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Extra-royal wait for Today viewers in WA

As Royal Baby news breaks, Today delays the birth by 2 hours for WA viewers.

2013-07-23_1112Live crosses to reporters who suddenly lose their audio, delays about the baby news, and extra specials whacked into the schedule….

With the birth of a new heir to the Commonwealth, television has been adjusting.

Networks that were running news on delay got caught out this morning.

Today was delayed into Adelaide and Perth, especially putting WA viewers a full 2 hours behind the happy news.

In contrast Sunrise went Live in all states and dropped commercial breaks, extending until 11am. ABC News Breakfast is also delayed in those states on ABC1, but Live on ABC News 24. SKY News is also Live in all states.

TEN also screened CBS This Morning at 5:30am which was a whopping 10 hours or more behind the news, right when other networks were reporting the birth.

Meanwhile three specials have been added into tonight’s schedule already:

6pm. TEN News Special: Will And Kate: A Royal Arrival.
Tonight Network Ten will broadcast Will And Kate: A Royal Arrival, a half-hour TEN News special event in celebration of the arrival of the child third in line to the British throne. Presented by Natarsha Belling, Will And Kate: A Royal Arrival takes a walk alongside the Royal family during this new chapter in British history. Join a raft of royal experts and commentators as they discuss the changing face of the Royal family, Kate’s pregnancy fashion, what to expect when the baby returns home and a look to what the future holds for the child who will one day be King.

ABC1 has abandoned a repeat of New Tricks to screen:

8:30pm Born To Be King
Marking the highly-anticipated birth of the great grandchild of Queen Elizabeth II, this documentary shows a fascinating portrait of royal childhood together with anticipation of life ahead for the child who is born to reign.

It will be followed by QI: England.

6pm Seven News is extending in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane:
Seven News Melbourne will broadcast a special one-hour news bulletin tonight with extended coverage of the birth of the Royal baby.With Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, and husband Prince William, celebrating the arrival of a boy, tonight’s bulletin will feature reports from Seven News Foreign Correspondent, Mike Amor, as well as Sunrise host Melissa Doyle, who is also on the ground in London. The extended bulletin will also incorporate stories from the reporting team at Today Tonight. Presented by Peter Mitchell, Seven News airs nightly at 6pm on Channel Seven. Today Tonight will return at 6.30pm tomorrow night.

Seven News Sydney will broadcast a special one-hour news bulletin tonight with extended coverage of the birth of the Royal baby. With Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, and husband Prince William, celebrating the arrival of a boy, tonight’s bulletin will feature reports from Seven News Foreign Correspondent, Mike Amor, as well as Sunrise host Melissa Doyle, who is also on the ground in London. Presented by Chris Bath, Seven News airs nightly at 6pm on Channel Seven. Today Tonight will return at 6.30pm tomorrow night.

This post updates.

21 Responses

  1. Today was live into 9 Darwin when the announcement was made, and that’s a 9 owned station. I think as to why Adelaide was still on delay could be due to 9 Adelaide still being controlled through Media Hub, which is owned by WIN. I don’t think 9 has taken over 9 Adelaide program play out yet now that they own them 9 Adelaide? When 9 does fully takes over these time delayed stations they should go live all the time from 5am in each time zone. It is only a matter of time until 9 goes live all day with studio based infotainment dressed up as news and advertorial based chat shows. And when the east coast goes to Hot Seat at 5.30pm, Adelaide should only need to fill for 30 mins with a local 5pm news until they run Hot Seat at 5.30 Adelaide time, with Perth likewise filling locally for 2 hours from 3.30pm to 5.30pm and Brisbane from 4.30 to 5.30pm during southern states daylight saving…

  2. Wonder how the new TT chick really feels about being pushed out whenever there’s some “real news” to report? The frenzy 7& 9 are in over this is ridiculous. Just waiting for some close-up ‘look, the head’s out’ photos hacked from someones I-phone by News Corp UK International or whatever they’re called in the UK.

  3. Talk about overkill. I have to watch “The Americans”. 6-7pm is looking good. “Seven News Sydney will broadcast a special one-hour news bulletin tonight with extended coverage of the birth of the Royal baby.” Maybe someone should tell Prime. 4:40pm in Sthn NSW they ran a TT promo and their EPG shows TT at 6:30.

  4. On another note: Today is delayed into WA every other day of the year…what makes today so special? If networks want us to take their news so seriously, how about going live into markets outside of AEST. With Seven, Nine (and Ten soon) running morning/news programs until midday AEST, it should hardly be a problem – in WA this would still run to 10am (9am summer).

  5. It would have been a WIN decision in WA but with SA only 30 minutes behind they should have gone live. 9 needs to win those states to consistently beat Seven.

  6. Okay so I get this is an exciting time, but what the hell can they tell us that is different from 6 am this morning? it is the middle of the night in the UK, nothing has happened. we don’t need 12 hours of footage repeating the same thing over and over and over again.

  7. The news updates last night on Nine were cringe worthy. Update: No new information. Second commercial break Update: No new information.
    What was so important? A baby

    There are so many more important things to talk about from around the world. Sigh

  8. And the networks wonder why WA/SA viewers are so focused on local (state) content. If the feed is not local, then it’s on delay and that means all those “see it first on…” watermarks are little more than a joke.

  9. Given how popular Channel 7 is in Perth, I doubt that too many viewers really noticed that Today was 2 hours behind on Channel 9. It may have been a WIN decision, but Today was also delayed in Adelaide & NWS 9 isn’t owned by WIN anymore.

  10. In a perfect world this wouldn’t even get reported, let alone drop everything for live & extended coverage of an easel outside Buckingham Palace. Why didn’t Kim Kardashian’s baby get the same treatment from us & the world’s media? I’d argue that Kim & co have contributed more to society than this taxpayer-funded celebrity family.

  11. There is just no excuse for delaying live tv into wa and I assume it would have been a win decision – use your multichannel if you have to like abc and show live and then normal time – it’s time to start treating the viewer with respect – especially when pay tv is live all the time.

  12. Isn’t it funny how there are hardly any other newsworthy stories on days like this… It’s a baby…. It’s all just a tad overkill if you ask me.

  13. I find it funny that people care so much.

    Why are we all so interested to know who the future king will be anyway – we’ll all be dead when he starts his reign!!

  14. Okay they knew this was coming last night, why the heck didn’t they just go with live coverage today?

    SkyNews all the way!

    Good that TEN has The Simpsons at 6pm, which they can drop for things like this and the Labor leadership battle a few weeks back.

  15. Perfect day for the child to be born as there is usually bugger all worth watching Tue so it’s a good night to schedule catch-up viewing.

  16. I couldn’t care less however famous this baby is. And What’s the point of having reporters camping outside the hospital, As if she’s going to come out and talk to them.

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