Patrick Carlyon
June 29, 2007, Sydney Morning Herald

KERRY PACKER feared his son, James, would destroy his beloved Channel Nine, says a book that paints a picture of a television network so battered and demoralised it appears the patriarch’s worries were warranted.

Who Killed Channel 9?, by the former 60 Minutes executive producer Gerald Stone, argues that the network has lost its premier status through management blunders, embarrassing scandals and "acts of sheer bastardry" since Packer died in December 2005.

"We need to keep James and [PBL executive John] Alexander out of the place," Stone quotes Packer as saying before his death. "They’re going to f— the joint."

The book, which is certain to be unpicked at length in weeks ahead, was published yesterday and offers an insider account of the secretive workings of the PBL empire.

Stone told the Herald yesterday he had spoken to more than 60 Nine employees and executives in researching the book, which suggests that interference, disloyalty, paranoia and dishonoured contracts featured in many "vindictive" senior executive decisions.

He describes a PBL culture steeped in self-serving politics and egotism, bludgeoning and blokiness. He is especially stinging of the media-shy Alexander, who he says never grasped the subtleties of the TV medium.

The book also offers insights into Kerry Packer’s personal life, including a long-term affair and his saying on his deathbed: "Am I still here? How f—ing long is this going to take?"

In likening the decline of Nine to the volcanic eruption at Pompeii, Stone alleges:

* That when Eddie McGuire was made chief executive, he was appointed to a position that "no longer existed", given that every significant decision would be that made by higher PBL executives.

* That Packer’s "code of honour" culture at the network was squandered in a PBL drive to cut costs without warning or apology.

* That doubts about Jana Wendt’s place at Nine were strategically leaked by senior executives during contract negotiations between her and the network.

* That the former Nine chief executive David Gyngell was forced to choose between the wishes of Kerry Packer, who wanted Nine to remain number one, and James Packer, who wanted to cut costs.

* That the once prestigious Sunday program had been transformed "into a Bermuda Triangle where distinguished careers can mysteriously sink overnight without warning or explanation".

* That the sacking and reinstatement of Sunday’s executive producer, John Lyons, in early 2006 resulted from a stand-off between Alexander and Nine’s then acting chief executive, Sam Chisholm.

* That the creators of The Block, Julian Cress and David Barbour, left Nine in disgust after McGuire refused to honour a handshake deal made with Chisholm, guaranteeing them an increased share of overseas sales.

* That after the former Today host Steve Liebmann criticised his old program McGuire was heard to say: "I’m gonna f—ing get that guy. I’m going to rain hell down on him so hard he’ll never know what hit him. Who the f— does he think he is?"

Stone accuses Alexander of trying to bring print media values to a visual medium, citing allegations of the former news head Mark Llewellyn that Alexander last year pressured him to do a "hatchet job" on Channel Seven’s owner, Kerry Stokes.

"As John Alexander would later complain, Channel 9 is in a ‘time warp’. The station executives ‘treat

me like I know nothing’. The newsroom ‘regards me like a total idiot’. No one there ’shows me any loyalty’. Almost everyone is ‘out to get me’. Alexander said all that to a respected TV presenter he was trying to hire without the knowledge of the relevant department head at Channel 9. God only knows what he must have been saying to Kerry Packer and his son James."

Channel Nine has had six chief executives in little more than four years. Alexander ran the network for a period from 2002, aiming to bring broadsheet newspaper values to television and colliding with the then news director, Peter Meakin. Meakin, who, like several other former senior executives, has since moved to Channel Seven, once called Alexander a "24-carat c—".

"The one point beyond dispute," Stone writes, "is that with the dawning of the Alexander era at Channel 9, such painful and humiliating press leaks would become an everyday fact of life. From then on, any presenter, producer or channel executive singled out for dismissal or demotion was likely to suffer the added indignity of having to read about it first in the newspapers."

