List of Australian television callsigns

This is a list of Australian television call signs. When a television broadcaster in Australia is granted a licence, a call sign consisting of a unique series of letters and numbers is allocated by the Australian Communications and Media Authority and are unique for each broadcast station.

Background

For commercial networks, these are generally three letters. The first two letters are selected by the licensee, and the third letter often indicates the state or territory in which the station is located. Sometimes the third letter is also used as part of the abbreviation or mnemonic to name the station - for example GTV (General Television Corporation) represents "General TeleVision" or "General TV", although the V stands for Victoria.

Call signs in Australia do not include ITU prefixes. If one is required, "VL" is used. So, for example, GTV in an international context would actually be "VLGTV".

With the onset of aggregation in regional areas and digital television, the call signs do not retain the meaning that they did in the past. Stations will sometimes change frequency, or have different frequencies at different locations, such as re-transmission sites, where the same signal is re-broadcast in a different area. However, the three-letter codes have generally not changed and are still used within the industry.

A list of call signs is shown below, with original explanations of the call signs as of July 2022.

National

* ABC – Australian Broadcasting Corporation
* SBS – Special Broadcasting Service

New South Wales/Australian Capital Territory

Sydney

* ATN – Amalgamated Television New South Wales
* TCN – Television Corporation New South Wales
* TEN – TEN New South Wales

Southern NSW/Australian Capital Territory

* CBN - Central Broadcasting New South Wales
* CTC - Capital Television Canberra
* WIN - Wollongong Illawarra New South Wales

Northern NSW

* NBN – Newcastle Broadcasting New South Wales
* NEN – New England New South Wales
* NRN – Northern Rivers New South Wales

Griffith/Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area

* AMN – Albury Murray New South Wales
* MDN – Murrumbidgee Digital New South Wales
* MTN – Murrumbidgee Television New South Wales

Broken Hill

* BDN – Broken Hill Digital Television New South Wales
* BKN – Broken Hill New South Wales
* SCN – Southern Cross New South Wales

Victoria

Melbourne

* ATV – Austarama Television Victoria
* GTV – General Television Victoria
* HSV – Herald Sun Victoria
* MGV – Melbourne Geelong Victoria

Regional

* AMV – Albury Murray Victoria
* BCV – Bendigo Central Victoria
* GLV – Gippsland Latrobe Valley Victoria
* VTV – Vic Television Victoria

Mildura and Sunraysia

* MDV – Mildura Digital Television Victoria
* PTV – Prime Television Victoria
* STV – Sunraysia Television Victoria

Queensland

Brisbane

* BTQ – Brisbane Television Queensland
* QTQ – Queensland Television Queensland
* TVQ – TeleVision Queensland

Regional

* RTQ – Rockhampton Television Queensland
* STQ – Sunshine Television Queensland
* TNQ – Telecasters North Queensland

Mount Isa

* IDQ – ITQ Digital Queensland
* IMP – Imparja Television
* ITQ – Mount Isa Telecasters Queensland

South Australia

Adelaide

* ADS – Adelaide South Australia (also said to stand for Advertiser South Australia, named after the sister newspaper ''The Advertiser'' and radio station 5AD)
* CTS – Community Television South Australia
* SAS – South Australian Telecasters South Australia
* NWS – The News South Australia

Mount Gambier/South East

* MGS – Mount Gambier South Australia
* SDS – South East Digital Television South Australia
* SES – South East South Australia

Riverland

* LRS – Loxton Riverland South Australia
* RDS – Riverland Digital Television South Australia
* RTS – Riverland Television South Australia

Port Pirie/Spencer Gulf North

* GDS – Spencer Gulf Digital Television South Australia
* GTS – Spencer Gulf Telecasters South Australia
* SGS – Spencer Gulf South Australia

Western Australia

Perth

* NEW – New Western Australia (also to spell the word NEW)
* STW – Swan Television Western Australia
* TVW – Television Western Australia

South West and Great Southern

* SSW – South West and Great Southern Western Australia
* SDW – SSW Digital Western Australia

Kalgoorlie

* VDW – VEW Digital Western Australia
* VEW – View Western Australia

Geraldton

* GDW – GTW Digital Western Australia
* GTW – Geraldton Telecasters Western Australia

Remote and Regional Western Australia

* WAW – Western Australia Western Australia
* WDW – WAW Digital Western Australia
* WOW - WIN of Western Australia

Tasmania

* TDT – Tasmanian Digital Television
* TNT – Television Northern Tasmania
* TVT – TeleVision Tasmania

Northern Territory

Darwin

* DTD – Digital Television Darwin
* NTD – Northern Territory Darwin
* TND – Telecasters Northern Territory Darwin

Other callsigns

Remote Central and Eastern Australia

* CDT – Central Digital Television
* IMP – Imparja Television
* QQQ – Queensland Queensland Queensland
* HPO – High Power Open Narrowcasting
* ACT – Aboriginal Community Television

Former callsigns

* CWN – Central Western Slopes New South Wales
* ECN – East Coast New South Wales
* RTN – Richmond and Tweed New South Wales
* RVN – Riverina New South Wales
* BTV – Ballarat Television Victoria - (also briefly 'RTV' during aggregation preparations)Michael Faulkner, Future of Regional TV (Staff Meeting) BTV6 Ballarat Nov 1989
on YouTube.
* GMV – Goulburn Murray Victoria - (also briefly 'RTV' during aggregation preparations)
* RTV – Regional Television Victoria - (used briefly for BTV and GMV during aggregation preparations)
* CTV - Community Television Victoria
* ABMKQ – Australian Broadcasting Corporation Mary Kathleen Queensland
* DDQ – Darling Downs Queensland
* FNQ – Far Northern Queensland
* MVQ – Mackay Vision Queensland
* SDQ – Southern Downs Queensland
* SEQ – South East Queensland
* WBQ – Wide Bay Queensland
* CTQ – Community Television Queensland
* ACE – Adelaide Community and Educational Television
* BTW – Bunbury Television Western Australia
* GSW – Great Southern Western Australia
* ATW – Access Television Western Australia
* CTN – Community Television New South Wales
* TSN – Television Sydney New South Wales
* CTW – Community Television Western Australia

See also

* List of Australian radio station callsigns
* Television in Australia
* Callsigns in Australia
* Television stations in Australia

References

External links

*
* Includes list of all licensed TV and radio transmitters operating in the broadcasting services bands, with sub-sections organised in different ways.

{{DEFAULTSORT:List of Australian television callsigns
Call signs