The big switch: Viewer confusion tipped as regional TV changes channels

IF YOU suddenly can’t find your regular TV shows tomorrow, don’t adjust your set. Some Australians’ channels are changing.

Channel surfing might be the weapon of choice in regional areas coping with the big switch.

TV VIEWERS, if you live in a regional area and suddenly can’t find your regular TV shows come Friday, do not adjust your set.

The biggest shake-up in regional free-to-air commercial TV in Australia’s history is turning TV viewing as you know it on its head.

Channel surfing might be your best option as, in many regional markets, Channel 9 and Channel 10 programming switches channels.

Channel 9 content will now be broadcast on Southern Cross, where Channel 10 content used to be; and Channel 10 content heads to WIN, which used to house Channel 9 shows.

Can’t find Offspring in Orange? Try WIN.

Want to watch NRL in southern NSW? Try Southern Cross.

Chasing the House Rules finale? Just stay as you were, on Prime or Channel 7.

MY BRAIN HURTS ... WHY?

Ours does too. It’s all due to new broadcast agreements under which regional networks switched partners and alliances with the major networks of Channel Nine and Channel 10.

For almost 30 years, Bruce Gordon’s WIN Corporation broadcast the Nine Network’s programs into much of regional Australia; while Southern Cross Austereo has been Channel 10s affiliate partner in regional areas since 1992.

But from Friday, July 1, the ownership changes as part of new five-year deals.

Against a background of debate around media reform, reach rules, commercial horsetrading and a legal stoush, the Nine Network brokered a new affiliate deal with Southern Cross. Then Ten signed with Nine’s old affiliate partner, WIN.

It would have made sense for WIN and Southern Cross Austereo to just exchange transmission signals as part of the deal to ease audience confusion, but apparently nobody came to that party.

DO. NOT. MISS. OFFSPRING.

WHO IS AFFECTED

It would be just too easy for the change to affect all of Australia’s regional areas, wouldn’t it?

At this stage it affects TV viewers in:

• The ACT and southern NSW centres of Wollongong, Wagga Wagga, Orange, Dubbo, Griffith and the South Coast;

• Victorian regional areas including Bendigo, Ballarat, Shepparton, Gippsland, Mildura and Albury/Wodonga;

• Regional areas of Queensland including Toowoomba, Townsville, Mackay, the Sunshine Coast, Rockhampton and Cairns., but not the Gold Coast.

• South Australian regions of Riverland and Mount Gambier.

• Tasmania

Check in here with ACMA for updates. Southern Cross/Nine has info available here. And WIN/TEN has information here.

JURY’S OUT ON WA

Western Australia is a special case. Channel Nine is still trying to broker a regional TV deal for Sandgropers in regional areas of Mandurah, Bunbury, Albany, Kalgoorlie, Geraldton and the Pilbara. For now, the areas kiss goodbye to Nine content — including solid-raters The Voice and Love Child until one is sorted. They might not be too upset about losing The Briefcase, though.

Tasmania narrowly dodged being without Nine services late on Thursday, when the network brokered a late-night deal to allow its shows to still be viewed in that state.

Negotiations in WA continue, but an agreement wasn’t reached with the licence holders in those areas — WIN and Prime — before the switch on Friday.

It’s all there ... the changes mean it’s just a matter of finding the new home of your shows.

WHERE WILL I FIND MY REGULAR SHOWS?

Broadly speaking, Channel 10 shows from Friday will be on channels 8/80s on WIN.

Channel 9 shows will be on channels 5/50s on Southern Cross/Nine.

SPORT

WIN loses the NRL and Test Cricket, but gains the Big Bash and some international Rugby Union. Seven’s Olympics remains just where it always was.

NEWS

It’s understood regional news bulletins will stay where they are — WIN news remains on WIN, for example, but timeslots may be shifted to accommodate existing national news slots.

WHO ISN’T AFFECTED

It’s business as usual for the ABC, SBS and no changes to Ten, Nine or Seven in metropolitan areas.

Northern NSW — from Gosford and all the way up and over the border to the Gold Coast, is unchanged.

For Spencer Gulf, remote Central and Eastern Australia and Broken Hill it’s also business as usual.

ACTUALLY, MAYBE TRY ADJUSTING YOUR SET

While the blanket advice from new and old affiliates is you shouldn’t need to retune, it might be worth doing so to make sure you receive all the channels.

And if you’re a lover of using your PVR to series link your favourite shows, make sure you amend your recording settings to pick them up at their new homes.

Failing that, channel surf, get Foxtel, try ABC or SBS, or check when the NBN is rolling into your area, and sign up to Netflix.

Maybe channel surf and chill as you adjust to the changes in regional viewing areas.

Originally published as The big switch: Viewer confusion tipped as regional TV changes channels