dishes ("C-band" with Gregorian feed-horn from Andrews), were installed at the Epping site. The signals received from the two dishes were electronically combined so that the signal was equivalent to an 18 metre dish's reception. Later when replacement satellites with higher powers were placed in orbit, the two dishes were used independently on different satellites. Other innovations such as analogue video noise reduction were also used to improve the signal.

One of the TV programs carried was CNN. This was the first international transmission of CNN outside North America. In 1984 TV Asahi in Tokyo contracted to also receive CNN via the Iberaki earth station operated by Japan's KDD Corporation (Kokusai Denshin Denwa - now (KDDI). After ATN's engineering staff assisted KDD and TV Asahi with the special receiving adaptors, CNN was distributed on Japan Cable TV which mainly served the Roppongi district of Tokyo, including many foreign consolates and embassies. This first international distribution of CNN was formally opened by Ted Turner, CNN's then owner.

Subsequently, in 1986, a 13 metre Vertex "Ku-band" dish was added for Australian Television Network program distribution via the new Aussat satellite.

Program Production

The Epping facilities were expanded to provide 5 operational studios and the centre became the largest producer of Australian produced TV content including, Wheel of Fortune, Sons and Daughters, A Country Practice, All Saints and Home and Away.

News and live telecasted programs are filmed and broadcast from the Martin Place studios. Nationwide program promos for the network and Home and Away are produced and filmed from the Epping studios.

The very last editions of Home And Away, All Saints and Wheel Of Fortune was broadcast at the former studios in Epping in March 2005, before the studios moved to new premises at Pyrmont, a subarb west of Darling Harbour, 2 km west of Sydney.

RaceCam

ATN's engineering staff received 2 Emmy Awards - making ATN the first Australian company to receive such an award - for the technology, invention and further development of RaceCam, live mobile point-of-view TV cameras which were initially developed in the late 1970s and early 1980s for the station's coverage of touring car races at Mount Panorama in Bathurst, New South Wales. Visiting commentators from the United States organised for ATN staff to supply the camera and transmission systems for CBS' coverage of NASCAR races.

A variant of RaceCam was also developed for yachts in the America's Cup off the coast of Fremantle, Western Australia in 1985. Later in the mid 1980s, the American Broadcasting Company asked ATN staff to develop aerofoil-designed cameras suitable for Formula 1 cars, and these were subsequently used at the Indianapolis 500.

Relocation

In 2004 the station was included with the shift of the Seven Network corporate offices and sales department into new premises in a "heritage" building at Pirrama Road, Pyrmont close to the Sydney CBD, while the News department shifted into a street level location in Sydney's Martin Place. In June 2006, the network announced that the Epping studio site will close and facilities will be relocated to purpose built studios at the Australian Technology Park in Redfern by 2009.

• Epping (1956-Early 2005, now shared with Seven Local TV)
• Martin Place (2004-present, news/variety)
• Pyrmont (2005-present, production)

Seven Martin Place

The set used for Seven News

Channel Seven's Martin Place studio, referred to in bulletins as "News Central" and based on the first five floors of The Colonial Building in Sydney, is the network's major news presentation centre. It comprises 3,000 square metres. Viewers can see the programs being filmed. On the live broadcasted-shows Sunrise and Weekend Sunrise the backdrop shows the street with people outside and the presenters regularly go outside and talk to the fans. Seven claims it is one of the most technologically advanced digital television centres in the world.

Seven News

Further information: [[:Seven News]]

Seven News is presented from the network's national television studios at Martin Place, by Ian Ross from Mondays to Thursdays and Chris Bath on Fridays and weekends. Matthew White and Sara Groen present weekday sport and weather, while on weekends sport is presented by Ben Damon.

A year before the news and current affairs moved to Martin Place, At the end of 2003, the ill-fated dual presenter format of Ross Symonds and Ann Sanders finally came to an end after the pair failed to make an impact in the Sydney market, losing viewers to competition winner National Nine News Melbourne and both National Nine News Sydney, which had led in the ratings for decades. With Ross taking over from Symonds and Sanders in 2003, he took Seven News in Sydney and Peter Mitchell for Seven News in Melbourne to their first big No.1 timeslot by 2005 onwards.

