About Seven Southern NSW

Seven Southern NSW

Seven Southern NSW is the Seven Network's regional station for southern New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory: the Seven affiliate broadcasting across the Central West, Wagga Wagga, the Riverina, the South Coast and Canberra. Formerly Prime7 Southern NSW — part of the Prime Television network founded by Paul Ramsay, with its national broadcast facility and headquarters in Canberra — it became a Seven owned-and-operated station when Seven West Media acquired Prime Media Group on 31 December 2021, with the Prime7 brand retired in July 2022. It carries the full Seven schedule with local 7NEWS bulletins for the Central West and Wagga Wagga.

Overview

Seven Southern NSW is the Seven affiliate for southern New South Wales and the ACT: the regional home of the Seven Network's news, sport, reality, drama and entertainment, with local 7NEWS bulletins for the Central West and Wagga Wagga. The station's licence area covers the southern half of New South Wales — from Dubbo and Orange in the Central West, through Wagga Wagga and the Riverina, to the South Coast and the national capital. It broadcasts the full Seven multichannel suite — 7HD, 7two, 7mate, 7flix, 7Bravo — and is streamed through 7plus.

History

Seven Southern NSW began as Prime7 Southern NSW, part of Prime Television — the regional network founded by Paul Ramsay in 1986. Prime's southern NSW stations traced their origins to "Midstate 6,8,9 Television" (CBN-8 Orange, CWN-6 Dubbo) and "RVN-2/AMV-4" (Wagga Wagga/Albury) — the local stations that, prior to aggregation in the early 1990s, served their regions with full local news. Aggregation brought three-network competition to the regions, and Prime became the Seven affiliate for southern NSW.

Prime Media Group Limited — formerly Prime Television Limited, founded as Ramcorp — was the ASX-listed company (ASX: PRT) behind the network. Founded by Paul Ramsay in 1986, headquartered in Watson, Canberra (with a corporate office at Jones Bay Wharf, Pyrmont — also the Seven Network's head office), it owned Prime7 in eastern Australia and GWN7 in regional Western Australia, plus the ishop TV datacasting channel (co-owned with Brand Developers), two joint ventures with WIN Corporation (Mildura Digital Television and West Digital Television, each 50 per cent), and a Queensland radio network from 2005 to 2013 (sold to Grant Broadcasters). In 2021, its final full year, the company reported revenue of $179 million, operating income of $37 million and net income of $20 million, under CEO Ian Audsley. On 31 December 2021 it was acquired by Seven West Media; on 3 January 2022 it was renamed PRT Company Limited.

Prime was a prolific regional producer. Since the network's inception it featured original local programming: the children's program Possum's Club with Madelaine Collignon and station mascot Prime Possum, and the community service segment Prime7 InfoNet — short updates listing local community events. Prime's local productions won national recognition: Logie Awards for Outstanding Contribution by a Regional Television Station for Goin' Down The Road (CBN-8, 1979), Naturally (NEN-9/ECN-8, 1984), Stranded (1993), Rest in Peace (1994) and No Time For Frailty (1996).

In January 2011, Prime and GWN re-launched with new names and logos reflecting their Seven Network affiliation — from 6pm on a Sunday night, PRIME7 and GWN7 rolled out new IDs and promos carrying the famous big red "7," with news services rebranded PRIME7 News and GWN7 News. (At the time, Seven owned 14.9 per cent of Prime, and Lachlan Murdoch 8 per cent.) But Prime7 remained, alongside GWN7, the only commercial affiliate not carrying full metro network branding on air.

Prime's national broadcast facility was in Canberra — the network's headquarters in the suburb of Watson, with playout (as of 2021) shared with SBS Television at a Telstra-operated facility. Prime7's flagship bulletin aired at 6pm in five distinct local editions (Border, Central West, North West, North Coast and Wagga Wagga), presented from Canberra by Madelaine Collignon; Prime7 News at 6:30 with Daniel Gibson also came from the Canberra news centre.

Prime was, by a big margin, the number-one television network in regional Australia — Seven West Media CEO James Warburton's description at the time of the acquisition. "We now have the potential to reach more than 90% of Australia's population each month as one integrated company," Warburton said, "and to give advertisers and agencies easy and seamless access to metro and regional markets." In the metro markets, Seven had been number one for 13 of the past 15 years, with 7plus the number-one commercial BVOD service nationally. On 1 November 2021, Seven West Media announced it would acquire all shares and subsidiaries of Prime Media Group — its second attempt, after a 2019 bid was thwarted by Australian Community Media's Antony Catalano and WIN's Bruce Gordon, who cited Seven's debt problems and poor ratings performance. Prime shareholders approved the deal on 23 December, and the sale was completed on 31 December 2021: the end of the Prime brand after 33 years, trading as Seven from 1 January 2022. On 23 May 2022, Seven announced the Prime7 brand would be unified under Seven Network branding; the final retirement took place on 22 July 2022, with bulletins becoming "7NEWS (region)" from 25 July.

Programming and Content

Seven Southern NSW's programming is the Seven Network schedule — 7NEWS, Sunrise, sport (AFL, cricket, the Olympics), reality, drama and entertainment — with local 7NEWS bulletins for the Central West and Wagga Wagga. Prime7's flagship bulletin aired at 6pm in five distinct local editions (Border, Central West, North West, North Coast and Wagga Wagga), presented from Canberra by Madelaine Collignon, with Kirstie Fitzpatrick on weather; Prime7 News at 6:30 with Daniel Gibson also came from the Canberra news centre. Presentation had once been separate for each station, with full local news for the Gold Coast, Canberra, Wollongong and Newcastle; separate presentations remained for Northern and Southern NSW until 13 February 2017, when Prime7 Local News became a single unified presentation. Since July 2022, the bulletins fall under the Seven News brand and are available on 7plus.

Coverage and Audience

Seven Southern NSW broadcasts across southern New South Wales and the ACT: the Central West (Dubbo, Orange), Wagga Wagga and the Riverina, the South Coast, and Canberra — the southern half of the state, and the national capital. Its audience is southern NSW and the national capital: the viewers who made Prime the number-one regional network — from the Central West to the coast, the Riverina to Canberra.

Ownership

Seven Southern NSW is owned and operated by the Seven Network (Seven West Media) as part of the former Prime7 network, acquired 31 December 2021.

Digital Presence

Seven Southern NSW is streamed through 7plus, with local 7NEWS bulletins available on demand. For southern New South Wales and Canberra, Seven is the Seven affiliate: Seven's programming with local news, free to air. From Prime7 to Seven: the number-one regional network, now in Seven colours — and southern NSW's Seven, then and now. Seven Southern NSW: from Midstate 6,8,9 to Prime7 to Seven — the Seven affiliate for southern New South Wales and Canberra. CBN-8, CWN-6, RVN-2, Prime7, Seven: the names of southern NSW television — then, now, and tomorrow. Seven Southern NSW: the Seven affiliate for the Central West, Wagga Wagga, the Riverina and Canberra — free to air, streaming on 7plus. From Canberra's Prime7 headquarters to Seven: southern NSW's Seven — the affiliate, the news, the network.