TEN Upfronts: Sport, Kylie Kwong, and 6pm entertainment.

A new 6pm family entertainment show will air on TEN in 2014, as part of the network’s bid to lift its primetime ratings share.

The undisclosed new show was part of the announcements at the network’s 2014 Upfronts  at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney tonight.

Amongst other announcements: Kylie Kwong is joining the new season of MasterChef; The Bachelor will return; So You Think You Can Dance is one of the event titles (with more to be revealed) and major Sports events Big Bash League, Winter Olympics and Commonwealth Games will drive the network’s sports offerings.

Secrets & Lies and Party Tricks join Puberty Blues, Wonderland, Offspring, Neighbours with a new digital-only drama, Lost With The Boys.

Have You Been Paying Attention? will have an “extended run.”

New international titles include 24: Live Another Day, The Millers, Crisis, Extant, Tyrant and on ELEVEN East End, Reign, How To Live With Your Parents and 1600 Penn.

Network Ten Chief Executive Officer, Hamish McLennan, said: “The first KFC T20 Big Bash League game on December 20 marks the start of TEN’s new programming strategy and lineup for 2014.

“From the Big Bash we go straight into the XXII Olympic Winter Games. Then the rest of our line-up for the first part of 2014 starts to roll out, including So You Think You Can Dance Australia, The Biggest Loser: Challenge Australia, Secrets & Lies and Puberty Blues.

“The new line-up clearly demonstrates TEN’s focus on Event TV and people aged 25 to 54 –the biggest and most important age group in television – and represents our strongest start for many years,” he said.

“TEN has seen growth in its 25 to 54 audience in recent months. We are already delivering big 25 to 54 audiences in many programs and we are determined to build on that in 2014.

“At the same time, ELEVEN will continue to offer compelling content for the 13 to 29 age group and ONE will sharpen its focus on men aged over 25 and sports fans.

“Our new industry-leading digital platform, tenplay, has posted strong growth since it launched on September 30. In 2014, we will be adding new distribution channels, new partners and new content, including Australian content that will be exclusive to tenplay,” Mr McLennan said.

TEN Chief Programming Officer, Beverley McGarvey, said: “Next year, Network TEN will present a revitalised program schedule across all our channels.

“Our aim is simple: to build our already engaged 25 to 54 audience on TEN by giving them premium sport, drama, entertainment, reality and news and information content in a consistent schedule.

“We will build our audience show by show, timeslot by timeslot. Our new family entertainment show for the 6pm weekdays timeslot is a key part of that plan and we are looking forward to releasing details of that show very soon,” she said.

“TEN pioneered Event TV in Australia and in 2014 we will bring viewers events such as So You Think You Can Dance Australia, MasterChef Australia, The Biggest Loser: Challenges Australia and The Bachelor Australia. We will announce more Event TV series next year.

“In 2014 Network TEN will have its strongest sport line-up in many years, including the KFC T20 Big Bash League, the XXII Olympic Winter Games, Formula One, Rugby Union and the Glasgow Commonwealth Games,” Ms McGarvey said.

“Next year, we will give viewers more reasons than ever to turn on TEN – turn on Event TV, turn on the best in Australian drama, turn on sport, turn on news, turn on the best from the US, and turn on anywhere, any time, on any screen.”

However the axe may have fallen on a swag of shows, with no mention of: Can of Worms, Revealed, A League of their Own, This Week Live, Recipe to Riches, Mr & Mrs Murder nor the previously announced Batavia and Come Date with Me.

TEN IN 2014
NEW LOCAL SERIES
So You Think You Can Dance Australia
Dance returns to TEN in 2014 with a new, re-energised version of So You Think You Can Dance Australia. Produced by Shine Australia, the new series is hosted by The Project’s Carrie Bickmore and features international television, music and dance superstar Paula Abdul as one of its judges. From ballroom to hip hop, urban to contemporary and ballet, So You Think You Can Dance Australia will have the whole country dancing.

Secrets & Lies
Event TV drama at its best, this gripping, unmissable six-part series stars Martin Henderson (Bride and Prejudice, Big Sky, Off The Map) as Ben, a house painter who finds the body of a young boy and watches as his life unravels. Produced by Hoodlum, Secrets & Lies is a true multi-screen event: a psychological thriller on television and a crime procedural drama online. Also starring Diana Glenn, Anthony Hayes, Adrienne Pickering and Damon Gameau.

