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For other television networks called WIN, see WIN TV.

WIN Television
CountryAustralia
AffiliatesNine Network (ceases 30 June 2016 in selected markets)
Programming
Language(s)English
Ownership
OwnerWIN Corporation
Links
Websitewintv.com.au

WIN Television is an Australian television network owned by the WIN Corporation that is based in Wollongong, New South Wales. WIN commenced transmissions on 18 March 1962 as a single Wollongong-only station, and has since expanded to 24 owned-and-operated stations with transmissions covering a larger geographical area of Australia than any other television network except for Australia Plus which broadcasts to 44 countries.[1]

WIN is the sole Nine Network affiliate throughout Regional Queensland, Southern New South Wales, Regional Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory, Western Australia and Tasmania. Except the latter two markets, the stations are under a bundled deal, which was found out following the 2016 regional TV shakeup.

The rest of WIN’s coverage areas (especially those that did not have a second licence in the 1989-1990’s regional television aggregation) are affiliated with the Seven Network, along with several digital-only Network Ten-affiliated stations (either on WIN’s own right or through partnership with other regional television broadcasters).

The network's name, WIN is a reference to its original Wollongong station WIN-4, itself an acronym of Wollongong Illawarra New South Wales. Through its news division, WIN News, WIN Television broadcasts a half-hour news service to twenty regional markets.[2]

History

The Beginning

Television Wollongong Transmission Limited (TWT), was incorporated on 4 October 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.[3] 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.[4]

1960s to the 1970s

WIN-4 commenced transmissions at 5:15 pm. on 18 March 1962. The first night was met with a number of technical issues, most notably the complete loss of audio.[3] TCN-9 and ATN-7 refused to sell programming to the station, leading to an unstable financial situation which, at its peak left the station with only 42 hours' programming.[5]

In April 1963, Media Securities, owned by Rupert Murdoch, acquired a controlling interest in the station (his second television station after NWS-9 Adelaide) 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.[5] 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, to purchase controlling interests in capital city stations TEN-10 Sydney and ATV-0 (now ATV-10) Melbourne.

1980s to the 1990s

The West Magazine reporting WIN Television as the second network in regional Western Australia.

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.[6] 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 thus the logo of the station changed to that of its partner network with the matching nine dots and similar ident packages. The changes meant that WIN expanded into the rest of southern New South Wales, launching new stations in Canberra, Orange, Bathurst, Dubbo and Wagga 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, with stations in Rockhampton (RTQ) and the Darling Downs (DDQ and SDQ), 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, all within days before statewide broadcasts commenced.

ENT Limited, a Launceston-based company that owned a number of television and radio stations in regional Victoria and Tasmania, was bought in 1994.[7] Vic Television and TasTV were, as a result, incorporated into the WIN network and subsequently renamed WIN Television, complete with the nine dots logo of the Nine Network. 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 26 March 1999 after winning rights in 1997.[8] 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.[9] 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%,[10] thus being no.2 among regional viewers.

In the same year, WIN purchased two stations in South Australia, SES8 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, thus converting it into the sole Nine affiliate for regional viewers in SA.[11] This was the case until the affiliation moved to the Seven Network due to advertising problems with Nine's then owners in 2007.

2000s

A camera operator for WIN News Riverina.

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 30 May 2007, Southern Cross Broadcasting announced its sale of NWS to the WIN Corporation for A$105 million. Similarly, STW Perth, owned by Sunraysia Television and affiliated to the Nine Network, was purchased on 8 June 2007, when the station was sold to WIN Television's parent company, WIN Corporation, for A$163.1 million.[12]

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 27 August 2007. Preceding this in June 2007, the network announced their intention to show National Nine News on WIN WA, due to the rise of yet another joint venture station, Ten West.[13] This was its 3rd digital only Ten affiliate with both WIN and GWN taking charge.

