News

Nine and Prime agree to broadcast in Mildura as pressure grows in other markets

The Nine Network has ensured its signal will stay on-air in and around regional Mildura, Victoria, after it reached an affiliate deal with Prime Media and Bruce Gordon’s WIN Corporation.

Mildura is just one of a number of key regional markets that Nine and its affiliate Southern Cross Austereo need to negotiate before July 1 to ensure Nine Network don’t go off-air after regional station WIN switches affiliations to Ten on Friday.

Among the other regional markets still to be negotiated are Griffith, large parts of Western Australia, South Australian and Tasmania.

The tight timeframe has also caused concern in some markets with News Corp’s Hobart Mercury splashing on the front page a headline warning of “Dead Air” if a deal is not reached before Friday.

Hobart MercurySources close to Nine have told Mumbrella that the deal in Mildura is good news for the Nine Network and that it is hopeful that similar deals will be secured for other markets in the next day or so.

The former affiliates, Nine and WIN, have long been partners but in recent months the relationship has unravelled, with WIN taking Nine to court over 9Now and live-streaming – a case WIN lost, which led to a complete redrawing of regional TV’s borders and Nine and SCA signing an affiliate deal in April, with WIN and Ten subsequently signing their own deal.

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