Television coverage of the AFL is set to be removed from screens in the South East within a fortnight.
The free-to-air coverage will cease on June 30.
Substantial areas of rural NSW and SA Riverland are also set to lose free-to-air coverage of the AFL, Australian cricket tests and the Big Bash League after regional network WIN announced it would stop broadcasting the three Channel Seven channels from July 1.
The Riverland and SE and the area around the NSW town of Griffith will lose the signal for channels Seven, 7mate and 7two.
WIN executives say they could not come to terms on a new deal with Seven.
“We respect their right to pursue their own commercial strategies,” WIN chief executive Andrew Lancaster told the Australian Financial Review.
“WIN remains committed to serving our regional audiences with a strong local presence and programming.”
A spokesperson for Seven provided a statement to The SE Voice.
“Seven is disappointed it has not been able to reach an agreement with WIN to broadcast Seven’s content in the Riverland, South East and Griffith,” stated Seven.
“The communities living in the Riverland, South East and Griffith are incredibly important to Seven and pleasingly, they will continue to have access to all of our content, including the AFL and Cricket, via our live and free streaming platform, 7plus.
“Our ongoing commitment to regional markets is evidenced by our recent negotiation with Southern Cross Austereo to acquire its regional licences in various areas.”
Commercial television came to the South East region in the 1960s when local business investors including newspaper proprietors formed South East Telecasters and won the licence.
The studios and offices were erected on John Watson Drive in Mount Gambier and telecasts began in 1966 under the SES 8 call sign.
From 1972 until its sale to WIN TV in 1999, the controlling interest in SES 8 was held by late Mount Gambier businessman Allan Scott.
WIN TV gradually reduced local content and cancelled the weekday nightly news bulletins in 2013.
The studios and offices were sold to a consortium of local and interstate business interests in a multi-million-dollar sale in 2020 and reportedly on-sold two years later.
The site is again back on the market.
