NEW YORK—Australia’s Nine Network and the NHL today announced a media partnership that will bring the world’s premier professional ice hockey league to Australian audiences free-to-air.

Starting Saturday, Oct. 18, multicast network 9GO! will broadcast a live NHL game every Saturday morning throughout the 2025-26 regular season. The partnership will deliver 21 games over Nine’s seven stations.

The first game begins at 10 a.m. Australian Eastern Daylight Time (AEDT) on 9GO! and streaming service 9Now with a Tampa Bay Lightning-Detroit Red Wings matchup. The broadcast schedule is available here.

In a unique collaboration, Nine and the NHL have developed a customized broadcast feed specifically for the Australian market. Produced by NHL Productions in its New York studio, the feed will provide viewers with a tailored experience, featuring dedicated commentators providing play-by-play commentary and analysis tailored for the Australian audience, as well as customized intermission coverage with in-depth analysis, player profiles and explainers on the rules of the game to engage both new and existing fans.

The 2025-26 NHL season is particularly significant as the league will pause from Feb. 6-24 as to allow its top players to compete in the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. Nine's commentary team will highlight this storyline, connecting fans with the players who will represent their countries on the world stage and building anticipation for Nine’s exclusive coverage of the Winter Games.

Brent Williams, Nine’s director of sport, said the partnership “isn’t just a broadcast—it’s a tailored viewing experience.”

“We are incredibly excited to partner with the NHL to bring the fastest game on ice to Australian homes, free-to-air,“ he said. “By creating a dedicated feed with local commentary and specialized content, we are committed to growing the sport in Australia and giving fans the best possible coverage. The link to the Winter Olympics provides a fantastic narrative that will build excitement for what is a huge event on the Nine calendar.”

In 2023, the Los Angeles Kings and Arizona Coyotes faced off in the NHL Global Series-Melbourne, a pair of sold-out preseason contests that were first-ever NHL games played in the Southern Hemisphere. The week-long celebration also included three days of the NHL Global Fan Tour, the league’s traveling fan festival, and coaching, officiating and youth hockey clinics.

“We are thrilled Nine shares our commitment to delivering live games to more fans across Australia,” said Daniel Kim, NHL executive vice president, media and international strategy. “The overwhelming success of the NHL Global Series Melbourne, coupled with the growing enthusiasm for our grassroots, learn-to-play hockey initiatives and increasing social media engagement across our dedicated channels, underscores the impact of our investment in Australia.”

Viewers will likely be most interested in St. Louis Blues games as forward Nathan Walker is the league’s first Australian player. He is currently in his eighth NHL season.

According to the most recent report from the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), approximately 48% of TV households in Australia view over-the-air TV, down from 61% in 2020.

SYDNEY, Australia—Gravity Media, a global media production, creative service and facilities company, has added several Fujinon 4K lenses to its inventory, using them to cover Australia’s Repco Supercars Championship races. 

“Our requirements were to upgrade the fleet of our large lenses from HD to 4K standard, with an industry leading manufacturer, said George Hennessy, Gravity Media’s Broadcast Project Manager – Supercars. ”Our criterium was based on the robust and dynamic environments of both outdoor fast-moving sports such as Supercars and Touring Car Racing (TCR) in locations around Australia through all months of the year. After a full and comprehensive assessment of all available 4K large lens options, Fujinon's UA125×8BESM and UA107x8.4BESM lenses were deemed the best and those that met our requirements perfectly.”

As well as covering Supercars races Gravity Media said it also has many productions in light entertainment with studio-based shows that require the camera and lens to operate and perform in highly dynamic lighting conditions with contrasting set and lights demanding the very best the industry has to offer.

Hennessy continued, “The motorsport calendar of Supercars and TCR takes the season of racing from sub-tropical to sub-Antarctic locations and experiencing all weather extremes. Heat haze with high humidity in some locations with cold winter weather and foggy conditions in other areas of the country require broadcast lenses not only able to perform in optimal conditions, but more importantly also in highly challenging atmospheric conditions when they are called to still perform and cut through these environmental challenges. 

"The cameras we use with the lenses are not only for the live action, but also extreme slow-motion replays with both foreground and background framing to shot composition vital to the production’s storytelling narrative," he added. I’m happy to say the new FUJINON 4K box lenses suit and meet these styles and requirements perfectly.”

Fujinon’s UA125×8BESM achieved both the highest magnification 125x and 4K optical performance of any zoom lens and the UA107x8.4BESM was specifically designed to produce 4K UHD performance from the latest 4K 2/3″ Ultra HD cameras. Both lenses are ideal for live sports coverage particularly when they are used together in a production, the company said. 

Most recently Gravity Media used the UA125 and UA107 lenses at Supercars races in Darwin, on the Gold Coast and in Adelaide. 

“On the Gold Coast Street circuit we used six of our new Fujinon lenses on field of play cameras to shoot field coverage of the Gold Coast Street Circuit," Hennessey explained. "Typical shots included fast panning and long throw zooming to tight shots from 400 metres down to 15 metres in distance. The Fujinon lenses gave good throw and could easily go further if needed. 

"The lenses performed brilliantly with zero issues despite very high temperatures and significant humidity," he added. "It was the same story for the Adelaide 500 where we used eight of the Fujinon lenses in a similar way for similar shots and again, all of the lenses performed perfectly and without any issues.”

SAN ANTONIO—NewTek, part of the Vizrt Group, has announced a partnership with AVA Distribution to broaden NewTek’s presence in Australia and New Zealand.

NewTek says it is expanding its partner portfolio because of “significant uplift in demand” from the proAV markets as video content creation, and video consumption continues to grow exponentially. 

NewTek’s latest partner is AVA Distribution (AVAD), a wholesale distribution company for AV products based in Melbourne and Brisbane, Australia. AVAD represents a wide range of consumer and professional AV products in the region. As a newly named NewTek distribution partner, AVA will help deliver NewTek products to regional customers faster alongside supporting customers with content creation efforts.

“AVAD has a longstanding reputation in ProAV markets in the region and adding NewTek and NDI® streaming solutions offer significant added value to their partners and customers. We are very pleased to add them to our growing partner ecosystem to further position NewTek as a leading and trusted tech vendor in the ANZ region and look forward to our collaboration with AVAD strengthening that position significantly.”

“AVA Distribution is delighted to be chosen by NewTek to distribute its products in Australia. We are now able to offer our Pro AV resellers a complete range of video production solutions to satisfy the growing demand from corporate, education, and government organizations producing professional quality video,” states Santo Pappalardo, Managing Director at AVA Distribution.

OTTAWA—With the devastating bushfires that have been going on in the South and East coasts of Australia impacting people and wildlife, Ross Video has announced that it is making a donation to Australia’s Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal organization to help with recovery efforts.

“Like many other companies, Ross has an office and employees in the region, as well as hundreds of partners, customers, family members and friends whose lives are being affected by this appalling natural disaster,” the company wrote in a press release.

Ross’ donation will go to the FRRR’s Disaster Resilience and Recovery Fund, which will help affected communities rebuild when the fires have passed.

“It’s impossible not to be shocked by the images we’ve seen from Australia,” said Ross CEO David Ross. “Moments like this compel us to help where we can, and our thoughts are with the people of Australia at this most difficult time.”

For more information on how to help Australia recover from the bushfires, visit FRRR’s website.

BURBANK, Calif.—Disney+ will waste little time rolling out to international markets, as TVT’s sister publication Broadcasting & Cable has reported the Walt Disney Co.’s plans for its new streaming service. Canada, the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand will have access to Disney+ as of November, with it launching in Canada and the Netherlands the same day as in the U.S., Nov. 12, and Australia and New Zealand debuting it a week later on Nov. 19.

In addition to launch dates, Disney announced pricing in those countries. For Canada, the streaming service will cost $9.99 in Canadian dollars; €6.99 in the Netherlands; Australians will be able to sign up for $8.99 in Australia dollars; and $9.99 New Zealand dollars in that country. In the U.S., the service will cost $6.99.

Disney says that is has distribution deals with all major platforms to access Disney+ on mobile and connected TVs, including Apple, Google, Microsoft, Xbox One, Sony Android-based TVs, PlayStation 4 and Roku players and TV models.

