In Australia, regional television is the local television services outside of the five main Australian cities (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth).
History
1960s
The first regional television stations were launched five years after the rollout of television to metropolitan Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. GLV-10 in Traralgon opened on 9 December 1961 and was followed 14 days later by GMV-6 in Shepparton and BCV-8 Bendigo.
Television continued to expand throughout Victoria and the rest of the country throughout the 1960s with no fewer than twenty five stations making their first transmissions between 1962 and 1968.
1962 station openings
4 March: NBN-3 Newcastle
17 March: CBN-8 Orange
18 March: WIN-4 Wollongong
27 April: BTV-6 Ballarat
12 May: RTN-8 Lismore
26 May: TNT-9 Launceston
2 June: CTC-7 Canberra
13 July: DDQ-10 Toowoomba
1 November: TNQ-7 Townsville
1963 station opening
7 September: RTQ-7 Rockhampton
1964 station openings
19 June: RVN-2 Wagga Wagga
7 September: AMV-4 Albury-Wodonga
1965 station openings
23 January: NRN-11 Coffs Harbour
10 April: WBQ-8 Wide Bay/Maryborough (later SEQ-8) 10 April: NEN-9 Tamworth
27 November: STV-8 Mildura
1 December: CWN-6 Dubbo (a relay of CBN-8 Orange) 15 December: MTN-9 Griffith
1966 station openings
25 March: SES-8 Mount Gambier
27 May: ECN-8 Taree
7 September: FNQ-10 Cairns
1967 station opening
10 March: BTW-3 Bunbury
1968 station openings
1 March: GTS-4 Port Pirie
9 August: MVQ-6 Mackay
16 August: BKN-7 Broken Hill
Many of the first stations produced their own local programming, supplemented by content from the capital city stations such as GTV-9 Melbourne's In Melbourne Tonight. GLV-10 Traralgon was amongst the first to make use of live 'off-air' relays of programmes from metropolitan stations without the use of video recording equipment.
1970s
VEW-8 Kalgoorlie opened on 18 June 1971 and ITQ-8 Mount Isa commenced on 11 September 1971 before television reached the Northern Territory on 11 November 1971 with the launch of NTD-8 Darwin. The last regional stations to launch were GSW-9 Albany (a relay of BTW-3 Bunbury) on 29 August 1974, RTS-5A Loxton on 26 November 1976 and GTW-11 Geraldton on 21 January 1977.
Similar to their metropolitan counterparts, various stations began to form programming and operational partnerships in order to reduce operating costs and share the cost of imported programming.
Television 6-8-9 (later Mid State Television) CWN-6 Dubbo CBN-8 Orange MTN-9 Griffith
Television Centre of Victoria (TCV) (later TV8, then Southern Cross TV8 and then Southern Cross Network) BCV-8/11 Bendigo/Swan Hill GLV-10 Gippsland STV-8 Mildura
RVN-AMV (later The Prime Network) RVN-2 Wagga Wagga AMV-4 Albury
Northern Rivers–Gold Coast Television (later Northern Rivers Television) NRN-11 Coffs Harbour RTN-8 Lismore
A partnership between NRN-11 Coffs Harbour and ECN-8 Taree was split up when NRN joined RTN-8 in 1971. ECN later went into partnership with NEN-9 Tamworth.
All television stations in Australia, including regional stations, were required to convert to colour transmission in 1975.
1980s
Stations continued to form various partnerships and networks throughout the 1980s.
North Queensland Television (later QTV) TNQ-7 Townsville FNQ-10 Cairns
SIX Network Victoria (later Television Victoria) GMV-6 Shepparton BTV-6 Ballarat STV-8 Mildura (joined network after purchase by Ent Limited)
TV8 (later Southern Cross TV8 and then Southern Cross Network) GLV-8 Gippsland BCV-8 Bendigo STV-8 Mildura (split from network after purchase by Ent Limited)
TasTV
TVT-6 Hobart
TNT-9 Launceston (split from network in 1989 to become Southern Cross)
Golden West Network (later GWN7, now Seven Regional WA) BTW-3 Bunbury GSW-9 Albany VEW-8 Kalgoorlie GTW-11 Geraldton
Throughout the 1980s, a number of regional stations were required to move to different frequencies. These included GLV-10 in Gippsland, who moved to channel 8 in order to allow ATV-0 Melbourne to move to channel 10 in 1980. DDQ-10 and TVQ-0 switched channels to become DDQ-0 and TVQ-10, and SEQ10 became SEQ55 in 1988.
The last regional station to launch before aggregation launched unofficially on 2 January 1988 – IMP-9, Imparja Television in Alice Springs, began transmission via the AUSSAT satellites, as well as a number of terrestrial transmitters.