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90 minute News coming to TEN

UPDATED: It's been rumoured for months, will TEN extend its 5pm News bulletin to a 90 minute edition?

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ten-newsUPDATED: A later report in the Brisbane Times contradicts the Daily Telegraph story noted below:  “No, it is not true,” Ms Schnitzerling said.”We’ve been doing some rehearsals, but a couple of months ago we did the same thing with the early news,” she said. Asked specifically if there were plans to extend the 5pm news service, Ms Schnitzerling said: “Not at this stage…but we have been shooting pilots.”

It’s been rumoured for months, but today the Daily Telegraph confirms Network TEN will extend its 5pm News bulletin to a 90 minute edition, ending at 6:30pm.

The high-risk strategy is being plotted in Sydney by TEN’s national news supremo Cathy Schnitzerling. Secret pilot shows have been filmed in most state capitals, it claims.

It is understood the show will borrow from the Sky News format with a chatty presentation heavy on sport and with regular headline updates. Key reporters will offer provocative commentaries on news and current affairs.

By dropping a $25,000 for each episode of The Simpsons, TEN could save $6million a year.

Last week TEN publicity was at pains to point out it was winning the 5:30pm slot so upstaged by the battle of the game shows on Seven and Nine.

Changes in television news continue elsewhere as Nine readies a new one-hour mix of news and current affairs at 4:30pm and a new set for its 6pm Sydney News.

Even TEN’s “mystery 7pm show” for the second half of the year has a news-angle, though likely to be a lot more funky with an emphasis on entertainment.

Source: Daily Telegraph

52 Responses

  1. Get rid of the Simo Repeats if their not rating and re run the main news items at 6pm. Any other extended news format will Fail up against the allmighty 7 and 9 high raters!!!

  2. Sounds ok with me. I can’t believe the ruckus other sites have caused though making it out as though The Simpsons was going to go completely. It was only about the repeats going. The new eps would stay, but those they repeat into infinity would go.

    I used to watch The SImpsons when they first came to Australia soon after the heights of the Ninja Turtles, when ‘The Simpsons’ were seen as the next big thing, but I stopped watching them when 10 started replacing so many programs with Simpsons repeats.

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