CTC (TV station)

CTC
Southern New South Wales & ACT
City Canberra
Branding Southern Cross Ten
Slogan Various
Channels Digital: see table below
Affiliations Ten
Owner Southern Cross Austereo
(Australian Capital Television Pty Ltd)
Founded 19 May 1958
First air date 2 June 1962
Call letters' meaning Capital
Television
Canberra
Former channel number(s) 7 (1962-1988), 10 (1988-1990 and 1995-present)
Former affiliations Independent (1962–1987)
Transmitter power see table below
Height see table below
Transmitter coordinates see table below
Website http://www.southerncrossten.com.au/

CTC is a television station in Canberra, the capital city of Australia. The station was the tenth to begin transmission in regional Australia, and the 26th station in Australia as a whole.[1] Just as it had a number of owners, CTC has also had many different identities on-air – including CTC-TV, Super 7, Capital 7, Australian Capital Television, Capital Television, Capital 10 TV Australia, Ten Capital and now Southern Cross Ten.[2]

History

Origins

The station's history can be traced back to 19 May 1958, when Canberra Television Limited (or CTL), a public company, was formed by executives of The Federal Capital Press of Australia Pty. Ltd. (owner of The Canberra Times newspaper) and Canberra Broadcasters Pty. Ltd. (owner of local radio station 2CA).[3] Both companies injected A£45,000 (A$A90,000) into the business in order to apply for the Canberra-area commercial television licence.[3] The first chairman of the newly formed company was Arthur Shakespeare, founder of The Canberra Times.

Alongside four other applicants, CTL submitted their licence application to the Australian Broadcasting Control Board in April 1959. The company went public in September of the same year, on the Australian Stock Exchange in Sydney, offering 100,000 shares which were immediately oversubscribed, ending up with a total subscribed capital of A£300,000 (A$600,000).[3] The two key shareholders in CTL made an agreement with all other shareholders that all shares were to be bought back in the event that they were unsuccessful in their licence bid — they need not have worried, since after a hearing of considerable length, the ABCB decided to grant CTL the licence in November 1960. The callsign for the station was to be CTC and the new service was to transmit on VHF channel 7.[3]

Prior to the acquisition of the licence, CTL needed to find suitable sites for both a studio and a transmitter. Initially, Mount Ainslie (approximately 10 km north-east of Canberra's city centre, at an elevation of 842 m above sea level) was considered as a potential transmitter site.[4] It was turned down, however, because it was already under the control of the Department of Civil Aviation (who would be unwilling to surrender or lease the site due to its proximity to the Airport and the Air Force base).[4] It was also determined that a transmitter located atop Mount Ainslie would not provide ample coverage of the entire Canberra area (notable black-spots would have included the Woden and Belconnen districts), nor would there be enough room for the ABC's television transmitter (whose service was due to commence in December 1962) as well as CTC.[4] Other sites considered included Mounts Gray, Bowning, Ginini and Bull's Head.[3]

Ultimately, the site chosen for both the transmitter and the studio was Black Mountain, approximately 5 km west of the city centre at 812 m above sea level. Extensive tests from the site proved that it was the ideal location for the transmitter, with signals adequately covering the Canberra area. The ABC also decided to place their transmitter atop Black Mountain — both would be perched atop guyed masts (as opposed to towers) with each rising to 126 metres and 152 metres, respectively.[5] ABC's studio would be located in Canberra city proper. In order to access the transmitters and studio, a road needed to be built up to the summit — construction commenced in July 1961. CTL were granted the lease to the Black Mountain site on 26 September 1961.[5]

The studio complex, which, in later years, would be affectionately known as 'the tin shed' was planned, designed and constructed by Civil and Civic Pty. Ltd. over a period of 28 weeks (from September 1961 – March 1962) at a total cost of £77,912 (A$155,824). Occupying a 9400 square metre (101,000 square feet) site, the complex featured a 140-square-metre studio area and was fitted out with RCA equipment — two 4½" image orthicon cameras were purchased for use in the studio at a cost of £8,000 (A$16 000) each. The transmitter (whose mast was erected in March 1962) was custom-designed by Co-El of Italy, and the mast EPT Limited in Sydney.[3]