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).[14] 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.[15] On 16 August 2007 WIN Television dropped key Nine Network programs from its daytime television schedule, including Mornings with Kerri-Anne and National Nine News: Morning Edition.[16] The end result was that WIN SA began to change affiliation from Nine to the Seven Network and the change was announced on 4 September 2007, for the network's eastern South Australian stations in Mount Gambier and the Riverland. The new program schedule is a mixture of Seven and WIN programming and commenced broadcasting on 1 October 2007.[17] Two years later, WIN officially relaunched its Nine Network service with the new channel, now known as WIN SA, carrying NWS from Adelaide and all Nine News programs but with local advertisements inserted to serve regional viewers.

On 9 August 2009 WIN began transmission of the new digital channel GO! on channel 88 in Southern NSW, Regional Victoria, Tasmania and Regional Queensland. It soon reached Midura in 2010 and regional SA in 2011.

2010s

In June 2010, playout was moved from WIN's Wollongong headquarters to a new facility shared with ABC Television at Ingleburn in Sydney's south-west.[18]

On 26 September 2010 WIN began transmission of the HD digital channel GEM on channel 80 in Southern NSW, Regional Victoria, Tasmania and Regional Queensland.

On 1 May 2012 WIN began transmission of an SD digital infomercial channel, Gold on channel 84. The second infomercial channel, Gold2 began on 13 July 2013 as a five-hour timeshift of Gold.[19]

On 21 January 2016 WIN replaced Gold2 on channel 82 with Nine's metropolitan infomercial channel, Extra.

After Nine revived 9HD and launched new lifestyle channel 9Life on 26 November 2015, WIN CEO Andrew Lancaster issued a memo to staff citing that WIN would not be reviving WIN HD or launching 9Life at the same time as Nine, but promised that WIN would do this in future.[20] WIN continued to broadcast the HD feed of 9Gem on channel 80. On 10 February 2016, WIN began broadcasting a "coming soon" test pattern on channels 85 and 86 indicating that they will revive WIN HD and carry 9Life from the Nine Network from 1 March 2016.[21] As a result, their channel listing was reshuffled to match to Nine's metropolitan with 9Gem on channel 82, 9Go! on channel 83, 9Life on channel 84, Extra on channel 85 and Gold on channel 86.

After Nine launched its new online catch-up video on demand and live streaming service 9Now on 27 January 2016, WIN filed a lawsuit against Nine, claiming that live streaming into regional areas breaches their affiliation agreement.[22][23] Justice Hammerschlag of the NSW Supreme Court dismissed the case on 28 April 2016, citing that "live streaming is not broadcasting within the meaning of the PSA (program supply agreement), and that Nine is under no express or implied obligation not to do it."[24][25]

Following WIN's defeat in the 9Now lawsuit, Nine announced it had signed a new $500 million affiliation deal with Network Ten affiliate Southern Cross Austereo, switching its primary Nine affiliation to stations currently affiliated with Ten in Southern NSW, ACT, and regional areas in Victoria and Queensland on 1 July 2016. As an affiliation fee to Nine, SCA will pay 50 percent of its revenue to the network.[26] With that announcement, WIN was effectively stripped of its 27 year partnership with Nine. In light of the revelation of the media shakeup, WIN is currently in affiliation talks with Network Ten.[27][28]

Programming

WIN Television is a sole Nine Network affiliate in all broadcast areas, but also carries Seven Network and Network Ten affiliated channels in Griffith, New South Wales and eastern South Australia. WIN Television has always produced regional 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.[4] 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.[4] English-language educational programme You Say the Word began in 1971, catering to non-English-speaking immigrants. Long-running entertainment program Variety Italian Style premiered in 1974, with Malcom Elliott initially hosting the short-lived Tonight Show in 1981 being replaced by John Tingle a year 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.[4] 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; Fishing Australia and Alive and Cooking. On 17 May 2007, WIN Television announced a new midday program called Susie, however this was subsequently moved to a morning timeslot.[16][29] WIN Television also broadcasts a range of exclusive overseas and domestically sourced programming including The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Alive and Cooking.

News & Current Affairs

Further information: WIN News
WIN News Riverina reporter, Erin Willing interviewing Major Jeff Cocks.

