VTV is an Australian

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the eart ...

broadcasting in regional

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

in Australia. The network was owned by

ENT Ltd. ENT Ltd, standing for Examiner-Northern TV Ltd, is a private shell company owned by WIN Corporation. In its heyday, ENT was a publicly listed Australian media company based in Launceston, Tasmania. It was run by major shareholder Edmund Rouse unt ...

, before being purchased by the

WIN Corporation WIN Corporation is a private Australian media company, that owns assets including the WIN Television network, Crawford Productions and several local radio stations. The company is based in Wollongong, New South Wales. History Founding The WIN b ...

Network history

''VICTV Television Victoria'' began as a network of several stations serving northern and western Victoria: *GMV-6 Shepparton (launched on 23 December 1961) *BTV-6 Ballarat (launched on 27 April 1962) *

STV-8 STV is an Australian television station licensed to and serving the regions surrounding Mildura, Victoria, owned and operated by the WIN Corporation and part of the WIN Television network. The station commenced transmissions on 27 November ...

Mildura (launched on 27 November 1965). Television Victoria was owned and operated by Examiner-Northern TV Ltd, a company which already owned

TVT-6 TVT is Tasmania's first television station, delivering its first official broadcast on 23 May 1960. The callsign stands for "TeleVision Tasmania". Unlike the commercial stations in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, and later Perth, TVT hel ...

Hobart as well as GMV-6 and BTV-6. Shortly after they purchased STV-8 in 1990, the three Victorian stations took on the on-air identity of ''VIC TV - Television Victoria'', providing a single programming service across all three stations with separate regional news services for each area. As each of the 3 stations aired mostly Nine Network programming especially in the lead up to the VIC TV launch, the new network became, in preparation for the 1992 aggregation of broadcasts, the state level Nine affiliate. Until 1987 these stations aired HSV's

Seven News ''7NEWS'' is the television news service of the Seven Network and, as of 2021, the highest-rating in Australia. National bulletins are presented from Seven's high definition studios in Martin Place, Sydney, while flagship 6pm bulletins are ...

and from that year onward these stations began to broadcast Nine News from GTV. On 1 January 1992, aggregation of regional television took place in Victoria. VIC Television extended their transmission area to incorporate the Bendigo,

Albury Albury () is a major regional city in New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the Hume Highway and the northern side of the Murray River. Albury is the seat of local government for the council area which also bears the city's name – the ...

and

Gippsland Gippsland is a rural region that makes up the southeastern part of Victoria, Australia, mostly comprising the coastal plains to the rainward (southern) side of the Victorian Alps (the southernmost section of the Great Dividing Range). It cove ...

area markets and officially confirmed as the Nine Network affiliate for most of regional Victoria. However, the

Mildura Mildura is a regional city in north-west Victoria, Australia. Located on the Victorian side of the Murray River, Mildura had a population of 34,565 in 2021. When nearby Wentworth, Irymple, Nichols Point and Merbein are included, the area h ...

market did not aggregated until 1997 when

Prime Television Prime7, formerly Prime Television and other names, was an Australian television network. Prime Television launched on 17 March 1962 as '' CBN-8'' in Orange, and later expanded to cover regional New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Cap ...

finally launched as a

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by Seven West Media Limited, and is one of five main free-to-air television networks in Australia ...

affiliate and WIN carried both Nine and Network Ten affiliations. VIC Television had already entered into a program supply agreement with the Nine Network but continued to maintain news services in each of the six regional markets in which it now operated. The official callsigns of GMV and BTV were consolidated into a single callsign of VTV. STV-8 kept its own callsign as it was excluded from the area affected by aggregation. In October 1994, ENT Ltd. sold VIC Television to the WIN Corporation which already operated

WIN Television WIN Television is an Australian television network owned by WIN Corporation that is based in Wollongong, New South Wales. WIN commenced transmissions on 18 March 1962 as a single television station covering the Wollongong region. The WIN Netw ...

stations in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Canberra and

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

and VIC became WIN Victoria. The stations are now part of the WIN Television network and on the day of its transition, the VIC logo was replaced to mark the change of ownership for the channels with the golden WIN logo used in the eastern states while the 9 dots from the Nine Network logo, which debuted in 1992 for VIC Television's aggregation, were retained until 2006. On 1 July 2016, as part of a wide national re-alignment of regional television, VTV swapped affiliations with

GLV/BCV GLV and BCV are television stations licensed to serve Traralgon and Bendigo and regional Victoria, Australia. The stations are owned and operated by Southern Cross 10. History Early years GLV-10 in Traralgon was the first regional television ...

switching from Nine Network to Network Ten, but VTV rebroadcast a feed of

ATV-10 ATV is a television station in Melbourne, Australia, part of Network 10 – one of the three major Australian free-to-air commercial television networks. The station is owned by Paramount Networks UK & Australia. History In April 1963, the ...

