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90 minute News coming to TEN

UPDATED: It's been rumoured for months, will TEN extend its 5pm News bulletin to a 90 minute edition?

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ten-newsUPDATED: A later report in the Brisbane Times contradicts the Daily Telegraph story noted below:  “No, it is not true,” Ms Schnitzerling said.”We’ve been doing some rehearsals, but a couple of months ago we did the same thing with the early news,” she said. Asked specifically if there were plans to extend the 5pm news service, Ms Schnitzerling said: “Not at this stage…but we have been shooting pilots.”

It’s been rumoured for months, but today the Daily Telegraph confirms Network TEN will extend its 5pm News bulletin to a 90 minute edition, ending at 6:30pm.

The high-risk strategy is being plotted in Sydney by TEN’s national news supremo Cathy Schnitzerling. Secret pilot shows have been filmed in most state capitals, it claims.

It is understood the show will borrow from the Sky News format with a chatty presentation heavy on sport and with regular headline updates. Key reporters will offer provocative commentaries on news and current affairs.

By dropping a $25,000 for each episode of The Simpsons, TEN could save $6million a year.

Last week TEN publicity was at pains to point out it was winning the 5:30pm slot so upstaged by the battle of the game shows on Seven and Nine.

Changes in television news continue elsewhere as Nine readies a new one-hour mix of news and current affairs at 4:30pm and a new set for its 6pm Sydney News.

Even TEN’s “mystery 7pm show” for the second half of the year has a news-angle, though likely to be a lot more funky with an emphasis on entertainment.

Source: Daily Telegraph

52 Responses

  2. Its only the 6pm repeats right? Ten aren’t “axing the SImpsons”, just the incessant repeats of the same episodes over and over? No problem with that, despite being a Simpsons fan, but the replacement is a bad move.
    I don’t see how Ten can honestly think they’ll take viewers from 7 and 9 by adding 30 minutes of puff and cross-promotion. 7 and 9 do puff and cross-promotion so much slicker than 10. I guess being “heavy on sport” might be the factor that does draw a few away from 7 and 9. But I’ll be sticking with ABC and SBS for news, and Ten for …. what …. just footy and Futurama repeats now.

  5. There are already enough sports “analysis by the experts” programs. I for one would rather see a slightly more indepth news bulletin. I have given up on the commercials – there is no way you can present the activities of the world, particularly in todays climate, in 9 minutes, including a commercial break, which is all you get. Devote more than 15 seconds to a story and see how it goes. One of the problems seems to be that reporters now days dont seem to be able to produce anything other than “noddies” and fluf. If this is going to be “sportertainment” I think it will crash & burn.
    (as for the Simpsons, it is about time that was left to die & decompose in peace – it hasnt been funny for half a decade and if you havent already seen the episodes being repeated in the 6.00pm timeslot on any of their prior 10 or more screenings, hard cheese)

  6. im not saying i think the article is wrong but if it has been confirmed why doesn’t the article contain any quotes from anyone at ten, also has a date been set.

  7. not sure if i think this is a good idea or not, but ill make up my mind once this new 90 minute bulletin starts, will be interesting to see what the extra 30 minutes will consist of.

  9. Ten have enough trouble filing an hour with news and now they want to extend it by 30 minutes? Will this be a national show or local? I don’t want to see a more chatty George Donikian, take away his teleprompter and he is completely lost! This is a terrible idea and I’m quite surprised at the positive response here.

  11. So they’re going to save $6 million a year by doing this? But that’s just 48 x 5 x the cost of one Simpson’s episode. They seem to be saying that they can provide an extra 30 minutes of news per day at zero cost. Makes you wonder what the quailty will be like

  12. Any idea when this would start?

    It will be more cost effective than Simpsons, as it’ll be cheaper to just keep the news running than starting up a new program, they just need to do a reintroduction at 6pm with new titles etc; like when Sunrise and Today go from their early morning 6-7 and have the show titles and “today on……..” at 7.

    I’d pick Ten News over both Seven and Nine.

  13. Its success will depend on content. If it is really anything like Sky News, then you’ll be flicking over to 7 or 9 long before 6pm as it’ll get repetitive. I can’t see much change to 6pm as a result.

    Heavy on sport will mean even more self promos for what some of us can see on ONE.

  15. Well, it’s a good risk.
    If it doesn’t work simpsons will be back on.
    probably ten news will beat nine news and seven news ratings may drop.
    time will tell.

  18. Makes sense, why not use the staff and content you have already paying for. FTA is going to go more this way to stay relevant by running more live/local content to compete against the internet over time. And not everyone is home at 5pm anyway. Hopefully when TEN starts its second multi-channel that regular non-news and non-sports programs find a new home.

  19. You’d never think that replacing The Simpsons with the news would actually save money? How strange.

    I’m not sure the strategy of continuing the news for another half hour will work though. A lot of people switch on the TV at 6pm for the news and I don’t see them changing from 7 or 9 to 10.

  21. I think this is a great move by Ten, and one which a lot of us here on tvtonight have been suggesting for a while. Really hope this works out for them.

  23. Poor Narelda Jacobs! She will be exhausted and out of breath when reading the for ninety minutes in Perth. Hopefully she gets a friend to present with.

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