PTV (TV station)
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Television broadcasting |
| Founded | September 7, 1964 |
| Headquarters | Albury , Australia |
Area served | Southwestern New South Wales, Northeastern Victoria |
| Products | Television broadcasting, Regional news programming |
Number of employees | 120 (mid-1980s) |
| Parent | Prime Media Group |
AMV is a television broadcaster based in Australia, catering to audiences in the areas surrounding Wagga Wagga and Albury-Wodonga across southwestern New South Wales and northeastern Victoria. For many years, it operated in conjunction with RVN-2 under the collective name Riverina and North East Victoria Television Service.
License acquisition and early development
AMV-4 commenced its transmissions on 7 September 1964, offering programming sourced from Sydney's trio of commercial channels (ATN-7, TCN-9, TEN-10) alongside regionally produced content such as coverage of the Albury Gold Cup, the Ovens and Murray Football League Grand Final, and the 1988 Miss Australia contest. The station has maintained a consistent production of a half-hour regional news segment on weeknights—now known as Prime7 News—with local news and sports segments created in Albury but edited at Prime7's headquarters in Canberra.
The broadcasting license was granted to the operating entity, Albury-Upper Murray TV Limited, on 4 October 1962. Key shareholders included Amalgamated Wireless Australasia, Hoyts, the newspaper The Border Morning Mail, along with other local enterprises, fulfilling the stipulation that at least half of the ownership be held by local interests.
RVN's foundation before broadcasting
Multiple local organizations submitted applications when the commercial television license for the Riverina region was announced. Among these were Young-based radio station 2LF, various local councils and business groups from the Young-Cootamundra district, The Daily Advertiser, radio broadcaster 2WG, local entrepreneurs, smaller newspapers, and licensed clubs.
Eventually, 2LF's proposal merged with that of the Advertiser–2WG consortium. Share distribution allocated 10% to 2LF, 20% to 2WG, and 15% to The Advertiser, with remaining shares made available to local investors. Following an inquiry by the Australian Broadcasting Control Board, this combined group—operating as Riverina Television—was awarded the license.
The original board comprised members representing 2WG, 2LF, The Daily Advertiser, and two local councils. Shortly after licensing was secured, both the chairman and station manager resigned due to internal disagreements; they were succeeded by Wal Hucker—a Sydney-based proprietor of a film animation and sound business who was also brother-in-law to the former chairman. To maintain 2WG’s involvement, the previous chairman’s wife joined the board. Bill Marsden from 2LF assumed the role of station manager.
A dispute arose with Wagga Wagga city council regarding the location for studio facilities, resulting in rezoning a new site for residential use. The transmission tower was co-located with the local ABC transmitter but functioned independently under chief engineer Stuart McDonald. RVN became a pioneer as the first station to manage its transmitters remotely. Studio construction began in July 1963 and was completed by early 1964.
Initial broadcasts
On 19 June 1964 at 7 pm, RVN initiated its broadcast service amid considerable excitement throughout the Riverina and South-West Slopes regions. Prior to launch, promotional campaigns focused on educating residents about acquiring television sets and installing antennas. The opening night lineup featured a welcome message from the local Federal Member of Parliament, footage depicting studio construction, a brief five-minute news segment anchored by Paul Griffiths, followed by the feature film The Dambusters and an episode of The Jack Benny Program.
Later that same year on 7 September 1964, AMV-4 Albury began its transmissions with programs including Cohns Cobbers’ Teleclub, Captain Gallant of the Foreign Legion, Calvin and the Colonel, a locally produced show titled On Target, along with ABC News sourced from ABV-2 Sydney. Evening schedules featured series such as Bonanza, the movie Lucky Me, and Mike Hammer before concluding broadcasts at 11:35 pm.
News presentations often combined slide-based announcements or live readings with newsreel footage from Sydney’s ATN-7 aired from the previous evening. Live broadcasts included local programming and advertisements. Remarkably, RVN was unique among regional stations by posting a modest profit during its inaugural year.
RVN-AMV
Facing financial difficulties by the early 1970s, RVN and AMV joined forces in 1971, creating the Riverina and North East Victoria Television Service Pty Ltd, which broadcast under the name RVN-AMV. Although initially maintaining separate programming schedules, by 1976 all transmissions were consolidated and operated from Wagga Wagga.
