TVW-7 is a television station broadcasting in Perth, Australia, wholly owned by the Seven Network. It was the first television station in Western Australia, commencing service on October 16, 1959. It broadcasts analogue on VHF 7 and digital on VHF 6. The TVW callsign stands for TeleVision Western Australia.
It is a member of the Seven Network, whose principal shareholder is Perth-born Kerry Stokes.
News/Public Affairs
Seven News at 6pm is Perth's highest ratings nightly bulletin, the bulletin is fronted by Rick Ardon and Susannah Carr. 2005 saw Rick and Sue celebrate their 20th anniversary as a reading duo. Sport is presented by Basil Zempalis and weather by Jeff Newman.
The nightly news if followed by locally produced publica affairs program Today Tonight hosted by Monika Kos. The program uses a mixture of reports from its sister programs on the East Coast and in Adelaide as well as reports from locally based reporters. Like Seven News the program consistenly beats its Sydney based rival A Current Affair.
Across the weekend the news is hosted by Yvette Mooney with sport by former West Coast Eagles player Chris Mainwaring.
Other news programming is produced by the network, this includes the morning news program Sunrise, Seven Morning News and Seven's 4.30 News, late news updates are also provided from the Sydney newsroom.
The current tagline for their news service, is 'Nobody Knows News Like Seven/The Pulse of Perth'.
Programming
Seven Perth for the most part follows the programming of the Seven Network.
Locally produced programs, which can also be seen in regional WA on GWN include:
- Home In WA (Lifestyle, building and renovation)
- Go Racing (News/discussion about the racing scene in both Perth and the Eastern States)
- Today Tonight (Public Affairs)
Mascot
Seven Perth has long been the home of Fat Cat, the name standing for Francis Aloysius Thomas Cat. Fat Cat is "put to bed" every night at 7.30pm signalling the end of programs suitable for children. Fat Cat has been the only WA television mascot to survive. Long time rival STW-9 used a large elephant as its mascot and NEW-10 used Kenny Kidna from the Kangaroo Creek Gang as its mascot.
Fat Cat is also used for Telethon, Fat Cat dolls and cds are sold to raise money for sick children.
Telethon
Telethon began in 1968 and is a charitable oranisation which seeks to raise funds for the Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, aiding research into children's diseases. Many fundrasing events run throughout the entire year culminating in a live 24 hour broadcast on a weekend in November. The program is broadcast across the state by Seven and its regional affiliate GWN. 2004 saw the program leave its Tuart Hill studios for the first time, with the entire broadcasting coming out of the Perth Convention Exhibition Centre.
Stars from Seven Network shows such as Home and Away, Blue Heelers and All Saints make the journey west for the weekend to entertain the audience, visit sick children and read donations on air.
Musical guests are also a big part of the weekend. Over the years many acts inlcuding Michael Jackson, Harry Connick Jnr, Whitney Houston, Stevie Wonder, Tina Turner, Julian Lennon, Sammy Davis Jnr and Celine Dion have performed.