Fremont, CA - January 9, 2019 - Blackmagic Design today announced that season one of the popular Australian television comedy “Stage Mums” was shot using its URSA Mini 4.6K and Pocket Cinema Camera digital film cameras. The show’s editing, audio editing and color correction were also completed using DaVinci Resolve Studio.Airing on a Network Ten in Australia and available on Tenplay, “Stage Mums” takes a tongue in cheek look at the lives of two stage mothers who will go to any lengths to give their daughters opportunities to showcase their amazing talents, most of which don’t work out exactly as planned. Created by Anna Waters-Massey and produced by SundayArvo Productions in association with OZPIX Entertainment, the series was filmed on Australia’s Gold Coast, and recently had its debut broadcast season, which comprised of an entirely Australian cast and crew.With a highly stylized look and feel to match its over the top comedy, “Stage Mums” combines a familiar run and gun reality show look with the bright, warm and hot feeling that comes from shooting on the Gold Coast. Director of Photography Andrew Condor and internationally acclaimed filmmaker, actress and producer Amie Casey decided to use URSA Mini 4.6K as the main camera for the most recent season in order to capture the stylized look.“We definitely wanted ‘Stage Mums’ to be bright and colorful and relative to the style of high quality Australian television, allowing us to build a product that Australians can get behind and be proud of while becoming a beloved series internationally,” explained Casey. “As a producer, one of the great things I loved about working with both Blackmagic Design cameras was the portability. Our production days were fast paced and largely location based, and working with such easily maneuverable cameras while not having to compromise on quality was a dream come true.”Condor used an URSA Mini 4.6K as the A and B camera and the Pocket Cinema Camera for BTS and as a second unit insert and pick up camera. Both cameras made use of a Rec. 709 LUT and were used in multiple locations and in a variety of different natural and artificial lighting situations.“The Ursa Mini 4.6K is a giant for quality in a lightweight, compact body! It was the perfect camera for ‘Stage Mums’ as I wanted a smaller camera package for a run and gun feel, but I didn't want to compromise on quality of the image. Its compact size allowed us to get shots where bigger cameras just would not fit, and we often found ourselves in very small shooting locations, but we were always able to fit both cameras to keep the style of the show consistent,” said Condor. “The 15 stops of dynamic range and the low light capabilities really came in handy with our tight schedule and even tighter lighting budget.”Shot on a very tight schedule, and with the reality, on the run production style, Condor wanted to work with a smaller team of people around the cameras.

“That's where the URSA Mini 4.6K comes into its own. My excellent B camera operator, Colin Larsen, and I were able to control everything in an instant and keep the flow of the show going. We had a few slow mo shots, and being able to shoot up to 120fps without quality loss was fantastic. We also had a lot of locations where we were constantly dealing with different levels of illumination, and I loved the quality of the built in ND filters so that we didn't have to concern ourselves with ’in front of lens’ filtration,” he said.Post production for the series is completed at Sound Vision Studio by post producer Robert Merlini. DaVinci Resolve Studio was used for color correction, audio and video editing and final HD and UHD delivery for the various channels, including Australia’s Channel 10 Peach, Tenplay and US platform Seeka TV.“DaVinci Resolve Studio was the obvious choice for the overall look and feel of the show. Its color features helped to no end in our final product. I also used the Fairlight audio editing page for the the sound mix and was amazed at the functional mix features that helped create the end sound,” Merlini said.He continued, “We really benefitted from DaVinci Resolve Studio not having unnecessarily complicated processes for preparing final deliverables. On the Deliver page, we were able to batch compile and process the file in all of our delivery file formats. DaVinci Resolve Studio made this a breeze. To be able to deliver to the broadcaster exactly to their specification was the perfect way forward for us.”Stage Mums can also be viewed at www.stagemums.com.

Press Photography

Product photos of URSA Mini 4.6K, Pocket Cinema Camera, DaVinci Resolve Studio and all other Blackmagic Design products are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/media/images

About Blackmagic Design

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more information, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com

MUNICH, Germany--Three major Australian broadcast organizations recently conducted trials of DVB-T2, the next-generation of the Digital Video Broadcasting terrestrial standard.

