WOW 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 earth ...

licensed to

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 Netwo ...

, serving regional and remote

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. The station officially commenced transmissions on 26 March 1999 as the second commercial regional broadcaster in Western Australia, alongside former monopoly,

Golden West Network GWN7 was an Australian Television broadcasting in Australia, television network serving all of Western Australia outside metropolitan Perth. It launched on 10 March 1967 as ''BTW-3'' in Bunbury, Western Australia, Bunbury. It was an affiliate ...

History

Prior to

's expansion into Western Australia, the

was the sole commercial network operating in regional areas, and carried programming from all three privately owned networks--

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. On 26 March 1999, WIN Western Australia officially commenced transmissions as a dual affiliate of Nine and Ten. This in turn left GWN to become a sole Seven affiliate. WIN has struggled for ratings success in remote Western Australia, in part due to GWN/GWN7's 30-year run as the sole commercial television outlet in the region. WIN WA has run second to GWN7 in every ratings survey to date. The second ratings survey in 2005 placed WIN WA with only a 38.3% commercial audience share in prime time, compared to GWN7 with 61.7%. A proposal for a third television station - a joint venture between WIN Corporation and

Prime Media Group Prime Media Group Limited (formerly Prime Television Limited) was an Australian-based media corporation that formerly owned regional television network Prime7 in eastern Australia and GWN7 in regional Western Australia. It also owned ishop TV, ...

, owner of GWN7 - was submitted to the

Australian Communications and Media Authority The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is an Australian government statutory authority within the Communications portfolio. ACMA was formed on 1 July 2005 with the merger of the Australian Broadcasting Authority and the Austr ...

in 2006. Similar to

Mildura Digital Television MDV is a joint venture television station between Seven West Media and WIN Corporation. Based in Mildura, Victoria, Australia, it is a digital-only Network 10 affiliate run under the company name ''Mildura Digital Television Pty Ltd'', and be ...

, the new channel will operate under a Section 38B license, as a

Network Ten 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 ...

affiliate named

Ten West West Digital Television is an Australian digital television network jointly owned by Seven West Media and WIN Corporation. It broadcasts free-to-air on a number of digital terrestrial transmitters in regional and remote areas of Western Au ...

2010 and beyond

The new decade saw the introduction of digital television, with the Central Wheatbelt,

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includ ...

, Karratha and Mingenew digital transmitters launching on 10 June 2010. The broadcasters shared a single digital transmitter for GWN7, WIN WA and the new Ten West in standard definition at each location. Digital transmitter upgrades continued on 28 July 2011, with Bunbury and surrounds being introduced to the full suite of digital channels for the first time, including Go! and Gem. On 30 July 2011, the regional networks began broadcasting on the

Viewer Access Satellite Television The Viewer Access Satellite Television service, or VAST, is a satellite television platform in Australia, providing digital television and radio services to remote and rural areas, as well as viewers in terrestrial black spots. The service using ...

platform. Analogue transmissions ceased broadcasting statewide on 25 June 2013. On 10 March 2016,

WIN HD WIN Television is an Australian television broadcasting, 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 ...

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 Scrip ...

launched on both terrestrial and satellite platforms.

Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

ceased transmission on the same day. On 1 July 2016, WIN Television ceased their program supply agreement with Nine Network, resulting in a Ten Network affiliation. West Digital Television picked up the Nine Network affiliation on 2 July 2016. In 2021, WIN returned to Nine program supply agreement. West Digital Television picked up the

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 ...

affiliation on the same day.

Programming

WIN Western Australia originally sourced programming from the Nine Network and Network Ten. However, the introduction of Ten West and the increase in digital television penetration in 2012 turned WIN WA into a sole Nine Network affiliate, with almost identical programming to STW-9

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

. On 1 July 2016, WIN WA aligned with Network Ten after losing its affiliation with Nine Network to Southern Cross Austereo. On 1 July 2021, WIN WA aligned with the Nine Network. WIN Western Australia carries programming from

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 ...

, which includes Nine News Perth, ''A Current Affair'' and national bulletins. The station also carries the Perth feeds of

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, anim ...

and

News

WIN Western Australia was initially created with no local news service. At the same time, the then-owners of STW-9 Perth,

Sunraysia Television Sunraysia Television was a publicly listed company which owned Channel Nine Perth's parent company ''Swan Television and Radio Broadcasters'' from 1989 to 2007. Although listed on the ASX, Sunraysia had been majority owned by Eva Presser's Sabte ...

, was not prepared to simulcast news programming with WIN. As a result, WIN formed a deal with Network Ten affiliate

NEW-10 NEW is a television station broadcasting in Perth, Western Australia, and is a member of Network 10. Out of the three commercial stations, NEW generally rates the lowest overall, but usually rates highest in its target demographic (people aged 1 ...

to carry a delayed broadcast of 10 News First' main 5pm program each night. WIN began its own regional news service, ''WIN News Western Australia'', on Monday 13 November 2006. Initially presented from WIN's

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 wate ...

headquarters by Kerryn Johnston, and latterly Amy Taylor, studio presentation moved to Perth a year later following the sale of STW-9 to WIN Corporation. Presenters of the regional bulletin included

Nine News ''Nine News'' (stylised ''9News'') is the national news service of the Nine Network in Australia. Its flagship program is the hour-long 6:00 pm state bulletin, produced by Nine's owned-and-operated stations in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, ...

weather presenter Natalia Cooper, former ABC News journalist Deborah Kennedy and latterly

Matt Tinney Matt Tinney (born 23 May 1984) is an Australian journalist. He is currently a presenter and reporter at Seven News#Perth, ''Seven News Perth'' and Perth correspondent on Sunrise (Australian TV program), ''Sunrise''. Career Tinney began his repo ...

. Reporters and video journalists were based at district newsrooms in Albany, Broome, Bunbury,

Geraldton Geraldton (Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West region of the Australian state of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth. At June 2018, Geraldton had an urban population of 37,648. ...

, Kalgoorlie and STW-9's Perth studios. In March 2012, WIN announced it would axe its weeknight Western Australia bulletin with regional news coverage incorporated into a localised edition of '' Nine Afternoon News'' at 4:30pm, produced and presented from Perth. As a result, news bureaus in Geraldton, Albany and Broome were closed down, with only Bunbury and Kalgoorlie retained. The last edition of ''WIN News Western Australia'' aired on Friday 9 March 2012. The localised ''Nine Afternoon News'' edition was axed on 1 July 2013, but latterly reintroduced on Monday 7 October 2013. In addition to STW-9's local bulletins, WIN WA has previously carried

' national bulletins. On 1 July 2016, WIN switched to a Network Ten affiliation, which saw the return of '' 10 News First'' live from the NEW-10 Perth studios. On 1 July 2021, WIN switched back to a Nine Network affiliation, which saw the return of ''