NBN is an Australian television station based in Newcastle, Australia. The station was inaugurated on 4 March 1962 as the first regional commercial television station in New South Wales, and has since expanded to 39 transmitters throughout Northern New South Wales including Lismore, Tweed Heads, Tamworth, Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie, Newcastle and the Central Coast as well as the Gold Coast, Queensland. It is owned and operated by the WIN Corporation, with regional sales and newsroom located at 28 Honeysuckle Drive.

The station's call sign, NBN, is an acronym for Newcastle Broadcasting New South Wales. Between 2007 and 2026, the station was owned by Nine's parent company Nine Entertainment (previously known as PBL Media) making it a sister station to its metropolitan counterparts. However, following the PBL acquisition, NBN at the time continued to operate as an independent regional affiliate of the main network under the name NBN Television. On 1 July 2016, when Nine switched regional affiliations outside Northern NSW and the Gold Coast, NBN was finally folded into the Nine Network adopting the primary logo with the NBN name retired on air.

In January 2026, Nine Entertainment announced its intention to sell NBN to the WIN Corporation. The sale was completed on 2 June 2026.

Following WIN’s acquisition of the station, from Saturday 27 June 2026, local weekend editions of NBN News were replaced by Nine News Sydney at 6:00pm on both Saturday and Sunday nights. Weekday local bulletins were moved to an earlier time slot from Monday 29 June 2026, with the half-hour local news service beginning at 5:30pm, followed by Nine News at 6:00pm.

History Origins

NBN's original owner, the Newcastle Broadcasting and Television Corporation (NBTC) was founded in May 1958 to begin preparations for the upcoming television licence allocations. The main shareholders in NBTC were United Broadcasting Company (owned by the Lamb family, owners of radio station 2KO), Airsales Broadcasting Company (owners of local radio station 2HD), and the Newcastle Morning Herald & Miners Advocate (to be bought out by John Fairfax & Sons). In accordance with the Australian Broadcasting Control Board regulations, at least 50% of the company had to be locally owned. Approximately 2,000 people bought shares.

The Australian Broadcasting Control Board awarded the commercial television licence for the Newcastle and Hunter Valley area to the NBTC on 1 August 1961. NBN-3 would transmit on VHF channel 3, from a transmitter atop Mount Sugarloaf near Newcastle. Council approval for the transmitter was issued on 17 July that year.

The call-letters, NBN, were derived from the company's name, Newcastle Broadcasting and Television Corporation, with the second N representing New South Wales, as required by law. Unofficially, it stood for "Newcastle Broadcasting Network".

Construction began in November 1961, supervised by engineers from RCA in the United States. It was a step backwards for RCA, building a new station transmitting in black and white while colour television was fast becoming the norm in the United States. Ninety per cent of the original equipment was imported from the United States, and held in bond until they were due to be installed. Equipment was purchased with colour production and transmission in mind, so that only 20% modification would be required when colour came to NBN. Studios were to be built on a block at Mosbri Crescent, near the city centre.

Work on the transmitter was delayed by a combination of weather, the conditions for the road leading to Mount Sugarloaf, and excited sightseers blocking work trucks during the weekends. During that time, the technical team stayed at the top of the mountain. The construction took eight months at a cost of $1.5 million, and required staff to work seven days a week (except on Christmas Day) to make the deadline.

Test transmissions took place in early 1962, and could be seen as far away as Muswellbrook, Avalon, Katoomba, Lithgow, Gloucester and around Port Kembla.

Opening night

NBN Television commenced transmission on 4 March 1962. The first programme on launch night began at 6 pm, a taped welcome by the then-Postmaster General Charles Davidson. Following that was a guided tour around the NBN studios by the original production manager, Matthew Tapp.

Murray Finlay began one of the longest newsreading careers in Australia with NBN's first news bulletin at 6:30 pm. This was followed by The Phil Silvers Show at 7 pm, and the 1937 movie Green Light starring Errol Flynn at 7:30; the George Sanders Mystery Theater series followed at 9 pm, with opening episode, The Man in the Elevator, followed by the first episode from the Halls of Ivy, then the first Mystery Theatre program, The Missing Head at 10 pm. Anglican Bishop James Housden gave the first evening meditation at 10:30 pm, marking the end of the first night of transmission for NBN-3 in Newcastle. Commercials on the first night included Rothmans, Streets Ice Cream, Ampol, Commonwealth Bank, Shell, and WD & HO Wills, amongst others.

In the lead-up to the opening night, the station promised at least two movies a week, as well as men's interest programs each Saturday afternoon between 3 pm and 4 pm – a commitment successfully met, along with female-targeted programming in the early afternoon, and children's programming from 4:30 to 6:30 pm weekdays and mature programming thirty minutes before closedown each night. NBN Television broadcast fifty-six hours in its first week of transmission, setting the Australian television record for the most time spent on air in a week for a new television station.

