Adelaide, South Australia | |
---|---|
Branding | Nine |
Channels | Digital: 8 (VHF) |
Affiliations | Nine (O&O) |
Owner |
Nine Entertainment Co. (Channel 9 South Australia Pty Ltd) |
First air date | 5 September 1959 |
Call letters' meaning | The NeWs South Australia |
Former channel number(s) | Analog: 9 (VHF) |
Transmitter power | 50 kW (digital) |
Height | 505 m (both) |
Transmitter coordinates | 34°58′57″S 138°42′30″E / 34.98250°S 138.70833°E |
Website | 9now.com.au |
NWS is an Australian television station based in Adelaide, Australia. It is owned-and-operated by the Nine Network. The station callsign, NWS, is an acronym of The NeWs South Australia.
NWS-9 was the first television broadcaster in Adelaide, beginning on 5 September 1959 from their Tynte Street studios. It was owned by Rupert Murdoch through his Southern Television Corporation Ltd who also owned city newspaper The News. Popular programs produced in its early days included the live variety shows Adelaide Tonight and Hey Hey It's Saturday (on-location specials), science show The Curiosity Show, The Country and Western Hour, and children's shows Channel Niners, Here's Humphrey and Pick Your Face.
In early 1980, NBN Limited became NWS's owner for A$19 million. In 1981, Hadjoin Pty. Ltd., a subsidiary of Parry's Esplanade Limited (later Parry Corporation), purchased 19.88% of NBN Limited for $6.7 million.
Following this, Parry then attempted to buy the Wansey family's stake in NBN, but was blocked by the Supreme Court of New South Wales, after which Parry revealed that he wanted to take over NBN (and thus NWS). Parry and the Lamb family then formed a deal - NBN would transfer NWS to the Lambs in exchange for their share of NBN which went to the Parrys. This ended NBN Limited's ownership of NWS.
The Lamb family sold NWS to Southern Cross Broadcasting for $96 million in 1999, leading to redundancies among almost half of the station's staff.