Rohde & Schwarz provided transmitters, repeaters and test equipment to ABC (Australia Broadcasting Corporation) and SBS. Free TV, an industry body representing Australia’s commercial broadcasters, also supported the trial.

The Rohde & Schwarz equipment includes: an R&S TLU9 50 W transmitter, an R&S ETL TV analyzer and an R&S BTC broadcast test center.

DVB-T2, which can support 4K delivery, is being considered as a replacement for the existing DVB-T TV standard for over-the-air television transmission. Nearly all Australian TV viewers rely on over-the-air television service.

"Terrestrial free-to-air television delivers its service to 99 percent of the population, and over 20 million Australians tune in every week," remarks Peter Lambourne, CEO of Broadcast Australia, owner/operator of a large transmission network.

"This trial has been an important part of ensuring that when the time is right, the terrestrial television platform will be ready for the next stage of its evolution and can deliver the best possible viewing experience."

Fremont, CA - August 1, 2018 - Victoria University in Melbourne has become the first Australian university to achieve DaVinci Resolve Trainer Certification with Blackmagic Design. The university also will be using DaVinci Resolve as their main post production software for their Screen Media degree.

DaVinci Resolve has been used on most of this year’s Hollywood blockbusters including "Adrift," "American Animals," "Deadpool 2," "Hearts Beat Loud," "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom," "Madeline’s Madeline," "Mile 22," "The Miseducation of Cameron Post," "On Chesil Beach," "Sicario: Day of the Soldado," "Skyscraper," "Solo: A Star Wars Story," and "Sorry to Bother You."

DaVinci Resolve continues to be the go-to application for many of the world’s leading editors, colorists and post production facilities, such as EFILM’s Skip Kimball, Harbor Picture Company’s Joe Gawler and Stefan Sonnenfeld of Company 3.

The Screen Media degree at Victoria University makes full use of the campus’s facilities, which include state-of-the-art mac labs, a multi-camera television studio, radio studio, greenscreens along with a full range of production cameras and equipment. Dr Marc C-Scott, course chair for the Bachelor of Screen Media, chose to use DaVinci Resolve as the primary post-production software for the program.

As part of the Screen Media degree’s continual improvements, Dr C-Scott and his staff became part of Australia’s first university to be certified as Blackmagic Design Certified Trainers for DaVinci Resolve.

“Victoria University is always looking to explore and improve on degrees and adding Resolve to the curriculum is a big step forward,” said Dr C-Scott. “We are adding Resolve-specific classes throughout the degree, which will include all parts of Davinci Resolve. From there, we hope our students will use the software as part of their future studies and professionally.”

As part of the University’s installation of DaVinci Resolve, its two new post-production mac labs, each with capacity for 20 students, will be equipped with DaVinci Resolve. The new studio and lab join Victoria University’s recently developed television studio.

“Blackmagic Design gives amazing tech to people who could not afford to follow their film and video dreams in the past,” he said. “Now, with Resolve and the new television studio post- production and facilities, Victoria University will see even more students from around Australia coming to us. We will continue to grow with Resolve and are already planning future improvements for the degree based around Blackmagic Design products.”

Press Photography

Product photos of DaVinci Resolve Studio and all other Blackmagic Design products are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/media/images

About Blackmagic Design

Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the US, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more information, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com.

Basingstoke, UK - July 12th, 2018 - EditShare a technology leader in intelligent scale-out storage, AQC and media management solutions, announced today that Brisbane, Australia-based boutique post production house and one of the few women-led post houses in Australia, 3P Studio, has invested in EditShare’s XStream EFS 200 single-node scale-out storage platform to power its collaborative workflow. What started as a busy freelancing business by founder and artisan, Haley Stibbard, became a powerhouse post production house whose eclectic post production portfolio has grown to include high-profile commercial brands such as Subway, Allianz, Isuzu Motor Company as well as iconic and defining shows like Sesame Street.

