TVW is a television station broadcasting in Perth, Western Australia, wholly owned by Seven West Media. It was the first television station in Western Australia, commencing broadcasting on 16 October 1959. It broadcasts a modulated 64-QAM signal of five DVB channels (Seven Network, 7two, 7mate, 7flix and Racing.com). The primary channel was available as a PAL-B modulated simulcast on VHF channel 7 at 182.25 MHz before being discontinued in the first half of 2013; it had been the station's primary signal since its inception. The TVW callsign stands for TV (Television) Western Australia. History On 13 October 1958, the first commercial television licence in Perth was granted by the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs to TVW Limited, a subsidiary of West Australian Newspapers (WAN), publisher of Perth's daily newspaper, The West Australian. Under the then founding general manager of the station James Cruthers, TVW commenced broadcasting on 16 October 1959. The Governor of Western Australia, Sir Charles Gairdner opened the station at 7.30pm that night. Some of the first programs included Leave It to Beaver, Sea Hunt, Father Knows Best, Gunsmoke, Perry Mason, The Epilogue and a local show called Spotlight which featured Rolf Harris. The signal was broadcast from the station's transmitter site at Bickley in the Darling Ranges. TVW-7 did not have a rival commercial television station until 1965 when STW-9 commenced broadcasting. However the presence of a rival did not have a large negative impact on TVW, at least in the early years. In fact a survey by its rival found that more people agreed with a statement that "TVW fulfilled their viewing needs, and it would be a matter of indifference to them if the new station were to cease transmissions". The advantage TVW built up in its six years as sole commercial operator flowed through for many more years to come, some would even argue that it is still present today considering how well Seven performs in the market compared to Nine, which for nearly two decades until the mid-2000s, generally won comfortably nationally. After STW-9 entered the market, a "cartel" was formed between the two stations for the duty of buying from both Australian and overseas production sources. The two stations set up a separate company, TV Facilities (the two stations being 50%/50% partners). This allowed the stations to purchase programs cheaper than if they were two separate entities, which would bid on shows