ABV (TV station)

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ABC
Australian Broadcasting Corporation logo (1974-).svg
Melbourne, Victoria
ChannelsDigital: 12 (VHF)
Virtual: 2
BrandingABC TV
Programming
AffiliationsABC Television
Ownership
OwnerAustralian Broadcasting Corporation
History
First air date
19 November 1956; 64 years ago (1956-11-19)
Former channel number(s)
2 (VHF) (Analog, 1956–2013)
Call sign meaning
ABC Victoria
Technical information
ERP200 kW (analog)
50 kW (digital)
HAAT507 m (analog)
534 m (digital)[1]
Transmitter coordinates37°50′6″S 145°20′54″E / 37.83500°S 145.34833°E / -37.83500; 145.34833 (ABV)
Links
Websitewww.abc.net.au/tv/

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

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 third television station to launch in Australia overall (the first being TCN-9). The studios are located in Southbank (although formerly in Elsternwick) with the transmitter at Mount Dandenong.[citation needed]

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.[2][3]

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 and state election coverage.

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

Paul Higgins, Mary Gearin, Iskhandar Razak, Suzie Raines and Ben Knight (news) and Nate Byrne and Georgie Tunny (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.[4] 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.[5] 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,[6] with all production consolidated into a single Studio 31 at Southbank after that.[7]

Relay stations[]

The following stations relay ABV throughout Victoria:

Call Region served City Channels
(Analog/
digital) 		First air date 3rd letter's
meaning 		ERP
(Analog/
digital) 		HAAT
(Analog/
digital)1 		Transmitter coordinates Transmitter location
ABAV Albury/Wodonga 1 (VHF)7
11 (VHF) 		15 December 1964 Albury 160 kW
75 kW 		496 m
525 m 		36°15′13″S 146°51′20″E / 36.25361°S 146.85556°E / -36.25361; 146.85556 (ABAV)
ABEV Bendigo Bendigo 1 (VHF)7
29 (UHF) 		29 April 1963 BEndigo 130 kW
420 kW 		512 m
517 m 		36°59′32″S 144°18′30″E / 36.99222°S 144.30833°E / -36.99222; 144.30833 (ABEV) Mount Alexander
ABGV Goulburn Valley Shepparton 40 (UHF)2 7
37 (UHF) 		28 November 1963 Goulburn Valley 1200 kW
230 kW 		372 m
378 m 		36°21′29″S 145°41′42″E / 36.35806°S 145.69500°E / -36.35806; 145.69500 (ABGV)
ABLV Latrobe Valley Traralgon 40 (UHF)3 7
29 (UHF) 		30 September 1963 Latrobe Valley 1600 kW
400 kW 		520 m
520 m 		38°23′57″S 146°33′53″E / 38.39917°S 146.56472°E / -38.39917; 146.56472 (ABLV)
ABMV Mildura and Sunraysia Mildura 6 (VHF)4 6
11 (VHF) 		22 November 1965 Mildura 200 kW
50 kW 		152 m
152 m 		34°22′47″S 142°11′18″E / 34.37972°S 142.18833°E / -34.37972; 142.18833 (ABMV)
ABRV Ballarat Ballarat 42 (UHF)5 7
35 (UHF) 		20 May 1963 BallaRat 2000 kW
300 kW 		710 m
713 m 		37°16′57″S 143°14′52″E / 37.28250°S 143.24778°E / -37.28250; 143.24778 (ABRV)
ABSV Murray Valley Swan Hill 2 (VHF)7
47 (UHF) 		30 July 1965 Swan Hill 200 kW
320 kW 		144 m
201 m 		35°28′22″S 143°27′22″E / 35.47278°S 143.45611°E / -35.47278; 143.45611 (ABSV) Goschen
ABWV Western Victoria Hamilton 5A (VHF)7
6 (VHF) 		July 1981 Western Victoria 130 kW
32 kW 		356 m
365 m 		37°27′32″S 141°54′58″E / 37.45889°S 141.91611°E / -37.45889; 141.91611 (ABWV)

Notes:

  • 1. HAAT estimated from http://www.itu.int/SRTM3/ using EHAAT.
  • 2. ABGV was on VHF channel 3 from its 1963 sign-on until 1991, moving to its current channel in order to accommodate FM radio.
  • 3. ABLV was on VHF channel 4 from its 1963 sign-on until 1991, moving to its current channel in order to accommodate FM radio.
  • 4. 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.
  • 5. 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.
  • 6. ABMV was on VHF channel 6 until 30 June 2010 due to the Analogue switchoff in the Mildura/Sunraysia region
  • 7. Analogue transmissions ceased as of 5 May 2011 as part of the conversion to digital television.

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ HAAT estimated from http://www.itu.int/SRTM3/ using EHAAT.
  2. ^ "Analogue TV gets an official switch-off date". Lifehacker Australia. 25 June 2012. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
  3. ^ "Australia's last remaining analogue TV transmitters switched off". ABC News. 10 December 2013. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
  4. ^ https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House_of_Representatives_Committees?url=/pwc/abcmelbourne/subs/sub01.pdf
  5. ^ Knox, David (2 May 2013). "Government backs new ABC facility in Melbourne". TV Tonight. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  6. ^ https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-30/abc-ripponlea-studio-farewelled-end-of-an-era-in-australian-tv/9052728
  7. ^ https://www.abc.net.au/studiosmediaproduction/studio/melbourne.html

External links[]

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