from

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

with local ads. On 1 July 2021, as the reverse of the 2016 affiliation swap, VTV swapped affiliations again with

from

Network 10 Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

to the Nine Network but VTV rebroadcasts a feed of

GTV-9 GTV is a commercial television station in Melbourne, Australia, owned by the Nine Network. The station is currently based at studios at 717 Bourke Street, Docklands. History GTV-9 was amongst the first television stations to begin regular t ...

from Melbourne with local ads. The stations is affiliated with the metropolitan Nine Network and also broadcasts most of Nine's sub-channels (

9Gem 9Gem is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, launched by the Nine Network in September 2010. The channel provides general entertainment and movie programming, from which the original name "GEM" is derived. History Nine N ...

9Go! 9Go! is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, which was launched by the Nine Network on 9 August 2009, replacing Nine Guide. It is a youthful channel that offers a mix of comedy, reality, general entertainment, movies, ani ...

and

9Life 9Life is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel owned by Nine Entertainment. The channel airs mostly foreign lifestyle and reality programs, with the channel having a licensing agreement with Discovery Inc. (previously Scripp ...

) except it doesn’t broadcast

9Rush 9Rush is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, launched by the Nine Network on 5 April 2020. The channel is a joint venture with Warner Bros. Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific Pte. Ltd (which also supplies its programming) ...

BTV-6 Ballarat & Western Victoria

BTV-6 opened at 7pm on Friday 27 April 1962 with the documentary ''"This is BTV Channel 6"''. The station produced a wide range of local and part-networked TV programming through its history, most notably the chat show ''Six Tonight'', which aired from 1971 to 1983, eventually also being carried on the Six (BTV6 Ballarat and GMV6 Shepparton) and TV8 (now Southern Cross) Networks across much of Victoria, as well as parts of South Australia and New South Wales. BTV placed a strong emphasis on local news, with the first news bulletin read by Arthur Scuffins on 27 April 1962. The nightly news program, ''Six News'', was extended to 30 minutes in 1980 in response to the ABC dropping their regional news service in the late 1970s. The bulletin was rebranded as ''NewsCentre 6'' in the mid-1980s. On-air talent included Arthur Scuffins, Eric Gracie, Val Sarah, Craig Campbell, Peter Gamble, Gary Rice, John Garland, Denis Walter, Glenn Ridge, Rob Gaylard, Glenn Driscoll and Fred Fargher. In late 2000, Ballarat's channel 6 moved to UHF channel 36, in order to allow neighbouring Melbourne station

HSV-7 HSV is a television station in Melbourne, Australia. It is part of the Seven Network, one of the three main commercial television networks in Australia, its first and oldest station. It launched in time for the 1956 Summer Olympic Games in Melb ...

to commence digital television transmissions on Channel 6 without interference.

GMV-6 Shepparton & Goulburn Valley

GMV-6, one of the first regional television stations in Australia, began transmission from Shepparton on 23 December 1961 (the same launch date as BCV-8 Bendigo), broadcasting from a transmitter at Mount Major. Originally, the station was owned in conjunction with local radio station 3SR. The callsign of GMV referred to its coverage area which included the

Goulburn River The Goulburn River, a major inland perennial river of the Goulburn Broken catchment, part of the Murray-Darling basin, is located in the alpine, Northern Country/North Central, and Southern Riverina regions of the Australian state of Victor ...

and

Murray River The Murray River (in South Australia: River Murray) (Ngarrindjeri: ''Millewa'', Yorta Yorta: ''Tongala'') is a river in Southeastern Australia. It is Australia's longest river at extent. Its tributaries include five of the next six longest ...

catchment areas. The 'V' refers to

as is the normal protocol for commercial TV station callsigns, where the third letter indicates the state in which the service is licensed. By the late 1960s, various low powered relay transmitters began operation in the fringes of the GMV region including GMV-3

Eildon Eildon is the largest committee area of the Scottish Borders Council, with a population of 34,892 at the census in 2001. It also contains the three Eildon Hills, tallest in the Scottish Borders. Places in Eildon References See also *Subdivi ...

, GMV-8

Jerilderie Jerilderie is a small, rural town in the southern Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the Murrumbidgee Local Government Area. At th Jerilderie had a population of 922 people. It can be found along the Newell Highway ...

