Contents

ABS (TV station)

ABS

Adelaide, South Australia Australia
Channels	Digital: 12 (VHF) Virtual: 2
Programming
Affiliations	ABC Television
Ownership
Owner	Australian Broadcasting Corporation
History
First air date	11 March 1960; 64 years ago (1960-03-11)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 2 (VHF) (1960–2013)
Call sign meaning	ABCSouth Australia
Technical information
ERP	50 kW (digital)
HAAT	517 m (digital)[1]
Transmitter coordinates	34°58′44″S 138°42′31″E / 34.97889°S 138.70861°E / -34.97889; 138.70861 (ABS)

ABC Television in South Australia comprises national and local programming on the ABC television network in the Australian state of South Australia, headquartered in Adelaide.

ABSorABS-2 was the historic call sign and name of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's television station in Adelaide, with the "S" standing for South Australia.

History[edit]

ABS began broadcasting on 11 March 1960 from studios in the suburb of Collinswood. The station's transmitter is located at Mount Lofty, and is augmented by a series of relay transmitters located throughout the state.^{[citation needed]}

ABS commenced digital television transmission in January 2001, broadcasting on VHF Channel 12 while maintaining analogue transmission on VHF Channel 2.^{[citation needed]} The analogue signal for ABS was shut off at 9am on Tuesday, 2 April 2013, making Adelaide the first state capital to make the permanent switch, with Canberra being the first city to do so in 2012.^[2][3]

In November 2014, current managing director Mark Scott announced at a meeting held at ABC's Ultimo headquarters in Sydney that due to a cut of over A$254 million from the ABC budget a major restructuring would occur.^[4] In an email to staff, Scott said:^[5]

"[We will] close our Adelaide television production studio and wind down remaining television production in smaller states. The economics of the television sector make it difficult to maintain small-scale operations. It is more economically efficient to base production (outside news and current affairs) in Sydney and Melbourne. TV’s aim is to work with the independent sector on programming that better reflects local diversity. To demonstrate accountability, the ABC will deliver detailed annual reports on its local production, including dollars invested and programs made."

Programs produced in the Adelaide studios[edit]

The following programs were produced in the Adelaide studios of ABC Television:^{[citation needed]}

• Couch Potato
• Talking Heads
• Behind the News
• Poh's Kitchen
• News on 3

ABC Television in South Australia today[edit]

As of 2021^[update] there is a large number of transmitters broadcasting a number of ABC channels.^[6]

Local programming[edit]

Only the local edition of ABC News continues to be broadcast from Adelaide. ABC News South Australia is presented by Jessica Harmsen from Monday to Thursday. and Richard Davies or Candice Prosser from Friday to Sunday^[7] The weeknight bulletins also incorporate a national finance segment presented by Alan Kohler in Melbourne. Weekend bulletins feature local sport bulletins presented by Neil Cross.^{[citation needed]}

Relay stations[edit]

The following stations relayed ABS throughout South Australia:^{[citation needed]}

Notes:

• 1. HAAT estimated from http://www.itu.int/SRTM3/ using EHAAT.
• 2. ABCS was on VHF channel 7 from its 1973 sign-on until sometime in the 1980s.
• 3. Analogue transmissions ceased as of 15 December 2010 as part of the national shutdown of analogue television.

See also[edit]

• History of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
• Television broadcasting in Australia

References[edit]

^ Australian Communications and Media Authority (April 2021). "Section 7: Television Callsign order (by state)" (PDF). Radio and television broadcasting stations: Internet edition (PDF). ACMA. pp. 204–205. Retrieved 18 June 2021. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.