Stone says the Llewellyn allegations about Alexander’s push to air a nasty story on Stokes, in response to a Today Tonight piece on James Packer, could be summed up in many ways: "… inappropriate, ill-advised, impetuous. None of them come close to the true nature of his attempted intervention: so short-sighted and so very, very petty."

Kerry Packer may have been slow to embrace parts of the changing TV landscape, Stone says, and cost cuts were warranted over the past few years. Yet he argues that necessary trimmings were handled as "political exercises".

He says in the book that Kerry Packer regretted letting Alexander "anywhere near Nine". "James had a great grounding in television," Stone told the Herald, "but his mind was elsewhere".

Gyngell’s time as chief executive was "invidious", he says, because he was obliged to both Kerry and James Packer, yet the father and son had conflicting priorities for the network. When Gyngell resigned in May 2005, citing "unhelpful and multilayered management systems", according to Stone, Kerry Packer cried on the phone about it the next day.

Stone spent 13 months writing the book. He worked at Nine from 1974 to 1989, when its status as "the one" grew to be unchallenged. Asked if his book is a lament for the golden age, he says: "It’s a lament but it goes further than that. It’s sad to see a network reduced from its former glories for a little bit more profit for foreign investors."

Although many interviewees declined to be identified in print, Stone says he was surprised by their candour. Passages of the book may be defamatory, Stone says, yet he does not fear legal action, despite choosing not to canvass some key players: "I’m very firmly convinced that what I’m saying is the truth."

The book’s publisher, Pan Macmillan, has printed an initial run of 100,000 copies. Yet the publisher shied from the usual advance publicity, fearing some named players might take legal action.

Its release follows a torrid year marked by Nine’s poor ratings, further asset sales to the private equity partner CVC, low staff morale and the resignation of McGuire in May.

The book’s subtitle reads: "The death of Kerry Packer’s mighty TV dream machine." Its tone might best be summed up by one of Stone’s many unnamed Nine sources: "There’s no joy here any more."

SYDNEY: Australian drama and reality programming will feature heavily across the Seven, Ten and Nine networks’ programming schedules for the second half of 2007.

The three networks have now released their programming line ups for the second half of the year, with Seven Network last night hosting a function at Sydney’s NIDA theatre to launch its second half offering to media buyers and clients.

Seven, which has this year won 16 of the 20 weeks of the 2007 TV ratings season, shows little signs of slowing its momentum with former ABC darlings Kath & Kim joining a line-up of new Australian TV including police drama series City Homicide and Jamie Durie’s lifestyle program, Australia’s Best Backyards.

The two shows join new series of Dancing With The Stars, Surf Patrol, Border Security, Prison Break and Heroes. Both Prison Break and Heroes will be screened in Australia directly after their US debuts.

US series to air on Seven later this year include Criminal Minds, another series of Ghost Whisperer, Las Vegas, Bones and new series Shark.

Speaking at last night’s launch, David Leckie, chief executive officer of Seven Media Group, said Seven was "really going for it".

“We’ve come a long way, but we have a long way to go. We’re not resting on our laurels, we’re really going for it.”

Network Ten yesterday unveiled its second half line up, announcing three new programs: Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader? to be hosted by Rove McManus, America’s Next Top Model, and new comedy series starring David Duchovny, Californication.

Ten will also have another shot at airing the US version of The Office.

A new season of Thank God You’re Here, Australian Idol, as well as the AFL Grand Final and the Rugby World Cup will air on Ten.

The Nine Network will tonight launch the $15 million drama series Sea Patrol and is no doubt banking on the show to lift its ratings performance.

Nine Network features a host of reality programming in the second half of 2007 with new series of RPA and RPA Where Are They Now, Things To Try Before You Die, Surprise Surprise Gotcha, The Farmer Wants a Wife, Posh: Coming to America, Dirty Jobs and  The Girls of the Playboy Mansion.

Nine will also broadcast the documentary of the English Royal Family Monarchy.

