is an
Australia n
Television Network affiliated to the
Seven Network in regional
New South Wales , the
ACT , and
Victoria and in
Western Australia as
Golden West Network . It also broadcasts to
Griffith under license through
WIN Television .
The stations that combined to form Prime Television were:
One station has historically been part of the Prime network of stations, however is now owned by another group:
''NEN-9'' began on
27 September 1965 , with a relay in
Armidale (NEN-1, later NEN-10) on
15 July 1966 . ''ECN Channel 8 Taree'' began on
27 May 1966 .
At one stage, ECN-8 was merged with ''NRN Channel 11 Coffs Harbour'' (now
Southern Cross Ten Northern NSW), but they broke away, later merging with NEN-9, forming ''NEN-9-ECN-8''. Before
1991 , their logo was a silhouette of an Aboriginal standing one-legged leaning on spears.
Prime Television purchased the station, aligning it with the
Seven Network (like its Southern NSW counterparts) and changing ECN's call sign to ''NEN-8''. On
31 December 1991 , Prime TV became the Northern NSW affiliate of
Channel 7 in Northern NSW, in competition with
NRTV (now Southern Cross Ten) and
NBN .
In
2005 , the station celebrated its 40th birthday.
''CBN Channel 8 Orange'' began on
17 March 1962 , and ''CWN Channel 6 Dubbo'' began on
1 December 1965 , becoming the first station to relay another station's programming completely, and the first regional television network. ''MTN Channel 9 Griffith'' began on
15 December , also in 1965.
In the early
1970s , due to the financial difficulties many single-stations faced, MTN-9 joined CWN-6 and CBN-8, forming ''"Television 6, 8, 9"''. Later on, they became ''"Midstate 6, 8, 9"''. Relays were launched in Portland (4), Lithgow (6), Mudgee (9), Cobar, Kandos and Rylstone (10) and Bathurst (11).
In
1986 , RVN-AMV and Midstate 6, 8, 9 merged to become ''The Prime Network'', later to become ''Prime Television'', in readiness for
Aggregation , and began an affiliation with the
Seven Network .
There were problems with aggregation, with transmission problems in the old Orange/Dubbo and Wagga areas. This caused the aggregation to be handled in two stages, the ACT and the South Coast on
March 31 1989 , and in the Orange/Dubbo and Wagga on
December 31 1989 . It forced the de-merger of RVN-AMV, and RVN-2 became ''CBN-2''.
Griffith wasn't included in aggregation, and as a result, MTN-9 became an affiliate of the
Nine Network (the old MTN/WIN Griffith website mentioned that whenever CBN/CWN showed a midday movie, MTN aired soapies over the top, maybe that was why MTN took the Nine Network full time). The feed came from
WIN TV . In 1996, MTN-9 successfully bid for a supplementary license, ''AMN-31'', which is a feed from Prime TV Canberra. In 1996, WIN TV brought MTN/AMN, MTN becoming ''WIN TV Griffith''. AMN is still a feed from Prime TV Canberra.
''RVN-2 Wagga'' began on
19 June 1964 , and ''AMV-4 Albury'' began on
7 September later that year.
The same problems facing MTN-9 Griffith also faced RVN and AMV. In
1971 , RVN and AMV merged to become ''the Riverina and North East Victoria Television Service Pty Ltd'', known on air as ''RVN-AMV''. 5 years later, RVN took over transmission of AMV from its Wagga studios. Relays in Young (6) and a second Wagga channel (11) were started in this time.
In
1983 ,
Daylight Saving caused problems for RVN/AMV, since NSW and Victoria ended their daylight saving periods at different times. To combat this, RVN's output was recorded, and shown an hour later on AMV for three weeks. Until
Aggregation , the station was in the unique situation of showing different programs in Wagga and in Albury, on what was effectively the one station. Wagga took news and sport (namely
Rugby League ) from
Sydney , and
Albury got programs from
Melbourne .
In
1986 , RVN-AMV and Midstate 6, 8, 9 merged to become The Prime Network, later to become Prime Television, in readiness for aggregation, and began an affiliation with the Seven Network. In December 1989, RVN/AMV de-merged, and AMV became Prime TV Victoria.
In
1992 , Prime became the Seven Network affiliate in Victoria, competing with ''Southern Cross Network'' (later ''SCN'', ''Ten Victoria'', and now
Southern Cross Ten Victoria) and ''Television Victoria'' (otherwise known as ''VIC TV'', later
WIN TV ).
In 1997, Prime won the second license for
Mildura , which hadn't been aggregated, in competition with WIN TV. Its callsign is ''PTV'', broadcasting on channel 31.
From
1991 to
1995 , Prime used local versions of Seven's IDs, and the ''"Your Local Station"''. From 1995 to
2001 , Prime used IDs featuring local people and locations, and the slogan ''"This is Where We Live"''.
During this time, Prime stopped local news in
Victoria , except in
Albury , where they still get Prime News at 5.30pm, the only Prime station to still get local news at 5.30 after a failed attempt in that period.
Also during this period, Prime expanded into
Western Australia ,
Argentina and
New Zealand , with the purchase of
Golden West Network (GWN),
Azul Television , and the launch of
Prime Television New Zealand . Success varied.
While GWN continued to do well, its expansion into
Argentina failed badly. The collapse of the Argentina economy caused problems for foreign companies in the country; Prime being no exception. It was sold sometime in
2001 -
2002 .
Prime TV NZ was also in the same boat, but Prime struck a deal with
PBL to purchase 50% of the company, and Prime TV took on a
Channel 9 look and feel, along with some
Nine Network programs, and later on, a feed of
Fox News , and popular
BBC soap,
EastEnders . It is now doing better than any other time in its short history.
In
2001 , Prime began using "7 on Prime" branded IDs, later dropped, and a new logo. Also at around the same time, Prime stopped news services in
Newcastle ,
Wollongong and
Canberra , citing poor ratings, and replaced it with
Seven News and
Today Tonight . All other services were maintained.
However by late 2001 the Australian Broadcastion Authority (ABA) launched an investigation into the axing of local news programs by Prime and rival Southern Cross Ten. The investigation found that not enough "local" produced programs and so the ABA set out new rules forcing all Eastern state TV Stations including Prime and SC TEN to produce 30 minutes of local programming from Monday to Friday.
In early 2004, Prime recommenced local news in Newcastle, Wollongong and Canberra, albeit in 2 minute bursts, but more often than Southern Cross Ten, who only do it every couple of hours. Also in 2004, Prime finally began using new IDs and a new slogan "Bringing It Home to Me".
In terms of local programming, Prime has produced the odd local program, including coverage of the
Country Music Festival in
Tamworth , and other events. Prime also produces ''The Saturday Club'', a kids program shown on Saturday mornings at 10.30am, featuring station mascot
Prime Possum .
See Also: Prime Television New Zealand
Prime Television in
New Zealand began broadcasting on 30 August 1998. In 2002, it went into a joint venture with the
Nine Network of
Australia . This greatly expanded the resources available to it. In November 2005 a sale of the station to
Sky Television was announced.
In 2005, Prime acquired 6
Queensland Radio Stations from
Macquarie Regional RadioWorks , being:
