Cathy McGowan (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Television in rural and regional Australia is much more than entertainment. It allows for connectivity, contact, information use, shared celebrations and shared tragedies—all through a local lens. The launch of Albury's first TV station, AMV4—now known as Prime7—in September 1964 was celebrated on 10 September 2014 at Albury at the '50 years of television on the border and in north-east Victoria' event. The company to operate Albury's first TV station, Albury-Upper Murray TV Ltd, was awarded its broadcasting licence in October 1962. Principal shareholders in the company included Amalgamated Wireless Australasia Ltd, Hoyts Theatres, the Border Morning Mail and other local businesses—complying with the requirement that at least 50 per cent of the company's shareholders be locally based.

In the mid-1980s, RVN-AMV became known on air as the Prime Network in a partnership with fellow regional stations. The Prime Network later became Prime Television as regional networks were preparing for the change to aggregation, with Prime aligning itself with the Seven Network for program supply. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Ian Audsley, the CEO of Prime Media, and all the team in Albury and Canberra for the excellent job they do in promoting community and regional living.