West Digital Television is an Australian

digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Businesses *Digital bank, a form of financial institution *Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) or Digital, a computer company *Digital Research (DR or DRI), a software ...

television network jointly owned by

Seven West Media Seven West Media Limited is an Australian ASX-listed media company. It is Australia's largest diversified media business, with an extensive presence in broadcast television, radio, print and online publishing. Seven West Media owns the Seve ...

and

WIN Corporation WIN Corporation is a private Australian media company, that owns assets including the WIN Television network, Crawford Productions and several local radio stations. The company is based in Wollongong, New South Wales. History Founding The WIN b ...

. It broadcasts

free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscri ...

on a number of digital terrestrial transmitters in regional and remote areas of

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

, as well as

free-to-view Free-to-view (FTV) is a term used for audiovisual transmissions that are provided free without any form of continual subscription. It differs from free-to-air (FTA) in that the program is encrypted. Free-to-view vs. free-to-air The free-to-vie ...

on the

Viewer Access Satellite Television The Viewer Access Satellite Television service, or VAST, is a satellite television platform in Australia, providing digital television and radio services to remote and rural areas, as well as viewers in terrestrial black spots. The service uses ...

service. The network began as an affiliate of

Network 10 Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's UK & Australia division and is one of the five national free-to-a ...

, remaining so until 1 July 2016, when it switched to the

Nine Network Nine Network (stylised 9Network, and commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of the five main free-to-air television ...

. On 1 July 2021, it returned to Network 10, broadcasting a direct feed of NEW-10 Perth. The network is similar to other joint ventures already available in

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

Mildura Mildura ( ) is a regional city in north-west Victoria, Australia. Located on the Victorian side of the Murray River, Mildura had a population of 34,565 at the 2021 census. When nearby Wentworth, Irymple, Nichols Point, Merbein and Red ...

, Darwin and Central and Eastern Australia. As GWN7 consists of three different stations licensed in Albany/ Bunbury,

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie-Boulder (or just Kalgoorlie) is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder as the surroundi ...

and

Geraldton Geraldton (Wajarri language, Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu language, Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West (Western Australia), Mid West region of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth. As of the , Geraldt ...

, and a fourth licensed to the rest of the state as part of the Remote Commercial Television Licence scheme, West Digital Television's network is made up of four separate stations. Each of the four stations trade as West Digital Television Pty Ltd.

History

On 18 June 2009, the

Australian Communications & Media Authority The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is an Australian government statutory authority within the Communications portfolio. ACMA was formed on 1 July 2005 with the merger of the Australian Broadcasting Authority and the Aust ...

allocated new "Section 38B" television broadcasting licences to a joint venture company owned by Prime Media and WIN Television. The company, named West Digital Television, launched Ten West on Thursday 10 June 2010 as part of the initial introduction of digital commercial television in

, Karratha, Mawson Trig and Mingenew. West Digital Television launched on the

platform in April 2011. Multi-channels

One 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

and

Eleven Eleven or 11 may refer to: *11 (number) * One of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011 Literature * ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn *''Eleven'', a 1970 collection of short stories by Patricia Highsmith *''Eleven'' ...

were launched to Regional WA viewers on 28 July 2011, the same day digital commercial television commenced in Bunbury.

Switch to Nine

On 1 July 2016, WIN's

-affiliated stations switched to Network Ten, displacing WDT's affiliation and requiring the station to negotiate a switch to Nine Network. WDT failed to reach an affiliation deal with Nine in time for the switchover, with the co-owners stating that Nine had been actively rejecting offers. At this time, the channel temporarily suspended transmission, with programming replaced by a loop of scenic footage with the scrolling message "Programming on this channel in Regional Western Australia is currently unavailable." On the evening of 2 July 2016 at around 7:30 p.m. WST, WDT began to carry Nine programming, joining its federal election coverage already in progress.

Back to 10

On 12 March 2021, Nine announced that it would return to WIN Television as its regional affiliate in most markets including Western Australia, beginning 1 July 2021, in a deal that lasts at least seven years. This will include WIN paying half of its regional advertising revenue to Nine Entertainment Co., and providing advertising time for Nine's properties on WIN's radio and television outlets. WIN will also provide advertising sales services for Nine's O&Os NBN and NTD (with the former succeeding a similar agreement it had with

Southern Cross Austereo Southern Cross Media Group Limited, Trade name, doing business as Southern Cross Austereo, is an Australian media company which operates broadcast radio and Terrestrial television, television stations. It is the largest radio broadcaster in Au ...