Returning US drama from Nine includes the CSI franchise Cold Case and Without a Trace and emergency series ER. Nine will also show the final season of hit US series The Sopranos.

These programs join Nine regulars What’s Good For You, 20 to 01, The Footy Show and game show 1 vs 100.

SBS will reveal its second half programming line up later next week.

Story by: Matthew Eaton , Adnews

Most watched programs:

1  Prime News Monday to Friday  PRIME  75000
2 NBN Evening News Sunday NBN 65000

3 60 Minutes NBN 62000

4 Seven News Monday to Friday PRIME 60000

5 McLeods Daughters NBN 60000

6 RPA Where Are They Now? NBN 59000

7 Seven News Sunday PRIME 55000

8 Getaway NBN 51000

9 Friday Night Football Eagles v Bulldogs NBN 49000

10 Deal or no Deal PRIME 49000

Station ratings:

                Week 25
2007     Week 25
2006     Prog
2007     Prog
2006

NBN             30.9                 31.6                     30.8             32.7

PRIME         31.3                 28.1                     31.7             29.5

TEN             18.0                 21.1                     19.7             20.6

ABC             14.7                 13.8                     12.8             12.5

SBS              5.1                  5.4                        5.0               4.7

Most watched programs:

1  NBN Evening News Sunday NBN  132000
2 60 Minutes NBN 121000

3 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation NBN 114000

4 NBN Evening News Monday to Friday NBN 110000

5 A Current Affair NBN 103000

6 Backyard Blitz NBN 102000

7 McLeods Daughters NBN 98000

8 NBN Evening News Saturday NBN 98000

9 Crime & Justice NBN 97000

10 CSI: Miami NBN 96000

Station ratings:

                Week 25
2007     Week 25
2006     Prog
2007     Prog
2006

NBN         36.0                     36.3                     35.3             36.6

PRIME     23.6                     22.3                     25.5             22.5

TEN         18.7                     20.1                     17.1             19.7

ABC         16.4                     14.9                     16.3             15.7

SBS         5.2                       6.4                      5.7               5.5

by David Dale, Sydney Morning Herald

Yes, television as we know it is a dying medium. But the death throes are so gradual that we won’t see its burial in our lifetime.

This column has just come into possession of figures that let us offer a progress report on the slow shrinkage of Australia’s most massive medium.

In 2003, an average of 3.795 million people in the mainland capitals were watching Seven, Nine, Ten, ABC or SBS between 6pm and midnight every night. This year, an average of 3.506 million are watching prime time television on any night.

That decline has been masked by the battle between Seven and Nine and the apparent resurgence of the ABC. In 2003, Seven was averaging 972,000 viewers in prime time. Now it’s averaging 1.025 million, while Nine has dropped from 1.180 million to 958,000. The ABC looks to be going through boom times because of the success of Spicks and Specks and The Chaser’s War on Everything, but in reality it has dropped from 593,000 in 2003 to 566,000 now.

The table below shows the full story.

So here’s the situation: Since 2003, while the population of Australia rose by one million, the number of regular viewers of free-to-air television in the mainland capitals dropped by 289,000.

What, you are bound to ask, are those people doing instead?

Watching DVDs? Definitely. In 2003, Australians bought 30.8 million DVDs. In 2006, they bought 63.6 million.

Going to the cinema? Apparently not. In 2003, we bought 89.8 million tickets to the flicks. In 2006, we bought 83.6 million. The movies may be passing through a brief blockbuster-led recovery at the moment, but after these school hols, it’ll be back to the doldrums for the movie distributors.

Surfing the net? Definitely. The Bureau of Statistics reports that in 2003, Australia had 5.08 million active subscribers to the web (of whom less than 10 per cent had a "non-dialup” system), while in the first quarter of this year there were 6.43 million (of whom two thirds used broadband). Most Australians are now in a position to bypass the commercial stations and illegally download American TV shows before they are shown here.

