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Axed: ttn

TEN's current affairs show for schoolchildren has bitten the dust after five years.

It may be the silly season, but with shows changing channels and contracts not renewed, networks often slip news out at this time of the year.

Brisbane-based ttn children’s program has been axed after five years on Network TEN.

The current affairs show was launched in 2004 after the cancellation of the ABC’s BTN (Behind the News).

Most of the ttn team have been offered other roles within the Network.

Network TEN said the network would “focus on other opportunities”.

Source: news.com.au

24 Responses

  1. Seems a lot of people here used to watch BTN in school. IIRC we used to record ours, then the teacher would prepare some questions for us to answer. Forget which years we watched it in think it was 4th and 5th class.
    Theres some sort of BTN thing on after RollerCoaster each day. Don’t know if the actual show is back on ABC, haven’t watched morning ABC in years.

  2. I first wanted to become a journalist when I was in primary school, all because of BTN. In year 5 and 6 we used to watch BTN which the library had taped so that they could split it between four classes over the day. We’d practice taking notes from what was on screen, then we would go back to class and either discuss what had been shown, or write our own little news stories on what we thought was the biggest story of all.

    What Ten did was admirable at the time, but I don’t think they were planning on BTN coming back.

  3. I too used to watch BTN then we’d pick a story and do a report on what was said. TEN came to the rescue when the ABC axed it, and now that BTN is coming back, it doesn’t make sense for TEN to continue to pay money for something that they in turn don’t make money on.

  4. Thanks. I never knew what TTN stood for either.

    Back in the UK in the early 1980s, we used to sit and watch programmes in the library in Primary School. I guess they don’t do that in schools these days.

  5. When I was at school, the library used to record BTN and then it would be shown to all the students during normal class time.

    I think it was good for ten to pick up the kid-oriented news show when the ABC cancelled its offering.

  6. In the 1970s when the ABC had programs for schools, my school at least used to record the programs on to U-matic video cassettes and showed them in the library during the appropriate classes.

  7. In primary school we watched Behind The News (on ABC) each week, followed by analysis of the week’s events and the media’s reporting of it. I believe that helped my interest in current events and critical analysis of how it is presented.

    I hope the current generation of children learn the importance of this skill rather than rely on watching the dumbed-down ‘issues’ as protrayed on the commercial network’s breakfast news and evening ‘current affairs’ programs.

  8. We were shown BTN in the classroom when I was in primary school. (Every wednesday or something?) I’m not sure what the purpose was, but it was nice to watch TV and not actually work.

    I’ve seen TTN and often wondered if it was a BTN pseudo-replacement. Unfortunately it’s a quite a poor show in comparison, imo.

    I’m guessing Ten aren’t replacing it with a similarly formatted show?

  9. My Year 5 class watched it every week, along with BTN on ABC1.
    Initially they showed some non-G rated type ads but after complaints the ads were more child friendly. I know a lot of colleagues and teachers in other schools in my area who watched it.

  10. @ Alex

    When I was in Primary School (admittedly back in the 80s) we used to go to the library every Tuesday to watch Behind the News (the ABC program this replaced).

    I don’t know that it was ever a part of the curriculum on any school but it’s a useful resource for teachers I suppose.

  11. people, I cant believe you never watched BTN (Behind the news )at school, its an ABC show that basically just breaks down the news of the week for kids to understand, everyone loved it when i was a kid in primary school, generally speaking we didnt watch it when it was on TV but the teacher would record it and we watched it another time and discussed it, Ten kindly came to the rescue when the ABC axed BTN under Johnathon Shiers reign of terror, i believe BTN came back on the ABC once he left which kind or negated the need for TTN on ten.

  12. ttn stands for “The Total News”. There is also a special ttn page on News Limited newspapers around Australia (Herald Sun etc.) every week, I am not sure if it will continue.

  13. hmm, how can you aim a show at children when it airs when they’re at school? I’ve never understood the reasoning behind the show, or moreso it’s timeslot.

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