). Nine CEO Hugh Marks explained that "while our relationship with Southern Cross has been strong over the last five years, the opportunities presented by the WIN Network to both extend the reach of Nine's premium content into more regional markets under one agreement, and to work co-operatively with them on a national and local news operation, mean this is the right time for us to return to WIN". In June 2021, 10 announced that it would return to

as its regional affiliate in the markets of the ACT & Southern NSW,

regional Victoria Regional Australia is a socio-geographical definition used in Australia to describe populated regions outside of the major metropolitan areas (typically the capital city) in each state or territory, designed for censusing and promoting urbanized ...

and

regional Queensland Regional Australia is a socio-geographical definition used in Australia to describe populated regions outside of the major metropolitan areas (typically the capital city) in each state or territory, designed for censusing and promoting urbanized ...

, beginning on 1 July 2021 in a deal that would originally last at least two years. This has ended WIN's five-year agreement with Network 10. Since Southern Cross Austereo does not have a television presence in Western Australia, 10 affiliated with WDT in the region from 1 July 2021, changing channel numbers for the main 10 channel to channel 5,

10 Bold Drama 10 Bold Drama (set to rebrand as 10 Drama in 2025) is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel owned by Network 10. It originally launched on 26 March 2009 as One HD with a focus on broadcasting sports-based programming and eve ...

to channel 50 and

10 Peach Comedy 10 Peach Comedy (set to rebrand as 10 Comedy in 2025) is an Australian free-to-air television channel operated by Network 10. It was launched on 11 January 2011 as Eleven. It is owned by ElevenCo, which was established as a joint venture betwee ...

to channel 55. Its sister joint-venture in

, MDV, also owned by Seven and WIN, closed down on 1 July 2024 due to continued financial losses. West Digital Television was also due to close down on 1 July 2024, but the

Albanese government The Albanese government is the current federal executive government of Australia, led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of the Labor Party. The Albanese government was sworn in on 23 May 2022 by the Governor-General of Australia, David Hurl ...

's communications department approved $32.9 million in an increase in funding the costs for the station's satellite contract. This allowed WDT to continue broadcasting.

Programming

The network rebroadcasts a direct feed of NEW-10 Perth, including programming and events produced in Perth. The network previously rebroadcast a direct feed of STW-9 Perth from 2016 to 2021. West Digital Television does not produce any local programming.

News

West Digital Television simulcasts the Perth edition of

10 News First 10 News First (set to rebrand as 10 News on 30 June 2025) is an Australia, Australian television newscast, produced by Network 10. The network's flagship news program airs at 5PM on weekday evenings covering local, national and world news, inc ...

from NEW-10 produced from both TEN-10 in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

and NEW-10 in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, alongside the 5pm weekend news from TEN-10 in

. It previously simulcast the Perth edition of

Nine News Nine News (stylized as 9News) is a national News agency, news service on the Nine Network in Australia. Its flagship program is an hour-long ''9News'' bulletin at 6:00 pm, with editions produced by Nine's owned-and-operated stations in TCN, S ...

from STW-9, alongside the 5pm weekend news from

TCN-9 TCN is the flagship television station of the Nine Network in Australia. The station is currently located at 1 Denison Street, North Sydney. The licence, issued to a company named Television Corporation Ltd headed by Frank Packer, was one of the ...

in Sydney and 6pm weekend news from STW-9 in Perth.

Availability

The network's channels are available statewide in digital terrestrial and digital satellite format. Below is a table showing the

logical channel number In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered as digits on a receiver's ...

s (LCN) for the full suite of digital services.

Terrestrial

West Digital Television operates four television stations in regional and remote areas of

– SDW in the South West, VDW in the Goldfields, GDW in the Mid West and WDW for the remaining areas of the state. The stations are based on Seven Regional WA's separate licence areas and all broadcast

digital television channels 10, 10 Bold Drama and 10 Peach Comedy. Terrestrial transmissions are available in many regional cities and towns, including Albany, Broome, Bunbury, Carnarvon, Geraldton, Kalgoorlie, Karratha, Merredin, as well as others.

Satellite

The network is also broadcasts the same channels

on the Viewer Access Satellite Television service. The satellite service can be accessed by eligible viewers in the Western Australia TV3 licence area, which includes the entire state of WA, Christmas Island and Cocos/Keeling Islands.

References

{{WIN Corporation, state=collapsed Joint ventures WIN Television Prime Media Group Seven Network Digital terrestrial television in Australia Television channels and stations established in 2010 2010 establishments in Australia