WIN News is the network's local news service. Eighteen regional bulletins are presented from studios in Wollongong, Tasmania and Maroochydore.[30] Although in most areas it is the only local news bulletin, WIN News may compete in some markets with Prime News, Seven Local News, GWN7 News, or Southern Cross 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.[4]

WIN also broadcasts All Australian News at noon and at late nights, featuring highlights from news bulletins from its regional stations.

Sport

WIN Television simulcasts sports coverage from Nine's Wide World of Sports, the sports brand of the Nine Network under the WIN's Wide World of Sports brand.

WIN Television in Queensland also produced its own rugby league coverage in 1995, televising games which featured the fledgling North Queensland Cowboys in their maiden season after entering the ARL's Winfield Cup competition.

Availability

WIN Television's Transmissions are available from both free-to-air terrestrial transmitters in major regional centres, and free-to-view satellite transmissions across regional and remote Western Australia on the Viewer Access Satellite Television service. WIN News bulletins are carried on the VAST service to allow viewers in remote areas of Central and Eastern Australia, and terrestrial reception blackspots to obtain news local to their area.

Subscription cable is also provided by TransACT in the Australian Capital Territory, and Neighbourhood Cable in Ballarat and Mildura.[31][32]

WIN broadcasts to a larger geographical area than any other television network,[1] in the world, through owned-and-operated stations including RTQ Queensland, WIN Southern New South Wales, VTV Victoria, TVT Tasmania, MTN Griffith, STV Mildura, SES Mount Gambier, RTS Riverland, and WOW Western Australia.

WIN HD

WIN Television announced on 10 February 2016 it would launch its own HD simulcast in the coming months.[21] It was later confirmed the HD simulcast would be titled WIN HD and would launch on 1 March 2016.[33] Four WIN regions were excluded from the 1 March launch date. Griffith, Tasmania, and Eastern South Australia did not receive the channel until 2 March 2016 due to technical issues.[34][35] In addition, the regional WA station won't receive the channel until 10 March 2016.[34]

Logos

The original WIN Television logo was used by the station until 1980, featuring the word WIN TV, derived from the station's call sign. In 1980, the logo was updated with the TV removed, and the WIN placed inside a blue rectange. Coinciding with the network's aggregation in 1989, WIN added nine dots into a new logo designed similarly to the Nine Network, and also began using Nine's on-air promotion, with the WIN logo replacing Nine's. In 1998, the dots were changed to spheres.[36]

Three-dimensions were added to the letters WIN in 2002, coinciding with a revamp of the network's on-air identity, concurrently with Nine Network.[36] On 30 January 2006, the station relaunched its logo along with the major rebranding of the Nine Network. The new logo designed by Bruce Dunlop Associates saw the removal of the nine dots, with a blue rectangle added to behind the letters WIN. Following this in 2008, as a part of the Nine Network relaunch, WIN dropped the rectangle, however, it did not revive the Nine Network's famous 'nine dots' or relaunched with the Nine Network branding due to affiliation disagreements.[37]

WIN Television Logos
  • 30 January 2006 – 14 January 2008
    30 January 2006 – 14 January 2008
  • 14 January 2008 – 27 September 2009
    14 January 2008 – 27 September 2009
  • 27 September 2009–
    27 September 2009–

