GTS/BKN are

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n regional television stations serving the

Spencer Gulf The Spencer Gulf is the westernmost and larger of two large inlets (the other being Gulf St Vincent) on the southern coast of Australia, in the state of South Australia, facing the Great Australian Bight. It spans from the Cape Catastrophe and ...

of South Australia and the

Broken Hill Broken Hill is an inland mining city in the far west of outback New South Wales, Australia. It is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Highway (B79), in the Barrier Range. It is ...

area of New South Wales. Based in Port Pirie with satellite offices in Broken Hill,

Port Augusta Port Augusta is a small city in South Australia. Formerly a port, seaport, it is now a road traffic and Junction (rail), railway junction city mainly located on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf immediately south of the gulf's head and about ...

, Whyalla and Port Lincoln, and studio and playout facilities based in

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...

, the station's name originates from the Port Pirie and Broken Hill stations' callsigns, GTS Port Pirie and BKN Broken Hill.

History

GTS signed on for the first time on 1 March 1968. BKN followed soon afterward, on 16 August. In 1974, the stations (and their repeaters) merged to form Spencer Gulf Telecasters and broadcast under the name ''GTS/BKN Television''. The company was bought by Southern Cross Broadcasting (SCB) in 2001, though it retained the Central name until the end of 2005. Due to their areas' sparse populations, after

aggregation Aggregation may refer to: Business and economics * Aggregation problem (economics) * Purchasing aggregation, the joining of multiple purchasers in a group purchasing organization to increase their buying power * Community Choice Aggregation, the ...

they remained among the few stations in Australia that continued to cherry-pick programming from all three networks, though from 2001 onward it began favouring

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 ...

through its affiliation with Southern Cross Television. In 2003, Spencer Gulf Telecasters won the right to broadcast a second station in the same area, and in January 2004 started broadcasting SGS/SCN as a

Ten Ten, TEN or 10 may refer to: * 10, an even natural number following 9 and preceding 11 * one of the years 10 BC, AD 10, 1910 and 2010 * October, the tenth month of the year Places * Mount Ten, in Vietnam * Tongren Fenghuang Airport (IATA code ...

affiliate. Since 31 October 2010, GTS/BKN has also operated a third station relaying

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

programs from Sydney and Adelaide (callsign GDS in Port Pirie and BDN in Broken Hill). In January 2006, Central GTS/BKN was renamed ''Southern Cross GTS/BKN'', changing its logo to the star logo used by TNT Tasmania and

TND TND may refer to: * TND (TV station), in Darwin, Australia * Tertium non datur, the law of excluded middle, a law in logic * '' The National Desk'', an American television news program * The Needle Drop, a YouTube channel by music critic Anthony F ...

Darwin. In July 2018, Southern Cross GTS/BKN was renamed ''Seven GTS/BKN'', changing its logo to the Seven logo as currently used by the other SCTV stations.

Digital channels

On 31 October 2010, GTS/BKN launched GDS/BDN, a Channel Nine affiliate rebroadcasting TCN Sydney. On 11 January 2011, GTS/BKN launched Ten's SD multichannel

Eleven Eleven or 11 may refer to: *11 (number), the natural number following 10 and preceding 12 * one of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011, or any year ending in 11 Literature * ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn *'' ...

. Starting from 7 November 2011, GTS/BKN slowly rolled out 9Gem, 9Go!, 7two, 7mate and

One 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

as digital channels across the GTS/BKN areas. On 7 December 2013, GDS/BDN switched to a feed of NWS Adelaide. On 30 September 2018, GDS/BDN launched 9Life.

Programming

The main GTS/BKN service carries programming from the Seven Network, including the Adelaide edition of Seven News' nightly 6pm bulletin. GDS/BDN broadcasts programs from the

and the state bulletin from NWS from Adelaide. GTS/BKN during the late 1970s & mid 1980s produced their own local commercials and TV shows like Panel Probe, Woman's World, Cue and local documentaries.

News

GTS/BKN produces a half-hour regional news program titled ''Nightly News'' (formerly ''Southern Cross News'' until 14 December 2018), airing at 6:30pm on weeknights, following ''

Seven News Adelaide ''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 p ...

''. The bulletin is presented from Southern Cross Austereo's studio in

, with reporters and video journalists based at news bureaus in Port Pirie,

, Port Lincoln and Whyalla. Since 2019, it is presented by Madeline Kerr or John Hunt, with Alex Sykes presenting the weather. The bulletin adopted the current title on 14 January 2019. The day's bulletin is later uploaded by the station's YouTube channel. Previous presenters of the program during its tenure as Southern Cross News include Virginia Langeberg, Tim Hatfield, Fraser Goldsworthy and Julie Snook, while Will McDonald, Nicole Haack and Rosanna Mangiarelli presented under the Central News title. The current team of ''Nightly News'' video journalists consists of: Annabel Francis (Port Pirie), Daniel Pizarro (Port Augusta), Edward McCarroll (Whyalla), Henry Milic (Port Lincoln) and Josh Mercer (Broken Hill). In 2019, Southern Cross Austereo shifted the bulletin to 7two at 7:00 pm rather than airing on the main channel.

Channels

The following is a list of channels broadcast on GTS and BKN respectively. GTS/BKN: GDS/BDN:

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gts Bkn Southern Cross Media Group Television channels and stations established in 1968 1968 establishments in Australia