Engineers have been working around the clock to prepare Southern Cross Austereo's Canberra broadcast centre for the biggest shake-up of regional television in decades.
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The big switch happens on Thursday at midnight, at the broadcaster's Watson headquarters where 105 separate TV signals are sent throughout Australia; and in living rooms in Canberra, Wollongong, southern NSW, regional Victoria and Queensland, where viewers will see their favourite shows change channels.
From Friday, when these regional viewers flick over to watch The Voice and the NRL, they will find them on channel 5 on the remote, not channel 8. And the network showing them will be called Nine, not WIN.
And when viewers flick over to watch Offspring or MasterChef, they'll find them on channel 8 on the remote, not channel 5. And the regional network showing the programs will be WIN, not Southern Cross Ten.
For the past 30 years, Southern Cross has had an agreement with Ten to show that network's programs in key regional areas. This agreement expires on June 30, and Southern Cross has negotiated a new deal with Nine, which starts on July 1 – the same day WIN will swap to showing Ten's programs.
In the race to prepare for the switch, Southern Cross Austereo's head of regional media Rick Lenarcic said it was with relief the broadcaster confirmed last week that 9HD – on channel 50 on TV remotes – would be available from Friday, allowing viewers to continue watching their favourite Nine programming in high-definition as they did under WIN.
"That's thanks to the engineering team being able to get equipment in from Europe. I think begging and pleading you could probably [call it]," Mr Lenarcic said.
"The reason we were able to get that up and running is because of the strong audience that is committed to the NRL on HD, and the first game being on channel 5 and channel 50 for us will be Broncos versus the Storm."
Most Nine programming will remain the same as it was with WIN. Southern Cross would continue with news updates and was in discussions with Nine about bringing a local news bulletin to Canberra, Mr Lenarcic said. A Current Affair will return to the 7pm slot.
But Mr Lenarcic said viewers would have to wait for 9Life, which won't be ready for this week's switch but is hoped to be on air by early August.
Mr Lenarcic said viewers should not have to do anything to activate the switch.
"There's nothing for the general viewer to do at all, they do nothing. The simple way to look at it is the Nine products as in The Voice, national news, will be on channel 5 on your remote."
Southern Cross expected a 40 per cent boost in viewers with the switch, when viewers follow Nine's higher-rating programs over to channel 5.
"As far as television events go in the evolution of our company it's undoubtedly one of the most significant ones. And I can say the experience has been exceptionally positive for us all to be part of - a real privilege," said Jeremy Flynn, Southern Cross' head of television operations.
"We have more than 130 staff employed across eight departments and multiple disciplines at the group's television centre. Nearly all of them have had a touch point in helping steer Southern Cross towards the transition and it's a great credit to our staff."
The changes affect viewers in Canberra, Wollongong and southern NSW, including Wagga Wagga, Orange, Dubbo and the South Coast.
The changes will also affect Queensland, in the cities of Cairns, Townsville, Mackay Rockhampton, Bundaberg, Sunshine Coast, Toowoomba; and in Victoria, Albury, Wodonga, Shepparton, Ballarat, Bendigo and Gippsland.
For more information about the switch, see nineon5.com.au