The very last editions of Sunrise, Seven News and Today Tonight was broadcast at the former studios in Epping on the last day of the Athens Olympics, before the station moved to new premises at Martin Place in the centre of Sydney, from where Sunrise, The Morning Show Seven News and Today Tonight will now be broadcast. A year later, the state-of-the-art Seven Network's new store, The 7 Store is opened to the public.

News updates for Sydney are presented by either Ian Ross or Chris Bath throughout the afternoon and the early evening, with updates during the night being shown nationally.

Programming

Some of the highest rating programs in Australia are produced at Seven Sydney, including:

Martin Place's Seven News studio will be producing

• Sunrise (now sponsored by Sony BMG and Nissan)
• The Morning Show (now sponsored by Jetstar and Harvey Norman)
• Weekend Sunrise
• Seven Morning News
• Seven Afternoon News
• Seven Late News Updates
• Today Tonight

Redfern will be producing

• Home and Away
• Sydney Weekender
• All Saints
• It's Academic

Former Shows produced in Martin Place

• The NightCap (2008)

Former Shows

• A Current Affair (1988-2007, production moved to Willoughby, Sydney)
• Wheel Of Fortune (1996-2005, 2006-2008, production moved to Nine Network in Mid 2008)
• All Music Video (2000-2001, 2004-2007)
• Friday Night Party Mix (2004-2007)
• Chatswood Neighbours (2001-2008, production moved to Nine Network)
• Classic old Where Are They Now? (2006-2007)
• Last Chance Learners (2007)
• A Country Practice (1981-1993 - production moved to Network Ten in 1994 for its last series)
• Sons and Daughters (1981-1987)
• Popstars (2000-2002)
• Always Greener (2001-2003)
• Fast Forward (1989-1992)
• Full Frontal (1993-1997)
• Sportsworld (2003-2006)
• Popstars Live (2004)
• My Restaurant Rules (2004-2005)
• headLand (filmed in Sydney by independent producers, 2005)
• Larry Emdur & Laura Csortan's Wheel of Fortune (filmed in Pyrmont, 2006)
• You May Be Right (2006)
• Good As Gold! (2006)

Logo Guide

• 'ATN Channel 7': 1956-1959.
• 'Spearhead' Logo: 1960-1969.
• 'Revoultion' Logo: 1970-1974.
• 'Rainbow' Logo: 1974-1988.
• 'Split' Logo: 1989-1999.
• 'Ribbon' Logo: 2000-2003.
• 'Red 7' Logo: 2003-????.

Pre-Network Logos

ATN-7 used many logos throughout its pre-network history.

File:ATN7 1956-59.png
1956 - 1959

Note: Post-network logos can be found at the following article; Seven Network.

Station Slogans

• 1956: "This is ATN Channel 7, Sydney"
• 1968: "Seven is..."
• 1977: "Seven is Your Place to Be"
• 1979: "Seven's Reaching for the Stars"
• 1980: "Channel 7's Proud in Sydney" (borrowed elements from NBC's "Proud as a Peacock")
• 1981-82: "All The Best!" (based on NBC's 1976 slogan)
• 1982: "Our Pride is Showing" (based on NBC's 1981-82 slogan)
• 1983: "Just Watch Us Now" (based on NBC's "We're NBC, Just Watch Us Now")
• 1984: "Be There" (based on NBC's 1983 slogan)
• 1985: "The World on Seven - Let's All Be There" (based on NBC's "On NBC, Let's All Be There")
• 1985-87: "Let's All Be There" (borrowed from NBC slogan, even though NBC changed slogans in '86)
• 1986: "Sydney CBD" (used alongside "Let's All Be There")
• 1986 (Nov.): "Thirty Years Together - Channel 7 and You"
• Summer 1986/87: "Summer is the Time, Seven is the Place" (based on ABC (US)'s "Now is the Time, ABC is the Place")
• 1987: "You're Invited on a Journey"

See also

• Television broadcasting in Australia