TVW

:This article is about the television station in Perth, Western Australia. For other channels known as TVW, see TVW (disambiguation).

{{infobox broadcast | call letters

TVW| city | station_logo 120px| station_slogan OnePlace| station_branding Seven| analog 7 (VHF)| digital 6 (VHF)| other_chs | affiliations Seven (O&O;)| network Seven| founded | airdate 16 October 1959| location Perth, Western Australia| callsign_meaning | former_callsigns | former_channel_numbers | owner Seven West Media Limited| licensee Channel Seven Perth Pty Ltd| sister_stations | former_affiliations none| effective_radiated_power 200 kW (analog)50 kW (digital)| HAAT 282 m (analogue)280 m (digital)| class | facility_id | coordinates | homepage www.7perth.com.au| }}

TVW is a television station broadcasting in Perth, Western Australia, wholly owned by the Seven Network. It was the first television station in Western Australia, commencing service on 16 October 1959. It broadcasts analogue on VHF 7 and digital on VHF 6 from Bickley located in the Perth Hills. The TVW callsign stands for Television Western Australia.

It is a member of the Seven Network, whose principal shareholder is Perth-born Kerry Stokes.

History

On 13 October 1958, the first commercial television license in Perth was granted by the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs to TVW Limited, and they commenced broadcasting a little over a year later. The then Governor of Western Australia, Sir Charles Gairdner opened the station at 7.30pm on 16 October 1959. Some of the first programs included Leave It to Beaver, Sea Hunt, Father Knows Best, Gunsmoke, Perry Mason, The Epilogue and a local show called Spotlight which featured Rolf Harris.

The original owner of TVW was West Australian Newspapers (WAN), which publishes the Perth daily newspaper, The West Australian. Coincidentally, the Seven Network bought a 15% share in WAN in 2006.

TVW-7 did not have a rival commercial television station until 1965 when STW-9 commenced broadcasting. However the presence of a rival did not have a large negative impact on TVW, at least in the early years. In fact a survey by its rival found that more people agreed with a statement that "TVW fulfilled their viewing needs, and it would be a matter of indifference to them if the new station were to cease transmissions" www.mcc.murdoch.edu.au. The six years TVW had as sole commercial operator flowed through for many more years to come, some would even argue that it is still present today considering how well Seven performs in the market compared to Nine, which for nearly two decades until the mid 00's, generally won comfortably nationally.

After STW-9 entered the market, a 'cartel' was formed between the two stations for the duty of buying from both Australian and overseas production sources. The two stations set up a separate company, TV Facilities, (50%/50% partners). This allowed the stations to purchase programs cheaper than if they were two separate entities, which would bid on shows and subsequently raise prices. This partnership was disliked by Eastern States stations who could not increase their charges to the extent which they would have liked. Allocation of programs was decided by a coin toss, which would allow the winner to pick first and then alternate the picking of programs. However TVW would always be in a more dominant position as it had the rights to continuing shows from the previous six years as well as half of the new programs.

In 1971 TVW Enterprises purchased the Adelaide station, SAS-10, now SAS-7. 1982 saw TVW (and SAS) purchased by Perth based businessman Robert Holmes à Court’s Bell Group. In 1988 a third commercial station entered the Perth market; it was aligned with Network Ten so for the first time in its history TVW took up an affiliation, aligning with the other Seven stations in the country. 1988 also saw the station change hands when the Christopher Skase led Qintex group purchased the station. Qintex collapsed a year later, leaving TVW in the hands of receivers. In 1991 the station was combined with the other Seven stations to become the Seven Network, this was floated on the stock exchange and by 1995 Perth-born Kerry Stokes was in charge of both TVW and the rest of the network. By then it was all unstoppable. TVW's success as Perth's Number One TV station would be in recent years translate into the Seven Network's nationwide successes from 2008 onward.

Programming

Seven Perth for the most part follows the programming of the Seven Network.

Locally produced programs, which can also be seen in regional Western Australia on GWN include:

Go Racing: News/discussion about the racing scene in both Perth and the Eastern States

Have a Go TV: Features segments on travel, finance and investment, sport and recreation, health and wellbeing. Hosted by Tod Johnston.

Home In WA: Lifestyle, building and renovation

Fishing Western Australia: Explores fishing in WA.

Our WA: A long-running series of specials which highlight a specific aspect of WA life

Locally produced programs, which can also be seen around Australia through the Seven Network and affiliates include:

The Force: Behind the Line: Observational documentary about the Western Australia Police

Filmed at Dianella

Studio 1

Current

Seven News

Today Tonight

Past

Telethon

The Early Bird Show

A*mazing - Previously filmed at BTQ-7 from 1993-96.