Opening night

By April 1962, both the studio and transmitter was completed and the first test patterns were transmitted. On 23 May 1962 at 5:45 p.m., the first live test transmission took place with the Safety Bureau Officer, Senior Constable T. A. M. Cooper presenting a 13-minute public service announcement on the proper use of fireworks.[6]

Although CTC7 commenced transmission at 6 p.m. on 2 June 1962 with various program promotions and a documentary on the construction of the CTC studios, the official opening was not to take place until 7 p.m. — as well as Postmaster-General Davidson, CTL chairmen A. T. Shakespeare, Sir Patrick McGovern and station manager George Barlin also assisted with the opening proceedings.[7] An introduction to CTC's on-screen personalities was followed by a news summary. Viewers were then treated to a film of the Queen's Birthday Procession from the military barracks at Duntroon (filmed earlier that day), followed by an hour of variety with The B.P. Super Show hosted by Margaret Fonteyn.[7] The detective series Michael Shayne made its premiere on CTC then a kinescope of the opening ceremony was screened. The first night's programming concluded with an epilogue and a preview of the following day's programmes before ending transmission at 10:30 p.m.[7]

1970s

CTC was a pioneer of colour television, commissioning the first purpose-built colour production studio and film laboratory in Australia. The new facility in Watson, North Canberra opened in October 1974 costing over $2 million[8] and boasted sales and administration, a full size production studio supplemented by two smaller studios for commercial recordings and on-air presentation.[9] As the facility was fully equipped only with colour equipment over 80% of the broadcasts were in colour, five months before the official commencement date of 1 March 1975. Technically in breach of the Australian Broadcasting Control Board rules, CTC was the first television station in Australia to broadcast the majority of its output in colour.[8]

1980s to 1990s

Current Seven Network chairman Kerry Stokes bought the station in 1979. The succeeding period is broadly seen as golden era for local television in Canberra with an increase in staff, resources and production. By 1987 the impending aggregation of regional television loomed and Stokes sold CTC to Northern Star Holdings, owners of Network Ten.[10] Now part of the national network, the CTC identity evolved to emulate that of its new sister stations TEN Sydney, ATV Melbourne, ADS Adelaide and NEW Perth. The name changed from Capital 7 to Capital Television in 1988, the news bulletin was renamed Ten News and the short lived X logo was adopted denominated with the word Capital in place of TEN used for the other network stations.

By the middle of 1988 Northern Star Holdings was subject to an inquiry by the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal in relation to media ownership regulations[11] and subsequently ran into financial difficulties following the 1987 stock market crash. Network Ten went into receivership in 1989 and was sold to Broadcom, owned by Steve Cosser and Charles Curran.[12]

In 1989 Ten's ratings were in decline so on 23 July, the recently recruited network boss Bob Shanks relaunched the network as 10 TV Australia.[13] CTC followed suit with the change adopting the 10 TV Australia logo branded with the denominator Capital in place of the city name used in the metropolitan markets.

CTC left it's brief stint as a fully fledge member of Network Ten in 1990 when Charles Curran's Capital Television Group acquired the station.[10] In 1991, steering away from the Channel 10 branding, the station took on an original ribbon logo for Capital Television reminiscent of the iconic Capital 7 flag of the 1980s. The station ID was a modified version of The Entertainment Network identity of Network Ten.

Channel 10 returned to Canberra when Southern Cross Broadcasting bought CTC in December 1994[10] and rebranded the station Ten Capital early in February 1995 in a move that would eliminate resources required to re-brand Network Ten station promos and IDs.

2000 to today

Southern Cross Broadcasting acquired Telecasters Australia in 2001 and CTC was rebranded as Southern Cross Ten along with regional stations in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.

