NEN (TV station)

NEN

northern New South Wales
Branding	Prime7
Slogan	Bringing It Home
Channels	Analog: see table below Digital: see table below
Affiliations	Seven
Network	Prime7
Owner	Prime Television Ltd (Prime Television (Northern) Pty Ltd)
First air date	10 April 1965
Call letters' meaning	New England New South Wales
Former callsigns	ECN (Taree, Northern Rivers) [1966-1985]
Former affiliations	independent (1965-1970s) Great Eastland Television (1970s-1981) independent (1981-1991)
Transmitter power	see table below
Height	see table below
Transmitter coordinates	see table below
Website	www.primetv.com.au

NEN is an Australian television station licensed to, and serving northern New South Wales.

History

NEN9 Tamworth/Upper Namoi commenced transmissions on 10 April 1965, with a relay in Armidale (NEN1, later NEN10) on 15 July 1966. ECN8 Taree/Manning River began on 27 May 1966.

During 1968–69, ECN8 who at the time were facing financial difficulties approached NBN3 Newcastle to take the station over but the proposal was rejected by the Australian Broadcasting Control Board. An approach was also made to NRN11 Coffs Harbour but an agreement could not be reached. Finally, ECN approached NEN with an agreement for ECN to carry a relay broadcast of NEN's programming from the end of March 1969. In November 1971, ECN merged with NEN, but continued to use the callsign ECN into the mid 1980s.

During the 1970s and early 1980s NEN9 was a member of the Great Eastland Television partnership with NRN11 Coffs Harbour and SDQ4 Warwick, Queensland, sharing programming and advertising. From 1981 until 1989 the station branded itself 9-8 Television, referencing the channel numbers of both their Tamworth and Taree broadcasts.

Prime Television purchased the station in 1989, rebranding the station Prime Television and aligning it with the Seven Network, similarly to CBN in southern New South Wales, whilst changing ECN's call sign to NEN. At the commencement of Northern NSW market Aggregation on 31 December 1991, Prime Television became the Northern NSW affiliate of the Seven Network, in competition with NRTV (now Southern Cross Ten) and NBN.

Prime7 News

NEN produces and broadcasts a 30-minute Prime7 News bulletins for the Tamworth and North Coast regional markets, broadcast each weeknight at 6pm presented by Elspeth Taylor.

In the Newcastle and Central Coast market, short two-minute updates are presented on a rotating basis by Natalie Forrest and Renee Konig with weather forecasts from Daniel Gibson and Madelaine Collignon. Weekend weather forecasts for the Newcastle and Tamworth regions are presented by Craig Moore.

It is expected that towards late 2010 and early 2011, news bulletins for the Tamworth and North Coast markets will move to Prime7's Canberra headquarters.

Main transmitters

Region served	City	Channels (Analog/ Digital)	First air date	ERP (Analog/ Digital)	HAAT (Analog/ Digital)1	Transmitter Coordinates	Transmitter Location
Grafton/Kempsey	Coffs Harbour	31 (UHF) 30 (UHF)	31 December 1991	600 kW 250 kW	725 m 730 m	30°19′2″S 152°51′35″E / 30.31722°S 152.85972°E / -30.31722; 152.85972	Mount Moombil
Manning River2	Taree	8 (VHF) 9 (VHF)	27 May 1966	320 kW 80 kW	622 m 622 m	31°42′7″S 152°40′43″E / 31.70194°S 152.67861°E / -31.70194; 152.67861	Middle Brother
Newcastle/Hunter River	Newcastle	54 (UHF) 53 (UHF)	31 December 1991	1200 kW 500 kW	439 m 439 m	32°53′31″S 151°32′18″E / 32.89194°S 151.53833°E / -32.89194; 151.53833	Mount Sugarloaf
Richmond and Tweed	Lismore	44 (UHF) 35 (UHF)	31 December 1991	600 kW 200 kW	638 m 648 m	28°32′44″S 153°17′15″E / 28.54556°S 153.2875°E / -28.54556; 153.2875	Mount Nardi
Upper Namoi	Tamworth	9 (VHF) 9A (VHF)	10 April 1965	250 kW 55 kW	846 m 849 m	30°17′5″S 150°10′2″E / 30.28472°S 150.16722°E / -30.28472; 150.16722	Mount Dowe

Notes:

1. HAAT estimated from http://www.itu.int/SRTM3/ using EHAAT.
2. The Manning River station was an independent station with the callsign ECN from its 1966 sign-on until aggregation in 1991.

See also

• Regional television in Australia
• Prime7