{"id":299752,"date":"2026-02-24T12:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T12:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/299752\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T12:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T12:52:09","slug":"win-network-acquires-nine-darwin-expanding-broadcast-operations-into-the-nt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/299752\/","title":{"rendered":"WIN Network acquires Nine Darwin, expanding broadcast operations into the NT"},"content":{"rendered":"

Regional news broadcaster WIN has announced it will acquire Nine Darwin, just over a year after the Nine Network axed its Darwin TV news bulletin.<\/p>\n

In January last year, Nine scrapped its local Darwin bulletin<\/a>, replacing it with Queensland news in what the network called a “difficult yet necessary” decision.<\/p>\n

The change led to a number of redundancies at Nine Darwin, with only a small cohort of editorial and sales staff remaining.<\/p>\n

It left the ABC as the only network providing a locally produced TV news bulletin in the Northern Territory.<\/p>\n

In a statement released today, the WIN Network said it had entered into an agreement with Nine Darwin that would see it “assume ownership of [the station] and continue to broadcast Nine’s premium national content and programming across the Darwin licence area”.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

WIN Network will be expanding into the Northern Territory, building on its presence across Australia. (ABC News: Eugene Boisvert)<\/p>\n

WIN Network chief executive Andrew Lancaster said the acquisition “strengthens our footprint, which now includes three of Australia’s capital cities including the nation’s capital”.<\/p>\n

“Darwin is an important and vibrant market, and we look forward to continuing to deliver Nine’s compelling content and entertainment offering to viewers across the Top End,” he said.<\/p>\n

While the WIN statement said audiences could “expect continuity of service and a seamless transition”, the network declined to respond to questions about whether it would continue with Nine Darwin’s current model or would bring back a local news bulletin.<\/p>\n

It said under the five-year affiliate agreement, all of Nine’s local employees would be transferred to WIN.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The Nine building, which will soon be used for WIN operations, in Darwin’s CBD. (ABC News: Hamish Harty)<\/p>\n

According to Nine Network’s 2026 interim results announcement, the acquisition was made for $500,000.<\/p>\n

Multiple current and former Nine Darwin employees told the ABC they were cautiously optimistic the new deal would reinvigorate the local newsroom, which was once a benchmark for regional news across Australia.<\/p>\n

But former TV executive Rob McKnight, who has previously worked for both WIN and Nine, said he believed anyone hoping the acquisition would lead to “a major resurgence” of news produced in Darwin “will be sorely disappointed”.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Rob McKnight says the price WIN paid for Nine Darwin “really does show you how far the industry has fallen”. (Instagram)<\/p>\n

“I think the most WIN will do is present a local bulletin from Wollongong, which is where they do their other bulletins,” he said.<\/p>\n

“You might get one cameraman and a reporter [in Darwin], but I don’t even know if that will happen.”<\/p>\n

He said the deal’s $500,000 price tag “really does show you how far the industry has fallen”, with TV declining in the age of streaming.<\/p>\n

“Stan is a big part of Nine’s future strategy, and regional [news] stations just aren’t,” he said.<\/p>\n

WIN said the deal with Nine Darwin remained subject to approval from shareholders and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which is expected by the end of May.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Regional news broadcaster WIN has announced it will acquire Nine Darwin, just over a year after the Nine…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299753,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[164746,61668,164747,106497,156,256,111,139,164743,164744,69,164745,164749,437,164748],"class_list":{"0":"post-299752","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-9-news","9":"tag-channel-9","10":"tag-channel-9-darwin","11":"tag-channel-nine","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-local-news","14":"tag-new-zealand","15":"tag-newzealand","16":"tag-nine-news","17":"tag-nt-broadcasting","18":"tag-nz","19":"tag-regional-broadcast","20":"tag-regional-news","21":"tag-tv","22":"tag-win-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}