★★★★★ 0/5

Tassie politicians tell WIN to restore weekend bulletins

It's not often that politicians condemn a broadcaster in the Senate, but Tasmanians aren't happy with WIN Television.

13
Leave a comment

Tassie politicians have called on WIN Television to reverse a recent decision to axe its local news weekend news bulletins.

Labor Senator Carol Brown and the Greens’ Christine Milne even moved a motion condemning WIN’s actions in the Senate in Canberra yesterday -a pretty rare move.

WIN axed its weekend bulletins in June, instead taking up bulletins from Victoria.

The pollies have argued Tasmanians deserved more than “irrelevant Victorian news.”

“Public debate around the big issues for Tasmanian households doesn’t stop on the weekend and neither should WIN’s weekend television service into this state,” Senator Brown told the Mercury.

The reduction by WIN News even led rival Southern Cross to highlight its point of difference with some cheeky promos saying “There’s only one place that gives you the full story seven days a week.” Apologies to ABC News?

13 Responses

  1. @andrew – “at WIN you have to actually produce the dead pen and prove it is dead before you get given a new working pen by the stationary office drone thesedays”. Dead right! That was a rule chisseled in stone at WIN4 back in the 70s.
    If the whining politicians feel so strongly about no local weekend news why don’t they introduce a Bill amending the Broadcasting Act to require all local ex-analogue stations in all capital cities (in this case old TVT6) to provide a minimum of one complete 30-min locally-produced news bulletin every evening.
    In the 70s WIN4 used to produce a Sunday night news of 15mins local then 15mins of Nine on tape delay. Took one journalist and one cameraman to do it. No studio crew. Program co-ordinators changing shifts at 6pm did video & audio switching.

  2. Cameramen,, news reporters and editors and presenters are the ones feeling the chop. Cheap shot by WIN, I think it is only the thin edge of the wedge, there will be more cuts to come if the public do not make a stand to local news both on TV and radio.

  3. @Cameron: Having more viewers isn’t everything. ROI and gross profit are more important. Focusing on ROI is what saved Channel Ten from obliteration in the 90’s.

    WIN would have done the sums and determined that the ratings boost wasn’t worth the cost.

    @VD: It was also the case in the 90’s that Nine’s affiliate in Launceston would broadcast Nine News Melbourne on weekends. It didn’t acknowledge Tassie then. However, I agree Ten News Melbourne should cover Tassie better on weekends, and certainly the presenters should be constantly reminded that they are speaking to many thousands of Tasmanians during the weekend broadcasts.

  4. @Cameron, WIN news in TAS barely had any credibility to start with. Thier news coverage and production always came across as cheap and almost amature compared to the ABC.

    It wouldnt suprise me if WIN news axed its weekday bullitens in tassie aswell. TDT has been broadcasting in Tas for at least 7 or 8 years (correct me if I’m wrong) and they have been getting away with broadcasting ch.10 news from Melbourne everynight of the week. Im not sure even ch.10 realises that they are delivering news to Tasmania as I constantly hear during the weather segments Mike Larken will say “and for those people travelling to tassie tomorrow Hobart fine 15degrees”.

  6. TV land is tightening their belts…there will be more to come. The NBN will change the playing field forever. News and prodction crews are the first to go.

  7. Good luck! Be grateful there is still a weekday TAS WIN News state bulletin.

    Ol Boy Bruce did not get to be a billionaire no other way than to cut, cut, cut.

    Look at the shambles that are WIN owned and operated Nine Adelaide and Nine Perth thesedays. The ratings for those stations have been going down, down, down ever since Bermuda HQ took over and cut, cut, cut. I hear that when a pen runs out, you cant just go to a stationary cupboard to get a new one. No, at WIN you have to actually produce the dead pen and prove it is dead before you get given a new working pen by the stationary office drone thesedays, how sad.

  9. @brian: The difference is that at least Regional QLD viewers are getting a Brisbane-based news from WIN on weekends, so it is at least of some relevance to an regional audience in that it is QLD news. In Tasmania it is different because WIN (and the others) are statewide, city and regional, so replacing their state’s newscast with an irrelevant one from another state is insufficient.

  10. WIN or any other channel for that matter in the FNQ region have never had a local weekend news, we only get Brisbane news, even the radio drops its news updates and only covers sport, we have to wait until Monday to see whats been happening in and around the city and i’m in a town of 140,000 . bit of a joke really.

  13. That decision pulls down Win as a crediable news source in Tassie. Most viewers will watch the same news bullitin across the 7 days so if viewers switch to SC they are likely to do so every day rather than just the weekend. I believe the ABC does better in Tassie and ACT because of the local news. If Win reverse the decision it will take a while to get viewers back.

    Win’s decision to axe Postcards in SA plus other local programs in Adelaide and Perth will lose viewers. Nine News doesn’t win in Adelaide on weekends as much as they used to. SA Life on 7 gives 7 news a win on Saturday while Sundays are close but AFL gives 7 a boost. Win also need to boost 9 News in Adelaide and Perth as the numbers are lower than what they should be. Maybe Win should sell these statioins to SC Media or to 9 who might do a better job.

Leave a Reply