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Melissa Doyle & Matt White tipped for afternoon bulletin

Seven's plans for afternoon and evening news have had to scramble due to the election date, but change is imminent.

2013-08-07_0040Seven is expected to confirm Melissa Doyle and Matt White as hosts of its new afternoon news bulletin, as part of changes to bolster its news offerings.

Both are tipped to front a bulletin rumoured for 4pm weekdays with The Daily Edition to be trimmed from 90 minutes to one hour.

The date for the federal election has seen networks scramble to adjust their schedules and newsrooms, including both 7TWO and GEM adding 7pm bulletins.

While Doyle has long been rumoured for a role on 7TWO and afternoons on Seven, she is finishing up her long run on Sunrise this week, whilst fighting off a sore throat. Seven was pushed to a 7TWO bulletin on Monday hosted “initially by Mark Ferguson” but Doyle is expected to front this within the next two weeks.

A revamped afternoon news is also expected to launch shortly along with unconfirmed change to the 5-6pm hour, which has underperformed in recent months. The 6-7 combo of Seven News and Today Tonight is expected to remain intact, save for the network’s view of a flexible hour when breaking news requires.

Meanwhile The Age has reported that Melbourne presenter Rebecca Maddern is unhappy at being “elbowed out” of the 4:30pm bulletin to make way for Doyle but was favoured for opportunities on Weekend Sunrise.

A replacement for Samantha Armytage, who moves to Sunrise, has still not been confirmed.

A Seven spokesperson the network was hiring more journalists at a time when other media was in decline.

“We are expanding our number of daily bulletins in response to changing lifestyles, viewing patterns and audience demands for more news,” they said.

“Our 24 hour News operation puts Seven in a leadership position – we will continue to drive change as technology allows us to get news onto more screens faster than ever before.”

But Seven News numbers have also been in decline, already having lost the year in Sydney and Melbourne markets, a trend it is no doubt hoping to address with a stronger lead-in.

Doyle wraps up a 14 year run on Sunrise on Friday.

17 Responses

  1. Is there a reason why networks have given up on late night bulletins? Surely it makes sense to have one given the number of people that come home after 7pm.

  2. @maxxdude ten was trying to push for an new viewing market which is why they failed. if they launched breakfast as a young adult news and entertainment program it may have survived.

    7 are just shuffling things around to give people the news when they want. I have a feeling that 7 will soon become a 24 hours news and major sporting events channel

  3. Rebecca Maddern should be pushing for Melbourne’s 6pm News.

    I don’t understand why the network is messing around with shows that are doing alright (Sunrise, 4:30 News) while ignoring bulletins that are doing poorly (Syd/Mel 6pm News, TT, Deal).

  4. News news news. Have Seven not learnt from the Ten experiment. Looks like there are a lot of rumblings in the ranks at Seven.
    I watch Nine News Now because I don’t want advertorials to ruin my a/noon & the content is not too heavy for that time of the day. Nine News Now & Extra are a perfect combo for that time of the day as I always watch Ten News at Five.
    Maybe this is all a publicity stunt “What will Mel do” like “Who shot JR”

  5. Edwina Bartholemew should replace Mel Doyle not Sam Armytage!

    Leave Samantha on Weekend Sunrise with AOK and bump up Edwina to permanent host next to Kochie!

    Kochie and Eddy.

    Not

    Kochie and Sam!

    Big mistake and an opportunity gone begging!

  6. @Benji 77 I agree. I was going to say who is demanding more news? I struggle with the dodgy journalistic reporting of news.
    I find there are some local news stories that 10 cover, but not 7 or 9
    The political reporting as with most newsy stories like the Royal baby and Boston bombing is over saturated!
    I do care aout the world I live in, but to show people leaving a hospital multiple times is not news! The footage of the Boston bombing was play excessively and then appears insensitive when shown repeatedly!
    Some mornings I catch Breakfast news on ABC (can’t stand low standards on 7 & 9)! In the evening the news is the same?! So why have the mid morning news, mid arvo/ early evening, then 5 or 6pm news and a late news?!

  7. Deal Or No Deal just has to go. It was fun once, but now it’s just old, tired and worn out. It’s life support just has to be turned off; Seven has to face the fact: it’s never going to be a hit again.

  8. Hardly a ‘prime time network news imitative’ for Mel!
    They need to bite the bullet and scrap today tonight, it’s such a tarnished brand.

  9. They could almost replace The Daily Edition altogether. Monique Wright holds that show together anyway and she’d be better utilised on Weekend Sunrise anyway.

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