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TEN dumped by regional broadcaster

Alice Springs-based TV network, Imparja Television is dumping its TEN syndicated programming in favour of the Nine Network from today.

Until now, the station had purchased the entire programming output of two networks (Nine & Ten), but could never use all the shows it was paying for.

“This change means a 50% saving in program costs for the station,” said Mr Feehan. Imparja says it will re-direct savings into locally produced content including a new, locally produced, weekly current-affairs program to begin in March.

Imparja will also drop its nightly local news service in favour of a national news stream from Brisbane. Mr Feehan said the station was also expanding its news service. An additional journalist has been employed to research and produce regular local news updates.

As a result of the Nine affiliation, the audience in a viewing area spanning regional Northern Territory and Queensland will longer have access to TEN programmes including Neighbours, So You Think You Can Dance Australia, Big Brother, House and Australian Idol.

AFL fans will also be hit by missing half of the free-to-air telecasts. With 60% of its viewers in Queensland, NRL on Nine takes precedence. It also leaves the AFL Grand Final for 2009 in the balance. AFL arrangements allow Seven and TEN to rotate the Final, due on Seven in 2008.

TEN has been affiliated with Imparja since 1988. In 2006 when a 17-year-old schoolgirl named Jessica Mauboy was discovered at the Alice Springs audition for Australian Idol her home region rallied its support. Mauboy finished second in the competition, something that may not have happened without guaranteed coverage of Australian Idol.

In 2001, Darwin TV station Channel 8 changed ownership and became part of the PBL empire, switching to Nine programming. It caused an uproar in the city as people missed out on regular programs such as Neighbours. The show didn’t return until 2005 when it was picked up by Southern Cross Darwin.

Mr Feehan said Imparja sincerely regretted that old favourites such as The Bold & The Beautiful, House and Neighbours would not be returning this year. However the station aims to help bring back TEN programming to the Outback.

“In the next few years we expect the Government to rule on a third commercial TV licence in our area, and we’ll be playing an active role to get TEN’s shows back on air,” said Mr Feehan.

Source: Imparja Television, Centralian Advocate

8 Responses

  1. Anonymous post 3/2 08:42.
    “the rest of the country barely watches them”??

    Shows you simply stumbled over this website and have made comments about an industry you know nothing about beyond your remote control.

    TEN’s ratings are quite strong, especially when you discount People 50+ which come to the party for shows like Touch of Frost!

  2. I don’t think Imparja has the same local content requirements that are applied to the eastern states/aggregated markets (VIC, NSW, QLD, TAS) but in any case the token one-minute news updates and the current affairs show would probably suffice to fill that level of local content anyway, as that’s pretty much all that Southern Cross 10 and Prime manage to get away with

  3. Nine had been making Imparja specific promos for a while now – like they do for WIN.

    Now that Nine has changed its look, WIN and inturn Imparja have also changed.

    This is an interesting move because Imparjam was showing lots of TEN programs during the day.

    I suspect what has happened is either Nine or Ten have told Imparja that they fee is going up and they have had to dump one of them.

    I hope the Brisbane based News service is not simply the QTQ9 News Service. On the weekends, Imparja was simply taking TCN9’s News – which had no relevance to Imparja’s viewers.

    I wonder if Imparja are required to provided local news under their license with ACMA.

    Doubt we have heard the end of this one !!!

  4. Thanks for posting this David. It should be picked by The Australian this week.
    Why do the Territorians always get the short straw when it comes to Channel Ten programming? Is it because Nine and Seven programs always rate better than Ten’s?
    Since your article appeared, Imparja has unveiled its new logo. It replaced the Aboriginal-inspired patterns with Nine’s nine dots. (Imparja is still owned by a group of Aborigines)

  5. Mr Feehan….
    what is wrong with you???
    althou i love 9, they are not the one! the powerhouse as u say they are. ive been a watcher of imparja for many years. what u have done is killed tv for your viewers! shows like house and think u can dance rate very well.
    all i can say is your making the wrong choice IN A BIG WAY! I hope ppl dont take this lying down. u have cos your station alot of money cos u wont have viewers. no viewers… no advertisers, and no money!
    i pity u Mr Feehan. i hope u read this and understand what u have done!

  6. Just a minor note, PBL bought up NTD8 Darwin back in the late ’80s but kept showing 7/9/10 programs up until 1998, and from then was aligned to both 9/10 once Southern Cross came on-air. It was only in 2003 that PBL decided to dump the 10 content from NTD8 and focus it only on 9.

  7. Uh Imparja’s audience is over 400,000 people. The fact that they’re dumping the majority of programming from Ten creates major viewing problems. No wonder Southern Cross Central crushes them in the rating! Why don’t Imparja sell its Ten affiliate agreement to Central? It would then be the same as in Darwin.

  8. Well, SYTYCDA hasnt aired yet, BB08 hasnt either, House is all over the net like the plague and Neighbours Im sure will miss the 8 viewers it had.
    SO whats the bad news??
    “This change means a 50% saving in program costs for the station,”
    So 50% of there Production costs for Alice springs for this sevice is slashed because of ten? Man, do they have problems, if 10 counts for half this networks budget and the rest fo the country barely watches them….. Since when did AS make local content?
    Im guessing 50% is like 100 bucks and they will use that to rent a camera and some guy will spend his time (for no pay) talking about air conditioners in NT…

    “Imparja will also drop its nightly local news service in favour of a national news stream from Brisbane. Mr Feehan said the station was also expanding its news service. An additional journalist has been employed to research and produce regular local news updates.”

    WTF??
    One sentence says its droping its News Service, the next is saying its expanding it… Updates?

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