Southern Cross Ten

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Southern Cross Ten
Type Broadcast television network
Country Australia
Availability Queensland, New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, Victoria, South Australia
Owner Southern Cross Broadcasting
Past names Ten (region name) plus various others
Affiliation Network Ten
Website www.southerncross
broadcasting.com.au

Southern Cross Ten is an Australian television network available in Queensland, New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria and South Australia. The network is owned by Southern Cross Broadcasting as is affiliated to Network Ten.

Prior to 2002, the stations were known as "Ten <region name>" (e.g. Ten Northern NSW), and took generic Ten branding. At first, the new name wasn't used much, but when the Australian Broadcasting Authority instituted new regulations for local content, local programming and later on, some station graphics took on the Southern Cross Ten brand.

On Sunday 14 August 2005, Southern Cross Ten launched its own logo, based upon the new Southern Cross Broadcasting and Southern Cross Tasmania logos, this time using blue and yellow, the same colours as Ten itself.


Contents

[edit] News/Current Affairs

Southern Cross Ten stations (except in South Australia) air two-minute local news bulletins throughout the day, and a weekly half-hour regional current affairs program, State Focus. Both are produced at Southern Cross's production centre in Canberra.

The two-minute news bulletins are usually shown throughout the afternoon and into the evening and are shown less frequently than Prime's two-minute bulletins.

The Canberra and North Queensland stations once had top-rating, long-running one hour news bulletins, due to their long presence with these areas since the early 1960s. However, both were axed at the end of 2001 due to cost-cutting.

[edit] Southern NSW and the ACT

Southern Cross Ten's forerunner, Capital Television began on 2 June 1962, broadcasting on channel 7 with callsign CTC (standing for Capital Television Canberra). Relays in Goulburn and Cooma were started soon after, both on Channel 10.

Current Seven Network chairman Kerry Stokes owned the station until 1987, when he sold it to Charles Curran. Curran changed the station's name to Capital Television in 1988, and used a version of Network Ten's logo of the time, and prepared for aggregation.

Southern NSW and the ACT were the first licence area that was aggregated, and this took place in two stages during 1989. The first stage saw Capital begin transmission in Wollongong and South Coast, and the second stage, which was caused by technical programs in the Orange and Wagga areas, took place later in the year.

Capital took on an original logo in 1990, and used edited versions of Network Ten identification of the time. This lasted until 1994, when Southern Cross purchased the station and renamed it Ten Capital. The logo was changed to a version of Ten's, with the word Capital along side it. However, this logo was rarely used on air, with the standard Ten logo being used instead.

Capital originally aired their own local news bulletin, Ten Capital News, across the whole of their licence area after aggregation, but due to low ratings, the bulletin was later scaled back to just the Canberra region, being replaced by Ten Sydney's news elsewhere. On Thursday 22 November 2001, after nearly 40 years serving Canberra, Southern Cross finally axed the Canberra station's long-running news bulletin and replaced it with Ten Sydney's bulletin. This was one of the triggers for the ABA investigation into local news.

In 2002, the station was renamed Southern Cross Ten. In 2004, local news resurfaced on the station, in the form of two-minute bulletins throughout the day.

[edit] Beginnings

In 1957, executives of The Federal Capital Press of Australia Pty. Ltd. (owner of The Canberra Times newspaper) and Canberra Broadcasters Pty. Ltd. (owner of radio station 2CA) both agreed to financially sponsor a public company that would apply for the Canberra-area commercial television broadcast licence. As a result, on 19 May 1958, Canberra Television Limited (CTL) was formed, with both companies injecting £45 000 ($A90 000) each in capital into the company.

In April 1959, CTL submitted their licence application to the Australian Broadcasting Control Board (alongside four other applicants). CTL went public in September of the same year (trading on the Stock Exchange in Sydney), offering 100 000 shares which were immediately oversubscribed, ending up with a total subscribed capital of £300 000 ($A600 000). The two key shareholders in CTL made an agreement with all other shareholders that all shares were to be bought back in the event that they were unsuccessful in their licence bid — they need not have worried, since after a hearing of considerable length, the ABCB decided to grant CTL the licence in November 1960 — the callsign for the station was to be CTC and the service was to transmit on channel 7.

[edit] Construction and acquisition of facilities

Prior to the acquisition of the licence, CTL needed to find suitable sites for both a studio and a transmitter. Initially, Mount Ainslie (approximately 10 km (6 miles) north-east of Canberra city centre at an elevation of 842 m above sea level) was considered as a potential transmitter site however was turned down as the site was already under the control of the Department of Civil Aviation (who would be unwilling to surrender or lease the site due to its proximity to the Airport and the Air Force base). It was also determined that a transmitter located atop Mount Ainslie would not provide ample coverage of the entire Canberra area (notable black-spots would have included Woden and Belconnen districts), nor would there be enough room for the ABC's television transmitter (whose service was due to commence in December of 1962) as well as CTC. Other sites considered included Mounts Gray, Bowning & Ginini as well as Bull's Head.

