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WIN, Gordon and ENT: Chronology

Table of contents

Landmarks

Landmarks

This chronology is indicative only. It covers -

Antecedents

1897 WR Rolph buys Launceston Examiner

1945 Hector Crawford Productions founded as radio program production house

1954 becomes Crawford Productions Pty Ltd

1959 Examiner gains one of Tasmania's two television licences, forms Northern TV Ltd

Northern TV

1962 Northern TV's TNT-9 Launceston launched

1960 TVT-6 Hobart launched

1962 BTV-6 Ballarat launched

1962 DDQ-10 Toowoomba launched

1963 RTQ-7 Rockhampton launched

TWT

1963 Television Wollongong Transmission Ltd (TWT) Wollongong tv station launched by Rupert Murdoch

1965 STV8 Mildura launched

1965 Northern TV Ltd and Examiner Newspaper Pty Ltd merge as Examiner-Northern TV Ltd (ENT)

1966 SES-8 Mt Gambier launched

1972 Murdoch buys 46% stake in Sydney Channel Ten station, sells Wollongong station

1976 RTS-5 Riverland launched

Gordon takeover

1979 Bruce Gordon acquires control of TWT

1982 ENT buys TVT-6 Hobart

1982 Hector Crawford sells 40% of Crawford Productions to Herald & Weekly Times (H&WT) and 10% to Gordon & Gotch

1985 ENT buys Melbourne radio station 3UZ for $9.2m

1986 Herald & Weekly Times buys Hobart Mercury

1987 Murdoch gains control of H&WT for $1.8bn

1987 Hector Crawford sells his 50% stake in Crawford Productions, Murdoch sells H&WT's 50% stake to Skase's Qintex

1988 ENT sells Channel 9 Launceston for $40m

1988 buys Associated Broadcasting Services Ltd in Victoria for $76 million (inc BTV-6 Ballarat, GMV-6 Goulbourn Valley, 40% interest in film/video distributor Filmpac Holdings Ltd, and Victorian radio stations 3SR and 3UL)

1988 ENT sells 3SR and 3UL for $9.5m

1988 adds four radio stations in California and two in Oregon to 7EX Launceston and 7HT Hobart

1988 DDQ-10 Toowoomba and RTQ-7 Rockhampton form Vision TV

1989 Rouse bribery case

1989 Bruce Gordon’s Oberon Broadcasters buys Crawford Productions

1989 Sunraysia Television buys STW-9 from receivers of Bond Media

1989 ENT buys Sunraysia's STV Mildura for $18m

1990 ENT sells Examiner to Rural Press group (60%) and Harris & Co (Burnie Advocate) for $28m

1990 Vision TV becomes Star Television

1990 Gordon buys Star Television

1991 buys out other shareholders in WIN

Expansion

1994 ENT buys 20% stake in Sunraysia

1994 WIN Television buys ENT for around $90m

1995 establishes Broadcast Transmission Services (BTS)

1995 unsuccessful bid to take over Sunraysia

1998 buys MTN-9 and MTN-31 Griffith

1999 buys SES-8 Mt Gambier and RTS5 Riverland

1999 establishes 60 transmitters across Western Australia

2005 buys 5% of TEN for $77m

2007 PBL Media announces it will acquire 100% of Channel Nine Perth for $136.4m

2007 WIN agrees to buy Adelaide Channel 9 from Southern Cross Broadcasting for $105m