Wikipedia

TNT (Australian TV station)

TNT is an Australian TV station based in Launceston, Tasmania, owned by Southern Cross Austereo. Originally broadcasting to northern Tasmania, it has broadcast to the whole of Tasmania since aggregation of the Tasmanian television market in 1994.

TNT
Channels
BrandingSeven
Programming
AffiliationsSeven
Ownership
Owner
History
First air date
26 May 1962[1]
Former channel number(s)
Analog: 9 (VHF) (1962–2013)
Independent (1962–1994)
TasTV (1985–1989)
Southern Cross Network (1989–1994)
Network Ten (1994–2008)
Call sign meaning
Television
Northern
Tasmania
Technical information
Licensing authority
Australian Communications and Media Authority
ERPsee table below
HAATsee table below
Transmitter coordinatessee table below

History

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TNT-9 was founded as Northern TV Ltd and broadcast in Launceston and Northern Tasmania; the first day of operation was on 26 May.[2][1] In 1965, TNT-9 became a part of ENT Ltd (Examiner-Northern TV Ltd).[1]

By 1980, TNT-9 adopted a custom version of the Nine Network's "9 Dots" logo.

 
TNT-9's logo from 1980 to 1989, the dots are replaced by stars in the Nine Network logo.

ENT bought TVT-6 in Hobart in 1982[1] and in 1985, TNT and TVT were officially relaunched as TasTV, with the callsigns remaining for both stations.

On 30 March 1988, ENT sold TNT-9 to Tricom Corporation, the second largest regional television broadcaster in Australia at the time, for $40 million, after buying a parcel worth 19.9% in shares. Under aggregation laws, ENT had to sell one of its two stations to a suitor of its choice by 1992.[3] Ahead of the separation, TNT opened relay station TNT-8 in King Island on 9 September 1988,[4][2] Tricom was rebranded Southern Cross Broadcasting; the station became known on-air as Southern Cross Network from 1 January 1989.[1]

Federal aggregation caused Southern Cross Television to broadcast in Hobart while TasTV, later renamed WIN Television, started broadcasting to Launceston. With both stations carried statewide, both Southern Cross and TasTV/WIN were now competing against each other.[1] In 1999, Southern Cross Tasmania, while still a part of Southern Cross Broadcasting, changes logo independently of Southern Cross stations on the mainland, adopting a representation of the Tasmanian tiger.[4]

Southern Cross and WIN Television launch Tasmanian Digital Television on 23 December 2003, a jointly owned digital-only commercial station based in Hobart relaying Network Ten content.[5]

On 17 July 2005, Southern Cross Broadcasting adopts a new uniform logo for all stations it owns. Southern Cross Tasmania loses its Tasmanian Tiger logo to a unified corporate Southern Cross logo.[4] Southern Cross Tasmania became Seven Tasmania in June 2018 as local branding was replaced by network branding.[6]

Local programming

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TNT produces the market's number one news bulletin daily plus local lifestyle and sports programming.

Previous local programmes produced by TNT-9 include Sports Club (weekly sports review), Quiz Quest (children's game show), The Saturday Night Show (variety), Down the Line (morning talk/local events), The Saturday Morning Fun Show (kids), Tasmanian New Faces (talent) and annual coverage of Targa Tasmania and The Launceston Cup.

News

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The station produces its flagship news program, Nightly News (formerly Southern Cross News), broadcast live every night at 6:00pm and presented from the Hobart studios. Short news updates are also produced and broadcast throughout the day alongside the national Seven News Updates. The bulletin is consistently the highest rating television program in Tasmania.[7] A shortened version of the day's bulletin is upload by the station's YouTube channel, featuring only local news and sport reports alongside weather forecasts.

The station originally planned to retitle the bulletin Seven News Tasmania on 1 July 2018 to coincide with the station's rebrand as Seven Tasmania. But the relaunch was delayed without any notice given.[8] When asked by ABC's Media Watch, the CEO of SCA Grant Blackley stated that the Seven Network did not want their name featured on any output they do not control, so SCA was coming up with a new brand.[9] On 3 December 2018, the bulletin changed its title to Nightly News, a brand the station formerly used from the 1990s up to the early 2000s.

Outside of this bulletin, Seven Tasmania airs national news and current affairs output from the Seven Network, including:

TNT simulcasts the weekday edition of Seven News at 4 from HSV-7 in Melbourne, along with Seven Morning News at 11.30 on weekdays and Seven News at 5 on weekends from ATN-7 in Sydney.

Current presenters

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Main anchors
  • Kim Millar (Weeknights & Fills)
  • Louise Houbaer (Weekends & Fills)
Sport presenter
  • Nick Kelly


Weather presenters
  • Peter Murphy (Weeknights & Fills)
  • Victoria Eastoe
  • Kiah Wicks
  • Chelsea Freestone
  • Carmen Wilkin
  • Jackie Harvey

Non-news output

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Hook, Line and Sinker

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The fishing show Hook, Line and Sinker is the most popular Tasmanian-made program airing and is broadcast Australia-wide. The program is hosted by former news journalists Andrew Hart and Nick Duigan.

