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NBN (TV station)

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"NBN" redirects here. For other uses, see NBN (disambiguation).

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NBN Television is an Australian commercial television broadcasting company, broadcasting from its main studios in Newcastle, transmitting to the northern half of New South Wales (including the Central Coast, Newcastle and The Gold Coast).

The station is a Nine Network affiliate, owned by SP Telemedia, a subsidiary of Washington H. Soul Pattinson.

On Monday January 30, NBN unveiled a new logo and on-air look inspired by the Nine Network, which relaunched at the same time. The iconic Nine dots were dropped, replaced by "NBN" in a blue box. However, up until recently, the old dotted logo could still be seen in its news bulletins. It was expected NBN News would receive a minor or possibly major overhaul to coincide with this change, as the existing logo featured predominantly, and on Wednesday March 15, the NBN News logo was finally updated to match the rest of the network.

Station History

The Newcastle Broadcasting and Television Corporation began broadcasting on channel 3 on 4 March 1962. Coverage extended from Bungwahl to Broken Bay and as far West as Aberdeen. It operated from 3 PM to 10.30 PM on weekdays and Saturday, and from 1 PM to 11.30 PM on Sundays.

In 1972, NBN was granted a license to operate a translator in the Upper Hunter from Rossgole Lookout near Aberdeen, on channel 10. Further transmitters were installed at Banderra Downs, Merriwa (also on channel 10) and at Mount Helen, Murrurundi (on channel 1).

NBN began its long running newshour in March 1974, becoming the first television station in Australia to have a one hour news bulletin. The bulletin is still produced today, and is the only hour-long bulletin on regional television. In 1975, the station began to broadcast in colour.

The station's name was formally changed to NBN Television on 1 October 1979, having been previously known as Channel 3 (or sometimes NBN Channel 3). Also at that time, the company's name was changed to NBN Limited.

Following aggregation on 31 December 1991, the station's coverage expanded to cover all of northern New South Wales, beginning broadcasting 24 hours a day, and in stereo.

In 1992, NBN became an affiliate of Nine Network, and in 1994, the station's logo was changed to reflect that fact. Prior to this, NBN's slogan was "We're with you".

NBN has long been a supporter of many local events and groups in the area. They have been more noticeable through their sponsorship of the Newcastle Knights rugby league team, their logo has on their uniform for all bar one of the past few years. Other teams to receive their support are the Hunter Pirates NBL basketball team (and their predecessor, the Newcastle Falcons) and the Newcastle United Jets soccer team (as well as their previous incarnations, such as the Newcastle Breakers).

In 2004, NBN Television's owner, Washington H. Soul Pattinson, began moves to transfer control of the station to its publicy-listed subsidiary, Soul Pattinson Telecommunications, which became SP Telemedia as a result.

News

NBN has a reputation for news, especially local news. Its 6pm news bulletin is the top-rating local news bulletin in Australia, especially in its home area of Newcastle where in the past, it has outrated now-defunct news bulletins from rivals Prime Television and NRTV (now part of Southern Cross Ten).

The newshour is a combination of local news, as well as news sourced from the Nine Network, and its international affiliates, namely CBS, ABC and ITN.

The usual presenting team is Ray Dinneen and Natasha Beyersdorf , with Mike Rabbitt on sports and Garry Youngberry presenting weather. The weekend presenter is John Church, and regular fill-in presenters include Paul Lobb and Jim Callinan. Paul "The Chief" Harragon also presents a rugby league report on the station during the NRL season.

Previously, NBN had its own late night bulletin, but that was replaced by the Nine Network's Nightline program. NBN did broadcast National Nine News's 4.30pm bulletin, with an intro presented from Newcastle before the bulletin, and NBN's own weather and news recap replacing the final segment of the program. This is now replaced by other programming, such as Frasier or The Crocodile Hunter. This is presented either by Ray Dinneen or Melinda Smith. NBN doesn't broadcast the network's 11.00am bulletin; instead infomercials or their own "Today Extra" program airs in its place.

NBN will air its 20,000th news bulletin, commencing the week starting March 26.

Previous NBN Presenters

Other well-known personalities to have worked for the station include:

Locally-known personalities include:

Call Letters Meaning

NBN stands for Newcastle Broadcasting Network. It can stand for Newcastle Broadcasting, New South Wales.

Notes

Transmitters: current as of 28th September 2004. Please visit Digital Broadcasting Australia and the Australian Broadcasting Authority to find out if more relays have been installed.

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