ABC Television in South Australia comprises national and local programming on the ABC television network in the Australian state of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest o ...

, headquartered in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

. ABS or ABS-2 was the historic

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally ass ...

and name of the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-owne ...

's television station in Adelaide, with the "S" standing for South Australia.

History

ABS began broadcasting on 11 March 1960 from studios in the suburb of

Collinswood Collinswood is a suburb of Adelaide spanning the boundary of the Prospect and the Port Adelaide Enfield local government areas. Adelaide's Australian Broadcasting Corporation Studios are located in the suburb on the corner of North East Road a ...

. The station's transmitter is located at Mount Lofty, and is augmented by a series of relay transmitters located throughout the state. OIC collinswood ABC building

ABS commenced

digital television Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television technology which used analog signals. At the time of its development it was considered an innovative adva ...

transmission in January 2001, broadcasting on VHF Channel 12 while maintaining

analogue transmission Analog transmission is a transmission method of conveying information using a continuous signal which varies in amplitude, phase, or some other property in proportion to that information. It could be the transfer of an analog signal, using an ana ...

on VHF Channel 2. The analogue signal for ABS was shut off at 9am on Tuesday, 2 April 2013, making Adelaide the first state capital to make the permanent switch, with

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

being the first city to do so in 2012. In November 2014, current managing director Mark Scott announced at a meeting held at ABC's Ultimo headquarters in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...

that due to a cut of over from the ABC budget a major restructuring would occur. In an email to staff, Scott said:

" e willclose our Adelaide television production studio and wind down remaining television production in smaller states. The economics of the television sector make it difficult to maintain small-scale operations. It is more economically efficient to base production (outside news and current affairs) in Sydney and
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 metro ...
. TV’s aim is to work with the independent sector on programming that better reflects local diversity. To demonstrate accountability, the ABC will deliver detailed annual reports on its local production, including dollars invested and programs made."

Programs produced in the Adelaide studios

The following programs were produced in the Adelaide studios of ABC Television: *''

Couch Potato Sedentary lifestyle is a lifestyle type, in which one is physically inactive and does little or no physical movement and or exercise. A person living a sedentary lifestyle is often sitting or lying down while engaged in an activity like socia ...

'' *''

Talking Heads Talking Heads were an American rock band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991.Talki ...

'' *'' Behind the News'' *'' Poh's Kitchen'' *''News on 3''

ABC Television in South Australia today

there is a large number of transmitters broadcasting a number of ABC channels.

Local programming

Only the local edition of

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast '' ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include morning news-talk show '' Good Morning America'', '' ...

continues to be broadcast from Adelaide. ''ABC News South Australia'' is presented by Jessica Harmsen from Monday to Thursday. The weeknight bulletins also incorporate a national finance segment presented by Alan Kohler in Melbourne. Weekend bulletins feature local sport bulletins presented by Neil Cross.

Relay stations

The following stations relayed ABS throughout South Australia: Notes: *1. HAAT estimated from http://www.itu.int/SRTM3/ using EHAAT. *2. ABCS was on VHF channel 7 from its 1973 sign-on until sometime in the 1980s. *3. Analogue transmissions ceased as of 15 December 2010 as part of the national shutdown of analogue television.

References