Channel Seven programming has been switched off in several cities in South Australia and New South Wales from Tuesday.
WIN Television and Seven West Media failed to reach an agreement for Channel Seven, 7mate and 7TWO to broadcast in the South Australian regional areas of Mt Gambier and Loxton, as well as Griffith in NSW.
The free-to-air channel now says that ‘Channel Seven programming is no longer available’ for viewers in these regions.
Network Seven holds exclusive rights to huge sporting events including Test cricket, the Big Bash and the AFL, among several other shows.
WIN Network CEO Andrew Lancaster said in a statement: ‘WIN remains committed to serving our regional audiences with a strong local presence and programming.’
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Channel Seven programming has been switched off in several cities in South Australia and New South Wales from Tuesday
Seven West Media Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Jeff Howard, said: ‘Despite our best endeavors, we have been unable to reach a mutually acceptable commercial agreement with the WIN Network to provide access to Seven via aerial transmission in Riverland, Griffith, and Mount Gambier.
‘Seven has not turned off our signal. We continue to provide our content to WIN for broadcast into these markets and WIN has made the decision to switch off the Seven signal to these communities.
‘While we are disappointed WIN has made this decision, these communities are important to us and they can access Seven’s news, sport and entertainment content live, free and on demand on 7plus,’ he said.
‘In the meantime, Seven is seeking the assistance of the Federal Government and the Australian Communications and Media Authority to help resolve this matter as quickly as possible.’
Residents will need to have a smart TV connected to the internet in order to access Seven’s streaming services.
WIN also dropped Sky News coverage in the area last year.
It comes after Daily Mail Australia exclusively revealed last week that Seven had poached the executive producer from Nine’s nightly bulletin, Tanya Weingarth.
In an internal email, the network announced the one-time A Current Affair senior producer would be appointed executive producer of the broadcaster’s 6pm Sydney news bulletin.
WIN Television and Seven West Media failed to reach an agreement for Channel 7, 7mate and 7two to broadcast in South Australian regional areas of Mt Gambier and Loxton, as well as the Griffith in NSW
It comes after Daily Mail Australia exclusively revealed last week that Seven had poached the executive producer from Nine’s nightly bulletin, Tanya Weingarth
Seven’s acting news director Geoff Dunn welcomed the appointment in the internal email.
‘Tanya started her career with Seven Queensland, so she really is coming home,’ the message read.
‘We will confirm her start date in due course,’ he said.
‘We’re thrilled she is making the switch to Sydney’s most dedicated news team.’
Weingarth’s career has spanned two decades in Australia after she started as a reporter at Seven News Queensland in 2003.
A Nine spokesman told Daily Mail Australia the network wished Weingarth ‘all the best for her next career move’.
‘Tanya continues to fulfil her current role as EP, including tonight at 6pm,’ he said.
It was also recently revealed that Seven News bosses were secretly planning to sack some of their most popular and best-paid stars.
Former top news boss Anthony De Ceglie had a plan to axe every Channel Seven personality earning more than $300,000 per year in favour of upcoming TV stars, according to The Australian’s Media Diary column.
It was planned that Spotlight chief correspondent Liam Bartlett, Seven News chief reporter Chris Reason and Seven News Sydney anchor Michael Usher were going to be quietly dismissed as part of a ‘drastic cost-cutting operation’.
Sunrise and The Morning Show presenters Natalie Barr, Matt Shirvington, Kylie Gillies and Larry Emdur were the only high-paid stars not at risk of losing their jobs.
However, De Ceglie’s proposal was met with ‘immediate resistance from Seven’s more seasoned executives’.