Prime7, formerly Prime Television and other names, was an Australian television network. Prime Television launched on 17 March 1962 as CBN-8 in Orange, and later expanded to cover regional New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory. It was initially an independent affiliate owned by Prime Media Group before the network, and its sister GWN7, were acquired by Seven West Media on 31 December 2021.
Prime7 along with GWN7's national broadcast facilities were based in Canberra, with playout facilities (since 2021) shared with hybrid-funded broadcaster SBS Television at a facility operated by Australian telecommunications provider Telstra. Seven West Media head office/administration is located in Pyrmont, Sydney.
History
Origins
Prime Television originally began as a group of separate stations and networks – Midstate Television in Orange, Dubbo and Griffith; RVN/AMV in Wagga Wagga and Albury; and 9-8 Television in Tamworth and Taree.
CBN-8 Orange first aired on 17 March 1962, followed by CWN-6 Dubbo on 1 December 1965, Soon after the station was purchased by WIN Television, which undertook a number of minor changes – mainly changing the news service to WIN News, and using entirely WIN branding. AMN-31 remains a relay of Prime. Similarly, the Mildura licence area remained separate from the remainder of Victoria, albeit with a single station, STV-8, later bought out by WIN Television in 1996. In 1997 Prime was successful in bidding for a new licence for the area at a cost of $3.2 million. PTV-31 began broadcasting the following year.
In November 1996, Prime's parent company, Prime Television, purchased the Golden West Network, a merged group of four stations in regional Western Australia; BTW-3 Bunbury, VEW-8 Kalgoorlie, GTW-11 Geraldton and GSW-9 Albany. Western Australia, similar to Griffith and Mildura, remained a one-station commercial market until 1999 when GWN became a Seven Network affiliate, after WIN Television began transmission as an affiliate of both the Nine Network and Network Ten. Prime Television New Zealand began broadcasting on 30 August 1998, with a nightly local news program in both Waikato and Christchurch.
2000s
thumb|right|250px|Prime Television Broadcast Centre in [[Watson, Australian Capital Territory]]
The renamed Argentine network Azul Televisión was sold for $108 million in early 2000 due to lower-than-expected performance. During the same year, Prime benefited greatly from its affiliation with the Seven Network throughout its carriage of the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. The network's relationship with Seven was further developed throughout the early 2000s, leading to the introduction of 7onPrime promotional branding for Seven Network-produced programs on 11 February 2001.
Local news bulletins for Newcastle, the Gold Coast, Canberra, and Wollongong were axed on 9 June 2001 due to falling ratings and the anticipated costs of the switch to digital television. This, and the closure of a number of news bulletins by Southern Cross Broadcasting, prompted the Australian Broadcasting Authority to investigate the adequacy of regional news services The ABA later mandated that stations broadcast a minimum level of local content, based on a points systemtwo points per minute for local news, and one point per minute for other local content, excluding paid advertisements.
Prime formed a partnership with the Nine Network (affiliated in Australia to competitor WIN Television), giving its owner, PBL Media the option to purchase a 50% share of Prime Television New Zealand in return for access to original programming, and cross-promotion in PBL's New Zealand magazine titles. Following this, Prime Television New Zealand began to take on branding and programming similar to that of the Nine Network. In November 2005, Prime Television New Zealand was purchased by subscription television provider Sky Network Television for , completed after approval by New Zealand's Commerce Commission in February 2006.
Mildura Digital Television, a digital-only station in Mildura began transmissions in 2006 as a joint venture between Prime Television and WIN Corporation. Section 38B of the Broadcasting Services Act allowed for the provision of a third station owned by either one or both existing networks. MDT is a direct relay of 10 Melbourne, albeit with local advertising.
Prime Television announced on 21 December 2009 that it would start broadcasting 7two on 23 December 2009.
2010s
On 25 September 2010, Prime began transmission of the new HD digital channel 7mate aimed at men 16–49. The first program to be broadcast was the drawn 2010 AFL Grand Final. On 15 January 2011, Prime Media Group reported that Prime and GWN were set to rebrand as Prime7 and GWN7 respectively. Their news bulletins had quickly changed their names to Prime7 News and GWN7 News, while 7two dropped the "Prime" logo on the multichannels. Prime and GWN relaunched on 16 January 2011 at 18:00 (6pm). Prime7 began broadcasting 4ME (then Television 4) on 18 September 2011 on LCN 64. Prime7 began broadcasting ishop TV on 30 April 2013 on LCN 65.
Prime7 ceased to broadcast 4ME on 30 April 2016, due to financial problems.