From 1 July 2016, Southern Cross will change its programming alliance from the Network Ten to the Nine Network in Canberra, southern NSW, Victoria and Queensland as part of a five year agreement. The deal will see Southern Cross Ten stations, including CTC, rebrand as Channel Nine ending a 27 year affiliation with Ten.[14] The change is reminiscent of the 'frequency swap' between ADS and SAS Adelaide in 1987 which became Channel 10 and Channel 7 respectively. When the Southern Cross Nine agreement comes into effect, CTC will be the only television station in Australia that has been known as Channel 7, Channel 9 and Channel 10.

News and current affairs

CTC had a long and rich history of quality local news production with bulletins airing on the station for almost 40 years until being axed at the end of 2001. The news format varied over the years and for lengthy periods was a separate local bulletin followed by national news taken from metropolitan stations such as TCN 9 in Sydney.[15]

By the early 1980s, CTC was producing composite local/national/international bulletins seven days a week. Australian Capital News was a one-hour bulletin on weeknights[16] and a half-hour bulletin on weekends.[17]

Under the auspices of News Director Ken Begg, who joined CTC in 1987 from ABC, the news bulletin was rebranded Eyewitness News, aligning with its soon to be Network Ten affiliate.[18] The name was changed to Ten News in 1988 reverting in 1991 to Capital Eyewitness News. Begg recruited veteran ABC newscaster Geoff Hiscock and TV8's Christine Kininmonth to steer CTC through the impending aggregation, which would see CTC's potential audience split into three. CTC's commitment to metropolitan quality news saw the station defy other Network Ten affiliates in Australia, maintaining a number one position in the ratings for three years after Prime and WIN commenced broadcasting in Canberra.[19] For a time, the bulletin was also shown across the entire southern NSW licence area, before it was scaled back to Canberra due to low ratings.

The First at Five Failure

Following suit with the rest Network Ten, CTC moved Capital Eyewitness News an hour earlier to 5pm in 1992.[20] The 'First at Five' slogan was emblazoned across Canberra on buses and in newspaper ads. The move to 5pm gave Network Ten an edge in other cities against its rival news bulletins. In Canberra there were no other local/national/international bulletins on air, but the half-hour 6pm local news on rival WIN was proving popular. However in both a testament to the loyalty of its audience and a question mark over the wisdom of management, the 'First at Five' move was met with fierce protest by viewers. Not only had the beloved 'Channel 7 News' as it was colloquially known been moved an hour earlier, but the 6pm-7pm slot had been filled by the tabloid current affairs programme Hinch and the low-budget American dating show Studs. Canberra was having none of it and CTC restored the bulletin to 6pm within a matter of weeks. Bus ads were hastily amended with stickers covering the timeslot noting the news was 'First at Six'.

The 1993 Canberra TV News War

Four years after aggregation, Prime, which had had a stop/start approach to local news in Canberra, took the decision to take on CTC head-to-head with a one-hour local/national/international 6pm news bulletin.[21] A team of 26 including Ken Begg and Geoff Hiscock, both poached from CTC, were brought together to upgrade Prime's news. The now nationally known faces of Melissa Doyle and Jessica Rowe would also join Prime's news team. Meanwhile sports presenter Greg Robson took over from Hiscock anchoring Capital Eyewitness News at CTC alongside Kininmonth and WIN maintained it's half-hour local news bulletin anchored by veteran Canberra broadcaster Peter Leonard. Prime's 6 O'clock News commenced on 1 March 1993 amid a high-profile advertising campaign.[22] For the first time in Canberra's history, viewers had the choice of three locally produced television news bulletins. 1993 would go down in history as the pinnacle of local TV choice for Canberra, with buses and newspapers plastered with the faces of three newsrooms. But it wasn't to last and by Christmas 1993,[19] Prime had scaled back its one-hour bulletin to a half-hour local bulletin. Capital Eyewitness News prevailed alongside it's fierce rival WIN.