References

  1. ^ a b "About WIN Corporation". WIN Corporation. Archived from the original on 8 March 2007. Retrieved 5 June 2007.
  2. ^ "Local content on regional TV". Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts. 11 April 2007. Retrieved 19 August 2007.
  3. ^ a b "Local TV on 18 March". Illawarra Mercury. 1 March 1962. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  4. ^ a b c d e "WIN4 Company Records and News Film". University of Wollongong. 10 July 2007. Retrieved 18 August 2007.
  5. ^ a b "W'gong Television Station Deprived of Top Programmes". Illawarra Mercury. 9 March 1962. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  6. ^ "WIN boasts list of firsts". Illawarra Mercury. 31 March 1989. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  7. ^ Tanner, Stephen (1995). "The Rise and Fall of Edmund Rouse" (PDF). University of Queensland. Retrieved 19 August 2007. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  8. ^ "WIN TV: A new rural view". The West Magazine. 20 March 1999. p. 51. Retrieved 19 August 2007.
  9. ^ "Trends in audience share". ACNielsen. Australian Film Commission. Retrieved 18 August 2007.
  10. ^ "7 Years on and GWN is still at the top!" (PDF) (Press release). Prime Television Limited. 15 January 2006. Retrieved 16 January 2007.
  11. ^ "ABA determines simulcast start dates for regional digital TV services". Australian Communications and Media Authority. 21 July 2001. Retrieved 18 August 2007.
  12. ^ "WIN buys Channel 9 Adelaide". The Age. 8 June 2007. Retrieved 8 June 2007.
  13. ^ Klinger, Peter (21 June 2007). "Poor state of Perth 9 shocks new owner". The West Australian. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  14. ^ "PBL talks with Gordon on regional TV close to collapse". The Sydney Morning Herald. 11 August 2007. Retrieved 16 August 2007.
  15. ^ "WIN boss threatens to sever Nine link". The Sydney Morning Herald. 6 August 2007. Retrieved 16 August 2007.
  16. ^ a b "War as WIN junks key Nine shows". The Australian. 16 August 2007. Archived from the original on 10 December 2007. Retrieved 16 August 2007. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  17. ^ "WIN turns to Seven". The Australian. 5 September 2007. Retrieved 5 September 2007. Archived 2007-09-07 at the Wayback Machine
  18. ^ Meade, Amanda (30 June 2010). "ABC's problem-hit tech centre opens to criticism". The Australian. p. 4. Retrieved 30 June 2010. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  19. ^ Knox, David (13 July 2013). "WIN launches GOLD2". TV Tonight. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  20. ^ Knox, David (26 November 2015). "Viewers in the bush kept waiting for 9HD as WIN cites "short notice"". TV Tonight. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  21. ^ a b Knox, David (10 February 2016). "No 7flix for Prime, new channels "soon" for WIN". TV Tonight. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  22. ^ Mason, Max (10 February 2016). "Bruce Gordon's WIN takes Nine to court over streaming". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
  23. ^ Christensen, Nic (10 February 2016). "WIN takes Nine to court to try and block its live streaming service 9Now in regional areas". mUmBRELLA. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
  24. ^ McDonald, Philippa (28 April 2016). "Regional broadcaster WIN loses bid to stop Channel Nine streaming programs". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
  25. ^ Knot, David (28 April 2016). "Nine victory in 9NOW streaming lawsuit filed by WIN TV". mUmBRELLA. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
  26. ^ White, Dominic (29 April 2016). "Nine and Southern Cross in multi-year affiliation deal". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
  27. ^ Mitchell, Jake (29 April 2016). "Nine win shows media law absurdity: WIN chief Andrew Lancaster". The Australian. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
  28. ^ Mitchell, Jake; Davidson, Darren (2 May 2016). "Nine, Ten to swap affiliate partners". The Australian. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  29. ^ "WIN Television to produce new regional daytime program 'Susie'". WIN Television. ebroadcast.com.au. 17 May 2005. Retrieved 17 May 2007.
  30. ^ "WIN Television Increases News Production Capability". WIN Corporation. 5 February 2007. Retrieved 2 March 2008.
  31. ^ "TransTV Channel Lineup". TransACT. Retrieved 19 August 2007.
  32. ^ "Neighbourhood Cable Channel Lineup". Neighbourhood Cable. Retrieved 19 August 2007.
  33. ^ Knox, David (26 February 2016). "WIN HD, 9Life launch for regional viewers March 1st". TV Tonight. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
  34. ^ a b "WIN HD and 9LIFE". WIN Television. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
  35. ^ @WIN_TV (1 March 2016). "To our Tas, Griffith & S.A viewers, the roll-out of #WINHD & @9LIFE will be delayed until tomorrow, we apologies for the inconvenience" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  36. ^ a b Brooklyn Ross-Hulands. "WIN Television History". AusTVHistory. Retrieved 9 March 2008.
  37. ^ "Mission incredible". The Age. 29 November 2007. Retrieved 29 November 2007.
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