When 3P Studio opened its doors for business on January 1st, 2017, the team temporarily worked off old hard drives that were backing up to other RAIDed drives overnight whilst also mirroring for redundancy. Since Stibbard built the stunning boutique facility from the ground up, the modern design took into account installing an EditShare shared-storage solution in late 2017. “I always knew that I wanted to install EditShare because I had used it before, and I really liked the way it supported the content flow. We just needed to save for the investment,” says Stibbard.

3P Studio installed the XStream EFS 200 model scale out shared storage solution connecting 10 creative Mac and PC-based workstations over 10-GB Ethernet comprising a mix of Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects, The Foundry’s NUKE, Maxon’s Cinema-4d, Autodesk Maya, 3D Studio Max, DaVinci Resolve for grading and the hero suite, Autodesk Flame Premium while Avid Pro Tools is utilized to provide audio post production. With advanced support for project and media sharing, EditShare features helped tremendously with the boutique’s retail clients who, more often than not, required an incredibly fast turnaround. It allowed the team to work simultaneously on projects with one person recording voice-overs while another artist works on the graphics and another edits. Stibbard notes, “Because the EditShare system is designed for content sharing, it makes the workflow as fast and as collaborative as possible. This means higher quality projects completed on time and of course most importantly, happier clients. EditShare enables us to freely pick and choose the creative tools we want.”

Stibbard comments that she could have purchased other gear, but the EditShare scale-out shared storage nodes were the solution to power her successful business. “I could have gone out and purchased a Mac Pro and hooked it up to a couple of hard drives. Would it have done the same thing? To a certain degree, but it hasn’t been tried and tested like in EditShare. After talking with the guys at EditShare and getting the rundown of the specs and performance reports, investing in EditShare gave me the peace of mind I needed. In addition, my previous experience with using EditShare on very demanding projects assured us that this system would take a beating and keep performing.”

For more information on 3P Studio and how it is using EditShare to take on the industry establishment, please see the full case study here: editshare.com/case-studies/cs-3p-studio

About EditShare

EditShare is a technology leader in networked shared storage and tapeless, end-to-end workflow solutions for the post-production, TV, and film industries. Our ground-breaking products improve efficiency and workflow collaboration every step of the way. They include video capture and playout servers, high-performance central shared storage, archiving and backup software, media asset management, and Lightworks – the world’s first 3-platform (Windows/OS X/Linux) professional non-linear video editing application.

©2018 EditShare LLC. All rights reserved. EditShare is a registered trademark of EditShare.

Press Contact

Nick Govoni
Zazil Media Group
(e) nick@zazilmediagroup.com
(p) +1 (978) 866 7354

CULVER CITY, CA – Prime Focus Technologies (PFT), the technology arm of Prime Focus has opened a new office in Sydney, Australia, to increase its local support for customers in the region.

The company also announced the appointment of Graeme Whineray to be the Director of Sales for ANZ region. Whineray will be based in the new office and brings more than 20 years of experience in the broadcast and post production industries across Australia and New Zealand.

Prior to joining Prime Focus Technologies, Whineray had a successful career delivering creative post environments, integrated news room solutions and asset management platforms for metro and regional broadcasters. He held positions at Amber Technology, Fairlight AU, GBG Technology, and most recently was Enterprise Sales Manager for Avid Technology covering Australia and New Zealand.

“We are delighted to be enhancing our presence in such a vibrant, creative part of the world. Graeme brings in a wealth of experience, and is a key value addition to PFT” said Ankur Jain, VP & Head, Sales - APAC, PFT. “Our Cloud-based media solutions are revolutionizing the business of content management throughout the media industry. It is important to us to support our customers locally as they transition their broadcast technology to take advantage of these powerful new tools.”

FLOWER MOUND, TEXAS & SYDNEY—RUSHWORKS is making its way down under as it has announced a new distribution deal with AV Group Technologies for the Australia and New Zealand markets.

PTX Universal PanTilt

One of the RUSHWORKS products that will be marketed by AV Group is the PTX Universal PanTilt Head. The head features full DMX control, is compatible with standalone cameras and camcorders, as well as lighting consoles.

This is a new example of RUSHWORKS’ attempts for global expansion, having previously signed a distribution agreement with Cache Media for the U.K.