Prime Television Totally Explained

Everything about Prime Television totally explained

Prime Television is an Australian television network owned by Prime Television Limited. Prime Television launched on March 17, 1962 as CBN/CWN in Orange and Dubbo, New South Wales, and has since expanded to cover regional New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory as a Seven Network affiliate.
Prime's administration and broadcast facilities are based in Canberra, alongside the network's parent company Prime Television Limited and the playout facilities for the Golden West Network.

History

Origins

Prime Television originally began as a group of separate stations and networks - Midstate Television in Orange, Dubbo and Griffith, RVN/AMV in Albury and Wagga Wagga, and NEN/ECN in Tamworth and Taree. CBN-8 Orange began on 17 March 1962, followed by CWN-6 Dubbo on 1 December 1965. Soon after the station was purchased by WIN Television, which undertook a number of minor changes - mainly changing the news service to WIN News, and using entirely WIN branding. AMN-31 remains a relay of Prime. Similarly, the Mildura license area remained separate from the remainder of Victoria, albeit with a single station, STV-8, later bought out by WIN Television in 1996. In 1997 Prime was successful in bidding for a new license for the area at a cost of $3.2 million. PTV-31 began broadcasting the following year.
In November, 1996, Prime's parent company, Prime Television Limited, purchased the Golden West Network, a merged group of four stations; BTW-3 Bunbury, VEW-8 Kalgoorlie, GSW-9 Geraldton and GSW-9 Albany. Western Australia, similar to Griffith and Mildura, remained a one-station commercial market until 1999 when GWN became a Seven Network affiliate, after WIN Television began transmission as an affiliate of both the Nine Network and Network Ten. Prime Television New Zealand began broadcasting on August 30, 1998, with a nightly local news program in both Waikato and Christchurch.

2000s

The renamed Argentine network Azul Televisión was sold for $108 million in early 2000 due to lower-than-expected performance. During the same year, Prime benefited greatly from its affiliation with the Seven Network throughout its carriage of the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. The network's relationship with Seven was further developed throughout the early 2000s, leading to the unsuccessful introduction of 7onPrime branding for Seven Network-produced programs.
Local news bulletins for Newcastle, the Gold Coast, Canberra, and Wollongong were axed in 2001 due to falling ratings and the anticipated costs of the switch to digital television. This, and the closure of a number of news bulletins by Southern Cross Broadcasting, prompted the Australian Broadcasting Authority to investigate the adequacy of regional news services The ABA later mandated that stations broadcast a minimum level of local content, based on a points system - two points per minute for local news, and one point per minute for other local content, excluding paid advertisements.
Prime formed a partnership with the Nine Network (affiliated in Australia to competitor WIN Television), giving its owner, PBL Media the option to purchase a 50% share of Prime Television New Zealand in return for access to original programming, and cross-promotion in PBL's New Zealand magazine titles. Following this, Prime Television New Zealand began to take on branding and programming similar to that of the Nine Network. In November, 2005, Prime Television New Zealand was purchased by subscription television provider SKY Network Television for $NZ30 million, completed after approval by New Zealand's Commerce Commission in February, 2006. Mildura Digital Television, a digital-only station in Mildura began transmissions in 2006 as a joint venture between Prime Television Limited and WIN Corporation. Section 38B of the Broadcasting Services Act allowed for the provision of a third station owned by either one or both existing networks. MDT is a direct relay of Ten Melbourne, albeit with local advertising.

Programming

Prime's programming schedule is almost identical to that of its metropolitan affiliate, the Seven Network, with some differences. Since the network's inception it has featured a broad range of original local programming, currently including children's program The Saturday Club, music show X:Press as well as community service segment Prime InfoNet, a series of short updates listing local community events.
   Prime's overnight schedule also differs from the Seven Network feed, containing infomercials from Danoz Direct, Home Shopping, and a feed from pay television channel Expo. Past programming from Prime Television has been recognised nationally, with some local productions winning the Logie Award for 'Outstanding Contribution by a Regional Television Station'. The network has won Logies for Goin' Down The Road (CBN-8, 1979), Naturally (NEN-9/ECN-8, 1984), Stranded (Prime Television, 1993), Rest in Peace (Prime Television, 1994), and No Time For Frailty (Prime Television, 1996).
   Two-minute news updates were introduced to Newcastle, Wollongong and Canberra in 2004. These updates are presented by Natalie Forrest, Daniel Gibson (weather) and Madelaine Collignon. Weekend weathers to the markets of Newcastle/Hunter Valley, Tamworth, North Coast NSW and South East QLD/Gold Coast are presented by Craig Moore.
   A number of well-known news presenters and television personalities began their careers at Prime News, including former Today co-host Jessica Rowe, The Morning Show co-host Kylie Gillies, and It Takes Two host Grant Denyer. Kerryn Johnston presented Prime's Wollongong bulletin until it was axed, when she moved to WIN News, where she currently presents the network's Western Australia and Illawarra bulletins.

Availability

Prime Television is available in analog PAL and standard definition digital format. Since June, 2007 a 1080i high definition simulcast has also been available, replacing the network's former 576p service. Prime is viewed mainly through free-to-air terrestrial transmitters, although subscription cable also provided by TransACT and Neighbourhood Cable in the Australian Capital Territory and Ballarat, respectively.
Prime broadcasts to southern New South Wales through stations based in Orange and Dubbo, northern New South Wales from stations in Tamworth and Taree, Victoria from its Albury-Wodonga-based station AMV, and Mildura via PTV. Prime is relayed to Griffith by the WIN Television-owned supplementary station AMN.

Logos

Prime Television became a network in November 1988, with a shared logo produced and used across the regional stations, featuring the word Prime Television above an outlined rectangle. Aggregation occurred across the network on December 31, 1989, along with the introduction of a green logo featuring the word Prime with the letter i dotted with a globe. This logo was used across the network until 1991, when a new gold logo was introduced. Following a decade in use, 2001 saw the launch of a new simplified yellow logo, with the removal of the circle. This logo has been used since, and was launched concurrently with a similarly design logo on the Golden West Network.


1988 - 1989	1989 - 1991	1991 - 2001	2001 - Present

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