WIN News management told staff on Tuesday night that journalists and camera crew would supply content for weeknightly bulletins which would be broadcast from Wollongong.

Additionally, there would be no local content broadcast on the weekend.

WIN Network chief executive Andrew Lancaster said technology now allowed news to be presented more efficiently in a central location. “WIN’s newsrooms in Tasmania will continue to provide the stories of interest to Tasmanian viewers as well as WIN News updates as normal throughout the day on weekdays,” he said.

“Nearly all networks in this digital age have a central presentation location for their news and we are adopting what is becoming an industry standard.”

He said staff would be consulted throughout the restructure.

Premier Will Hodgman said the decision was disappointing for Tasmania and the government had made contact to discuss the matter with the company.

Ms O’Byrne (pictured) said media diversity in Tasmania strengthened state politics and was essential so a community could learn about different interpretations of an issue to inform their own views.

“Actions like this which take local story-telling away and centralise decisions in other states significantly damage our media environment,” she said.

WIN was formerly known as Tas TV, which was the first television network to be broadcast live in Tasmania.