MTN (TV station)

This article is about the television station in Australia. For other uses, see MTN.

MTN, AMN and MDN are television stations that are licensed to, and serve Griffith and the surrounding Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area (MIA). They are owned and operated by WIN Television, the solus commercial television broadcaster in the area.

The analogue signal of MTN was, until its shutdown a primary Nine Network affiliate via WIN Television, and the supplementary AMN station was a primary Seven Network affiliate via ATN Seven Sydney. This twinstick operation was permitted due to the broadcasting authorities considering Griffith and the MIA too small for three television companies but large enough for a single company running two stations. These analogue signals are were shut down on 5 June 2012 as part of the Australian Government's digital switchover.

Prior to 2012, Griffith could on receive the WIN and Prime television digital channels, along with the ABC and SBS channels. In 2010 Win Television started broadcasting Channel 10 and in 2012, after WIN Television upgraded their transmitter for the digital switchover, all the standard digital channels (ABC 1; ABC 2/4; ABC3; ABC News 24; SBS One/SBS HD; SBS Two; SBS 3; Ten; Win; Seven; NITV; ONE; Eleven; 7mate; 7Two; GEM; GO! and Win's advertorial channel GOLD) became available. In 2013 GOLD 2 was added.

History

MTN9, owned by Murrumbidgee Television Limited, began transmission on 15 December 1965. At its launch, MTN9 was owned by Murrumbidgee Television Limited, a publicly listed company. Shareholders at the time included local radio station 2RG.

The costs of operating a television station in such a small market led MTN to join with CBN/CWN in forming the Television 6-8-9 network, in 1973. While the majority of the programming and identification came from the network, MTN9 did run its own news service as well as some programs of local interest and popularity, separate to the rest of the network. In the early 1980s, the network was rebranded as Mid State Television 6-8-9.

MTN was delisted in 1979 when Henry Jones Investments (Henry Jones IXL) purchased the station. Other owners since have included The Linter Group, Broadcast Operations Group, Broadcast and Communications Limited, and Associated Media Investments Pty Limited (later part of DMG Radio Australia).

The network expanded further in the 1980s, when RVN/AMV became a part of the newly renamed The Prime Network. When aggregation occurred in 1989, it was determined that Griffith was too small to accommodate three television stations and thus split from the network, having always been independently owned. It took up an affiliation with WIN Television, the Nine Network affiliate at the time in southern New South Wales. While the majority of the programming was the same as WIN's, it retained its news service and aired some Seven Network programming, such as its coverage of the Australian Football League, in preference to Nine's rugby league.

The Australian Broadcasting Authority relaxed the rules regarding station ownership in solus markets in the mid-1990s. The changes allowed for one company to operate two stations without competition, provided no opposition was faced to the application for one. MTN applied for a Section 38A licence in 1995, and after being refused once, challenged the Authority, and was successful on appeal.

The second channel launched on 5 October 1997, on UHF channel 31 using the callsign AMN (a variation of Victorian station AMV). It was a direct feed from Prime Television from Wollongong, with the exception of its local news. Ray Gamble, the stations' owner, sold them to WIN in 1998, staying on as a day-to-day consultant for a year before his retirement in 2002. Following the sale of the station, minor changes occurred, including the name officially changed to WIN, and the news service renamed WIN News.

Despite assurances made by the network, WIN News Griffith was axed in September, 2006 as part of a rationalisation of services in the region. It was replaced by a merged Riverina bulletin, presented from WIN's Wollongong studios^[2][3] and compiled from a newsroom in Wagga Wagga, although a news bureau in Griffith has been maintained. At the time of the removal, Griffith City Council had been petitioning Prime to present a local news bulletin. This has since been abandoned.

Digital television

Digital television transmission began in the Griffith/MIA region in 2003, with one digital signal simulcasting the two services operated by WIN in Griffith (WIN and Prime) in standard definition. On 1 December 2010, Network Ten began broadcast into the area for the first time,^[4] with WIN announcing in May that it would broadcast the multi-channels of the Nine, Seven and Ten networks, including high-definition channels, by December 2011.^[5] Transmission of these multi-channels commenced on 13 January 2012,^[6] with Go!, GEM, One and Eleven being launched into Griffith and the MIA.

At first, interference from the analogue signals caused issues with some channels, mainly Ten Network channels,^[7] which meant a duplicate service of Ten and WIN was provided (on LCN 51 and 81 respectively) and ceased on the day of the switch over. The duplication was then removed and the Seven Network's multi-channels, 7Two and 7mate, had begun broadcasting. The WIN duplication on LCN 81 ceased broadcasting on the 20 April 2012, and WIN television commenced broadcasting of 7mate.^[8] 7Two launched on 5 June 2012, the day of the analogue switchoff. It replaced the Network 10 duplication on 51. WIN Gold (WIN's Datacasting channel for paid shopping presentations) launched on the 8 May 2012.

MTN has been broadcasting exclusively in digital since the shutdown of local analogue transmissions on 5 June 2012.

See also

• CBN
• Seven Network
• WIN Television
• Network Ten

References

External links

• MTN-9 entry at Australian Television Archive
• Former WIN Griffith website
• Official Website