New Zealand didn't start to develop television service until 1965 due to World War 2 and its economic harm in the country's economy.
At the outset, commercial stations were independently owned, but due to economic forces network affiliations were soon established.
This pattern of television spectrum allocation was replicated in most of the state capital cities over the subsequent decade, with the exception of Hobart (one commercial service on VHF 6) and eventually Darwin (both the ABC and the commercial service were allocated in the VHF high band).
The Melbourne transmission towers were located on the nearby Mount Dandenong, and their elevation and broadcasting power on an otherwise relatively flat terrain meant that the broadcasting signal could be received for some considerable distance, although there were some areas that experienced reception difficulties due to hills or buildings.
The Blue Mountain terrain in the West of Sydney meant that capital city broadcasting did not penetrate into the hinterland of NSW, unlike that of Melbourne.
It is possible that the penetration of weak signals into the Victorian hinterlands hastened the demand for the establishment of regional television stations, which commenced in 1961.
Since the early 2000s both nations have full use of the standard FM band due to reallocation activities related to their separate implementation strategies for digital television.
There is a frequency offset for many DTV channels between Australia and NZ, because of historical reasons relating to the introduction of PAL.
Channels 40 to 48 are currently allocated but reserved; frequencies above this have been reallocated to 4G (LTE) mobile phone services in the 700 MHz band.