NTD

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NTD
Darwin, Northern Territory
Branding	Nine
Slogan	Welcome Home
Channels	Analog: 8 (VHF) Digital: 31 (UHF)
Affiliations	Nine (O&O)
Network	Nine
Owner	PBL Media Holdings Pty Ltd (Territory Television Pty Ltd)
First air date	November 11, 1971
Call letters’ meaning	Northern Territory Darwin
Former affiliations	independent (1971–1997) Nine/Ten (1998-2002)
Transmitter Power	40 kW (analog) 85 kW (digital)
Height	80 m (analog) 147 m (digital)[1]
Transmitter Coordinates	12°26′55″S 130°50′12″E / 12.44861°S 130.83667°E / -12.44861; 130.83667 (analog) 12°24′52″S 130°58′9″E / 12.41444°S 130.96917°E / -12.41444; 130.96917 (digital)
Website	www.ninemsn.com.au

NTD is an Australian television station, licensed to and serving Darwin, Palmerston and surrounds. The station is owned by PBL Media, and is an owned-and-operated station of the Nine Network, under the company name Territory Television Pty. Ltd..

History

Origins

NTD-8 was officially launched at 8:00pm on November 11, 1971, with the opening lineup beginning at 5:30pm with Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, followed by Bandstand at 6:00p.m. and at 7:00p.m., An Evening with Burt Bacharach.^[2]

The station was officially inaugurated at 8:00pm by Northern Territory Administrator, Fred Chaney, followed by speeches from Sir Myles Wright, Fred Yates, John Hickman, and assistant executive John May.

The opening lineup continued with All the King's Men at 8:30 p.m. and Danger Man at 10:30 p.m., followed by a station close.

The station was completely wiped out by Cyclone Tracy in December 1974 and was off air for 10 months while the station was rebuilt from the ground up.^[2]

1980s

NTD-8 did not run any news and current affairs programming until October 18, 1982, after the station hired Rex Clark as a news director to launch a nightly bulletin at 7:00pm entitled News at Seven, alongside a current affairs programme entitled Spectrum.

In the late 1980s, NTD-8 was purchased by Publishing and Broadcasting Limited, the owners of the Nine Network at that time. Following the acquisition of the station by Publishing and Broadcasting Limited, NTD-8 adopted a similar on-air presentation to the Nine Network with an Eight logo. NTD-8's news service revamped and rebranded along with the station, to become Eight National News.^[2]

1990s

NTD-8's first competitor was launched in 1998, owned by Telecasters Australia under the name Seven Darwin, now Southern Cross Television. The introduction of a second commercial television operator in the Darwin television market brought an end to NTD-8's solus commercial operations of the prior three decades.^[2]

The Nine Network's Darwin headquarters in The Gardens, Northern Territory.

Territory Television Pty. Ltd., attempted to gain Seven Network affiliation rights prior to Seven Darwin's launch, in a strategic move to dominate and force the incoming competitor to align with Network Ten. This would have seen NTD-8 broadcast both Nine Network and Seven Network programming, however after being rejected affiliation, the station gained Network Ten affiliation to supplement their parent company's Nine Network programming.^[2]

2000s

On New Year's Day 2003, Eight Darwin became Nine Darwin, in line with the rest of Kerry Packer's Nine Network owned-and-operated stations. Following the name change to Channel Nine Darwin, the station defunct Network Ten programming from their line-up, and in 2005, the Network Ten affiliation rights were officially relinquished, and were then taken by Southern Cross Television's TND in 2005.^[2]

In 2005, in the midst of the tug-of-war for the AFL television rights, PBL announced that National Rugby League games will take precedence on the station over AFL games, a sign that Nine may have be about to give up the race for the rights to a proposed Seven-Ten consortium, which they did, but not without putting in a $780 million dollar bid for the rights.^[3]

In 2008, Nine Darwin (NTD) began broadcasting Nine HD^{[citation needed]}. In April 2008, Darwin Digital Television (DTD), a joint venture between the Nine Network and Macquarie Southern Cross Media, began broadcasting on the digital terrestrial platform as a full-time Ten Network affiliate.^[4]

The same year, it was speculated that Imparja Television was planning to purchase the station from the Nine Network.^[5] The deal would have involved the sale of the station, as well as its facilities and license.^[5] Negotiations for the sale of the station fell through on September 29, when Imparja failed to secure federal government funding to help finance the takeover.^[6]

News

Nine News is produced and broadcast live from the studios of NTD-8 in Darwin. Darwin Nine News presenters and journalists include:^[7]

Presenters and Reporters

Main anchors

• Jonathan Uptin (Weeknights)^[8]
• Michelle Buckworth (Sport and Weekend Presenter)

Reporters

• Leah Hannon (Court Reporter)
• Justin O'Brien (Police Reporter)
• Michelle Buckworth (Sports Reporter)
• Michelle Fraser (Chief of Staff and Politics Reporter)

References

• "Tonight's The Night". Northern Territory News. 1971-11-11. http://www.ntnews.com.au/. Retrieved 2007-07-01. 

External links

• National Nine News Darwin National Nine News Darwin Team

Coordinates: 12°26′56.74″S 130°50′16.69″E / 12.4490944°S 130.8379694°E / -12.4490944; 130.8379694