Delay in Southern Cross TV renaming

THE planned renaming of Southern Cross Television to Seven Tasmania has been postponed, due to ongoing negotiations between Southern Cross Austereo and Channel 7.

Southern Cross Television was scheduled to be rebranded as Seven Tasmania as of July 1.

Southern Cross News Tasmania was also planned to be rebranded as Seven News Tasmania, but it is believed that Channel 7 was reluctant to have its name attached to bulletins not being produced in Channel 7 studios.

Southern Cross News Tasmania is produced within Tasmania, based out of the Launceston studio, which was recently refurbished and the local bulletin given a new look.

According to Southern Cross Austereo corporate communications manager Madeleine Maher, the renaming of the network to Seven Tasmania will proceed as planned at a slightly later date, which is yet to be confirmed, but the news bulletin would be given a different name.

“As part of the original rebrand strategy, it was stated that the local news bulletin, Southern Cross News Tasmania, would be renamed Seven News Tasmania,” she said.

“SCA would like to inform viewers that this will not be happening. A new name for the news service will be announced in due course.”

Southern Cross carries Channel 7 content in Tasmania as well as other regional parts of Australia, and the proposed renaming was originally planned to affect local networks in Broken Hill, NSW, and Spencer Gulf, SA, but the same issue also has delayed the rebranding in those locations.