NEW (TV station)

NEW is a television station broadcasting in Perth, Australia, and is a member of Network Ten. Out of the three commercial stations, NEW generally rates the lowest overall, but usually rates highest in its target demographic (people aged 16–49).

NEW broadcasts in digital television on VHF Channel 11 from Carmel, located in the Perth Hills. Its studios are located in Dianella. NEW broadcasts reasonably good quality 1080i high definition digital programming, the second-highest quality in Perth. The callsign NEW-10 was chosen for promotional purposes when the station first launched.

The station's studios were formerly host to the facilities of the regional Western Australian television station WIN Television WA (from 1999 to 2007) until WIN Corporation bought out competitor STW-9 in June 2007 and moved all WA operations to their studios.

History

NEW was the last of the Ten stations in major metropolitan cities to go to air. The reason for the late launch (in comparison to other VHF 0/10 stations, which were 20 years before) was the smaller market size. Though this was true in the early days of television, it ceased to be the case in the 1980s, by which time the Perth market exceeded Adelaide in value so a situation existed where two stations in Perth shared a market as large as that of three stations in Adelaide. Because the demand for air time was high, advertising rates were higher than in Adelaide. The Perth market was therefore very profitable for the stations but was providing viewers with less choice than they had in other capital cities. The case for a new licence was made to ACMA, then the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal by Brian Treasure, one of the founders of Perth's first commercial station TVW-7 who was sacked by a hostile board in 1975. In April 1984, the Minister for Communications, Michael Duffy, called for applications for a third licence ^[2]

Hearings ran from 1984 until 1986, with four applicants submitting bids. In the other corner were the existing stations, Seven outlet TVW and Nine Network outlet STW, attempting to defer or prevent the new licence from being granted. Seven and Nine were the only two commercial stations in Perth, and they wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible.

Treasure's West Coast Telecasters, funded by Kerry Stokes and Jack Bendat, was the successful applicant, defeating Western Television, in spite of Treasure being forced to resign as Chairman due to a dispute with the Australian Taxation Office. However, Treasure sold the company to Frank Lowy's Northern Star Holdings before they went to air. The reason for this was a change in government policy.

In 1985 the government had removed the two cities requirement, making it possible for networks to own more than two capital city stations. In 1986 it increased the audience reach limits for networks from 60% to 75%, meaning that for the first time a coast-to-coast network of owned and operated stations was feasible.^[3] The increase was part of the Federal government's push for equalisation of television services and Australia's first satellite, AUSSAT was part of this initiative. Satellite revenue generated from national television networks was expected to be significant (though this was not initially the case) and would subsidise the provision of new services to regional and remote areas. Increasing the audience ownership limits meant national networks and therefore revenue streams for AUSSAT.

The possibility of truly national television networks (and perhaps misunderstandings as to the economic benefits of satellite technology) led to inflated ideas of their worth. Those wanting to establish national networks offered very high premiums to small unaligned stations and the new licence-holder in Perth was made an extremely generous offer by Lowy, a newcomer to television networking with a large cheque book.

The station commenced broadcasting on 20 May 1988, making Perth the last of the capital cities to get full network service.^[4] By this time, it had been scaled back considerably and was little more than a low-cost relay of network programming from Sydney, without the local content that Treasure had wanted to produce.

The first news team included former Nine newsreader Greg Pearce, Alan Hynd, Gina Pickering, Peter Perrin, Debra Bishop, Ian Brayshaw and John Barnett.

NEW commenced digital television transmission in January 2001, broadcasting on VHF Channel 11 while maintaining analogue transmission on VHF Channel 10.

The analogue signal for NEW was shut off at 9.00am WST, Tuesday, 16 April 2013.

Digital Multiplex

Programming

Ten Perth shows exactly the same as Ten's national feed, with the exception of news and the occasional local programs. Currently, one locally produced regular program is aired: The Western Front, a local AFL program produced in Perth during the AFL season since 2002 Hosted by Tim Gossage and Lachy Reid, it is also seen in regional Western Australia on WIN Television.

Previous local programming produced by Ten Perth includes:

• Kids Company: Started as a Saturday morning kids show with cartoons and interviews in and around schools in Perth. With the introduction of Video Hits by the network, Kids Co. moved to week day afternoons. Hosted by Brent Meyer, Tod Johnston and Amanda De Pledge. (1988–1992, 3:30 p.m. weekdays)
• Western Australia - At Your Service: Tourism program, hosted by Allan Symons (1998–1999, 5:30 p.m. Saturdays)^[5][6]
• Drivetime TV: Motoring show (2001–2005). Moved to TVW-7 in 2006.

News and Current Affairs

Bell 206 of NEW at Perth Airport (2006).

NEW-10 produces a 60-minute local news program on weeknights from its Dianella studios alongside national news output from Network Ten's Sydney studios in Pyrmont. Ten Eyewitness News is presented by Narelda Jacobs with sport presented by Tim Gossage and weather by Michael Schultz. On weekends, Perth receives a localised version of the national program Ten Eyewitness News: Weekend, broadcast from Sydney, as well as all the national updates from there.

Newscasts

Then Ten Evening News Perth was in 1990 Network Ten's first ever local newscast that had ever been broadcast at 5:30 pm in weekdays and weekends.

When studio presentation of Ten's 5pm Perth news was moved from Perth to Sydney in 2000, then-anchors Greg Pearce and Christina Morrissy commuted to Sydney to present the newscasts. Christina Morrissy later resigned from these duties after suffering deep vein thrombosis on a flight.

The bulletin was broadcast throughout regional Western Australia on WIN Television from its first day of broadcast through to 26 August 2007 when Nine News's bulletin for Perth replaced Ten News.

Charmaine Dragun was a co-anchor of the 5pm bulletin alongside Tim Webster until her death on 2 November 2007.

On 18 January 2008, Network Ten announced that studio production of Ten News would return to Perth.^[7] Ten originally moved production of the Perth bulletin to the then-new Pyrmont studios in 2001, citing high costs of converting the network's Perth studios.

After auditioning local candidates, reporter Narelda Jacobs was hired as the new solo anchor. For a short period, Jacobs anchored alongside Tim Webster from the Pyrmont studios. Webster stepped down from Ten News Perth and after a short period which saw Ron Wilson and/or Sandra Sully present Perth's bulletin from the Pyrmont studios, Ten News Perth returned to the Dianella studios on 23 June 2008 after an eight-year absence, with Narelda Jacobs as anchor.

See also

• Network Ten
• Television broadcasting in Australia

References