Southern Cross Television
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about
Southern Cross Austereo television stations affiliated with Seven
Network. For stations not affiliated to Seven Network, see
Southern Cross Nine.
(
SCTV) is an Australian
television network available in
Tasmania,
Darwin, Regional South Australia, Remote Central and Eastern Australia and
Norfolk Island. Although the programming varies from region to region, all areas are affiliated with the
Seven Network. On 5 November 2007, Southern Cross Television was officially purchased by the Macquarie Media Group.
[1]
History
Origins
Southern Cross began in 1982 as a small network of three stations in regional
Victoria. The then
TV-8 network comprised
GLV-8 Gippsland,
BCV-8 Bendigo, and STV-8
Victoria.
[2]
GLV was the first
regional television station in the country, launched on 9 December 1961.
[2] BCV-8 launched in the same year, on 23 December, while STV followed four years later, on 27 November 1965.
[2] GLV-10 became GLV-8 in 1980, when
Melbourne commercial station
ATV-0 moved frequences to become ATV-10
[2] The network began life in 1982 as
TV-8, but later changed its name in 1989 to the
Southern Cross Network.
[2] Soon after this, STV-8 left the network after it was bought by businessman
Alan Bond, and eventually sold on to
ENT Limited (owners of
Vic TV and
Tas TV).
[2][3]
This network began as a "cherry picking" network, taking programs from
all three metropolitan commercial networks at the time. At aggregation,
it became an affiliate of
Network Ten.
1960s to the 1970s
Tasmanian television station
TNT-9
commenced broadcasting at 5:57 pm on 26 May 1962. Fred Archer was the
first person to appear on the station, during its first five hours of
transmission. On the opening night the station was officially
inaugurated by
Lord Rowallan, the
Governor of Tasmania.
The Mickey Mouse Club
was the first programme to be broadcast, and advertisements included:
Abbott's cordial, Hydro, Launceston Bank for Savings, Peters Ice Cream,
Hicks Atkinson and the Saturday Evening Express.
GTS/BKN began transmissions as a solus commercial television service by Spencer Gulf Telecasters in the upper
Spencer Gulf in 1968, with
Port Lincoln and
Broken Hill commencing in 1970 and 1974 respectively
[citation needed].
1980s to the 1990s
TNT-9 logo with
Nine Network's 9 without the dots before Southern Cross acquired it
On 13 May 1989
[citation needed],
TNT-9 was sold by
ENT Ltd. to
Southern Cross Broadcasting and was integrated into the Southern Cross Television network.
Tasmania
was aggregated on 30 April 1994, albeit with only two stations –
Southern Cross Television became a dual Seven and Ten affiliate, while
TAS TV took programming from the Nine Network. Both stations commenced statewide transmission from this time.
Remote Central and Eastern Australia were the final areas to be
aggregated – one of the largest geographical licence areas, taking in
parts of the
Northern Territory, western
Queensland, and other areas in which terrestrial television signals cannot be received. Stations broadcast to this area mainly through
satellite or re-transmission stations.
Imparja Television, based in
Alice Springs, became a dual Nine and Ten affiliate, while
Seven Central became a Seven affiliate.
2000s and 2010s
Southern Cross Broadcasting purchased Spencer Gulf Telecasters in April 2002. In 2002,
Southern Cross Broadcasting and
WIN Corporation joined forces to create
Tasmanian Digital Television, which launched in late 2003. TDT is a sole
Network Ten affiliate. Southern Cross Television operates the transmission of the station.
In 2003, Seven Darwin and Seven Central were purchased by
Southern Cross Broadcasting, retaining their sole
Seven Network affiliation. On 31 December 2003,
Southern Cross Ten
was broadcast for the first time to the Upper Spencer Gulf and Broken
Hill broadcast areas, using a standard definition channel. In May 2005,
the service was integrated into the Southern Cross Television network.
On 3 December 2004, presentation was centralised to
Southern Cross Broadcasting's play-out centre in Canberra. In May 2005, the service in
Darwin
was integrated into the Southern Cross Television network, losing its
generic Seven on-air presentation. This coincided with Southern Cross
Television in Darwin commencing dual affiliations with both the
Seven Network and
Network Ten.
In 2007, a joint venture station owned by Southern Cross Broadcasting and
PBL Media, the owners of
NTD-8 Darwin, was announced.
[4] The station, named
Darwin Digital Television, began broadcasting on 28 April 2008.
[5] It is a
digital-only
Network Ten affiliate, similar to other digital only joint venture channels introduced in Australia.
On 3 July 2007 Southern Cross Television's parent company,
Southern Cross Broadcasting, recommended
Macquarie Media Group's offer of
A$1.35 billion, for a takeover of the corporation.
[6] On 5 November 2007, the network was officially purchased by the Macquarie Media Group.
[1]
In early 2009, Southern Cross Tasmania dropped all of its remaining
Network Ten programming, except for AFL telecasts, as it has gradually
dropped other programming since 2004 when TDT was launched, which now
broadcasts all Network Ten programming. It is now affiliated only with
Seven and broadcasts
all of its programming.
