All Stories FeedPay TV Archive:
Showtime exec honoured at ASTRA Conference
Showtime’s Executive Producer Kim Vecera has been awarded the first ASTRA Pioneer Award at the Women in Television Breakfast earlier today.
The award acknowledges contribution through leadership, innovation and creativity and support for the development of subscription television in Australia.
For Showtime Australia, Vecera has executive produced Season 3 of Love My Way, Satisfaction Seasons 1, 2 and 3, and Tangle Seasons 1 and 2 and is currently executive producing Cloudstreet.
Her other credits include Whatever Happened To That Guy?,:30 Seconds, Australia’s Next Top Model, Love Bytes, Dangerous, and Seasons 1 and 2 of …
Selling Houses Australia
Who doesn’t love a good home makeover?
There are shows that hitch them to the sick and impoverished, others that pit hot, young competing designers, and some that make it seem like an entire neighbourhood has found a heart of gold.
On The LifeStyle Channel’s Selling Houses Australia it’s no-fuss practicality: how can we fix ugly homes so that their owners can sell them for a decent price?
With such a simple premise it’s little wonder this show was voted Favourite Program by viewers at last year’s ASTRA Awards. It even defeated profile shows …
Returning: America’s Next Top Model
Cycle 13 of America’s Next Top Model begins mid January on FOX8 with guest judges.
This season will welcome women 5′7″ (170.18cm) and under the chance to compete, which contrasts to last week’s requirement by Australia’s Next Top Model for girls 172cm tall and over
Co-creator Tyra Banks returns as host with photographer Nigel Barker, runway expert J. Alexander and guest judges – including Lauren Conrad and Kim Kardashian.
The winner will be managed by Wilhelmina Models, receive a $100,000 contract with cosmetics giant CoverGirl and appear on the cover and in a six-page …
Auditions: Australia’s Next Top Model
Fox8 has announced auditions for its sixth series of Australia’s Next Top Model kicking off in Sydney and then onto Brisbane, Melbourne, Bendigo, Adelaide and Perth.
Again hosted by Sarah Murdoch, the series renews its search amongst females aged 16 or older. Catty judges Charlotte Dawson and Alex Perry return to dish out the advice and the barbs. Finalists will again share a house which comprises part of the filming process.
Despite some criticism of the show, notably in 2008 over ‘bullying’ claims, ANTM remains Foxtel’s most successful local franchise. This year runner …
World Cup Qualifier tops Pay TV year
The April broadcast of Live: Football: World Cup Qual. Aust v Uzbekistan was the year’s top show on Pay Television according to ASTRA.
It pulled in 431,000 viewers, setting an all time audience record for the industry.
It was followed by the South Africa cricket test Live: Cricket: Test RSA v AUS Day 2 S1 watched by 358,000 people in March.
The Live: NRL Bulldogs v Storm match was next with 347,000 viewers in May.
All three events aired on FOX Sports.
The top non-sports audience was the Australia’s Next Top Model Live Finale on FOX8 …
Airdate: Sarah Murdoch presents Pride of Australia
Sarah Murdoch will present her first Foxtel series produced by her production company Room 329, Sarah Murdoch Presents Pride of Australia.
The production deal with the Pay TV network follows her signing on as host of Australia’s Next Top Model.
The series will introduce showcase nominees for the Pride of Australia Medal Awards. Sponsored by News Limited (note that Murdoch link) the awards will be held in Sydney on Monday, November 30, 2009.
The four-part series will reveal the stories of these everyday people who have been nominated in Outstanding Bravery, Emergency Services, Community …
Local dramas struggling on Pay TV
Last week’s premiere of Tangle took a modest audience on the Showcase channel.
Disappointingly it didn’t make it onto the Top 100 shows on Pay Television. Last week the #1 show on Subscription TV was AFL: Live on the Couch at 95,000 viewers on Fox Sports 1.
Landing at #100 was Vantage Point on Showtime at 21,000.
That puts Tangle’s premiere at 21,000 or below.
Whilst the Showcase Channel forms part of the Showtime Channel package there were Showtime movies that made the list: The Bank Job (41,000), Pineapple Express (34,000), Juno (32,000), The Love …
Airdate: She’s Got the Look
The W Channel has picked up the rights to US reality series She’s Got The Look, in which women over the age of 35 compete for a modelling contract. One of the contestants is 63 years old.
Hosted by supermodel Kim Alexis (pictured), its judging panel consists of Beverly Johnson, the first African-American to grace the cover of Vogue in 1974, stylist Robert Verdi and President of Wilhelmina Models, Sean Patterson.
Penny Win from W said: “We know it is not just the younger audiences watching and loving shows like the Australian and …
Does Idol exploit the mentally ill?
Australian Idol has today been accused of exploiting mentally ill young people with one psychiatrist saying that over the years she had seen several of her patients being bullied and degraded on the show.
While it’s true one judge in particular was mean at auditions (and we all know who) it does seem a little belated to be raising the matter. Might this not have been more productive before the auditions came around again?
In fact there are plenty of mentally healthy auditionees on the show who are degraded too. But that’s Idol. …
Celebrity MasterChef names still simmering
TEN only revealed six names in Celebrity Masterchef tonight on The 7PM Project.
They are Sports columnist and author Peter FitzSimons, Kathleen de Leon Jones, Swimmer Eamon Sullivan, The Biggest Loser trainer Michelle Bridges, Australia’s Next Top Model judge Alex Perry and SBS newsreader Indira Naidoo.
The six will join the already-confirmed Queensland Premier Anna Bligh.
Update: SBS current affairs presenter George Negus is also expected to be confirmed.
With 18 names in total there are still quite a few names yet to be disclosed, potentially including Vince Colosimo and INXS’s Kirk Pengilly.
During a live …
Perfect couple. Perfect silence.
On Wednesday night Nine dubbed Gemma and Raf Australia’s Perfect Couple, giving them a cool $210,000 for their efforts.
On Thursday you could have heard a pin drop.
For the second time this year a reality grand final on Nine was almost universally ignored -not just by media, but by the network itself.
It is customary with most big TV finales to issue a Press Release to media, talking up the fact that the network has just ‘changed somebody’s life’ with a big injection of cash accompanied with lots of lovely adjectives. Usually there …
Daniel Amalm becomes a Contender
Daniel Amalm’s star is certainly on the rise. Not only does he have a key role in Nine’s Rescue: Special Ops, now he has been announced as a co-host of The Contender Australia.
The local version of the boxing reality series will air on FOX8 later this year.
Amalm has a keen interest in the sport and sounds like a logical choice.
At 20, he entered his first amateur boxing fight.
“One fight was enough for me! While I still dream of getting in the ring and having a go, the opportunity to be involved …