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“Bitterly disappointed”: 10 calls on Albanese to save Mildura Digital TV

"It’s unacceptable that tens of thousands of Australians will see some of their favourite free-to-air broadcast channels go to black," says 10.

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Network 10 has called on PM Anthony Albanese to intervene following the announcement yesterday by the board of Mildura Digital TV to shut down the channel on June 30, stating its financial position is no longer tenable.

Mildura Digital TV is a joint venture by Seven West Media and WIN Corporation, which screens 10, 10 Peach and 10 BOLD programming.

TV Tonight understands WIN was no longer interested in maintaining the joint venture.

“We’re bitterly disappointed that regional TV operators are being put in a position that they need to take this action,” a Network 10 spokesperson said.

“It’s the people of Mildura and the surrounding region that will be hurt by this decision and it’s unacceptable that tens of thousands of Australians will see some of their favourite free-to-air broadcast channels go to black.

“The Federal Government must act urgently to ensure the Network 10 affiliated channels can continue to be available via broadcast transmission.

“Regional Australians, including residents around Mildura, love our iconic and award-winning Australian shows such as MasterChef Australia, Have You Been Paying Attention?, Gogglebox and The Cheap Seats to name just a few.

“They love our fearless approach to news and current affairs with 10 News First and The Project and they love to cheer on the Matildas and Socceroos when they take on the world.

“These great moments and shows cannot be allowed to disappear from their local broadcast channels.

“We urge the Prime Minister to urgently intervene and save these regional TV broadcasts.

“This also shows how vitally important prominence of our free streaming services has become so that every Australian can easily find local content and broadcasters on their connected TVs and devices which is what the residents of Mildura will need to do to continue watching 10’s shows.”

21 Responses

  1. Won’t all the Ten shows still be available through 10Play and live streaming? Not sure what the big fuss is about. If CBS Paramount owners of 10 are so concerned they should plug the hole themselves.

    1. Ten can’t because they don’t have a licence to broadcast there. And it is unclear if there is any mechanism for the MDT licence to be sold to a third party given the current condition that it is owned by the two local licence holders (Seven and WIN). And if it’s losing money, who’s going to buy it, anyway?

      And internet connectivity/bandwidth isn’t as plentiful in rural areas as it can be in the cities, so that can limit streaming to some extent.

      1. Thanks but are you seriously saying there’s not even a satellite service there capable of enabling streaming? According to Wikipedia it’s a city with 32,000 people so I believe most could access 10Play. Even those in surrounding rural communities would surely have access to satellite specialty NBN.

        1. No I did not say it was non-existent. I said it can be limiting. Comments from people in remote or rural areas say that even with satellite internet the streaming experience is available but isn’t necessarily as robust as what is taken for granted with cabled connection in the cities.

  2. Sure, there are so many options out there to still watch the 10 stable, with Hubbl probably going to get an unexpected sales bump in the viewing area from those that either have a dumb TV or don’t have Foxtel. But what about those that don’t have Foxtel or the interwebs? Believe it or not, there are still many older people that simply don’t need it, or can’t afford it, so they will certainly miss out on their daily serve of Grant Denyer..

  4. This will be very sad for Sunraysia viewers with Ch10 shutting down after 18.5 years. I feel for the viewers in Sunraysia who are affected by the closure of 10 Mildura licence. People will have to sign up with 10Play to live stream or catch up programs on the platform. However the problem is that not all Mildura residents have very fast internet broadband speeds.

  5. What could the government actually do only quick option would be to broadcast the VAST channel 10 signal into Mildura, Another could be to allow Imparja & 7 Central to broadcast their CDT service into Mildura can’t see another broadcaster wanting to buy the licence. As stated In the first report the venture has been operating at a loss since it started broadcasting In 2006 the best option would be for 7 West or Win to provide channel 10 programming In their lineup.

    It will be Interesting to see what the ACMA does with the spectrum whether they leave the door open for a future third commercial broadcast to apply for the licence down the track or use It for something else.

    1. The infrastructure exists. Paramount+ was valued at $27b in Apollo’s last takeover bid. Though it has $14b in debt it’s a bit rich them demanding Government subsidies to run their global business. Part of the problem will be that’s Ten affiliation fee is higher than local advertising will fund. The Government probably set the tax too high then figures it would ok if there were transitional payments to tidy regional TV over.

      1. hopefully Tasmania is a bit more sustainable as it has a population considerably higher than Mildura.

        What is more of a concern is the Ten joint-venture services in Darwin and central/remote Australia which are probably facing similar financial issues that Mildura is facing. How the government/industry deals with Mildura could set a precedent for those other areas as well.

  7. The first switch off of the future – but – as the statement says – Sunraysia viewers can watch their beloved TEN shows on Ten Play.

    1. When WIN switched back to being a Nine affiliate in 2021, MDV which is joint owned by Seven (which got it’s share when it took over Prime) and WIN (who supply the feeds) became the Ten Affiliate. It lists 10 HD, Peach and Bold as it’s three channels. Not clear about 10 SD. 10 don’t want to run an advertising business in Mildura, it’s too small scale so you have a local affiliate that knows the market do it.

      In 2017 the Government abolished Broadcast Licenses and replaced them with a broadcast tax based on spectrum used. For 5 years they agreed to make transactional payments to ease the burden in tough times and extended this for a further 2 years for 19 Regional Broadcasters. So it looks like MDV didn’t qualify and Seven and WIN are shutting it down because it no longer economically viable. Note Ten’s streaming is one of the reasons why it is no longer viable as FTA. This week on Ten I have watched 20m of The Cheap Seats and then of NCIS, which was exception dumb.

  9. The government wouldn’t bail out Bonza, even though it was for regional Australia, so it will be interesting to see whether they will bail out MDT.

    1. Bonza thought that regional Australia was like Europe so a Ryan Air approach would work. Regional Australia has neither population wealth of Europe during tough times and is twice as big. There was no saving Bonza.

      1. This actually had more to do with demand for aircraft in the current environment than their business model. The lessor realised they could get much more money for the aircraft and pulled the rug from out under the airline. It’s cutthroat business, but I guess the same applies to the TV networks.

  10. As someone who lives I this region I find this extremely disappointing for our region. I am assuming if I stream from my device I can stream at HD standard?

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