Party Tricks
Produced by John Edwards and Imogen Banks for Southern Star Entertainment, Party Tricks stars 2013 TV Week Gold Logie winner Asher Keddie and Rodger Corser. Asher plays Kate Ballard, a committed politician whose campaign to become the next State Premier is threatened when a popular television and radio personality, David McLeod (Rodger), is
selected as the new opposition leader.

Lost With The Boys
Exclusive to tenplay, Lost With The Boys is an online collection of short stories by real girls – the highs, the lows and the bits nobody knows. Produced by Amanda Higgs (The Secret Life of Us, The Time of Our Lives) and Kate Keegan, Lost With The Boys marks tenplay’s first investment in original, online-only content and will debut in early 2014.

6pm Family Entertainment Series
Details of TEN’s new 6pm weekdays family entertainment series will be released soon.

RETURNING LOCAL SERIES
A television and online sensation in 2013, The Bachelor Australia returns in 2014 with more ladies competing for the heart of Australia’s most eligible bachelor.

The television show that changed the way Australians cook is back for its sixth – and most authentic – season. MasterChef Australia returns, less scripted, less predictable, more exciting and more focused on food than ever before. And Matt, George and Gary will be joined by acclaimed chef and food writer, Kylie Kwong, as a regular guest mentor.

The Biggest Loser: Challenge Australia will see one of Australia’s most-loved television shows move to new heights, as Michelle, Shannan and Commando take on the remarkable task of helping an entire town lose weight.

Secrets & Lies and Party Tricks will join a stellar line-up of local drama series on TEN in 2014.

After the dramatic final episodes of this year’s season, Offspring returns in 2014 and welcomes its newest and youngest cast member: Nina and Patrick’s baby. Next year will also bring the second series of TEN’s highly-acclaimed, award-winning coming-of-age drama Puberty Blues and the next installment of the hot new Australian series Wonderland.

TEN’s commitment to local comedy continues in 2014. Working Dog Productions’ new quiz show Have You Been Paying Attention? will run until Christmas 2013 and return next year for a longer run.

TEN is also proud to announce it has extended its highly successful broadcast and sponsorship relationship with the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

The relationship gives TEN exclusive broadcast rights to three leading events: Melbourne International Comedy Festival Gala, Melbourne International Comedy Festival Opening Night Supershow and Melbourne International Comedy Festival Great Debate.

Also returning in 2014 are Wanted, The Living Room, Bondi Vet, Bondi Rescue and more.

NEW OVERSEAS SERIES
24 Live Another Day
The new version of the iconic, gripping 24 picks up four years after the original series ended, with Jack Bauer now living in London and being hunted by a beautiful CIA agent. Kiefer Sutherland returns as Bauer and is joined by Kim Raver, William Devane and Mary Lynn Rajskub.

The Millers
One of the smash hits of the new US television season, The Millers stars Will Arnett (Arrested Development) as a recently divorced local news reporter whose life is turned upside down when his parents separate and his mother moves in. Also starring Beau Bridges (Norma Rae, The Fabulous Baker Boys) and the scene-stealing Margo Martindale (Million
Dollar Baby, Dead Man Walking, Justified).

Crisis
Australia’s own Rachael Taylor (Red Dog, Any Questions for Ben?) stars in this riveting drama about the hijacking of a school bus that contains the children of Washington DC’s elite, including the President’s son. Also starring Gillian Anderson (The X-Files, Great Expectations, The Fall) and Dermot Mulroney (My Best Friend’s Wedding, About Schmidt, The Wedding Date).

Extant
From CBS Studios and Steven Spielberg, Extant is a sci-fi thriller set on Earth and stars Academy Award winner Halle Berry (in her first major television role) as an astronaut who returns home after a 12-month solo mission in space – and finds home is not how she left it. Extant will run on TEN day-and-date with the US.

Tyrant
From the original and continuing writers of Homeland, Tyrant tells the story of an unassuming American family drawn into the workings of a turbulent Middle Eastern nation.

RETURNING OVERSEAS SERIES
TEN’s line-up of returning overseas hits for 2014 includes the most-watched television series in the US – NCIS – its hit spin-off NCIS: Los Angeles and the multi-award-winning Homeland and Modern Family.

