What Australia watched, week ending May 19

1 60 MINUTES Nine 1,552,000

2 IT TAKES TWO Seven 1,546,000

3 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,535,000

4 THE CHASER’S WAR ON EVERYTHING ABC 1,477,000
5 SEVEN NEWS – SUN Seven 1,469,000

6 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,441,000

7 SPICKS AND SPECKS ABC 1,410,000

8 RPA WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Nine 1,392,000

9 WHERE ARE THEY NOW Seven 1,387,000

10 1 VS 100 Nine 1,386,000

11 NCIS Ten 1,361,000

12 SEVEN NEWS – SAT Seven 1,356,000

13 HOUSE Ten 1,355,000

14 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Nine 1,349,000

15 ALL SAINTS Seven 1,325,000

Popularity: 1%

Several sources at NBN have confirmed to The Spy Report that PBL bosses will be in Newcastle next week to commence making changes to their new purchase, NBN Television.

Sports reporter Jim Callinan told KOFM’s David And Tanya yesterday that PBL was in town last week on a meet and greet with the staff, but he conveniently left the building to do some reporting. It is unclear whether or not he was joking.

Changes expected at NBN include the dumping of Home Shopping through the day, the addition of National Nine Morning and Afternoon News, plus a rebranding of the station to Channel Nine.

In other news it is being suggested that "Dottie" the former balls logo on Nine and NBN will be returning very soon. Nine had a major rebranding last year, removing their recognisable Dottie logo after 30 years.

Popularity: 6%

Eddie McGuire will step down as the CEO of Channel Nine, the network has announced.

The Age has the following statement from the network yesterday, which reads:

    “Eddie McGuire, AM, the Chief Executive Officer of the Nine Network Australia today announced that he would move from his Chief Executive role at the Network to an increased presence on air and the provision of creative and programming services.”

Mr McGuire said the change in role would take effect from June 30, 2007.

Popularity: 1%

A tipster today claims the National Nine News refresh will have dark blue as its primary colour with a dash of orange, and is inspired by NBC News.

For starters, the news logo has been beaten with a “yank stick,” the
tipster says, ending up something like the NBC nightly news logo (serif
font, white, blue, orange, gradients).  In fact the animated OTS and
lower thirds seem to be very “American”, something between NBC’s old
look, ABC USA, and the previous Nine News look – quite classy, the
tipster says.

Apparently on June 30 and July 1, the news will come from an
alternate studio while the new sets are built in Sydney, Brisbane,
Melbourne and Newcastle. From the designs paraded, again, NBC inspired.

Source: The Spy Report May 14, 2007

Popularity: 1%

Monday, May 14, 2007

The ratings race: The lowest Logies

What
hope is there for Eddie McGuire when Channel Nine can’t even win a week
which begins with the Logies? Despite a huge start on Sunday night,
Nine averaged 28.5 per cent of the prime time audience last week, while
Seven averaged 29.4 per cent. It was the first time in history that
Nine has failed to win Logies week.

Of course, Eddie foresaw this eventuality. He knows he’ll be the
scapegoat when Nine ends the year as Number Two. That’s why he made
himself host of the game show 1 vs 100 — so he’ll have something to do when he gets boned as Nine’s Chief Executive in November.

It’s not as if Seven had much to write home about last week. The latest talent quest, It Takes Two, came nowhere near the audience of  Dancing With The Stars. But at a time when Seven’s younger viewers should be shifting to Big Brother, Ten could only average 21.4 per cent.

The only network with any reason to celebrate is the ABC, which is going gangbusters with The Chaser’s War On Everything and Spicks and Specks.
It averaged 14.9 per cent of the prime time audience — dragged down by
its obligation to run political performances on two nights. On Tuesday
Peter Costello’s budget speech attracted 707,000 viewers in the
mainland capitals, and on Thursday Kevin Rudd’s me-too response
attracted 718,000. Politicial analysts may see meaning in that 11,000
difference.

What Australia watched, week ending May 12
1 LOGIE AWARDS Nine 1,694,000
2 LOGIE ARRIVALS Nine 1,558,000
3 SEVEN NEWS – SUN Seven 1,549,000
4 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,548,000
5 IT TAKES TWO Seven 1,515,000
6 WHERE ARE THEY NOW Seven 1,504,000
7 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,491,000
8 SEVEN NEWS – SAT Seven 1,477,000
9 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Nine 1,408,000
10 THE CHASER’S WAR ON EVERYTHING ABC 1,407,000

Sourced: SMH.com.au 14 May 2007

Popularity: 1%

A tipster today informs TSR that from 11am tomorrow, PBL Media will become official owners of NBN Television.

Sourced: The Spy Report

Popularity: 1%

Your editor was unimpressed to hear over the weekend that his favourite Newcastle radio stations, KOFM and NXFM, have resorted to taking Macquarie Regional RadioWorks‘ ordinary news service from the Gold Coast.

KO and NX are looking for a casual newsreader, so one is hoping that
this situation is only temporary and normal weekend news services from
Newcastle will resume as soon as possible.

I am confused as to why the Austereo News Hubbing
idea has yet to totally get off the ground. I was told that KO and NX
would get Austereo-branded news from February. Perhaps Austereo has
scrapped the hubbing plans?

Source: The Spy Report May 7, 2007

Popularity: 1%

A source today claims GTV9 is rife with rumours that A-League soccer will be appearing live on Nine on Saturday afternoons from August.

The tipster claims Football Australia and Fox Sports have signed off on the deal.

Sourced: The Spy Report, 7 May, 2007

Popularity: 1%

Newcastle Market – All Stations Top 10

Program                                                   

1 NBN Evening News Sunday – NBN – 105000

2 Spicks & Specks – ABC – 99000

3 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation – NBN – 93000

4 Dancing With The Stars 6 Grand Final – PRIME – 90000

5 McLeods Daughters – NBN -  88000

6 The Chasers War on Everything – ABC – 87000

7 Friday Night Football Broncos v Rabbitohs – NBN – 87000

8 NBN Evening News Saturday – NBN – 83000

9 A Current Affair – NBN – 82000

10 Thursday Night Football – City v Country – NBN – 80000

Popularity: 1%

PRIME Television, which continues to position itself as a leading regional network, has announced the appointment of Brian Trevitt as as Newcastle sales manager.

Brian was previously station manager at Prime Orange.

He started his media career in 1991 at Seven affiliates sales in Sydney before becoming national sports sales manager, working on the 2000 Sydney Olympics and 2003 Rugby World Cup.

Prime NSW general manager Maureen Jack said Brian’s expertise and community focus would further enhance the successful Newcastle team.

Sourced: The Herald, Monday, May 7, 2007

Popularity: 5%