The main shareholders in NBTC were United Broadcasting Company (owned by the Lamb family, owners of radio station 2KO), Airsales Broadcasting Company (owners of local radio station 2HD), and the Newcastle Morning Herald & Miners Advocate (to be bought out by John Fairfax & Sons).

[6] The Australian Broadcasting Control Board awarded the commercial television licence for the Newcastle and Hunter Valley area to the NBTC on 1 August 1961.

[6] The call-letters, NBN, were derived from the company's name, Newcastle Broadcasting and Television Corporation, with the second N representing New South Wales, as required by law.

[6] It was a step backwards for RCA, building a new station transmitting in black and white while colour television was fast becoming the norm in the United States.

Anglican Bishop James Housden gave the first evening meditation at 10:30 pm, marking the end of the first night of transmission for NBN-3 in Newcastle.

Commercials on the first night included Rothmans, Streets Ice Cream, Ampol, Commonwealth Bank, Shell, and WD & HO Wills, amongst others.

The station only operated eight hours per day, however several programs were produced locally including Home at Three, Let's Cook With Gas, Tempo, Focus, as well as nightly news bulletins at 6:30 pm.

In 1970, NBN began upgrading its studios in preparation for the commencement of colour television originally scheduled for 1972, later changed to March 1975, at a cost of $360,000.

[3] In 1972, NBN was granted a licence to operate a translator in the Upper Hunter Valley from Rossgole Lookout near Aberdeen, on VHF channel 10.

[10] By the late 1970s, NBN was producing 20 hours a week of local and networked programming from its studios, which in turn led the station to purchase a Bell Jet Ranger helicopter for news coverage purposes.

[11][12] Parry had then attempted to buy Michael Wansey's stake in NBN, but was blocked by the Supreme Court of New South Wales.

It was later revealed that the Lambs had opposed NBN's purchase of the Star newspaper (created and owned by Wansey) and the attempt to buy 2HD.

During that time, NBN and ABC Newcastle (call sign ABHN-5A) were asked to leave the VHF band to accommodate FM radio.

A proposal to launch a radiated subscription television service with community broadcasting during the daytime hours had also failed that year.

Following aggregation, the station's coverage expanded to cover all of northern New South Wales, whilst concurrently programming extended to twenty-four hours in a day, in stereophonic sound.

During April 2007, SP Telemedia announced that it would consider selling NBN Television, and had received at least two bids, one each from WIN Corporation and PBL Media.

The purchase also secured permanent status of supplying Nine's content to the station's entire coverage area, sparing any future affiliation switches (particularly the 2016 Australian television shakeup involving Southern Cross Austereo[21] and WIN Corporation[22]).

In 2010, it was announced that two of NBN's inner Newcastle retransmitter sites in Charlestown and Cooks Hill were selected to carry 3D broadcasts of the 2010 State of Origin series.

On 1 July 2016, coinciding with the media shakeup of WIN and Southern Cross, NBN's unique branding was completely phased out.

In October 2016, Nine Entertainment lodged a development application with Newcastle City Council about plans to turn the current NBN studios into medium density housing.

In November 2021, after almost 60 years broadcasting from the Mosbri Crescent studios, NBN moved to new state of the art facilities located at 28 Honeysuckle Drive, Newcastle.

News, sport and weather presenters start early at NBN recording introductions to each of the local stories which will be included in the opt-outs.

[7] The station's coverage of the tragic events of the 1989 Newcastle earthquake was beamed throughout the world, with NBN's reporters also being interviewed by international news services.

When the program went on air a short time later, newsreader Jodi McKay handed over to ABC News America's coverage of events, anchored by Peter Jennings.

Coincidentally, it marked 10 years since Paul Lobb replaced Ray Dinneen as main male news presenter and one of the network's local identities back in 2010.

20 positions were affected and 5 of its staff were redeployed to Nine's QTQ studios in Brisbane, where NBN News will begin master control operations from November.

At first the 'Miss's' were assisted by NBN's station mascot, Buttons the Cat, who underwent a number of incarnations as its costume aged and became outdated.

[3] On 3 January 2007, it was announced that NBN would axe Today Extra, claiming it was no longer economically viable, with a drop in ratings and a shrinking advertising base.

The program was presented by NBN News Sport Reporters Stephen Mount and Kate Haberfield and is broadcast at 12 pm Saturdays.

The three was used due to the station's frequency allocation, being transmitted on VHF channel 3 from a transmitter atop Mount Sugarloaf near Newcastle.