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ABC most reliable network, Nine worst -readers

TV Tonight readers have spoken. In the Audience Inventory, ABC comes up trumps as the most reliable network in programming. And Nine lands a convincing last.

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abclThe ABC is the most reliable network -according to readers of TV Tonight- and Nine the least.

In the Audience Inventory, the public broadcaster was a clear winner in the key question of starting TV programmes on time by a huge 55% win.

It was followed by Foxtel (22%), SBS (11%), TEN (7%), Seven (3%) and Nine (2%).

The question was completed by 99% of the survey respondents, which totalled over 800.

ABC was also first in the question for most reliable overall programming by 53%, followed by Foxtel (18%), Seven (13%), TEN (10%), SBS (4%) and Nine (2%).

But readers slammed Nine for failing to start programmes on time (40%), then Seven (36%), TEN (23%). ABC, Foxtel and SBS all shared 0.3%.

When it came to the question of which network had the most unreliable overall programming the decision was even more harsh.

A whopping 80% voted for Nine.

It was followed by Seven (12%), TEN (6%) , SBS (1%) and 0.5% for Foxtel and the ABC.

There was some recognition for Seven’s ability to reschedule programmes it had pulled off air. It was first in that question, chosen by 34% of readers, followed by TEN (24%), ABC (17%), Foxtel (12%), Nine (10%) and SBS (3%).

Readers were especially vocal on programming issues. Some comments included:

  • I am sick of being treated like dirt by ratings hungry TV networks. Oh and when will the 3 commercial FTAs wake up to them selves and stop trying to copy/out do each other?
  • The Australian FTA networks are pathetic at starting a series, moving it around after just a few episodes, then dropping it because it didn’t get ratings. A show can’t get decent ratings if people don’t know when it’s going to be on from week to week. They don’t even advertise some enough to know they started before they move them to a new time. Some good series have gotten dropped due to these ridiculous programming decisions.
  • I don’t mind what time shows start, just as long as the times match to the EPG, and preferably other guides too.
  • Australian channels need to start programs at the advertised time. You can understand when live sport goes overtime and when a major news event affects programming. But TT and ACA going overtime every night is rubbish.
  • Scheduling and performance of this should be included in the code of practice. Also I have noted that the amount of commericals/promos have increased during the early part of the evening thus causing the scheduling overrun.
  • I absolutely refuse to watch channel 9 anymore thanks to their complete contempt for their audience. And then they can’t figure out why people aren’t interested in their shows.
  • Biggest issue I have with FTA commercial TV is their contempt for the viewers. Overwriting end credits, inaccurate program guides, mixing repeats and first run shows, and many more annoyances. It all boils down to a lack of respect towards the audience.
  • Hardly watch FTA TV except ABC and SBS, just got sick of the changing schedules and wrong start times, the commercial channels treat their viewers with contempt – esp. Nine
  • Ten run their shows overtime very badly, but their EPG does reflect this, eg. 7:31-8:38, so at least their shows can be properly recorded, unlike Seven and Nine.
  • We watch very little FTA TV now, only ABC1 & 2. Not viewing much SBS any more since they started putting ads within programs. Have full Platinum package from Foxtel & couldn’t do without it.
  • Get rid of: *Pop-up ads. *Shows starting late – 99.99% of the time, the station should know how long a show will go for. Would it kill them to inform the rest of us? And yet we keep going back for more… *ACMA
  • I would like more honesty from the networks and less cross promotion crap disguised into shows. Furthermore the ACMA has to do something bar slapping wrists (12 months later)
  • The FTA channels tend to have little regard for their viewers. A good example is the way C9 has handled the demise of ER. The last season was taken off half way through two years ago and since then it has appeared sporadically at best. Another example is the habit of running the last two episodes of a series one after the other on the same night. This often happens with programs such as Amazing Race or similar.
  • Major issues I have with TV Stations is that they always seem to ignore the viewers. We complain about the stations going over time for years but they still do it anyway. I like Good News week but I refuse to watch it now as they always go overtime and not by a little but by a lot.
  • I would like to see the networks actually say when they are axing a show, or when its moving to midnight, at the end of a previous episode so the viewers know whats going on.
  • The most important issue for Free-to-Air TV is that TV programs need to start and finish within 5 minutes of the time in the weekly printed guide, and over-the-air EIT guide data needs to be accurate to the minute.
  • FTA Networks have no clue – they start programs late, they show series that are anywhere from 6 – 12 months old eg TAR on Seven or don’t show it at all eg Survivor on Nine, to many ad breaks, this is why I get the shows elsewhere.
  • It was hard to choose which channel is worst when it comes to programming. It really irritates me that I get a tv guide for the week ahead and it is completely useless- it is rarely accurate for the next days programs, let alone the next weeks. I also like to read the credits, but the screen is always shrunk down so it’s impossible.
  • The programming department at channel nine needs to be put against the wall and shot.
  • Sport involving Australia at an international level (mainly referring to soccer here) should be shown on FTA and live!! All sport should be shown live (I understand there may be some exceptional circumstances).
  • It would be worthwhile for the networks to convene focus groups to determine the ‘image’ of the network, similar to the activity undertaken by Channel 9 in teh late eighties. That produced interesting results with Ch 9 seen as flamboyant, racy and flash, 7 as dependable, suburbian and boring, and 10 as irrelevant – how different it is now.
  • Re FTA channels: Honouring a series once it starts…even if it rates poor find another spot than 1:25am Monday morning.. show a bit of loyalty… (some shows that are just strange like Dance Y.A.O fair enough but like dexter, harpers island etc etc).
  • Make sure the networks get a copy of these results!!

