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Rumour: News bulletins extending to 1 hour?

Here we go again....Is the Saturday extension part of a bigger plan?

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2013-10-23_0016At the risk of setting off the rumour mill on this one, could our networks again be looking at one hour news bulletins for 2014?

Given both Seven and Nine recently expanded their Saturday bulletins to 1 hour, are they testing the waters for a weeknight switch?

TV Tonight hears whispers Nine is considering moving A Current Affair to 7pm. A move like that would impact on Reality shows such as The Block, The Voice and Big Brother, but then Nine’s schedule from 8:30 has been a bit thin of late.

Meanwhile a report on the weekend tipped Helen Kapalos would be replaced on Today Tonight. Seven’s Upfronts didn’t go into that sort of detail and strategically focussed on the performance this year for Seven News and Today Tonight:

7 NEWS led the way expanding its coverage across the day with additional bulletins. TODAY TONIGHT continued to deliver at 6.30pm with a national average of 1.4 million while SUNDAY NIGHT proved a ratings powerhouse averaging 1.9 million a week.

1.9m? Those must be national figures rather than 5 city metro….

These sort of plans to revamp bulletins tend to ebb and flow quite a bit, motivated by various forces and arguments (just ask The Project about that), but change never comes easily when News is so habitual with audiences.

At any rate I suspect we’re in for a long game of cat and mouse again with confirmation on where everyone is headed unlikely before January or February.

28 Responses

  1. News is now cheap filler and a way to squeeze more airtime out of your news budget – another sign that commercial TV is going down the road of being commercial radio with pictures.

  2. Really! Just what the 9 network needs is more news. They already have afternoon news that runs from 3pm until 5.30pm. How much news do we really need? What the networks could do is address the gender inequality of news readers. Male newsreaders on all networks (except SBS) seem to be a dying breed!

  4. I find it interesting how during NSW bushfires have caused news to be 1 hr every night except Sundays – when there is just as must disaster related news yet neither Seven or Nine dare mess with XF and AGT’s starting times!

    To me, half hour is plenty – as most of the news of the day we already know before getting home.

    By all means – have extra news for disasters, but don’t do 30 minutes of it before covering other news at 6pm… do a few minutes, then tell the viewers there will be more after 6.30…

    Typically for a 1 hour new bulletin, I have tuned out within 15-20 minutes but for a half hour news, that’s enough to get to sport and weather than over.

  6. I already watch one hour news…on TEN…have been back there for sometime now…like Sandra and Tim the weatherman…
    @ PJs Ronin …agree re opinion pieces/bras/diets…but the occasional cute animal or someone doing something feel good…is fine with me.

  8. I could see Seven going to an hour long bulletin (look at how their ratings in the second half hour have stood up against Nine’s in Sydney this week) but I don’t think it would work as well for Nine if they were to retain ACA as a separate show at 7pm.

    Replace the pathetic 7pm bulletin with ACA on Gem (a la WIN), and leave The Block at 7pm please.

    Seven should scrap TT altogether and continue to include one or two higher brow stories in their extended bulletin. Alternatively, move TT to 6:30 on 7TWO to drive people into the 7pm News.

  9. A one hour news broadcast would be fine in my books, on one proviso. The hour has to contain news, not opinion nor an expose on the latest diet or uplifting bra. Oh, and the new trend of introducing a news item early in the hour with the comment “I’ll have details later” elicits an immediate response from my trigger finger hovering over the remote control.

    Otherwise, stick to 30 minutes and keep the current 9-12 minutes of actual newsworthy news.

  10. This will create problems for WIN news. What will they do ? Bump the whole schedule by 30 mins?screen local news at 5 or 5.30 might be the best option? Or throw it on GO/ GEM?

  11. With the net, the news on TV is so ‘old’ when it goes to air, it’s hard to fathom why anyone watches it at all, let alone why they’d watch it for an hour! Also – how much news is there really worth reporting…

  12. I dont watch the News, and if the commercial networks decided to give me more news at the start of the night I’d be more inclunded to chuck on a DVD and not go back to the Tele all night.

    I think it’s a mistake, surely there are people in the same boat as me?

    I like the trash they have on a 7pm, I enjoy sitting down to dinner and letting my brain melt for an hour or so. If they bump ACA into that time slot then I wont be watching Channel 9 at all.

  14. Yes, more news. More car crashes, more house fires, more cats stuck on trees, more children stuck in drains, more grainy cctv and mobile phone video footages, and more British royals.

  15. How does the old saying go? “No news is good news”, does this then mean that news stories repeated and repeated and repeated once more, is definitely ” Bad”??

  16. I agree with Leo. New Zealand’s two major networks have an hour long news bulletin at 6pm, and then a current affairs show at 7pm, and it works well there.

    Although Seven Sharp (TV One) has as much current affairs as TT / ACA does here. Campbell Live (TV 3) is more like George Negus’s show last year.

    As it stands, with the ½ hour show on GEM and 7two at 7pm, they are already doing this, but in a funny way.

    Seven have H&A on at 7pm, which would make it hard for them, unless they move TT to 7two.

  17. @nik c – “I would like a 5:30 or 6:30 news for half an hour!”
    Try ABC1 or ABC24 at 5:30. 30 mins of news, not 20 mins & 10 mins of commercials & X-Factor/AGT promos..

  18. Yesterday TEN Sydney “show me your hour and I’ll raise you 90 minutes”. 7 & 9 ran for an hour, TEN 5-6:30. Now….there’s an idea.
    WIN NSW moved ACA to GEM quite a few months ago, and never seem to run any promos for it.

  19. Seven has Home & Away which rates does well and they can always skip TT when something happens.

    Nine is running short of content after 8:30pm since its WB dramas and sitcoms stopped rating. So pushing things back half an hour appeals. It will put their contest shows head to head with Seven’s though.

  20. News is cheap to produce. I’d regard this as a cost-cutting exercise. More stories from the international feeds; extending pieces from 90 seconds to 150 seconds; a filler piece masquerading as news; and another sport item and you’re home.

  21. I was annoyed that the news went for an hour! If they start this garbage, I will not bother to watch. If they cannot organise the news content for 1/2 an hour not interested.

    As it is I don;t watch the 5pm Ch10 news for an hour if I am home.

    I would like a 5:30 or 6:30 news for half an hour!

  22. The 1 hour edition of 7 news in Sydney was so
    Much better – having Chris bath and mark ferguson together seems a strong combination, it worked well. And on Tuesday they won the time slot from 6.30 onwards which is rare. I’d suggest having a 1 hour bulletin with Bath and Ferguson, get Mel Doyle to do Friday and Saturday night bulletins, scrap 7pm news, move Bec Maddern to 4pm with Matt White, and move TT to 5.30 with a local Sydney and Melbourne edition!

  24. Well if you’re in a regional area, you’ve already got this! I think the networks are out of family friendly ideas ie. shows to start before 8:30. That’s why they want extra news in there, that’s why they were lobbying a while back to loosen the rules about what could be shown before 8:30.

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