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Old news on TEN cuts (except for one that might not be)

TEN denies speculation about cuts in Melbourne drawn from a dated report -but there may indeed be change for one show.

News Corp newspapers today detail plans that were proposed by the TEN board several months ago, including relocating some Melbourne production to Sydney.

TEN has today rightly noted a lot has changed since then.

The article suggests TEN’s Melbourne news would be replaced by a one hour national bulletin from Sydney with a local state-based segment, also from Sydney. Add that one to the speculative list about SKY News also taking the lead, and it’s a growing list….

It speculates “Bondi Rescue and The Biggest Loser face the axe next year… followed by Shark Tank the year after.”

Biggest Loser actually faced the axe this year. TEN has no plans to resume it. Shark Tank is to return. Bondi Rescue is yet to be confirmed (along with most 2018 shows until new ownership is sorted).

“Motorsport agreements for Formula One and V8 Supercars would not be renewed,” it continued. TEN has today described this as “just plain wrong.” As we know sports rights are a bidding war, perhaps the line referred to an inability to compete in key events with reduced investment.

The article also says Studio 10 would get an extra hour of coverage. This one is the biggest indicator that the information is dated, given Studio 10 was extended by an hour in late July. It nods to the idea that TEN did look over current costs and moved on an opportunity it identified.

Today a TEN spokesperson said, “The report in today’s News Limited newspapers is highly speculative and inaccurate. The document referred to in today’s media was part of a number of options that had been prepared on behalf of the TEN Board prior to the appointment of Administrators. At the time, TEN Network was exploring all options for improving its financial position. The financial environment for TEN has changed significantly since June, with CBS chosen by creditors as the new owner. CBS’s bid includes the retention of all employees.”

However, there is one reference in the article which is worth closer scrutiny: a suggestion to move Family Feud to Sydney.

Relocating the TEN game show to Pyrmont studios could save production costs associated with NEP studios in Melbourne, as well as keep host Grant Denyer closer to family (his wife recently spoke about Grant being away so much). But such a move would also downsize the audience and set.

TV Tonight has been hearing chatter that a move for Family Feud is indeed on the cards.

Comment has been sought from TEN regarding Family Feud.

10 Responses

  1. I can’t see how they can do Feud out of Pyrmont – unless by “downsize” you mean team captains only and the crew yelling out suggested answers. They did Ready Steady Cook out of that studio and that was just two stovetops and a smaller audience than The Project.

  2. Isn’t Grant Denyer originally a Melburnian? I heard him say to 3AW’s Denis Walter he “grew up in the Dandenong Ranges”?

    Doesn’t he now live in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney? Same as Rachel Gordon (ex-Blue Heelers and now The Secret Daughter)?

  3. I have been flicking over to 9 News after TENs 5PM news…in recent months….more news that is relevant for me…
    Overseas news…Al Jazeera and BBC Global after midnight on ABC News.

  4. If TEN replaces both Stephen Quartermain & Mike Larkin in Melbourne then i won’t be watching. Having an national news bullentine coming out of Sydney at 5pm will be very bad for TEN. Locals in Melbourne will switch over to The Chase & Eddie. A national news service doesn’t work.

  5. I really don’t want to see the local news go. It’s bad enough on weekends the TEN news from the eastern states, I couldn’t put up with that all week. Well I just wouldn’t watch it.

  6. National news bulletins never work as the main 6PM bulletin. You can show a national bulletin at other times but not when people are sitting down to dinner.

    We in Canberra had been watching Seven News out of Sydney but we got sick of the constant reports about traffic jams in the western suburbs and reports about Sydney social celebs including the Ibrahims. So when the Sydney Nine News was scrapped and a regional bulletin with local windows introduced we jumped at it.

    TEN might think they can appeal to everybody with a national bulletin but the temptation to put parish pump Sydney cr*p into it to try and win the ratings in Sydney will ultimately prove to be too tempting.

  7. It was also said that all newsrooms would be centralised in Sydney, with the national bulletin coming from there. Causing a cut of 15% to news staff.
    Quite a misleading statement. Only the studio, presenters and some editorial staff would perhaps lose their jobs.
    Hard to see how a reporter in Sydney is going to file a report about Fremantle with no newsroom in WA.
    When the story broke this morning I just shook my head and knew it was nonsense.

    1. By being emailed information from a press release received in Pyrmont, then standing in front of an iconic building in Freemantle and being interviewed over the internet by a host in the studio at Pyrmont, who’s read the same press release. i.e. exactly the same way as 10, 2, 7 & 9 would do it now. Though even if you want to news properly all you need one reporter with a hand held camera and laptop to report from anywhere in the world.

      This plan has been floating around Ten since 2013 when they first got it into serious financial trouble. CBS won’t make any major changes now, they’ve promised staff. But Facebook and Google have both announced new advertising plans aimed at TV ad buyers before the network upfronts.

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