Steven Spielberg’s Under The Dome was one of the most successful new series in Australia this year and left viewers on the edge of their seats with its cliffhanger finale. Under The Dome returns in 2014 and TEN will run it just hours after it goes to air in the US.

Also back in 2014 is the high-rating new twist on the Sherlock Holmes story, Elementary, plus Law & Order: SVU, The Good Wife, Ripper Street, The Graham Norton Show and new series from Jamie Oliver and Sir David Attenborough.

SPORT
The KFC T20 Big Bash League comes to free-to-air television for the first time next month. Network Ten will show all 35 games live from December 20 to February 7, presented by the best cricket commentary team in Australia – Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, Mark Waugh, Damien Fleming and Sir Vivian Richards – and hosts Mel McLaughlin and Mark Howard.

Just a few hours after the final of the KFC T20 Big Bash League, Network Ten will start bringing Australians the thrills, action, drama and spectacle of the XXII Olympic Winter Games from Sochi, Russia. Exclusive to Network Ten, the Sochi Games will see more than 360 hours of live content broadcast on TEN and ONE, with total coverage of more than 550 hours across the two channels. In addition, tenplay will feature eight live streaming channels during the Games. Network Ten has assembled an outstanding commentary team for the Sochi Games, including Olympic Winter Games Gold medallists Steven Bradbury and Alisa Camplin, Mel McLaughlin, Stephen Quartermain, Steven Lee, Mitch Tomlinson, Steph Hickey, Mark Howard, Brad McEwan, Greg Rust, Nicole Livingstone, Nuala Hafner, Matt Doran, Magdalena Roze, Danielle Isdale and Scott Mackinnon.

The KFC T20 Big Bash League and the XXII Olympic Winter Games are just the start of a big year for sport on TEN. In July and August, TEN will be the official broadcaster of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. Viewers will see more than 215 hours of live content broadcast on TEN and ONE, with total coverage of more than 350 hours across the two channels. In addition, tenplay will feature eight live streaming channels from Glasgow.

TEN will also be the home of premium motorsport in 2014, with all the action and thrills of MotoGP and Formula One, including the spectacular Formula One Australian Grand Prix.

Rugby Union fans will be glued to TEN next year, with all Wallabies matches broadcast live, including the three Test series against the French, The Castrol Edge Rugby Championship which incorporates The Bledisloe Cup, and The Wallabies Spring Tour.

NEWS AND INFORMATION
In 2014, TEN will broadcast more than nine hours of news and information programming every weekday, including TEN Eyewitness News Early, TEN Eyewitness News Morning, our flagship TEN Eyewitness News at 5pm, and TEN Eyewitness News Late.

In the morning, TEN will present Wake Up followed by Studio 10. Both shows will continue to run over summer, during the XXII Olympic Winter Games and into 2014.

The Project returns in 2014 and will continue to build its reputation as the most innovative and entertaining news and current affairs program in Australia.

ELEVEN IN 2014
Australia’s longest-running drama series, Neighbours, will anchor ELEVEN’s prime time schedule as it enters its 29th season.

ELEVEN’s standing as the favourite multi-channel for Australians aged 13 to 29 will be enhanced in 2014 thanks to returning series such as The Simpsons, American Idol, The Loop, Supernatural, Dexter, American Horror Story, Beauty and the Beast, Snog Marry Avoid, Nurse Jackie, Bob’s Burgers and So You Think You Can Dance US.

New series on ELEVEN include Witches of East End, Reign, How To Live With Your Parents and 1600 Penn.

Toasted TV, the new home for the best in children’s programming, will welcome a new member in early 2014 when the iconic television series Hi-5 arrives on ELEVEN.

ONE IN 2014
Sport fans will find plenty to keep them happy on ONE in 2014, including extensive and extended coverage of the XXII Olympic Winter Games and the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

ONE’s 2014 line-up also features the NFL Super Bowl in February, the National Basketball League, the Australian Swimming Championships in April, Formula One qualifying rounds and races, MotoGP qualifying rounds and races, and the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships from the Gold Coast in August.

Next year will see a raft of new, returning and favourite series on ONE, including Sons of Anarchy, COPS, Law & Order: UK, Burn Notice, Black Gold, Psych, Monster Jam, Sleeper Cell and NYC 22.