TND

TND is the call-sign for the Southern Cross Television station in Darwin, Northern Territory. The station, launched in 1998 as Seven Darwin and broadcasting to the greater Darwin region, serving around 100,000 people, is owned by the Macquarie Media Group. Its main competitor is the incumbent Nine Network station, Nine Darwin (formerly 'Channel 8').

Programming

As Seven Darwin, TND-34 existed as essentially a re-broadcast of SCB's remote Australia satellite service Seven Central, apart from localized adverts, inserted at SCB's playout centre in Townsville, Queensland, and delivered to Darwin via Optus Trans-continental Fibre Optic cable. The station also carries Seven News Brisbane bulletins from BTQ .

Since 2005, the station holds dual affiliations with the Seven Network and Network Ten, after picking up the Ten affiliation relinquished by NTD-8 as it became Nine Darwin. At this time, Seven Darwin changed its name to Southern Cross Darwin.

Like its Tasmanian and Spencer Gulf/Broken Hill sister stations, the Seven Network affiliation remains the primary one. The Network Ten affiliation is, in time, expected to be dropped from Southern Cross Darwin and given to a digital-only third channel (such as those found in Tasmania and Mildura), as proposed by the Australian Communications and Media Authority.^[2]

Despite the change in name and affiliation of TND-34, Seven Central remained as a fully Seven Network-aligned service for remote Australia. Since 2008, Seven Central has carried a small amount of Ten Sport programming, in response to rival broadcaster Imparja Television dropping its Network Ten license early in the year.

News

In 2005, minute-long Southern Cross News updates began airing on Southern Cross Darwin and Southern Cross Central, the first time TND had produced local news output. The updates are currently presented by Caitlin Street. .

See also

• Southern Cross Television

References