Ultimately, the site chosen for both the transmitter and the studio was Black Mountain (approximately 5 km (3 miles) west of Canberra city centre at an elevation of 812 m (2668 ft) above sea level). Extensive tests from the site proved that it was the ideal location for the transmitter, with signals adequately covering the Canberra area. The ABC also decided to place their transmitter atop Black Mountain — both transmitters would be perched atop guyed masts (as opposed to towers) with each mast rising to 126 metres (415 ft) (CTC) and 152 metres (500 ft) (ABC) — although ABC's studio would be located in Canberra city proper. In order to access the transmitters and studio, a road needed to be built up to the summit — construction of the road commenced in July 1961. CTL were granted the lease to the Black Mountain site on 26 September 1961.

The studio complex, which, in later years, would be affectionately known as 'the tin shed' was planned, designed and constructed by Civil and Civic Pty. Ltd. over a period of 28 weeks (from September 1961 – March 1962) at a total cost of £77 912 ($A155 824). Occupying a 9400 square metre (101 000 square feet) site, the complex featured a 140-square-metre (1500 square feet) studio area and was fitted out with RCA equipment — two 4 1/2" image orthicon cameras were purchased for use in the studio at a cost of £8000 ($A16 000) each. The transmitter (whose mast was erected in March 1962) was custom-designed by Co-El of Italy and the mast was designed by EPT Limited in Sydney.

By April 1962, both the studio and transmitter was completed and the first test patterns were transmitted. On 23 May 1962 at 5:45 p.m. the first live test transmission took place with the Safety Bureau Officer, Senior Constable T. A. M. Cooper presenting a 13-minute public service announcement on the proper use of fireworks.

[edit] Opening Night

Although CTC7 commenced transmission at 6 p.m. on 2 June 1962 with various programme promotions and a documentary on the construction of the CTC studios, the official opening was not to take place until 7 p.m. — as well as Postmaster-General Davidson, CTL chairmen A. T. Shakespeare & Sir Patrick McGovern and station manager George Barlin also assisted with the opening precedings. An introduction to CTC's on-screen personalities was followed by a brief news presentation. Viewers were then treated to a film of the Queen's Birthday Procession from the military barracks at Duntroon (filmed earlier that day), followed by an hour of variety with The B.P. Super Show hosted by Margaret Fonteyn. The detective series Michael Shayne made its premiere on CTC then a kinescope of the opening ceremony was screened. The first night's viewing was rounded off with an epilogue and a preview of the following day's programmes before ending transmission at 10:30 p.m.

The opening of CTC7 was the 10th opening of a commercial station in a non-metropolitan region and the 26th station opened in Australia.

[edit] Programming

[edit] News

Main article: Ten Capital News

Ten Capital News was the local news service which had been aired on the station for almost 40 years before being axed at the end of 2001. For a time, the bulletin has also been screened across the entire southern NSW area, before it was scaled back to Canberra due to low ratings. In 2004, local news resurfaced on the station as two-minute bulletins throughout the day.

[edit] Northern NSW

Southern Cross Ten's forerunner in Northern NSW, Northern Rivers Television, began life as two different stations:

NRN-11 Coffs Harbour had merged with ECN-8 Taree, but later demerged. Around 1975, RTN-8 and NRN-11 merged to form Northern Rivers Television (NRTV). It served the Mid North Coast and Far North Coast areas of Northern NSW. At one stage after the merger, the station was known as Great Eastlands Television, but they soon reverted back to the NRTV brand.

In 1985, NRTV was relayed into the Gold Coast after a lobbying campaign from residents, although they could also watch other television stations from Brisbane. NRTV's Gold Coast Office and Production Studio were constructed in Ashmore on Nerang to Southport Road. The Office didn't have a news bureau, although relayed local news from the Coffs Harbour studios. News crews from Lismore travelled to the Gold Coast for stories of importance.

On 31 December 1991, Northern NSW became the third area to be aggregated, and NRTV, via links to Network Ten (it was part of Northern Star Holdings, owned by Westfield chairman Frank Lowy), became its affiliate in Northern NSW. At one stage, NRTV was the subject of a bid from WIN Television; nothing came of it, but if WIN had gone through with the bid, it would have made NRTV the Nine Network's affiliate and left an unhappy NBN as Network Ten's affiliate instead.

NRTV was later sold to Telecasters Australia, who also owned the Queensland affiliate of Network Ten. In 1994, the station was renamed Ten Northern NSW, and its station identification was changed to that of Network Ten's. In 1994–1995, the station stopped producing local news for Coffs Harbour, Lismore and Gold Coast. They had previously produced a licence-wide bulletin, but that too was axed due to poor ratings.

In 2001, Telecasters Australia was bought out by Southern Cross, and in 2002, Ten Northern NSW became Southern Cross Ten. In 2005, the station celebrated 40 years of operation; station IDs created to mark the event used the Northern Rivers Television name in the ID, not the Southern Cross Ten name.


