Why One Major News Network Was Blacked Out in Some Cities for Several Days

Many citizens of Australia were shocked late last month when the local news network they’d been watching forever was shut down.

Channel Seven, the major network which broadcasts everything from local news to popular sports, is no longer available for citizens of South Australia or New South Wales.

Local providers like WIN Network failed to reach an agreement with Seven West Media to continue broadcasting the channel, and now the local stations for Channel Seven, 7mate and 7TWO now say “Channel Seven programming is no longer available” whenever viewers navigate to the channels on their television.

“Despite our best endeavors, we have been unable to reach a mutually acceptable commercial agreement with the WIN Network to provide access to Seven,” said Seven West CEO Jeff Howard in a statement. “Seven has not turned off our signal. We continue to provide our content to WIN for broadcast into these markets and WIN has made the decision to switch off the Seven signal to these communities.”

Howard continued by directing viewers to their free, on-demand site 7plus, which hosts all their content.

“In the meantime, Seven is seeking the assistance of the Federal Government and the Australian Communications and Media Authority to help resolve this matter as quickly as possible,” Howard said.

It’s not the first time WIN has given citizens of South Australia and New South Wales grief recently. Last year, the cable provider dropped Sky News completely.