, GMV-10

Deniliquin Deniliquin () is a town in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia, close to the border with Victoria. It is the largest town in the Edward River Council local government area. Deniliquin is located at the intersection of the Riverina ...

and GMV-10 Alexandra (later changed to GMV-11). GMV-6 converted to full scale colour TV transmission on 1 March 1975. By the mid-1980s, transmission hours had extended to commence at 7.00am weekdays, broadcasting until around midnight. Programming included regional news and children's programmes, mixed with programs selected from the three commercial networks in Melbourne;

(

Seven 7 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 7 or seven may also refer to: * AD 7, the seventh year of the AD era * 7 BC, the seventh year before the AD era * The month of July Music Artists * Seven (Swiss singer) (born 1978), a Swiss recording artist ...

(

Nine 9 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 9 or nine may also refer to: Dates * AD 9, the ninth year of the AD era * 9 BC, the ninth year before the AD era * 9, numerical symbol for the month of September Places * Nine, Portugal, a parish in the ...

) and

( Ten). The evening local news bulletin was supplemented by a relay of the nightly ''Seven National News'' from

until 1987, and then ''National Nine News'' from

Programming

WIN Television broadcasts its programming from Nine Network, including their regional signals of Channel 9,

and

. WIN also broadcasts Nine's news, current affairs and sport programs including ''Today'', ''

Today Extra ''Today Extra'' is an Australian morning talk show, with an infotainment base, hosted by David Campbell and Sylvia Jeffreys. The show airs between 9:00 am and 11:30 am weekdays and follows the Nine Network's breakfast news program '' ...

'', all ''Nine News'' bulletins, ''A Current Affair'', ''60 Minutes'', ''

Sports Sunday ''Sports Sunday'' is an Australian sports television program currently broadcast on the Nine Network at 10.00am Sunday mornings. The show is hosted by journalist Roz Kelly, with a roster of rotating panelists including former Australian cricket c ...

'', ''

Nine's Wide World of Sports ''Nine's Wide World of Sports'' is a long running sports anthology brand on Australian television that airs on the Nine Network and streaming service Stan. All major sports, events and series covered by the network are broadcast under this br ...

'' and '' The AFL Sunday Footy Show'' throughout its broadcast region. Local news in the 1990s was presented by Geoff Vallance. Reporter Matthew McGrane became his stand-in presenter. Sport was presented by Leith Mulligan with Chief of Staff Brendan Stafford filling in. VTV simulcasts the nightly and weekday afternoon Melbourne editions of '' Nine News'' from GTV 9, along with the national bulletins and current affairs programs from TCN 9 in Sydney and STW 9 in Perth.

WIN News

WIN News ''WIN News'' is a local television news service in parts of regional Australia, produced by WIN Television. 12 regional bulletins and news update services are presented from WIN's headquarters in Wollongong, and until 2021 included production ...

'' produces a statewide news bulletins for four of the six area markets covered by VTV. Reporters and camera crews are based locally at newsrooms in Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton and

Traralgon Traralgon ( ) is a town located in the east of the Latrobe Valley in the Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia and the most populous city of the City of Latrobe. The urban population of Traralgon at the was 26,907. It is the largest and fastes ...

. Studio presentation for the Bendigo, Gippsland, Shepparton, and Albury bulletins was previously pre-recorded from VTV's Ballarat studios with the Ballarat bulletin broadcast live, but now all bulletins are presented from

Wollongong Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wa ...

in New South Wales.Knox, David (27 October 2015
WIN TV cuts jobs in Ballarat, relocating news to Wollongong
''TV Tonight''. Retrieved 11 January 2019. The Victorian bulletins are presented by Bruce Roberts, sports presenter

Amy Duggan Amy Elizabeth Duggan (; born 11 June 1979) is an Australian retired association football player and media personality. Football career Amy Taylor was born in Canberra, Australia and grew up in Tuggeranong. She started playing soccer at Tugger ...

and weather presenter Chris Polzot.

Main transmitters

Notes: *1.

HAAT Haat or hat, even haat bazaar, is an open-air market that serves as a Trading post, trading venue for local people in rural areas and towns of Indian subcontinent, especially in India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan. Haat bazaars are conducted o ...

estimated from http://www.itu.int/SRTM3/ using EHAAT. *2. The Ballarat station was an independent station with the callsign BTV from its 1962 sign-on until 1989 when the callsign became RTV (shared with Shepparton's GMV), and then changed to VTV in 1991 in preparation for aggregation in 1992. *3. The Ballarat station was on VHF channel 6 from its 1962 sign-on until late 2000, moving to its current channel in order to accommodate digital television in Melbourne. *4. The Goulburn Valley station was an independent station with the callsign GMV from its 1961 sign-on until aggregation in 1992. *5. The Western Victoria station was a relay of BTV Ballarat (with the BTV callsign) until aggregation in 1992. *6. Analogue transmissions ceased as of 5 May 2011 as part of the conversion to digital television.

References

External links

WIN Television web site

ABA radio and TV licensing web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vtv (Tv Station) WIN Television Television stations in Victoria (Australia) Television channels and stations established in 1992