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| Channels | |
| Branding | Seven Spencer Gulf Seven Broken Hill Nine Spencer Gulf Nine Broken Hill |
| Programming | |
| Language | English |
| Affiliations | GTS/BKN:Seven (O&O) GDS/BDN:Nine |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| SGS/SCN | |
| History | |
First air date | GTS: 1 March 1968; 57 years ago (1968-03-01) BKN: 16 August 1968; 57 years ago (1968-08-16) |
Former channel numbers | Analog: GTS: 4 (VHF) BKN: 7 (VHF)[1] |
| Independent (1968 (1968)–2006 (2006)) | |
Call sign meaning | GTS: SpencerGulf Telecasters South Australia BKN: BroKen Hill New South Wales GDS: GTS Digital South Australia BDN: BKN Digital New South Wales |
| Technical information | |
Licensing authority | Australian Communications and Media Authority |
| ERP | GTS:240kW BKN:4 kW |
| HAAT | GTS:627 m (digital) BKN:104 m[2] |
| Transmitter coordinates | GTS: 33°6′14″S138°9′51″E / 33.10389°S 138.16417°E /-33.10389; 138.16417 (GTS) BKN: 31°57′5″S141°26′25″E / 31.95139°S 141.44028°E /-31.95139; 141.44028 (BKN) |
GTS andBKN areAustralian regional television stations serving theSpencer Gulf ofSouth Australia and theBroken Hill area ofNew South Wales.
The stations are owned and operated bySeven West Media and based inPort Pirie with satellite offices in Broken Hill,Port Augusta,Whyalla andPort Lincoln, and playout facilities based inHobart.
The station's name originates from the Port Pirie and Broken Hill stations' callsigns,GTS Port Pirie andBKN Broken Hill.
GTS signed on for the first time on 1 March 1968. BKN followed soon afterward, on 16 August. In 1974, the stations (and their repeaters) merged to form Spencer Gulf Telecasters and broadcast under the nameGTS/BKN Television, and later,Central GTS/BKN. The company was bought bySouthern Cross Broadcasting (SCB) in 2001, though it retained the Central name and branding until the end of 2005.
Due to their areas' sparse populations, afteraggregation they remained among the few stations in Australia that continued to cherry-pick programming from all three networks, though from 2001 onward, it began favouringSeven through its affiliation withSouthern Cross Television.
In 2003, Spencer Gulf Telecasters won the right to broadcast a second station in the same area, and in January 2004, started broadcastingSGS/SCN as aTen affiliate. Since 31 October 2010, GTS/BKN has also operated a third station relayingNine Network programming from Sydney and Adelaide, under the callsigns GDS in Port Pirie and BDN in Broken Hill.
In January 2006, Central GTS/BKN was renamedSouthern Cross GTS/BKN, changing its logo to the corporate star branding used byTNT Tasmania andTND Darwin.
In July 2018, Southern Cross GTS/BKN was renamedSeven Spencer Gulf, reverting to the Seven Network branding, as currently used by Southern Cross stations in Tasmania and Darwin.
The sale of GTS/BKN, alongside its sister stations and the Seven-affiliated stations owned bySouthern Cross Austereo, toSeven West Media was finalised in July 2025.[3][4]
On 31 October 2010, GTS/BKN launched GDS/BDN, a Channel Nine affiliate rebroadcastingTCN Sydney. On 11 January 2011, GTS/BKN launched Ten's SD multichannelEleven. Starting from 7 November 2011, GTS/BKN slowly rolled out9Gem,9Go!,7two,7mate andOne as digital channels across the GTS/BKN areas.[5]
On 7 December 2013, GDS/BDN switched to a feed ofNWS Adelaide.[6][non-primary source needed] On 30 September 2018, GDS/BDN launched9Life.
Southern Cross Austereo launched7HD,9HD, and10 HD in the Spencer Gulf/Broken Hill areas in March 2020, via the stations GTS/BKN, GDS/BDN, andSGS/SCN, while also making7mate,9Gem, and10 Bold all SD channels to accommodate the aforementioned HD channels. The following are the changes that occurred on 19 March 2020: 7HD launched on LCN 60, 7mate moved from LCN 60 to LCN 63 and became a SD channel, and the mainSeven channel was made available on both LCNs 6 and 61. 10 HD was launched on LCN 50.10 Peach was moved from LCN 55 to LCN 53, 10 Bold was moved from LCN 50 to LCN 52 and became an SD channel, while the main10 channel was made available on both LCNs 5 and 51. Southern Cross Austereo's Nine channel adjustments occurred in late March 2020; the following is a list of GDS/BDN channel changes that occurred in March 2020:9HD was made available on LCN 80, the mainNine channel was made available on both LCNs 8 and 81,9Go! was moved to LCN 83 from LCN 88, and9Gem was moved to LCN 82 from LCN 80 and became a SD channel.[7]
The main GTS/BKN service carries programming from theSeven Network, including the Adelaide edition ofSeven News' nightly 6pm bulletin.
GDS/BDN broadcasts programs from theNine Network, including the state bulletin fromNWS fromAdelaide.
GTS/BKN produced a wide range of local programming throughout the 1970s and 1980s, includingPanel Probe,Women's World,Cue, sports coverage, local documentaries and a nightly epilogue. The station also produced its own local commercials.
For over 50 years, GTS/BKN ran a regional news service for its viewing area, initially as a 10-minute mid-evening bulletin[8] before gradually expanding to a full half-hour program each weeknight.
The bulletin aired under numerous titles such asGTS/BKN News,Central News andSouthern Cross News, before relaunching asNightly News in January 2019.
The news service retained reporters andvideo journalists based at bureaus inPort Pirie,Broken Hill,Port Augusta,Port Lincoln andWhyalla, although in later years, presentation for the bulletin was moved from the Port Pirie studios toSouthern Cross Austereo's Canberra headquarters, and latterly, the company'sHobart studio.
Presenters and reporters includedRosanna Mangiarelli,Will McDonald, Virginia Langeberg, Tim Hatfield, Fraser Goldsworthy, Julie Snook, and at the time of the bulletin's axing, Madeline Kerr and John Hunt, with weather presenter Alex Sykes.
In 2019,Nightly News was moved from GTS/BKN to sister station7two, airing at 7pm on weeknights following the Adelaide-based edition ofSeven News on the main channel.
On 13 April 2023, Southern Cross Austereo announced it was ceasing production of GTS/BKN's local news service, effective immediately, marking the end of local television programming for the Spencer Gulf and Broken Hill areas. According to other media outlets, some staff working on the program had not been informed that the final bulletin had been broadcast until after it aired.[9]
GTS/BKN'sNightly News was the last regional TV news service to be produced inSouth Australia, following the end ofWIN News' bulletins forthe Mount Gambier and Riverland areas in February 2013.
The following is a list ofchannels broadcast on GTS and BKN respectively.
GTS/BKN:
| GDS/BDN:
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