Network 10 has urged Federal Government action to protect regional TV broadcasts following the decision of Mildura Digital Television, a joint venture between Seven West Media and WIN Corporation, to stop broadcasting the network's channels on June 30.

"We're bitterly disappointed that regional TV operators are being put in a position that they need to take this action," said a Network 10 spokesperson. "It's the people of Mildura and the surrounding region that will be hurt by this decision and it's unacceptable that tens of thousands of Australians will see some of their favourite free-to-air broadcast channels go to black."

Mildura Digital Television reaches around 60,000 people in Victoria's Mildura region. It first launched as a Ten affiliate broadcasting a digital signal and broadcasts Ten, 10 Bold and 10 Peach.

According to reports in the AFR, the decision came down to the difficult economics of regional broadcast.

“The state of the regional advertising market means MDT is unable to justify the cross subsidy of delivering Ten programs to the Mildura television market,” said Chris Halios-Lewis, Mildura Digital Television’s chairman and WIN’s chief financial officer.

“Without the subsidy provided by the joint venture owners, MDT will be insolvent and no longer a going concern.”

Local residents of the Mildura region will still be able to download and access the 10Play app, but will lose free-to-air access to programs such as MasterChef Australia, Have You Been Paying Attention?, Gogglebox and The Cheap Seats.

The network said decision underscores the importance of prominence of free streaming services for "every Australian can easily find local content and broadcasters on their connected TVs and devices".