BTW-3
| GWN7 | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Launched | 10 March 1967 |
| Owned by | Prime Media Group |
| Picture format | 576i (SDTV) 16:9 |
| Audience share | 29.0% (2013, ) |
| Slogan | Gottaloveit |
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Broadcast area | Regional WA |
| Affiliates | Seven Network |
| Formerly called | South West Telecasters (1967-1979) Golden West Network (1979-2011) |
| Website | gwn7.com.au |
|
Availability
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| Terrestrial | |
| Freeview GWN7 owned (virtual) | 6 |
| Satellite | |
| VAST (virtual) | 6 |
GWN7 is an Australian television network owned by the Prime Media Group serving all of Western Australia outside of metropolitan Perth. It launched on 10 March 1967 as BTW-3 in Bunbury, where it is still based. An affiliate of the Seven Network, it serves one of the largest geographic television markets in the world—almost one-third of the continent. The network's name, GWN, is an acronym of Golden West Network, the network's name from 1979 to when the current name was adopted in 2011.
GWN began life as a group of smaller, independent stations:
Prior to these stations signing on, remote Western Australia had been one of the few areas of Australia without local television; the only television outlets in the area were relays of ABC Television out of Perth.
Jack Bendat purchased South West Telecasters (owner of BTW/GSW) in 1979, and changed the company's name to Golden West Network (GWN).
GWN applied to broadcast an additional service on 31 October 1984, when the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal called for applications to broadcast to Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands via satellite as part of the Remote Commercial Television License (RCTS) scheme. GWN was granted the Remote Commercial Television License (RCTS) in June 1985 and the service went to air on 18 October 1986 using the call-sign WAW.
Not long after, GWN continued to expand within Western Australia, acquiring Mid-Western Television (owner of VEW-8 Kalgoorlie) in December 1985 for A$7 million, and Geraldton Telecasters (owner of GTW-11) in March 1987 for an undisclosed amount. The takeovers gave the network a monopoly over all commercial television services in regional Western Australia. In 1987, Bendat and Kerry Stokes merged their media interests into joint company BDC Investments. Later that year, Northern Star Holdings purchased BDC for A$206 million. Northern Star were forced to sell GWN to satisfy existing media regulations. GWN was sold back to Stokes in December 1988 for A$54 million, who upgraded equipment throughout the network. In April 1990, the callsigns BTW and GSW were merged, to become SSW. During the late 1980s, GWN was promoted as GWN Satellite and aired programs from mostly the Nine Network plus a few from Seven and Ten with TVW's Seven News (from Perth) providing the national news link.
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