1960s to the 1970s Soon after launch night, NBN extended television coverage from Bungwahl to Broken Bay and as far west as Aberdeen. The station only operated eight hours per day, however several programs were produced locally including Home at Three, Let's Cook With Gas, Tempo, Focus, as well as nightly news bulletins at 6:30 pm.

In 1963, Australian Consolidated Press and News Limited bought 200,000 shares in the Newcastle Broadcasting and Television Corporation. Shortly after, United Broadcasting Company sold its shares to Neatherley Investments Limited in Adelaide, and Australian United Investments in Melbourne, with each company purchasing 100,000 shares. Time Enterprises, purchased Australian United Investments’ shares in November 1967.

During the period between 1968 and 1969, NBN secured a relay from the Postmaster-General to enhance their news service. In 1970, NBN began upgrading its studios in preparation for the commencement of colour television originally scheduled for 1972, later changed to March 1975, at a cost of $360,000. The improvements included an enlarged film department; a film editing and cleaning equipment; a larger master control with four video transfer machines; a new telecine room with caption scanner and slide drums; as well as an expansion of the administration and staff offices, which also included new offices and a boardroom.

In 1972, NBN was granted a licence to operate a translator in the Upper Hunter Valley from Rossgole Lookout near Aberdeen, on VHF channel 10. Concurrently in April 1972, NBN expanded its nightly news service to one hour, becoming the first television station in Australia to have a one-hour news bulletin. As a part of earlier preparations for colour production, between 1972 and 1973, orders were placed with Rank Cintel and the EMI Group in the United Kingdom and Ampex in the United States for new colour equipment, in time for colour transmission tests on 7 October 1974. On 1 March 1975, the station began regular colour transmissions, whilst transmission was expanded to Banderra Downs, Merriwa, Mount Helen, and Murrurundi at a cost of $180,000. In 1978, the Newcastle Broadcasting and Television Corporation made a bid for local station (and former owner) 2HD, however was disallowed by the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal. Also during the same year more extensions were added to the studios (which included a new car park), which were officially opened on 17 November 1978.

On 22 November 1979, the Newcastle Broadcasting and Television Corporation officially became NBN Limited, after the station itself rebranded from Channel 3 to NBN Television around 1977. By the late 1970s, NBN was producing 20 hours a week of local and networked programming from its studios, which in turn led the station to purchase a Bell Jet Ranger helicopter for news coverage purposes.

1980s to the 1990s In early 1980, NBN purchased Southern Television Corporation Limited, owners of NWS-9 in Adelaide, for $19 million. During the same year, NBN began a teletext service and also purchased the free local newspaper, the Newcastle Star. In June 1981 Parry Corporation purchased 19.88% shareholding.Court rule on NBN meeting Canberra Times 19 December 1981 page 12

+ NBN Limited (1981) Entity Share Lamb family 35.02% Wansey family 30.14% Parry Corporation 19.88% Others 14.96%

Parry had then attempted to buy Michael Wansey's stake in NBN, but was blocked by the Supreme Court of New South Wales. It was later revealed that the Lambs had opposed NBN's purchase of the Star newspaper (created and owned by Wansey) and the attempt to buy 2HD. The company also faced possible suspension from the Australian Securities Exchange if a decision was not made soon. To resolve the tension, NBN sold NWS-9 to the Lambs in exchange for the majority stake in NBN in 1982. With the buy-out of community shares in NBN, the station ceased to be what Hunter residents considered to be "their own". It came at a cost. Wansey mortgaged his shares to Parry who called in the debt.

On 16 March 1983, Parry Corporation completed the purchase of NBN, delisting the company. Michael Wansey resigned from the board at the end of the year as a result. In 1984, plans for a second independent station in Newcastle had failed. During that time, NBN and ABC Newcastle (call sign ABHN-5A) were asked to leave the VHF band to accommodate FM radio. At the time, NBN's audio carrier frequency could be listened to with a standard FM radio.

It was planned for NBN to transmit on UHF channel 51, and the ABC on UHF channel 48, however this did not eventuate. A proposal to launch a radiated subscription television service with community broadcasting during the daytime hours had also failed that year.

In the late 1980s, NBN's Perth-based owner, Parry Corporation, spun off NBN Limited into a new company, NBN Enterprises, and took a 40 per cent stake in the new company, with Security Pacific Capital Corporation buying 60 per cent, sold their stake soon after, holding onto Papua New Guinea television station NTN, which NBN had helped to set up. Fulcrum Media's move to later purchase the station was a source for confusion, as it was revealed that many companies, including the NSW State Superannuation Board and Westpac, held substantial stakes in Fulcrum Media. Parry Corporation's new owner CityWest issued a court challenge to re-acquire NBN, but it was revealed that CityWest was held by Hong Kong company Hang Lung Properties, thereby violating foreign ownership laws. Following ownership changes, NBN Enterprises was sold to Washington H Soul Pattinson in October 1989.Pattinson to buy NBN TV Canberra Times 1 November 1989 page 19