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Nine signs ARIAs

No longer with TEN, the ARIAs are heading to Nine -but to which of its channels, and who will produce?

gcilmiAfter being dumped by Network TEN for being too expensive, the ARIA Awards has a new home on the Nine Network.

In a deal with the Australian Recording Industry Association, Nine will air the event on November 26th -just before official ratings end for the year. The deal also includes a weekly ARIA singles chart countdown later this year, plus the ARIA Hall of Fame event on August 27 from Melbourne’s Forum Theatre. Pay TV channels MTV and Vh1 will also cover both events.

“Channel Nine’s deal with the ARIAs reinforces our on-going commitment to targeting the younger, advertiser-friendly demographics,” Nine’s director of sales and marketing, Peter Wiltshire, said.

Industry rumours have previously suggested that Nine was seeking the ARIAs, and a music programme, as part of its forthcoming youth channel.

There was also speculation yesterday that new production group Shine Australia could be asked to produce the event.

Craig Campbell, of Roving Enterprises -which has produced the ARIAs since 2002- has previously said Roving would always be interested to look at staging more ARIA gigs. The event has really grown in strength under the Roving banner.

“I don’t think it’s dead by any means,” Campbell recently said. “You’ve just got to reinvent it. Over the years everything gets a cutback. You’ve just got to look at it and go ‘how would we make it different now?’ And there’s always a way, because if you aren’t going to do it, somebody else is going to come up behind you and do it.”

TEN dumped the event citing costs, rumoured to be around $2m-$3m which didn’t justify the ratings between 1.2 – 1.4m viewers.

Source: news.com.au, Yahoo / AAP

22 Responses

  1. Wonder if Nine will rope in Julia Zemiro after all she did What a Year with Bert Newton and Nine allowed her too stay on SBS (even if the show was canned they did assuming it was going to stay on air), who knows they may add in Radio 3RRR’s Sam Pang (who travelled to Moscow with her for the Eurovision Song Contest this year), also Julia hosted the ARIA Hall Of Fame in 2007 and 2008, so it is not a stretch and due to RockWiz is known in the Music Industry (and liked by them).

  2. If Seven’s median age is higher than Nine’s (which I’m sure it may well be) I wonder what local programs nine make which appeal to younger demographics. This isn’t saying they don’t do it, I just can’t think on one. I.e I don’t think they’ll do a very good job of it.

  3. Maybe Richard Wilkins will host it – considering he hosted MTV back in the ‘good old days’.

    As long as he doesn’t confuse the Hall of Fame award for the obiturary he should be fine………

  4. Ryan – Nine is not the “old fart” Channel – in fact, statistics show Seven’s median age is higher than Nines. So what do you say now?

  5. This sounds ominous. Even with Ten’s young demographic, Aus Idol lead in, and excellent production from Roving, Aria’s was only pulling 1.2 mil. In addition, 2009 has been a relatively weak year for Aussie music in general. For the sake of the arias, please prove me wrong Channel Nine!!

  6. lol, 9 totally suck at big event shows! they are an old fart channel and wouldnt have a clue how to entertain people! they will probably stick two and a half men in the middle!!

  7. also just like the lgies often no the arias usual get obsessed with on particular signer and the wind everything, just like Gabriella Cilmi last year, yes she is a good singer but with all the awards she won you would think she was the beatles in their prime.

  8. would be strange seeing it on nine after all this time on ten, also though their as some talent australian signers, many off those nominated arn’t anything special and just seem to be there to fill a list of nominees.

  9. Not very surprising considering Nine first televised the ARIA Awards in the early 1990s. But why was not Seven interested at covering the awards at all?

  10. “…our on-going commitment to targeting the younger, advertiser-friendly demographics…”

    Err, yeah. Nine’s of course renowned for its incredible commitment to younger demographics…

    This was never going to pay TV. If it had nit been picked up by another FTA, the ARIA Awards would likely have gone away completely.

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