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Don’t mention the timeslot!

In the confidential game of programming, networks never like to leak their plans to the opposition. As such, TV Tonight always observes media embargos whenever they are conditional. It just doesn’t make long-term sense to thwart a healthy rapport.

But when others go and break them (sometimes with other media and sometimes through their very own websites), then all bets are off. Last year this site famously got a lot of mileage out of Rove announcing his own re-signing with TEN before the network had announced it. rovedaily.com.au swiftly took the news offline.

SonyBMG is so keen to plug singer Adam Harvey as part of the celebrity line-up for Seven’s It Takes Two that today they’ve confirmed the premiere date as Tuesday February 12.

Now it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to deduce that’s where the show would be going. With no Dancing with the Stars at the ready it naturally feeds back into its Tuesday timeslot, where it last aired. Still, it’s a clumsy error and given it’s now out in the open, TV Tonight can report the timeslot without any breach.

Most of the previews and advance information being sent to media is without timeslots. “Coming in February” is currently the most-used phrase in the industry. Yesterday, Nine would not even confirm if Underbelly would premiere as one or two episodes.

Meanwhile, Network TEN has delayed announcing its first week of ratings programming too.

TEN normally releases upcoming programming on a Friday. But with ratings resuming on Feb 10, the network admitted “we are being super secretive about all of our start dates and times for our fantastic 2008 line-up.”

Let the games begin!

2 Responses

  1. Triple M was plugging “Family Guy returning 9pm Jan 31st to Seven” a few weeks ago and also had that time and date published on their website. But in the past few days that has been removed and they have gone back to “Family Guy returning soon to Seven”

  2. I did see the other night while watching TEN that Biggest Loser commences Sunday Feb 3 (where they are to reveal a big secret ‘that not even the trainers know’).

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