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Arrow shot at programming plans

Nine is no longer airing The Voice tonight and bumps Arrow, as networks desperately try to counter-act the opposition.

2013-05-01_1244Nine is no longer airing a new episode of The Voice tonight, after a switcheroo in its schedule on Monday to bring in a new episode of The Big Bang Theory.

Nine originally had “Showdown One” in its Guides for tonight, and on Sunday ran promos for Arrow at 8:40pm “after The Voice.” Printed guides such as TV Week also have The Voice listed for tonight.

But on Monday Nine began advertising a new episode of Big Bang at 7:30pm moving Arrow to 8:30pm, its third premiere timeslot so far.

Yet it appears Nine has not actually held off airing an episode of The Voice.  There is no new episode in the can, with the last battle round airing last night and the recording of the first Showdown to take place on Friday.

The ‘Showdown’ episodes are a new stage this year and see coaches reduce their teams of eight to four. All artists will perform individual songs and audience voting begins. Live shows begin thereafter.

Whether the scheduling of The Voice was a red herring to throw the opposition off the scent is unclear, but incorrect promos unnecessarily impact on viewers too.

Right now the guessing games on scheduling and airdates for new shows is at a premium, with Seven and Nine both trying to counteract the other, especially over the arrival of The Block and House Rules. Publicists are unable to discuss dates with media for forward planning.

Nine even blocked exterior media access to its schedule last week, normally accessible for two weeks in advance.

Meanwhile TEN, ABC and SBS are already confirming some dates for upcoming content into late May and beyond.

26 Responses

  1. How can any credible TV channel not know how many episodes of it’s biggest show it has to air, and then only announce to the public on the day of scheduled broadcast they haven’t got an episode to show.

    Has Aussie TV always been this unprofessional. It certainly seems to have been as long as TV Tonight has been around, but is this sort of behaviour as old as television in Australia or is it something that’s only really been an issue over the last decade or so.

    I just can’t comprehend how the industry functions like this when in the UK schedules have to be locked in 2-3 weeks in advance and in the US they’re locked in months in advance, only really changing when a new show is axed.

  2. …..and what is worse is that despite the contempt shown for viewers ch9 won the night which will only encourage some baboons in the prog dept to continue this behaviour

    ….Wed night is there for the taking if one network wants it enough

  3. It worked though. By waiting till after MKR they avoided poor premiere numbers which damaged The Following and found what looks to be a good slot for Arrow.

    1.37m for TBBT and 1.32m for Arrow. Been a while since we have seen scripted programming at the top of the ratings mid-week.

  4. @tvwizzkid – Careful now, you sound like a Nine stooge!

    This is an article about how Nine have shunted around an already much-delayed show, and treated the audience with contempt.

    If every comment were along the lines of “but 7 do it too!” then I would suspect that everyone would be accused of pro-Nine, anti-7 bias.
    As it is, when 7 do the same it generates just as many disgruntled comments on this website.

    If you want proof of balance just take a look at the comments posted after every article about (Non-) Celebrity Splash.

  5. Thank you to Nine for playing Arrow on time. I’m very happy about that. Although I’m worried about what the TV Guides said and their effects. However the electronic one I used was accurate. Lastly I’m curious about if they will play a repeat late at night to see if they can attract more viewers this week and when it will be. So that people that missed it could catch it.

  6. Every comment on this article seems to be written by a channel 7 stooge! Channel 7 have been shockers for many years treating the audience with contempt. If they had the voice it would rate about as good as deal or no deal or worse. Stop your winging and post fair comment.

  7. I was surprised when I saw the voice scheduled for tonight on the EPG but fully expected to watch it. I found out the voice wasn’t airing on a news update on 3aw this afternoon. I would hardly call people being upset because there was no voice tonight news.

  8. Just checked my EPG and there is a lot of TBA on Channel 7 in the next week. It is an industry wide problem, not just confined to Channel 9.

    1. Seven send out a lot of TBAs but then follow up with amendments. If you check through Programming posts here you will see their week is now locked in. If you buy TV Week you’ll see Nine has The Voice listed from Sun – Wed for next week. While it does happen across the industry the extent of misinformation differs.

  9. 9 used to be a trusted quality station that stood out as an honourable network of high standing with our family. Now its more and more just a cheap and nasty experience. Crappy below to the belt tactics to sucker views and treat us all like fools. We have lost any faith in the honesty of this network and sadly its now no better then the other trashy networks. You only have to look at A-Current-Affair and their take over of Big-Brother to see what I mean.
    They will milk The Voice for what they can and play all the games they like with us silly viewers.
    I agree Channel 9 is a disgrace and has become a tacky joke.

  10. Have no time anymore for channel 9 playing switcheroo all the time, turns me straight off, as was said before 9 are not interested in what the viewers want just acting like children again to try and get the upper hand with the other channels, hope they don’t succeed, wish they would grow up. ,

  11. Wow, So many big bang theory repeats I didn’t even realize I had missed 3 new eps. And they aren’t on catch-up. Guess where I’m headed…

  12. It will premiere with around 800k, then drop half it’s audience the next week, then be taken off air and end up on GO! in about 7 months time.

    Your typical Channel 9 US drama series programming outline.

  13. simple…just boycott the network that doesn’t know what is on from one day to the next…..if I really spoke my mind, it would not get published. Extinction gets closer

  14. Really 3 time slots for The Arrow so far, hard to keep track without your site David. As for TBBT there will be 2 new eps by next Monday, didn’t Nine know they were coming as CBS has had them in the schedule for weeks if not a month for the May sweeps final 4 eps of the season.

  15. Well at least it is 10 minutes earlier and I do not have to wait until The Voice finishes. Any bets on whether it will stay at 8.30

  16. I got a fright when I first saw this, thinking oh no they’re not taking Arrow off again. The litlle boy in me that loved watching Superhero series and cartoons as a kid is still there, so I can’t wait to see Arrow. And we have a new BBT to boot, Wednesday night is looking good.

  17. As Maev said…

    They seem to forget that the viewing audience will only put up with a very limited amount of shennanigans these days. There are so many ways to work around stupid programming decisions, one of which is to just not bother.

    It’s a little like parliament, while they’re busy calling each other names, the people who matter are wandering away in disgust….

  18. I am glad Arrow is not a program I want to watch…I bet all this has turned off many already…
    Like I constantly say…I do not want to have to chase programs…I watch TV to relax…not play games.

  19. They seem to be spending too much time trying to out smart the opposition rather than trying an audience know what’s happening

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