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Sorry Perth, you just don’t like Top Gear enough

Do viewers in Perth and Adelaide really hate Top Gear? Yes, according to Nine.

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2014-04-16_1459Viewers in Perth, and Adelaide for that matter, must really hate Top Gear.

At least that’s what the figures show according to Nine.

An apparent lack of enthusiasm is the reason the show is not being screened in those cities, while Nine happily screens it to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Nine’s Perth managing director David Mott told TV Tonight, “The program has under-performed in Perth when last telecast late last year.”

Tomorrow night viewers in Perth have an Easter in WA special and Adelaide is lumbered with more Big Bang repeats while a new Top Gear airs around the rest of the country.

Ratings for the show indicate Nine pulled it after two episodes in October:

Oct 3: Ade: 53,000 / Per: 34,000
Oct 10: Ade: 31,000 / Per: 25,000
Oct 18: Ade: – / Per: –

Last year when TV Tonight reported on the curious split-programming that was going on, readers criticised Nine’s programming of the show since it left the SBS garage.

As one reader noted, “I’m in Perth and I gave up watching it on 9 coz it seemed inconsistent with showing new episodes vs repeats. Too often it’d be a case of ‘Seen this one!’ and switch off. SBS didn’t do that as much.”

Several years ago the show was so popular a Top Gear Live tour sold out in Perth.

David Mott added, “We will continue to assess a suitable timeslot for the fans of the program.”

He didn’t indicate why it’s taken so long to find that suitable timeslot four months into the year or when it would be rectified.

Of course, first run episodes still aired in Perth and Adelaide, in HD a week after their UK premiere -on BBC Knowledge.

12 Responses

  1. Top Gear’s not the problem. Channel 9 is. I stopped watching after they grabbed it off SBS, as it was obvious to every fan of the show that they’d screw it up completely.

  2. Channel 9 bought the affiliate channels in Perth and Adelaide, which run a distant second to Seven, and are spending money and doing everything they can to close the gap. So showing a poorly rating Top Gear in prime-time isn’t what they want to do.

    The NRL isn’t in prime-time on Nine there either. It is on Gem on Friday nights, and it is probably part of the contract with the NRL to show games across the country.

    It is strange that Top Gear doesn’t rate in Perth, maybe Seven’s dominance affected viewers in the slots it was on.

  3. That quote could’ve come from me. I’m in Perth and loved Top Gear on SBS. Then Nine got hold of it and they couldn’t even play out the 6 new eps without inserting specials that had already been on SBS in between them. Most annoying. I gave up and haven’t been back. Nine only have themselves to blame.

  4. I’m totally with the reader quoted in the story. I live in Perth, love Top Gear, but their unpredictable programming of repeats mixed with new episodes at ever changing times made it an unreliable option impossible to factor into my TV week.

  6. Channel Nine Perth has ruined its programming schedule! What a shame we don’t have the opportunity to watch Top Gear. We are in Bottom Gear right now!
    @William – Fox Sports has the rights to broadcast Auckland 9s as Nine mainly focuses on Post Season NRL.
    @buggirob – Same as AFL where Sunday AFL Matches broadcasted from 7 Perth were delayed by 30 minutes. This applied to Saturday Afternoon AFL where Perth viewers had a delayed telecast by 2 hours. GEM did the same last year where they had Sunday NRL matches delayed in Perth.
    @JB – Told ya that the NRL has low ratings especially in Adelaide where more people in that city likes AFL.
    And Nine has the reputation of ‘trash programming in Perth and Adelaide.’

  7. A good proportion of WA are rev heads. Everybody drives a V8 and, I would have thought, Perth would enjoy the highest ratings of the country for Top Gear as a result. Ok, I exaggerate, but that decision is weird.

  8. @buggirob – yes Ten do screen NBL live but for those mainly outside of Sydney/Melbourne. NBL is a minority sport where as they show Formula 1 live every round.@JB – I do hope Ten does get the Auckland Nines in a bid to win NRL

  9. JB
    In Perth they complain about Rugby League not live in Perth. They have had on gem over 2 years.
    No-one watching.Its live still dont watch.
    Not Nines Fault.
    Ten show NBL Only live when finals are on.
    Just as bad.

  10. JB : beat me too it. No NRL here except early am hours. No idea what they will do at State of Origin time, more BBT I suppose… A pox on Nine.

  11. @Bogues. NRL doesn’t air live in Adelaide anymore. They finally starting showing games live on Gem last year or year before. Now they air at 1am on Gem. Not good enough Nine. Nine sucks at sport. Wish Ten had got the NRL

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