The survey was conducted over a 10 day period in August but is not presented as scientific evidence.

More results will follow soon.

65 Responses

  1. If a news bulletin can start and finish on time, there is no reason why ACA and TT find themselves running late every night. The only do it with their misleading “coming up next” which then ‘conveniently’ allows another ad break and then the story that was “coming up next” is really just an ad for the following night’s show. Ditch that segment and the misleading “coming up next” catchcry and the show will end on time no worries.

    And @Rob: While I often find little is to be achieved by self-imposed boycotts, the networks are happy to use viewers as a product to sell to advertisers, so really viewers should be allowed to expect some level of respect in how shows are presented/scheduled because viewers lead to revenue/profit (in short, networks shouldn’t bite the hand that feeds them!)

  2. @ Jay Jay i still don’t buy your argument. The point is that FTA runs late every night and i never notice foxtel running late. I can understand live finales, i have no problem with that on FTA or Foxtel.

    And what is with “Just because i don’t see it doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen” . If i don’t see it on shows i watch on foxtel then it means that its not happening every night on every ch on foxtel. Which is better than FTA.

    You even say ‘Foxtel overload their breaks with promos in order to run on time’. So are you saying they do run on time or not. Make up your mind.

    The point is as a viewer i couldn’t care less about what is going on behind the scenes. If FTA run every night (which they do) then just put in the TV guide so we know what times their shows will start and stop treating us with such contempt.

  5. @ Vanessa, I am 100% correct in saying Foxtel run late. Look at marathons. Comedy Channel with South Park on the weekend run late. Sex and the City marathons, any live finale. I could go on. No outlandish claims from me. It happens all over. Foxtel overload their breaks with promos in order to run on time. You will often get 6-7 minute commercial breaks. FTA are not afforded that luxury. Just because you don’t see it doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.
    What I find funny is that people pay for Foxtel but don’t complain. People get FTA for free yet do nothing but complain. That doesn’t make sense to me.

  7. Sorry jay jay i don’t buy your excuse. To say that foxtel runs late all the time is a blatant lie. There was the case you stated but it does not happen all the time. I know because i have foxtel and shows always start on time. So maybe you should check your information before making outlandish claims.

    SBS deal with advertising and they don’t seem to have any problems day after day. Why has it gotten worse over the last few years when commercial TV has always had commercials. Now and then i can understand but every single day is pathetic.

    Long story short to Commercial TV either fix it or continually see your numbers dwindle.

  8. @ Davo – not that black and white and believe it or not, the networks aren’t behind some ‘running late conspiracy’. You will find that stations adjust their start times and provide this information to Oztam so ratings can be adjusted accordingly. Once again – check your information before making outlandish claims!
    You cannot compare ABC with 9, 7 etc as they don’t deal with advertisements.
    Foxtel runs late all the time and I never read anything on here from people complaining about that. There was the case in 08 when the Aust Top Model final ran late and they never updated their EPG, all IQs cut off the final announcement and this was done on the repeat as well. It happens. I can assure you it is unavoidable. All FTA stations time their schedules as close to on time as possible, but TV being TV, it doesn’t always go to plan. I’m sure you would be the first to complain if the news didn’t cover a major event just so it would finish on time!