Time Masters

Fat Cat's Funtime Show

Good Morning Perth

Scratch and Win Telespin

The Adventures of Bush Patrol

Family Feud

In Perth Tonight

Rothman's World of Football

The Underground Video Show

The Late Late Breakfast Show

Reach for the Stars

Turpie Tonight

$50,000 Letter Box

Spellbound

Studio 2 (Past)

Brooksey's Footy Show/The Footy Club/Basil's Footy Show

It's Academic

Perth at 5

FMTV

What A Week

Today

Studio 3: News

Channel 7 News/Seven National News/Seven Nightly News/Seven News: 1959-2010

State Affair: 1984-1989

Today Tonight: 1995-2010

Susannah Carr's Land Down Under/World Around Us: 1985-1999

Sports Centre Seven: 1980s

News and Current Affairs

Seven News

Seven News Perth is broadcast live every night at 6pm, presented on weekdays by Rick Ardon and Susannah Carr. 2010 saw Ardon and Carr celebrate their 25th anniversary as a newsreading duo; Longest ever in Australia. Sport is presented by Basil Zempilas.

Weekend editions are presented regularly by Emmy Kubainski or Sally Bowrey with sport by former West Coast Eagles player Adrian Barich. Sally Bowrey is the fill-in weather presenter. Chris Mainwaring was the weekend sport presenter until his unexpected death in October 2007.

Former political reporter Reece Whitby frequently filled in as weekend news presenter before running for the Labor Party in the 2008 state election. After failing to win the seat of Morley he returned to TVW as a behind-the-scenes producer. Seven News stalwart Geof Parry is the current state political reporter. TVW's current news director is Shaun Menegola. Seven News Perth has had the highest ratings on average for almost two decades, it attracts almost double the ratings of rival Nine News Perth.

Long standing weather presenter Jeff Newman retired from his role on Monday 10 August 2009 and has been replaced by former Nine News weather presenter Natalia Cooper, who began her new role in September.

Other news programming produced by the network includes the morning news program Sunrise, Seven Morning News and Seven's 4.30 News. Late news updates are also provided from the Sydney newsroom.

Today Tonight

The nightly news is followed by locally produced current affairs program Today Tonight hosted by Monika Kos. It is they only locally presented and produced current affairs program in Perth. The program uses a mixture of reports from its sister programs on the east coast and in Adelaide as well as reports from locally based reporters. Like Seven News Perth, the program is very successful ratings wise, consistently beating its rival A Current Affair. Mario D'Orazio is the programme's producer.

Mascot

Seven Perth has long been the home of Fat Cat, the name standing for Francis Aloysius Thomas Cat. Fat Cat is "put to bed" every night at 7.30pm signalling the end of programs suitable for children. Fat Cat, along with GWN's Doopa Dog, are the last WA television mascots to survive. Longtime rival STW-9 used a large elephant, Flapper, as its mascot and NEW-10 used Kenny Kidna from the Kangaroo Creek Gang as its mascot.

Fat Cat is now mainly used for things to do with Telethon; Fat Cat dolls are sold through Friendlies Chemists for $19.95 to raise money for Telethon.

Seven also has a cartoon-like TV character as a popular mascot.

Telethon

TVW also produces an annual Telethon for the Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research and the Telethon Speech and Hearing Centre. Since 1968 it has raised over $100 million (as of 2010 total). Although the fundraising takes place 365 days a year through the community, it culminates in a 26 hour live broadcast from Perth Convention Exhibition Centre in the heart of Perth over a weekend late in the year. Seven network personalities fly into Perth for the weekend to help raise money, as do a lot of Aussie artists. Many international stars have also been part of Telethon over the years, including Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Celine Dion and Harry Connick Jnr. The show is simulcasted around the state on Network affiliate GWN.

Christmas Pageant

The station organises an annual Christmas parade through the streets of the Perth CBD. It is claimed to be the largest Christmas parade in the southern hemisphere. More than 600 floats and 60,000 participants have taken part in the procession in the history of the parade, which commenced in 1972.

Broadcasting details

Analogue frequency: VHF 7 Digital frequency: VHF 6

+Digital Channels
! LCN	! Service	! Resolution	! Bit rate
	align=center	720x576i	6.5mbit video, 256kbit MP2 audio
	align=center	720x576i	6.5mbit video, 256kbit MP2 audio
	align=center	1440x1080i	10.77mbit video, 256kbit MP2, 384kbit AC3 audio
		704x576i	1.3mbit video, 128kbit MP3

Station slogans

1980: "21 Years of Television" (used to celebrate 21 Years of TVW7)

1982: "Channel 7, We're With You"

1984: "Channel 7, We're With You for 25 Silver Years" (used to celebrate 25 Years of TVW7)

1984-85: "You Can See It All on 7"

1985-1988: "Love You Perth!"

1986: "Say Hello!"

Summer 1986/87: "The Heat Is On!" (based on the Glen Frey song)

1999: "Perth - 40 Years" (used to celebrate 40 Years of TVW7)

July-August 2009: "Still Love You Perth!" (used to celebrate 50 Years of TVW7)

See also

Seven Network

STW

NEW (TV station)

Television broadcasting in Australia

Sources

Perth Commercial Television After 1965 by Tom O'Regan & Ulla Hiltula

The Introduction of Television into Western Australia by Eric Fisher

References

External links

Official Seven Perth Website

Telethon Website

Home in WA Website

History of West Australian Television

Category:Television stations in Perth Category:Seven Network Category:Television channels and stations established in 1959