1995 - The beginning of the end

Southern Cross Broadcasting rebranded the bulletin Ten Capital Eyewitness News matching the station name change in February 1995, having acquired CTC the previous year. The newsroom was subject to extensive staff cuts and the cancellation of the half-hour weekend bulletin was the most obvious sign things were changing. Over the next five years, limited resources were invested into the newsroom and technical glitches were becoming more obvious to viewers. Ten year old camera tapes were having to be reused with tape wear showing on screen. Sound desks from the early 1970s were also beginning to fail leading to breaks in audio on-air. Despite the lack of investment in technical equipment, the CTC newsroom maintained its legacy of quality news through its selection of local and national stories and broad coverage of international news.

By 2000 the bulletin had simplified its name to Ten Capital News.[23] The 1990s had been a decade of soft ratings for Network Ten and the legacy of CTC's 'Channel 7' glory days had long been forgotten. Owners Southern Cross Broadcasting tapped the final nail in the coffin of the locally produced news bulletin in 2001 blaming declining audience and the expense of upgrading equipment for digital broadcasting. The axing, in the same year as Prime cancelled it's half-hour local bulletin in Canberra, sparked an Australian Broadcasting Authority investigation into regional television news.[24] No news bulletins were restored as a result.

Local news was reintroduced to the station in 2004 in the form of three-minute updates at various times of the day. The news updates are produced by Southern Cross News and are aired from the CTC Canberra studios.

The channel airs the state and weekend national Ten Eyewitness News editions from Ten Sydney in the late afternoon, as well as The Project and The Bolt Report. State level and national level news updates from Ten Sydney are also broadcast as well.

Presenters

Reporters

See also

References

  1. ↑ "How And Why The A.C.T. Licence Was Determined". The Canberra Times. 1962-05-28. Retrieved 2007-09-11.
  2. ↑ "50 years of TV in Canberra". TelevisionAu.com.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Station Came Into Being In Nine Months". The Canberra Times. 1962-05-28. Retrieved 2007-09-11.
  4. 1 2 3 "Canberra's Highest Building Finished In Record Time". The Canberra Times. 1962-05-28. Retrieved 2007-09-11.
  5. 1 2 "Black Mountain Ideal As Site Of TV Transmitter". Goulburn Evening Post. 1962-06-05. Retrieved 2007-09-11.
  6. ↑ "First Live Transmission". The Canberra Times. 1962-05-24. Retrieved 2007-09-11.
  7. 1 2 3 "CTC-7 Station Opened". The Canberra Times. 1962-06-04. Retrieved 2007-09-11.
  8. 1 2 Barnett, Bronwyn. "Regional television: from colour to digital". National Film & Sound Archive. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
  9. ↑ Barnett, Bronwyn. "Colour TV in Australia: Colouring our world". National Film & Sound Archive. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
  10. 1 2 3 Rosenberg, Jen (8 December 1994). "The Canberra Times".
  11. ↑ "Sydney Morning Herald". 1 June 1988.
  12. ↑ "1989 in Australian television".
  13. ↑ "Network Ten".
  14. ↑ Joyce, James. "The Canberra Times". Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  15. ↑ "Wednesday 26 September 1979 — CANBERRA". Television AU. Retrieved 5 May 2016.
  16. ↑ "Friday 22 April 1983 — CANBERRA". Television AU. Retrieved 5 May 2016.
  17. ↑ "Saturday 29 October 1983 — CANBERRA". Television AU. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
  18. ↑ "Canberra TV 1988 - Opening of Australia's Parliament House (Capital 7, Canberra)". You Tube. Retrieved 5 May 2016.
  19. 1 2 Rosenberg, Jen (3 October 1994). "Hiscock 'sensed' axe would fall". Trove. Retrieved 5 May 2016.
  20. ↑ "Television AU". Retrieved 5 May 2016.
  21. ↑ "Monday 1 March 1993 — CANBERRA". Television AU.
  22. ↑ "Monday 1 March 1993 — CANBERRA". Television AU. Retrieved 5 May 2016.
  23. ↑ "Monday 27 March 2000 — CANBERRA". Television AU. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
  24. ↑ "Adequacy of local news and information programs on commercial television services in Regional Queensland, Northern NSW, Southern NSW and Regional Victoria" (PDF). ACMA. Retrieved 5 May 2016.
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