WIN to drop Seven in regional SA and NSW

WIN Television has announced that it will cease the relay of the Seven Network channels, including Seven, 7Two and 7Mate in its solus regional markets in South Australia (Mount Gambier, Riverland) and New South Wales (Griffith) following Seven West Media‘s reported decision not to renew the existing contractual arrangements.

WIN has a commercial monopoly in those areas, which are excluded from the competitive aggregated markets in the more populated regional areas, and up until now has provided relays of all three commercial networks.

From 1 July, unless WIN and Seven can strike up a last minute agreement, viewers in those areas will need to rely on streaming via 7Plus to access Seven Network programs, sports coverage from AFL and cricket and special events like the TV Week Logie Awards.

The move comes almost a year after Seven and WIN opted to shutdown their jointly-owned Ten Network relay service in Mildura. WIN is also said to be reviewing other non-core broadcast assets including its half-ownership of Ten relays in Western Australia and Tasmania.

The Mount Gambier, Riverland and Griffith markets will essentially be the only regions in Australia without access to the Seven Network. As well as its capital city network, Seven maintains regional coverage in the aggregated markets covering Queensland, New South Wales, ACT, Victoria and Western Australia and is pending completion of its purchase of Southern Cross Austereo‘s Seven-affiliated outlets in Tasmania, Darwin, remote and central Australia, Mount Isa and Spencer Gulf/Broken Hill.

Source: TV Tonight, Mumbrella, Seven News