In December 2016, Prime7 transferred its playout facilities to MediaHub Australia located within the Sydney suburb of Ingleburn. The facility is a joint venture between public broadcaster Australian Broadcasting Corporation and rival regional network WIN Television. Network officials noted that its existing Canberra facilities cannot be upgraded with technological advancements, causing Prime7 to be incapable of relaunching its HD simulcast as well as introducing 7flix to its viewers.
On 3 August 2017, 18 months after launching in metropolitan areas, Prime7 announced that it would carry 7flix to its regional stations in northern and southern New South Wales, regional Victoria and Mildura from 3 September 2017. The channel became available on digital channel 66 in MPEG-4 format. On 15 January 2018, Prime7 quietly relaunched its primary HD service, Prime7 HD, on digital channel 60 in MPEG-4 format.
2021: Merger with Seven
On 1 November 2021, Seven West Media announced that it would acquire all the shares and subsidiaries of Prime Media Group, including Prime7. This was Seven West Media's second attempt at purchasing Prime, after its previous attempt in 2019 was thwarted by Australian Community Media boss Antony Catalano and rival WIN Corporation owner Bruce Gordon, who cited Seven's debt problems at the time and its poor ratings performance as their reason for their refusal. This development would mark an end to the Prime branding after 33 years in favour of the Seven Network's branding, and would see all news bulletins carry the Seven News brand. Prior to this, Prime7 (and sister GWN7 in regional and remote Western Australia), as well as Nine affiliate Imparja Television were the only networks not to fully use its metro affiliate branding despite carrying Seven (Nine for Imparja) branded promos, since WIN Television (except for WIN News) and Southern Cross Austereo use full Nine, Ten and Seven branding on their stations. It was also announced that Seven would look to expand its investment in local news following the merger. The majority of Prime's shareholders voted in favour of the deal on 23 December, with the sale completed on 31 December.
On 23 May 2022, Seven West Media announced that the current branding of Prime7 and GWN7 would be unified into Seven Network branding across all stations including for Prime7 Local News, officially retiring the Prime7 name.
In June 2022 the Prime7 brand was retired.
On 22 July 2022 the final retirement of the Prime7 branding took place with all local news bulletins becoming "7NEWS (region)" for example "7NEWS Border" as of Monday 25 July.
Programming
Prime's programming schedule was almost identical to those of Seven Network metropolitan counterparts ATN in Sydney and HSV in Melbourne, with some differences. Since the Prime network's inception it featured a broad range of original local programming, which included children's program Possum's Club with Madelaine Collignon and station mascot Prime Possum as well as community service segment Prime7 InfoNet, a series of short updates listing local community events.
Prime7's overnight schedule also differed from the Seven Network feed, containing infomercials from Danoz Direct, Home Shopping, and a feed from pay television channel Expo. Past programming from Prime Television has been recognised nationally, with some local productions winning the Logie Award for 'Outstanding Contribution by a Regional Television Station'. The network has won Logies for Goin' Down The Road (CBN-8, 1979), Naturally (NEN-9/ECN-8, 1984), Stranded (Prime Television, 1993), Rest in Peace (Prime Television, 1994), and No Time For Frailty (Prime Television, 1996). Prime7 News at 6:30 (with Daniel Gibson) (at 18:30) also came from the Canberra news centre.
Availability
Prime7 was available in standard definition digital format. Since June 2007 a 1080i high definition simulcast had also been available, replacing the network's former 576p service. Prime7 was viewed mainly through free-to-air terrestrial transmitters, although subscription cable also provided by TransACT and Neighbourhood Cable in the Australian Capital Territory and Ballarat, respectively.
Prime7 broadcast to southern New South Wales through stations based in Orange and Dubbo, northern New South Wales from stations in Tamworth and Taree, Victoria from its Albury-Wodonga-based station AMV and Mildura via PTV.
Prime7 HD
Prime7 HD originally launched on 15 October 2007 as a sister to the Seven Network's high definition simulcast, Seven HD. Then-known as Prime HD, it broadcast in 1080i high definition on digital channel 60 on Prime's regional stations NEN Northern New South Wales, CBN Southern New South Wales, AMV Victoria and PTV Mildura. The channel broadcast breakaway programming from 10 December 2007 until 4 October 2009, when it was turned into a straight HD simulcast. Prime HD fully ceased broadcasting on 25 September 2010 with the launch of the HD channel 7mate. Prime7 re-launched their HD simulcast service, now known as Prime7 HD on 15 January 2018.
Logos
Prime Television became a network in May 1988, with shared logos produced and used across the regional stations, featuring the word Prime Television either above an outlined triangle or rectangle.