Playing video games? Definitely. GfK Marketing reports that in 2003, Australians spent $751 million on games software, while in 2006 they spent $925 million (mostly PlayStation 2 stuff).

Watching more Pay TV? Yes, but not enough to counterbalance the losses of free TV. In 2003, an average of 410,000 people in the mainland capitals watched subscription TV in prime time, while now, Pay’s average audience is 672,000.

Reading more books? Hard to tell. The latest available figure on total book sales in Australia, provided by the Bureau of Statistics, was 79.9 million volumes in the financial year 2003-2004. Having nothing more recent to compare, we must leave this question for a future column. It’s nice to live in hope.

Average audience in the mainland capitals, 6pm to midnight

Station ……     2003 …..     2004 …….     2005 …….     2006 …….     2007*

ABC ……..     593,694 ..     636,971 ..     586,916 ..     563,251 …     566,203

SBS ……..     172,095 ..     172,593 ..     226,957 ..     196,857 …     196,309

Seven …..     971,793 .       934,046 .     1,007,591 .     1,018,416 .     1,025,021

Nine …..       1,179,758 .   1,126,743 .     1,088,735 .     1,068,199 .    957,999

Ten ………     877,796 ..     893,997 ..     811,727 …     815,807 …     760,531

All FTA .       3,795,137 .    3,764,350 .    3,721,925 .     3,662,531 .   3,506,062

All Pay ….     409,524 ..     416,963 ..     509,929 ..     592,122 …       671,922

* 2007 averages are over weeks 7 to 24. Others are over weeks 7-48.

Channel Seven won last week, with 28.7 per cent of the prime time audience, while Nine got 27.9 percent, Ten 21.3, ABC 16.8 and SBS 5.2. The closeness of that result leads to speculation as to whether Seven can continue to win after its tentpole programs — Grey’s, It Takes Two, and Desperate Housewives — reach the end of their seasons next month. It all depends on any rabbits Nine may have in its hat.

What Australia watched, week ending June 23

1 60 MINUTES Nine 1,831,000
2 SEVEN NEWS Sunday Seven 1,656,000
3 SEVEN NEWS Mon-Fri Seven 1,599,000
4 IT TAKES TWO Seven 1,596,000
5 NINE NEWS Sunday Nine 1,571,000
6 CSI: MIAMI Nine 1,565,000
7 GREY’S ANATOMY Seven 1,522,000
8 ALL SAINTS Seven 1,503,000
9 CSI Nine 1,489,000
10 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,429,000
11 THE CHASER’S WAR ON EVERYTHING ABC 1,425,000
12 RPA WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Nine 1,419,000
13 MCLEOD’S DAUGHTERS Nine 1,408,000
14 HOUSE Ten 1,394,000
15 SPICKS AND SPECKS ABC 1,393,000

John Laws has announced on 2UE the end of his stellar career.

He is to end his reign in November, he has told 2UE and Southern Cross Broadcasters.

He said his one-time top-rating show has been “the second great love of my life”.

“Don’t ask me what I’ll be doing – I’ll be missing radio, that’s what I’ll be doing,” he has told his listeners today.

He said his audience had “kept him going” during his 55 years on air.

John Laws is heard on 2HD in the Hunter Region.

Michael Bodey, The Australian,  June 21, 2007

A STRONG ratings tussle looks set to emerge in the second half of the television year with Nine and Seven scheduling program launches for media and advertisers to showcase their wares.

While Seven has a strong 2007 ratings lead, questions will be raised if Kerry Stokes’s network loses momentum in July. Seven has won 15 of the 16 ratings weeks, yet Nine’s resilience has been unexpected despite some embarrassing hiccups.

Seven’s year-to-date network share is a mere two points more than Nine’s, 29.4 per cent against 27.4 per cent, with Ten at 21.5 per cent, the ABC at 16.1 per cent and SBS at 5.6 per cent.

