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Race that tops the nation
Week 45 saw Seven launch its new digital channel 7TWO with a mix of broad entertainment offering. It addressed the Nine / GO! combo that had upstaged it in the last few months. In sheer audience figures the 2009 Melbourne Cup’s record 2.67m viewers was the week’s top story. It was even Seven’s biggest audience all year. But the real news of the week was actually a lot more humble: the government’s lifeline to Community Television. After a lengthy campaign it will begin to dual-cast on analogue and digital some time …
Variety the spice of Nine’s life
In the week that Seven announced its new digital channel it lost another week to Nine and its GO! channel. Nine’s win included its tribute to a favourite son, Don Lane. On the back of the Hey Hey reunions it was another reminder its audience loves Variety. It was also a week in which the networks trumped one another in the publicity stakes. After the ABC launched ABC3, Seven stole its thunder the next day with 7TWO, which was subsequently trumped that afternoon by Nine winning Top Gear.
The Nine Network won …
Gone: Coastwatch
Seven’s Coastwatch let down the channel on 850,000 (standby for more Border repeats?)
- TV Tonight, Thursday October 22nd.
As from Wednesday October 28th:
Coastwatch replaced by Border Security repeat.
A tight Race for Wednesday
There wasn’t a lot of space in between four shows last night at 9:30pm. John Safran’s Race Relations was fourth at 705,000 but not a long way behind the timeslot winner, Nine’s Criminal Investigation Australia on 797,000.
But by comparison it was well down on the premiere of United States of Tara which took 1.27m in August in the same slot. With so much pre-show outrage today there seems to be little.
Yesterday ABC’s Director of Television Kim Dalton wrote an editorial on The Punch which defended the decision to run the …
Returning: Coastwatch
Seven is returning its New Zealand observational doco series Coastwatch to our screens.
In the first ep, Fishery Officers bust a major poaching ring in Wellington. Rivetting stuff.
Meanwhile in Fiordland, officers stumble upon a strange ritual. And a diver desperately pleads for his innocence.
It returns at 7:30pm Wednesday October 21st followed by Medical Emergency.
Easter non-ratings update
Programming changes for the Easter non ratings period will see a mix of withheld, repeated and continuing shows on Channel Seven in the week of April 5th.
New episodes of Sunday Night, Infamous Assassinations, 24, Home and Away, Scrubs, 30 Rock, Eli Stone, Lost, Private Practice and Better Homes and Gardens are all confirmed. A new ep of Coastwatch will air at 8pm Sunday.
In place of new episodes there are repeats planned for Border Security, How I Met Your Mother, Boston Legal, RSPCA Animal Rescue, Find My Family and Criminal Minds. Bones …
Sneak Peeks: Gangs of Oz, Triple Zero Heroes
Seven has added several “Sneak Peeks” of its two new factual shows, Gangs of Oz and Triple Zero Heroes.
Unlike Channel Nine’s confusing terminology, these last just five minutes each.
Of most interest are the names attached to the two previews.
Matt White for Gangs of Oz and Johanna Griggs for Triple Zero Heroes.
Logic would suggest both are the narrators / presenters for the shows.
The “Sneak Peeks” air at the following times (Melbourne):
Gangs of Oz
Fri Jan 30 9:25pm
Sat Jan 31 10:55pm
Sun Feb 1 10:25pm
Triple Zero Heroes
Sat Jan 31 6:30pm
Sun Feb 1 6:30pm
Mon Feb 2 …
Producers to lobby against NZ content
The Screen Producers Association of Australia will lobby the Rudd Government to overhaul local content rules after an unprecedented number of New Zealand-made programs have flooded our television screens.
Under the current regulations, New Zealand-made shows count towards the networks’ Australian content quota requirement, which obliges broadcasters to devote at least 55percent of their programming to locally made shows.
SPAA executive director Geoff Brown said budget-conscious networks are taking advantage of the arrangement under the Australia New Zealand Closer Economic Relations Agreement to run cheap New Zealand imports instead of making more expensive …
Half a Betty
Seven is removing Ugly Betty from Tuesdays now to play only on Thursdays as of next week, December 18.
The show only got 733,000 on Tuesday, beaten by Sudden Impact on 1.04m.
Instead Seven has decided to go head to head with factual series, Wild Vets and Coastwatch from Tuesday December 16.
That makes viewing tough for anyone wanting diversity of choice. Still Seven has knocked the show around this year, they shouldn’t be surprised by the low turn out.
Betty also won’t screen on Christmas Day, but returns January 1st.