Broadcast television in the Northern New South Wales market

ABC - NEN 7 (Seven/Prime) - NBN 9 (Nine/NBN) - NRN 10 (Ten/SC Ten) - SBS
See also, broadcast television in the Southern New South Wales market

[edit] Victoria

This is the original Southern Cross television region. Its network here was originally known as the Victorian Broadcasting Network, which was previously the TV-8 network. This was made up a number of transmitters, the main licences being:

In 1980, GLV-10 became GLV-8. In 1982, the network was branded TV8, later Southern Cross TV8, and finally the Southern Cross Network in 1989. In that time, they lost STV-8 Mildura after Alan Bond traded it for STW-9 Perth. It was then sold to ENT Limited, which then became part of VIC TV (later WIN TV Victoria).

By the mid 1980s, translators in Toora and Foster (channel 6), Orbost (channel 7), Lakes Entrance (channel 11) and Cann River (channel 9) were put in service.

In 1992, Victoria was aggregated, and Southern Cross became the regional Ten affiliate. In 1993, the network's name was changed to SCN, and the logo became a version of Ten's, with "SCN" where "Ten" is. Six months later, the network changed its name and logo again, becoming Ten Victoria, using generic Network Ten identification. Around this time, its local news service was axed, replaced with Ten Melbourne's news bulletins.

In 2002, the name was changed to Southern Cross Ten, in line with Southern Cross's other Ten affiliates.

[edit] Queensland

Southern Cross Ten in Queensland began life as North Queensland Television. The original stations were:

In 1982, they joined forces to become North Queensland Television (NQTV). Their slogan was The Place to Be, a slogan used by the station for over a decade up until 1993.

When aggregation was announced, NQTV was planning to be the Nine Network affiliate when regional Queensland was aggregated in late 1990. NQTV had a write-in competition for their name and logo. The name QTV was chosen and because of the affiliation with the Nine Network, the Nine dots were put on the logo (similar to WIN and NBN's logos). Viewers didn't like the logo, so they changed the logo to one sent in from the competition. The station ran with a Nine Network-based identification package in the year leading up to aggregation.

However, the station faced a crisis in the days leading up to aggregation: WIN Television bought the Toowoomba and Rockhampton-based Star Television, and switched the affiliation from Ten to Nine, in line with WIN's NSW station. This meant that QTV had to change its logo and affiliation in a hurry. QTV picked up the vacant Ten affiliation, and used the logo chosen from the competition. The station originally broadcast a licence-wide one hour bulletin when Queensland was aggregated, but this was soon axed outside North Queensland.

The station's owners, Telecasters North Queensland (later Telecasters Australia), joined the Ten Group Consortium in 1992–1993. This led to a change from QTV to Ten Queensland, and they began to use generic Ten branding.

In 2001, Telecasters was purchased by Southern Cross. Also in 2001, the same day Ten Capital axed its local news, Ten's North Queensland local news was axed, replaced with Ten's Brisbane news. This was also one of the many triggers which led to the local news inquiry by the ABA.

In 2002, like the other Southern Cross-owned Ten affiliates, it too became Southern Cross Ten.

[edit] News

Since the 1970s, both TNQ-7 and FNQ-10 (later NQTV/QTV/Ten Queensland) have maintained news coverage for North Queensland through its 6pm one-hour news bulletins. In the lead up to aggregation, with NQTV (which soon after became QTV) gearing up to become the Nine Network affiliate, the look and feel of the news was changed to match that of National Nine News and became known as QTV News in 1991. When the station instead got the Ten Network affiliation due to Win Television purchasing a rival station, and giving it the Nine Network affiliation, the news changed its look and feel to that of Ten Eyewitness News and changed its name to QTV Eyewitness News. Initially, it broadcasted a licence-wide one hour bulletin when Queensland was aggregated, but due to low ratings was scaled back to North Queensland. It became Ten's North Queensland News in 1993 after the station was rebranded as Ten Queensland. In January 2000, Ten Queensland revamped its news format in response to viewer demand for more local news. The 6pm news bulletin was reduced to a half-hour bulletin, changed to just being a local news bulletin with the introduction of Ten's 5pm Brisbane news into North Queensland, and changed its name to Ten Local News to reflect the new format. At the end of 2001, Ten Local News in North Queensland was finally axed by new owners Southern Cross Broadcasting due to cost-cutting measures. In 2004, news on the station resurfaced on the station as two minute news updates throughout the day as Southern Cross Ten News.

[edit] South Australia

The area around the Spencer Gulf and Broken Hill, New South Wales received a new television station in late 2003, licensed by the ABA as a supplementary service to the existing service provided by Southern Cross-owned Central GTS/BKN. It is a straight relay of Ten Adelaide, with local ads. It is branded as Southern Cross Ten.

[edit] Logos

Southern Cross Ten has used many logos throughout its history.

2002 - 2005 2005 - present


[edit] External links


 v • d • e Free-To-Air Television Channels in Australia

Metropolitan Networks: ABC TV | Channel Seven | Channel Nine | Channel Ten | SBS TV

Regional Affiliate Networks: GWN | Prime | Seven Queensland | Southern Cross Television | Imparja | NBN | WIN | Southern Cross Ten
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