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Today Tonight: axed, merged or undecided?

The official line on Today Tonight according to Seven is that no decision has yet been made on its future.

TodayTThe official line on Today Tonight as of Wednesday afternoon according to Seven is that no decision has yet been made on its future.

A Seven spokesperson told TV Tonight, “We remain flexible while these events are happening in the country. It is imperative that we have the time to report the News correctly.”

The Age is reporting it is officially axed as a stand-alone programme, and about to be rolled into a one-hour Seven News.

The Herald Sun speculates that Helen Kapalos could spend more time as a reporter doing stories and interviews for a range of Seven shows, including news and Sunday Night.

As Seven programmer recently Angus Ross told TV Tonight, ”That hour will be more flexible, depending on News events.”

Seven has committed to a one-hour news until Saturday on the East Coast.

The reality is Seven is undoubtedly keeping its cards close to its chest.

As we know Seven has been running its one-hour experiment incorporating TT stories and it is happy with the result. Nine also ran two 45 minute bulletins this week due to the floods in some states, followed by a 45 minute ACA.

So far the ratings are not reflecting these adjusted shows.

To compare a supposed TT figure (which is actually TT stories, Sport and Weather) with ACA (which was Sport, Weather and ACA) is hardly a reflection of what was broadcast by either.

Nor are these broadcast in all markets.

Current schedules for Seven through to the week of February 10 still include a half hour TT -but so have schedules for this week.

Even without the natural disasters continuing, all the signs nod towards TT being rolled into Seven News but the official line is still “no decision.”

18 Responses

  1. @max. Too true! I despair at the thought that so much of the Australian public forms its opinions of the world from these trashy, sensationalist, voyeuristic, amateurish, poorly presented shows that are little more than women’s mags with moving pictures. It is ironic that as TV and communications technology has improved beyond our wildest imaginations over the last couple of decades, much of what it delivers is absolute drivel!

  2. How are areas that have a Prime7 local news bulletin going to be impacted?
    With Prime7news running at 6:00pm and a delayed broadcast of 7 news at 6:30pm, it means that 7 would have to push back it’s entire primetime slot half an hour just to accomodate a full news broadcast!

  3. All the commercial news is garbage anyway. Every channel. Poorly presented, bogan-style news. Today Tonight is the cherry on a steaming pile. I couldn’t watch one minute let alone one hour of that trash.

  4. I don’t think the kind of stories that take place on today tonight, current affair or even the project belong on a straight news service. When I do watch news it is to have a recap of the days events. I don’t generally watch a current affair or today tonight but I do concede they have an audience and that is where stories about shonky salesman or heartbroken women belong. Even though I do like the project their relaxed style does not belong on a straight news show either.

  5. The answer is pretty simple for me, as I’ll just give their enforced format of 1 hour of seven news the flick.
    As I watch T/T for T/T just as I watch News for News, and begrudge being forced to watch an hour of an unknown quantity of either, and an unknown timing of T/T items, so if 7 is going to make me guess, I guess I’ll just turn off completely.

  6. Todays Advertiser quotes a 7 Adelaide spokesperson saying there are no plans for scrapping TT here, regardless of what happens in the Eastern states.

  7. I am more than happy for best bra stories to still be included in any part of a merged news/tt prog. However it would have to be promoted heavily as I rarely watch this brain rotting mush and would hate to miss some gratuitous eye candy.

    Would it be possible for ACA to do a triumphant piece on the demise of TT due to trashy content?

  8. Monika Kos who does Perth today tonight she is grate. Maybe she can do 630PM in brisbane sydney canberra melbourne hobart. In adelaide perth she does local version

  9. Isn’t it amazing that even a slight dip in ratings has caused Seven to start introducing immediate changes whereas years and years of low ratings for The Project and Ten has just turned a blind eye. I guess that’s the difference between a number 1 network and a number 4 network.

    I don’t like the idea of an hour long news bulletin incorporating TT. I really can’t see an hour of news getting the figures TT was getting not that long ago longterm. Better just to leave it where it is as a separate show, put in a passionate host and focus on some good stories.

  10. Means “when we don’t have enough “news” to fill an hour we’ll trot out Helen Wellings and do a laundry powder/meat pie/frozen veges/margarine, etc. comparison”. ABC News thanks. Either 1 or 24.

  11. @ jonasboi: “why not re-brand today tonight, make it a 90 minute news and public affairs program”

    Do we have enough shonky tradies, tenants from hell, heartless banks & gov’t departments, pensioners being ripped off, pensioners ripping the government off, assorted stories no parent can afford to miss, and shows needing cross-promotion in Australia to support 90 minutes of newstainment?

  12. Sometimes even in the 1/2 hour news, you get silly unnewsworthy segments since it’s basically only local/national news.
    Anyway it’s either SBS or ABC for me.

  13. I like the idea of a one hour news bulletin, but not if Today Tonight stories will be incorporated into it. Then its no longer news and, like others have said, it just compromises the integrity of the news.

    Today Tonight has still been airing here in Perth and I don’t think that would change (here) anytime soon.

  14. why not re-brand today tonight, make it a 90 minute news and public affairs program 430-6pm followed at 6pm by a local news for each state with localised public affairs content.

    Today Tonight could very much an afternoon/evening version of Sunrise that I think would rate really well. with full coverage and big stories hosted by trusted journalists. It would be a winner.

  15. ” all the signs nod towards TT being rolled into Seven News but the official line is still “no decision””

    And if that’s the case then I won’t be watching seven news anymore. They’re willing to compromise the integrity of their news all because TT is failing in Sydney and Melbourne

  16. Just leave it as a half an hour news, I hate having to put up with the hour long news, that’s why I switched channels lately. I can almost guarantee that ratings will go down for an hour long news in the future.
    Change the format for Today Tonight for the better, live interviews, good stories like Sunday Night (No Best bras, worst neighbors etc).

    I know for a fact that I will not watch 7 if they have an hour long news. I like the 20 minutes news hit and sports hit at 6:20 and weather all in 1/2 hour.

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