Nine is expected to aggressively program ahead of what it anticipates to be a fruitful slate of US product next year.

Nine’s director of programming Michael Healy is particularly confident about legal drama Damages, starring Rose Byrne and Glenn Close, and a musical drama co-produced by Hugh Jackman, Viva Laughlin. Either may be programmed this year.

The Ten network traditionally works harder in the second half of the year, with Australian Idol and the AFL finals being strong platforms for its schedule. That platform will be boosted by the July return of Thank God You’re Here, which averaged more than 1.7 million viewers last year.

"We’ve tracked well this year given how Seven has gone out with its top shows in the first half," says Ten’s head of network programming David Mott. "I’m feeling very comfortable for the second half of the year."

Beyond Thank God and Idol, Mott expects big business from So You Think You Can Dance, America’s Top Model, the movie Kenny (ahead of its series debut next year), the revamped Neighbours and Rove’s series of shows from the US. Rove McManus was also a no-brainer to host Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?

"I feel very confident that will be a break-out and we will look after that schedule-wise," Mott says. Indeed, if, as expected, that moves into Sunday 6.30pm, ahead of Idol and Rove, it could damage Nine and Seven.

Ten will also debut some US programs as they start their US season in September, with a racy comedy from Showtime, starring David Duchovny, one of the prime candidates.

"There’s no decisions yet but it’s fair to say you’ll see one of them on air," Mott says. "Within 12 months to two years you’re going to see one-third of all new shows running straight after their US programming."

At Seven, US dramas Bones, Criminal Minds, Las Vegas and Ghost Whisperer will be joined by one of the few recent hits from the past US season, Shark, but Seven’s focus will be local.

Seven has been unwilling to divulge its line-up before Monday but it is known the network will bring back Border Security, The Force and Medical Emergency. The line-up will be bolstered by the launch of drama City Homicide, Australia’s Best Backyards, Jamie Durie’s first effort since jumping the fence from Nine, and factual series Surf Patrol. Oh, Kath & Kim will also debut its fourth season on Seven.

The ABC threatens to spoil the commercials with The Chaser team returning for an expected tilt at the election campaign in three months. Drought drama Rain Shadow also debuts, as does a four-part documentary on Captain James Cook.

SBS is just as prolific locally. Upcoming is its edgy drama Major Crime and another about an Aboriginal lawyer, The Circuit, as well as Great Australian Albums, Hot Spell and possibly Shaun Micallef’s world news satire, Newstopia.

An exciting new e-Book is about to be released discussing the new marketing methods and Web 2.0 concepts.

Age of Conversation is the brainchild of two respected bloggers and marketers, Gavin Heaton and Drew McLellan. Gavin is the Sydney based author of Servant of Chaos, while Drew is the American author of The Marketing Minute.

Gavin and Drew have assembled 100 of the world’s leading marketers and Web 2.0 thinkers to write chapters for the Age of Conversation. The book promises to give an amazing insight into the new wave of conversation style marketing that some marketers have employed with great success, but is still a mystery to many.

Media Hunter is proud to be a contributor to this ambitious project, writing a chapter on a new form of Citizen Powered Media that enables local businesses to benefit from the incredible opportunites to be found online. It’s all about making the web relevent at a local level and the case study is Hunters Best.

All proceeds from the sale of the Age of Conversation e-book will be donated to Variety, a worthy cause I am sure you will agree.

So stay tuned for the imminent release of the Age of Conversation.

The Seven Network’s main regional affiliate Prime Television is to remove the Central Coast from the Newcastle-Hunter market and create its own market area, targeting a population of around 300,000 residents.

The Newcastle Herald says the station will split its transmissions into the area, allowing for market-specific content and advertising, covering an area from Woy Woy to Wyee.

Prime’s CEO Doug Edwards says the move comes at a time as the company continues to strengethen its position as one of Australia’s leading regional television networks.

The company has appointed former NBN employee David Hurley as the area’s new sales executive.