ABV (TV station)

ABV is the name of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's television station in Melbourne, Victoria.

ABV
Channels
BrandingABC TV
Programming
AffiliationsABC Television
Ownership
OwnerAustralian Broadcasting Corporation
History
First air date
19 November 1956 (1956-11-19)
Former channel number(s)
2 (VHF) (Analog, 1956–2013)
Call sign meaning
ABC Victoria
Technical information
ERP
  • 200 kW (analog)
  • 50 kW (digital)
HAAT
Transmitter coordinates37°50′6″S 145°20′54″E
Links
Websitewww.abc.net.au/tv/

History

The station began broadcasting on 19 November 1956 and is transmitted throughout the state via a network of relay transmitters. ABV was the second television station founded in Victoria after the first, HSV-7, which opened two weeks earlier on 4 November, as well as being the fourth television station to launch in Australia overall (the first being TCN-9, the Nine Network's Sydney station, the second being HSV-7, the Seven Network's Melbourne station, and the third being ABN-2, the ABC's station in Sydney). The studios are located in Southbank (although formerly in Elsternwick) with the transmitter at Mount Dandenong.

The analogue television signal for Melbourne was shut off on 10 December 2013, the last city in a phased shutdown as part of the conversion to digital television in Australia.[1][2]

Programming

Local programming

ABV follows a schedule nearly identical to that of other statewide ABC Television stations, allowing for time differences and some local programming – including news, current affairs, sport join and state election coverage.

ABC News Victoria is presented by Tamara Oudyn from Sunday to Thursday and Iskhandar Razak on Friday and Saturday. The weeknight bulletins also incorporate weather forecasts presented by Paul Higgins as well as a national finance segment presented by Alan Kohler.

Suzie Raines, Ben Knight, Bridget Rollason and Paul Higgins (news) and Nate Byrne, Danny Tran (weather) are fill in presenters for the bulletin.

ABV also carried live coverage of Victorian Football League matches on Saturday afternoons during the season until 2015 and the finals of the TAC Cup.

  • Former sports presenter Angela Pippos resigned in October 2007 after being demoted as weeknight sports presenter to weekend presenter in 2004 to make way for Peter Wilkins. It was documented in the press that Pippos had some run-ins with senior management over this issue and the timing of her departure, which came after she was approached by Victorian premier John Brumby to run as a candidate in the Williamstown by-election, caused by the resignation of former premier Steve Bracks. Pippos was suspended for one week while she made her decision not to stand, but resigned just weeks later.
  • In 2008, ABC News Victoria won one week in the 2008 television ratings season, and tied in another week with Seven News Melbourne.

Networked programming from ABV

Past programming

History

Past programming produced at ABV-2 included Corinne Kerby's Let's Make a Date, the popular children's fantasy Adventure Island, the multi-award-winning miniseries Power Without Glory, entertainment show The Big Gig and the iconic youth music program Countdown.

Early efforts by the station included Variety View (1958–1959), Melbourne Magazine (1957), Sweet and Low (1959) and Melody Time (1957–1959).

The first dramatic production by the station was a live, 30-minute play called Roundabout which aired on 4 January 1957.

ABV Channel 2 moved to new studios at Ripponlea in 1958, in Gordon Street, Elsternwick, with two major studios: Studio 31 & 32. The land had been acquired from the adjacent Rippon Lea Estate. Over the years, many additional properties were leased.[3] The ABC began consolidating all their Melbourne operations in 1999, with purchase of a property behind their Southbank premises which had housed their radio operations since 1994. The television news moved to Southbank in 2000, and the government approved a loan in 2013 to move the studio production.[4] The facility was finished in 2017 and the final show to be filmed at Ripponlea was Shaun Micallef's Mad as Hell in November 2017,[5] with all production consolidated into a single Studio 31 at Southbank after that.[6]

Relay stations

The following stations relay ABV throughout Victoria:

Call Region served City Channels Analog (Digital) First air date Meaning of call sign 3rd element[lower-greek 2]
  • ERP
  • Analog (Digital)
Transmitter coordinates Transmitter location
ABAV
Albury–Wodonga
15 December 1964 Albury
  • 160 kW
  • (75 kW)
  • 496 m
  • (525 m)
 36°15′13″S 146°51′20″E Mount Baranduda
ABEV Bendigo Bendigo
29 April 1963 BEndigo or Esperance
  • 130 kW
  • (420 kW)
  • 512 m
  • (517 m)
 36°59′32″S 144°18′30″E Mount Alexander
ABGV Goulburn Valley Shepparton
28 November 1963 Goulburn Valley
  • 1200 kW
  • (230 kW)
  • 372 m
  • (378 m)
 36°21′29″S 145°41′42″E Mount Major
ABLV Latrobe Valley Traralgon
30 September 1963 Latrobe Valley
  • 1600 kW
  • (400 kW)
  • 520 m
  • (520 m)
 38°23′57″S 146°33′53″E Mount Tassie
ABMV Mildura and Sunraysia Mildura
22 November 1965 Mildura
  • 200 kW
  • (50 kW)
  • 152 m
  • (152 m)
 34°22′47″S 142°11′18″E Yatpool
ABRV Ballarat Ballarat
20 May 1963 BallaRat or Regional Victoria
  • 2000 kW
  • (300 kW)
  • 710 m
  • (713 m)
 37°16′57″S 143°14′52″E Lookout Hill
ABSV Murray Valley Swan Hill
30 July 1965 Swan Hill
  • 200 kW
  • (320 kW)
  • 144 m
  • (201 m)
 35°28′22″S 143°27′22″E Goschen
ABWV Western District Hamilton
July 1981 Western Victoria
  • 130 kW
  • (32 kW)
  • 356 m
  • (365 m)
 37°27′32″S 141°54′58″E Mount Dundas

See also

Notes
  1. Height above average terrain (HAAT) estimated from the ITU SRTM3 database, using EHAAT.[lower-greek 8]
  2. In the regional four-character call signs, in all cases AB signifies "Australian Broadcasting", while V stands for the state of "Victoria". The third character is the distinguishing element, derived from the local placename, as detailed.
  3. Analogue transmissions ceased as of 5 May 2011 as part of the conversion to digital television.
  4. ABRV was on VHF channel 3 from its 1963 sign-on until sometime around 1991, moving to VHF channel 11 in order to accommodate FM radio. It moved to its current channel on 22 January 2001 in order to accommodate digital television in Melbourne.
  5. ABLV was on VHF channel 4 from its 1963 sign-on until 1991, moving to its current channel in order to accommodate FM radio.
  6. ABMV was on VHF channel 4 from its 1965 sign-on until sometime in the 1990s, moving to its current channel in order to accommodate FM radio.
  7. ABMV was on VHF channel 6 until 30 June 2010 due to the Analogue switchoff in the Mildura–Sunraysia region.
  8. "Calculation of Effective antenna heights using the SRTM3 database". ITU SRTM3 database. ITU International Telecommunications Union | ITU–R: ITU Radiocommunication.

References
  1. "Analogue TV gets an official switch-off date". Lifehacker Australia. 25 June 2012. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
  2. Brisbane, News Online (10 December 2013). "Australia's last remaining analogue TV transmitters switched off". ABC News. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
  3. House of Representatives Committees
  4. Knox, David (2 May 2013). "Government backs new ABC facility in Melbourne". TV Tonight. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  5. Lord, Kathy (29 November 2017). "Stars say goodbye to the Dream Factory, where TV history was made". ABC News.
  6. "Melbourne Studios - ABC Studios & Media Production".
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