7NEWS Tasmania will air its first bulletin from its new Hobart studio tonight, ending 64 years of nightly news broadcasts from Launceston and shifting technical control of the bulletin to the mainland for the first time.
Kim Millar and Andy ‘Tubes’ Taylor will front the new-look 6pm bulletin tonight, alongside weekday weather presenter Kiah Wicks.
The final Launceston bulletin went to air on Sunday evening with presenter Michael Maney and weather presenter Jackie Harvey, as staff watched emotionally from the control room to mark the end of an era in Tasmanian media.
It is a major shake-up for Tasmania’s most-watched TV news service, which has broadcast from the northern city since 1962.
Bulletin direction and studio production roles have now moved to Seven’s Canberra hub, a job previously undertaken exclusively by staff in Tasmania.
The number of job losses from the changes is not yet clear, though Pulse understands the station’s Tasmanian-based news director was made redundant this month, while a long-standing Launceston news staffer finished at the station on Friday after 42 years of employment.
Several other staff are no longer be with the company, including former sports presenter Nick Kelly – who also finished with the station on Friday.
Regular fill-in weather presenter Jackie Harvey was left uncertain over the future of her role, thanking viewers for their company over her eight-year stint at the station during Sunday night’s bulletin and saying she hoped to be back on-screen soon “for a few more sunny forecasts”.
Millar, who has led the 6pm bulletin for the last six years, will commute from Launceston to Hobart to present Monday to Wednesday. Michael Maney has relocated to Hobart and will take on an expanded role covering Thursday to Sunday.
“It’s a privilege to continue bringing Tasmanians the stories that matter most to them each night,” Millar said.
“We have an incredible team of journalists and camera operators right across Tasmania, and while we may be broadcasting from a new studio, our focus remains exactly the same – telling the stories of Tasmanians, wherever they are in the state.”
Taylor, a familiar voice in Tasmanian sport, will also keep his existing breakfast radio gig on Triple M Hobart.
“I’m nervous, honoured and really excited to be part of the 7NEWS Tasmania team,” Taylor said.
Seven has been leasing a temporary studio and office space on Charles Street in the Launceston CBD since May 2025 after being evicted from its original studio complex on Watchorn St in South Launceston to make way for a redevelopment.
The TV station’s previous owner, Southern Cross Austereo, sold the Watchorn Street premises in 2022.
Last month, a Seven spokesperson said the Hobart studio became available after the network’s merger with Southern Cross Austereo, which also owns Hobart’s Hit100.9 and Triple M.
“Using this facility is the smart and sustainable choice for the business, allowing us to invest our resources into what matters most: the journalism and the people who deliver it,” the spokesperson said.
The station has changed hands twice in the past year, with Seven West Media buying it from Southern Cross Austereo for $3.75 million in May 2025 before the two companies merged in January.
Pulse understands high technical and operational costs were a factor behind Seven closing the Launceston studio, with the station to now move its journalists, camera operators and commercial staff from Charles Street to a new office in the former Redline Coaches terminal building on George Street.
A Seven spokesperson insisted the number of journalists and camera operators across Tasmania would remain unchanged, and only “bulletin direction and studio production will be handled from Seven’s Canberra Hub”.
