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Airdate: Australia Unites telethon

Nine announces a two hour telethon to air on Thursday night to raise funds for bushfire victims.

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marysvilleChannel Nine will stage a two hour telethon this Thursday night, in response to the Victorian Bushfires.

Australia Unites will air from 8:30 – 10:30pm, hosted by Eddie McGuire. It will feature entertainers, athletes and personalities.

Updated: So far 183 lives have been lost in Australia’s worst natural disaster.

At least 750 homes have been destroyed and more than 330,000 hectares burnt out, while authorities said some fires could take weeks to contain.

Nine CEO David Gyngell said, “All Australians have been affected by the enormity of this tragedy, and we are putting all our support behind the victims and their families to help them rebuild their lives.”

GTV9 Manager Jeffrey Browne added, “From all of us at Nine, we express our condolences to those who have lost family, friends, property, pets and in a significant number of cases, the certainty of their immediate futures.”

The Nine family has been personally touched by the tragedy after veteran newsreader Brian Naylor and his wife Moiree perished in their family home at Kinglake north of Melbourne.

Donations will go to the 2009 Victorian Bushfire Appeal Fund. To make a donation go to www.redcross.org.au, call the toll free number 1800 811 700 or donate via the Commonwealth Bank.

More news as it comes to hand.

Photo: Herald Sun

58 Responses

  1. Who cares who is hosting it??? Ronald McDonald Could host it and it wouldn’t matter, but for a few people on this blog, it seems to be, rather than the importance of the event(i.e a telethon to raise money for people, who at this time are doing it extremely tough), it is who is the host of the telethon and whether they are good or bad.

  2. Well I think 9 did it for no other reason but a ratings grab, that network has no morals, they’ve proven it time and time again. People can give to the cause without networks pulling out D grade celebs to tell you too. In fact the appeal is already up and running, so no need to wait until Thursday night.

    I’m tired of these celebs getting on their high horses and thinking that by just donating their time for a two hour special is enough, I’d like to see them donate more money than anybody else, not just their time.

    and “no comment” about Eddie

  3. Call me a cynic but Nine could raise just as much money purely by running community announcements for the donations hotline, without putting on a tacky telethon. It goes to show they are just as interested in ratings as they are in helping the victims of this tragedy.

    Next thing you know they’ll dedicate an episode of Domestic Blitz to rebuilding one of the towns.

  4. Agreed Michael it is rather petty and silly in such a time of tragedy
    @ Justin ..i agree Eddie is a master of live television and a great guy as well. Kudos to 9 & lets hope lots of money is raised for these poor people.

  6. “Ch9 are a disgrace … Australia’s most hated person … do they have any morals at all.”

    Goes to show that Nine-bashers say will say anything in the face of an extraordinary positive programming decision. Good on you, Nine (and Eddie), for stepping up.

  8. You guys are seriously having a go at who is hosting such a good cause? your energy would be put to better use commending a network for uniting the country, and helping those less fortunate right now…

    seriously. reading some of the above comments is so disappointing…….

  10. Great idea, let’s hope they can be a bit more sensitive. None of the commercial networks distinguished themselves over the weekend in a positive way. I can’t lay eyes on Monique Wright ever again after the extended show they made of that poor woman in shock.

    Even though I can’t stand Eddie, I bet he was on the phone straight away to put his hand up, he just seems like that kind of guy.

  11. wow so much hate for eddie. i have expressed how i feel so many times on this site but c’mon guys. i’m sure the people in charge have got the message loud and clear by now. can’t we talk about the positives. they obviously have very little time to pull such an event together so it’s not going to be the best TV we’ve ever seen. but atleast there are benefits for people that i’m sure would do anything for the help.

    that said i’m sure 9 could have saved themselves so much grief and infamy if they just had it hosted by shelly, tim, natlalie, or karl and lisa. it’s not the time to be controversial.

  12. This might not be good news for 7 and 10 when it comes to ratings, but it will be interesting to see if people stick with it for 2 hours, what will they have on? Stories of the devastation?

  13. well i personally think that complaining about the host is petty. we don’t even know what “host” means in this instance, it probably just means sitting in a studio gluing stories together. its the reporters that will probably be doing the interactions with the victims. ch9 have already copped enough negative feedback for this decision, people are forgetting the good intentions. i almost feel sorry for the guy.

    i do hope the other networks step up. i will definitely be donating.

  15. well of all the bad decisions 9 have made this is probably the worst, if they want to make use of this years $5mil going to eddie can’t they do it somewhere that it will not be so disrespectful. This will no doubt come back at them. i could list 9 personalities that would be less inappropriate off the top of my head.

    but i guess there is good intention, this could have been such a good opportunity for 9 to show that they are taking the fires seriously. especially after the mess they made on the Saturday news, and then canceled the apology the next day.

  17. While we all love to be opinionated about networks and personalities, my view is now is not the time to question what could have been, who is hosting, or other partisan politics.

    I’m more than happy to advise of Seven, TEN, and other network causes if it will help bushfire victims.

    Well done to Nine, Eddie and all involved for responding.

    Get with the programme.

  18. oh why eddie. ch9 are a disgrace. they confront Australia’s most hated person with people whos lives have been completely ruined just so that they can promote a personality.

    there are plenty of 9 personalities that have the warmth and emotional capacity for something like this.

    do they have any morals at all.

  19. i read the headline and i thought good, good, good job 9. but then eddies mcguire!!!
    do they realise that this is a very sensitive tragic time for people. and they throw in a smug, aggogant, fake, success oriented eddie.

    i will not be watching unless i see a host that is capable of real emotion.

  20. I don’t really care who hosts it, at least channel 9 is doing something good for the community and I for sure will pull out my cheque book and donate some of my money to this worthy cause, all of us should dig deep and give some donation, i’ll be sure to spread the news about donating at work tomorrow and hopefully we could make a difference and help anyway we can. Good on you Nine!

  23. i think Channel 9 turn to eddie because they know he can handle live tv better then most, and is a face people know australia wide. also as a victorian he will add a personal touch to this tragedy!

    so daniel lay off 9, they are doing something great for a community in need!

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