News
As the following stations are affiliate broadcasters of the
Seven Network the following
Seven News national programs are aired on these stations:
- Seven Early News
- Sunrise (Weekdays) & Weekend Sunrise
- Seven Morning News
- Seven News at 4 (Seven Afternoon News)
- Seven News at 5
- Sunday Night
For regional news,
TNT in
Tasmania have their daily bulletins produced from the station's Launceston studios, while the local news bulletins on
GTS/BKN serving the
Spencer Gulf and
Broken Hill areas, as well as shared news summaries broadcast on
ITQ/QQQ serving remote areas and
TND in
Darwin, have their programs produced from
Southern Cross Austereo's studio in Canberra.
Programming
Local programming
Although,
in the past, various birthday specials, telethons and locally produced
TV shows have been aired. Quiz Quest (children's game show), The
Saturday night show (variety), Down the line (morning talk/local
events), Targa Tasmania (annually), The Saturday Morning Fun Show
(kids), Tasmanian New Faces (talent), Launceston Cup (OB) and so on.
The series' that Southern Cross produce are listed below.
Hook, Line and Sinker
Hook, Line and Sinker is a fishing show hosted by former news journalists
Andrew Hart and
Nick Duigan.
Renovation Relief
Renovation Relief is a DIY program hosted by famous wood-chopper
David Foster in which he and a team of people from sponsors (i.e.
Gunns)
renovate a house, most commonly for people who have done something for
the community or have disabled children. Renovation Relief is not airing
at this time.
Targa Tasmania
For the two weeks in which
Targa Tasmania runs, each night Andrew Hart and Nick Duigan share the events of the day in Targa Torque, this usually airs at around 10.30 pm.
Holiday at Home
Holiday at Home is a lifestyle programme which promotes places to stay at and things to do in Tasmania.
Discover Tasmania
This show was produced by Southern Cross Television but is hosted by
Seven Network personalities
Ed Halmagyi and
Tim Campbell
and a mention was made about the Seven Network broadcast centre model
in the village of Lower Crackpot in the Tasmazia maze complex. It is
similar to
Holiday at Home except featured more famous attractions and was arguably better quality television. The second season saw
Tim Campbell being replaced by
Jack Campbell as host because Tim Campbell had moved to the Nine Network.
Homes of Tasmania
Homes of Tasmania is screened each year showcasing the year's award-winning homes. It is hosted by
Nick Duigan and
Andrew Hart, like Hook Line and Sinker.
Going Bush
This
was the third show hosted by Nick Duigan and Andrew Hart. It was a
five-part series screening on Sunday mornings and later afternoons,
about Tasmanian bushland and related topics, and co-produced with
Forestry Tasmania. There have been two seasons.
[1]
Burnie Ten – Ten Week Challenge
For the ten weeks leading up to the
Burnie Ten
Mark Connelly trains a group of people in a program sponsored by
Southern Cross. Each week there are updates given during ad-breaks. In
the early years of the programme, people who took part were well known
in Tasmania. However, in 2006 a Launceston family were trained to run
the event.
Locally
A service provided to the community to promote community based events.
The Scope
A service that informs the viewer what is on in the area.
Availability
Southern Cross Television is available in
analogue PAL and
standard definition digital format. The network is available primarily through
free-to-air terrestrial transmitters, with
satellite transmissions available in Remote Central and Eastern Australia. The network's
owned-and-operated stations include,
TNT Tasmania,
TND Darwin,
GTS Spencer Gulf,
BKN Broken Hill,
ITQ Mount Isa, and
QQQ Central Australia.
Logos
Southern
Cross Television's first networked logo produced and used across its
regional stations, featured a blue rounded square with the
Southern Cross constellation in white.
[7] This logo was used on
TNT and
GLV/BCV
until 1993, when GLV/BCV adopted an independent logo. TNT retained the
logo until 2000, when a new logo was introduced featuring an orange
Tasmanian tiger above the word
Southern Cross.
[7]
In 2005, a new logo was produced and used across the network, this time
to a blue and red star. This logo has been used since, and was launched
concurrently with similarly designed logos on
Southern Cross Ten and across
Southern Cross Broadcasting's other assets.
[7] However, it did not carry the Seven Network's famous 'red 7' due to affiliation disagreements.
References
"Southern Cross falls to Mac and Fairfax". The Australian. 3 June 2007. Retrieved 3 June 2007.[dead link]
Brooklyn Ross-Hulands. "Southern Cross Ten: Victoria". AusTVHistory. Retrieved 10 September 2007.
Bruce Arnold. "WIN, Gordon and ENT: chronology". Caslon Analytics. Retrieved 10 July 2007.
"New digital commercial television service for Darwin" (Press release). ACMA. 18 May 2007.
"DTD set to start tests next week". MediaSpy. 20 April 2008. Retrieved 4 May 2008.
"Southern Cross Broadcasting sold for $1.35b". abc.net.au. 3 June 2007. Retrieved 3 June 2007.
External links