Renovation Relief

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Renovation Relief is a DIY Program hosted by famous wood-chopper David Foster in which he and a team of people from sponsors (i.e. Gunns) renovate a house, most commonly for people who have done something for the community or have enabled children.

Targa Torque

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Broadcast every night during Targa Tasmania fortnight, Andrew Hart and Nick Duigan report and review the events of the day.

Holiday at Home

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Holiday at Home is a lifestyle program which promotes places to stay and things to do in Tasmania.

Burnie Ten – Ten Week Challenge

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For the ten weeks leading up to the Burnie Ten, Mark Connelly trains a group of people in a program sponsored by Seven Tasmania. Weekly updates are broadcast during commercial breaks. In the early years of the program, people who took part were well known in Tasmania, however in 2006, a Launceston family were trained to run the event.

Sports coverage

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Seven Tasmania airs sports coverage from Seven Network, which includes Australian Rules Football, Horse racing, cricket, tennis, golf and motorsport. In the 1990s, the station aired Network Ten's daily sports program Sports Tonight as part of its dual-affiliation, however this was eventually replaced by Seven's current affairs program, Today Tonight.

The station airs three AFL games per round courtesy of its affiliation with Seven. Matches held in Tasmania are broadcast on delay. The station promotes extensive coverage of Tasmanian sports in its news coverage including cricket, athletics, netball and basketball. The station's previous sports reporters were Chris Rowbottom, Alicia Muling, and Trent Dann.

Local sport

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Locally, coverage of the international road race Targa Tasmania is produced and aired each year. The station also produces live coverage of the Launceston and Hobart Cup. Regular updates on the annual Boxing Day Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race are broadcast during the duration of the race.

Affiliation

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The station is affiliated with the metropolitan Seven Network and also broadcasts most of Seven's sub-channels (7TWO, 7mate, SBN, and Racing.com). Rival Tasmanian stations TVT-6 (WIN Television) is affiliated with the metropolitan Nine Network and TDT (SCA 10 is also affiliated with the metropolitan Network 10.

Following aggregation in 1994, the station was a combined Seven and Ten affiliate, however the Ten content was gradually removed from the schedule in the late 2000s following the launch of digital-only station TDT in 2003. TDT is a joint-venture between Southern Cross Austereo and WIN.

Main transmitters

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Region served City Channels
(Analog/
Digital) 		First air date ERP
(Analog/
Digital) 		HAAT
(Analog/
Digital)1 		Transmitter Coordinates Transmitter Location
Hobart Hobart 31 (UHF)
10 (VHF) 		30 April 1994 1300 kW
50 kW 		1061 m
1030 m 		42°53′51″S 147°14′10″E / 42.89750°S 147.23611°E / -42.89750; 147.23611 (TNT) (analog)
42°53′42″S 147°14′10″E / 42.89500°S 147.23611°E / -42.89500; 147.23611 (TNT) (digital) 		Mount Wellington
North Eastern Tasmania Launceston 9 (VHF)
45 (UHF) 		26 May 1962 300 kW
600 kW 		809 m
839 m 		41°23′27″S 147°25′29″E / 41.39083°S 147.42472°E / -41.39083; 147.42472 (TNT) (analog)
41°23′27″S 147°25′28″E / 41.39083°S 147.42444°E / -41.39083; 147.42444 (TNT) (digital) 		Mount Barrow

Notes:

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Burch, Nigel (22 May 2022). "TNT9 helped north of state find its voice ... and it was loud". The Examiner. Launceston: Australian Community Media. p. 31. ProQuest 2667266019.
  2. ^ a b Burgess, Julilan (19 May 2012). "Fear and excitement as television begins". The Examiner. Launceston: Fairfax Media. p. 38. ProQuest 1014176776.
  3. ^ Darby, Andrew (30 March 1988). "ENT sells TNT9 to Tricom for $40m". The Age. Melbourne. p. 25. Retrieved 1 April 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ a b c Ross-Hulands, Brooklyn. "Southern Cross Television History". AusTVHistory. Archived from the original on 24 December 2007. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
  5. ^ "TV network sticks with Ten". The Mercury. Hobart: News Corp Australia. 23 December 2003. p. 11. ProQuest 353237919.
  6. ^ Kinniburgh, Chanel (9 June 2018). "Rebadge for Southern Cross". The Mercury. Hobart: News Corp Australia. p. 21. ProQuest 2051772469. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
  7. ^ Martain, Tim (10 March 2018). "Set for future". The Mercury. Hobart: News Corp Australia. p. 12. ProQuest 2012190447.
  8. ^ Martain, Tim (12 July 2018). "Delay in Southern Cross TV renaming". The Mercury. Hobart: News Corp Australia. ProQuest 2068050391. THE planned renaming of Southern Cross Television to Seven Tasmania has been postponed, due to ongoing negotiations between Southern Cross Austereo and Channel 7.
  9. ^ "Not Seven news". Media Watch. 9 July 2018. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
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