In 1983, due to differing daylight saving times between New South Wales and Victoria, AMV aired RVN's programming with a one-hour delay for a three-week period. Catering to viewers across two states, the stations customized their content by providing Sydney news and rugby league for audiences in New South Wales, while offering Melbourne news and AFL coverage for viewers in Victoria.
By the mid-1980s, the combined workforce numbered around 120 employees located in both Wagga and Albury.
Prime/Ramcorp
In 1987, Ramcorp Ltd., owned by Paul Ramsay, purchased RVN-AMV and merged it with MidState Television to form Prime Television. Following the aggregation of Southern New South Wales in 1989, RVN partnered with CBN as the Seven Network affiliate, competing against Ten Capital and WIN Television. Meanwhile, AMV expanded its reach throughout Victoria as the state's Seven Network affiliate, contending with Vic TV and Southern Cross.
The RVN callsign was discontinued in 1991 when the licenses for Wagga Wagga and Orange were merged into CBN. At the same time, AMV transitioned from VHF channel 4 to channel 11 to enable FM radio growth without signal interference.
Prior to Victorian market aggregation (excluding Mildura) in early 1992, Prime set up a studio and playout facility in Mitchell Park, Ballarat, to serve Western Victoria, Central Victoria, and Gippsland regions. Playout operations for Albury and Shepparton continued at Prime’s Albury studios. The Ballarat facility operates under the AMV license.
The station celebrated its 50th anniversary in September 2014 at its former Union Road premises before relocating to new studios on Dean Street, Albury in April 2015.
Seven News
AMV produces a nightly 30-minute Seven News bulletin for the Albury-Wodonga border area and North East Victoria regional audience at 6:00pm on weekdays. The program is co-anchored by Madelaine Collignon and Nick Hose from Canberra, featuring reports from Seven’s Albury-based journalists. Weather segments are presented by Kirstie Fitzpatrick. At 6:30pm, a condensed 30-minute edition of Seven’s primary Melbourne bulletin airs. This format was introduced on 24 February 2014 after Seven News extended its main evening bulletins to one hour across eastern metropolitan markets following the cancellation of the current affairs show Today Tonight, which is not broadcast in the Border sub-market. Given that Albury (NSW) lies just across the border from Wodonga (Victoria), AMV sources its programming from Seven Melbourne within the Victorian broadcast region due to closer proximity compared to Sydney.
Local news production was originally conducted at studios located at 570 Union Road in Lavington, Albury. During the 2000s, Prime Media began closing many regional production facilities due to upgrade expenses but maintained and digitized Albury’s studios by late 2010. Nevertheless, two months later Prime Media ended local production at Union Road, relocating operations to its Canberra headquarters; the final local broadcast occurred in March 2011. The former studio site was sold and repurposed as a church in 2016. Helen Ballard, the last local news presenter there, moved on to reporting duties at the new Albury newsroom.
In regional markets such as Ballarat, Bendigo, and Gippsland, brief two-minute news updates are delivered by Pip Waller alongside weather forecasts presented by Daniel Gibson.
Primary transmitters
| Served region | City | Channels Analog (Digital) | Initial broadcast date | ERP Analog (Digital) | HAAT Analog (Digital) | Transmitter Coordinates Analog (Digital) | Transmitter Site |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ballarat | Ballarat | 33 UHF (36 UHF) | March 1992 | 2000 kW (300 kW) | 663 m (713 m) | Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found. | Lookout Hill |
| Bendigo | Bendigo | 32 UHF (31 UHF) | March 1992 | 2000 kW (550 kW) | 517 m (496 m) | Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found. (digital Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found.) | Mount Alexander |
| Goulburn Valley | Shepparton | 43 UHF (34 UHF) | March 1992 | 1200 kW (225 kW) | 377 m (378 m) | Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found. | Mount Major, Victoria |
| Latrobe Valley | Traralgon | 46 UHF (33 UHF) | March 1992 | 1000 kW (250 kW) | 515 m (487 m) | Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found. (digital Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found.) | Mount Tassie |
| Murray River Valley | Swan Hill | 47 UHF (48 UHF) | March 1992 | 400 kW (220 kW) | 179 m (201 m) | 35|28|24|S|143|27|20|} | Goschen, Victoria |
| Victorian Upper Murray (Upper Hume region) | Albury, New South Wales | 11 VHF (12 VHF) | 7 September 1964 | 250 kW (75 kW) | 525 m | Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found.
References |