  9. For all those people complaining about ACA/TT going overtime, why are you watching these shows in the first place??

    Anyways, you should realise that ACA & TT actually finish at about 6:56pm. The last ad break is only followed by a promo for tomorrow’s nights show, so why don’t you change channels before this?

  10. @jayjay – Live TV will always run late.

    You have got to be kidding.

    ABC News and 7.30report and every early evening news virtually never run late. And even if a live show is running late, the commercial stations could kill some self promotions to get back on track.

    The reason the commercials **purposely** run late is too bleed into the next time slot to affect ratings and keep people from watching the start of other channels programs. To suggest otherwise is disingenuous.

  11. great work david – really appreciate you giving us the opportunity to air our greeviances. I hope the fta channels get the results – and act on them soon.

  12. I hate it when credits are squashed up, sped up, spoken over, advertised over. are we all so hyped up on red cordial that we can’t wait for two minutes to hear a popular tv show/movie theme? and I think it shows a lot of disrespect for the makers too.

    Wolfie!

  14. for those who feel the need to comment about running overtime, you should actually look at the different regulations governing FTA and Foxtel. FTA have certain limits as to how much advertising and promo content they can run. It has to be exact!
    Foxtel can do as they please.
    Live TV will always run late. If you look at the entire night, you will find that ACA/TT may run late, but then the networks get back on track later on. It all balances in the end.
    Everyone who thinks they can do a better job should get a job in TV or ask to do work experience so you can see exactly what goes on. I’m sure your opinion would change if you had to deal with rules, regulations, ACMA, Free TV and so on.

  15. no offence to some of the people making comments but no ACMA official or Minister would take them seriously if they were read back as some research to be relied upon for decision making. Refusing to watch a show because it goes overtime, having to wait for 6 months to watch a series, overwriting credits sound like trivial cry baby complaints. FTA does contain the word free and although it shouldn’t mean rubbish it shouldn’t also mean you get everything for nothing.

    While alot of the suggestions are good and logical (series run in logical order) some thinking by contributors rather than verbal diarrhea would be a good way to show those with the levers at hand that this stuff matters rather than present it in schoolboy fashion bitchin about whatever moves.

  16. These results are not a surprise. Networks have been fielding complaints from viewers regarding start times and schedule changes for years. I remember Eddie Maguire taking calls from irate people on 2UE regarding these issues when he was CEO at Nine. He laughed them off, in his arrogant manner, and told them to watch Nine programming as it went to air or set their VCRs to stop two hours after the scheduled finish time to ensure they caught the end. That was the day I decided I would no longer bother with Nine. I persevere with Seven because at least they have the decency to play out a series to it’s conclusion and give sufficient notice of schedule changes.

  18. FTA networks that run overtime should have to cut advertising from the next 30 minutes to bring the schedule back on track, i can understand one major sports program going into overtime and they can get away with that. But every night ACA/TT run overtime yet the news runs on time.

    My TV viewing is screwed, and hence for this i went out and got a PVR so i can skip add’s no wonder your add revenue drops considerably.

    If networks were forced to cut advertising in the next 30 minutes if they run overtime they would run out very quick and buy a new more accurate clock that they seem not to have right now.

    Why does ACA/TT need to do weather anyway! it was just on the news.

  20. All the servey results should be bundled up and sent to every network, ACMA and the Minsiter. so that the people who partisipated can have the hope of the parties that should have this info get it.

  22. Thanks David, Seems the majority of us are in agreement. I certainly agree with the results.
    Love the final point “Make sure the networks get a copy of these results!!”

    I’m happy we can still afford to have Foxtel !!

  23. Interesting comments about networks showing loyalty….if programming decisions are being made based upon ratings, then I’d suggest that the ratings system is fundamentally flawed….3600 people representing 20 million?? I’d move a series late night too if the numbers didn’t stack up. The networks are there to make money. If people don’t tune in, why would they throw money away on keeping a series on with bugger all people watching?

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