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Breakfast TV running over time, and no apology….

Why do Sunrise and Today run past their official finishing times? It seems neither cares about little white lies...

2014-03-27_0208Breakfast TV shows Sunrise and Today have been running past their 9am endpoint for months now, with no sign of apology or adjustment.

Sunrise is the biggest offender, clocked last week at 14 minutes past its 9am ending, as set by the EPG. Today was also overtime at up to 6 minutes.

In the case of Sunrise it has two commercial breaks and a full segment after 9am despite any obvious breaking news. As a result The Morning Show starts up to 14 minutes late.

Last week TV Tonight monitored the finishing times for both Seven and Nine breakfast shows. Both indicated in the EPG they were wrapping at 9am.

Monday
Sunrise: 9:12
Today: 9:06

Tuesday
Sunrise 9:13
Today: 9:06

Wednesday
Sunrise: 9:13
Today: 9:05

Thursday:
Sunrise: 9:13
Today: 9:05

Friday:
Sunrise: 9:14
Today: 9:06

Sunrise strategically drops its clock in its final segment, perhaps to avoid reiterating just how late it is actually ending.

On Friday the Today show had a technical failure, and promised an upcoming segment with Lisa Marie Presley after 9am. But after 6 mins of ads the team never reappeared, with Sonia Kruger and David Campbell underway with Mornings.

TV Tonight asked both networks 3 questions about running overtime:

1) Why is (your breakfast show) running overtime on a daily basis?
2) What times does it plan to end this week?
3) Will the EPG accurately reflect true times moving forward?

Neither specifically answered but offered these responses:

Sunrise’s out-time, much like its format and feel, is flexible and free-flowing. Breakfast radio works on a similar model. Few people have ever raised it as an issue.” – Michael Pell, Executive Producer, Sunrise.

“The show is live television and the duration varies. It flows into another live show so we merge them seamlessly for the audience.” – Nine spokesperson.

The constant lateness comes despite Programmers Angus Ross and Andrew Backwell at Seven and Nine telling TV Tonight earlier this year that EPGs would be striving for accuracy in 2014.

Studio 10 executive producer Rob McKnight recently suggested the ploy was to prop up Overnight numbers for both morning shows, which drop from their breakfast lead-ins.

“They see the minute-by-minutes as do I and they know it’s a desperate attempt to hang onto the audience that Sunrise delivers them,” he told TV Tonight.

“So the longer Sunrise goes over it boosts The Morning Show’s figures because it’s counted from 9am. Sunrise is on until 9:20. So there are 20 minutes of figures that The Morning Show is getting which is actually for Sunrise.

“But nobody’s ever going to call them out on it.”

33 Responses

  1. “Flexible and free flowing”. Right…

    This tactic is nothing new. I think the signs definitely point to this being an intentional ploy. Every day, late by pretty much the same amount? And then there’s the whole dropping-the-clock thing.

  2. Can a Network simply put “Today/Mornings 0530-1100” on the EPG? Would solve the issue, can swap over at any time!
    I’ve noticed Nine News Now/Afternoon News don’t appear to have a solid changeover time. EPG suggests 4.15pm but I’ve been flicking and noticed the wrong program on various times.

  3. Good lord! Stockholm Syndrome is alive and well on the boards of TV Tonight! Between people saying there’s nothing wrong with shows running overtime and people wanting fast tracking to stop, there’s definitely people around who need to realise they’re being mistreated by their TV captors. Free yourself! Free yourself now!
    That, or the publicity department at each network come on in here to try and sway opinion.

  4. Just another case of network executives treating viewers like we are dumb. This trickery to get extra viewers is so tiring and just puts me off both networks completely. I’m sure I’m not the only one that sees through their excuses…

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