TEN looks to ‘big five’ franchise
26Jul07

Nick Tabakoff, The Australian July 26, 2007,.

TEN is looking to build two new franchises to add to its three anchor programs, as the poor ratings season for Big Brother concludes next week.

Grant Blackley, the chief executive of Ten’s television arm, has told The Australian in an exclusive interview the company will now develop a "big five" approach to its event TV line-up, as it moves away from a dependence on shows such as Big Brother, The Biggest Loser and Australian Idol.

"Just as Big Brother dominates a certain time of the year, frankly, nothing occurs for the rest of the time it’s not on air," he said.

"So you need to continually create franchises that broaden the year and give you 52 weeks of exposure, rather than trying to overlap all of those at any one point in time."

Mr Blackley said he intended to add Australian versions of two new programs, Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?, a show that pits adults against 10-year-olds to win cash, and So You Think You Can Dance, a dance competition in the mould of Idol, as cornerstone programs for the network.

B

oth are shows that have registered high ratings in the US, particularly among Big Brother’s core 18 to 49-year-old demographic.

The Ten boss’s comments come at a time several media commentators have suggested the network needs to decrease its reliance on Big Brother. Overall ratings for the current series are down by more than 10 per cent this year, while in the 18-49 age group the fall has been about 15 per cent.

Ten pays Southern Star Endemol an estimated $25 million to make Big Brother each year: a huge commitment for a 14-week program if it does not fire as a ratings vehicle.

One media analyst said yesterday: "At the moment, Ten’s performance is very reliant on two programs: Big Brother and Australian Idol. They need to diversify by developing new franchises, and now it seems they will be doing that."

Additionally, a story in Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph last week argued the reality-TV flagship was in long-term decline: "Big Brother is showing signs of age," it said. "Seven years will do that to a show."

However, Mr Blackley strongly denied the new moves to broaden Ten’s program line-up were related to the fact the Big Brother franchise faced long-term structural problems:

"Are those housemates not as entertaining, engaging and controversial? I think we can admit that. Is that a structural change? No, it’s not.

"We can go into … next year with the confidence that if we go through a casting period once again and come out with a different set of characters, we’ll create the drama that people want to watch. And off we go again."

Mr Blackley said this year’s ratings problems with Big Brother was analagous to temporary ratings declines in long-term sporting franchises. For example, the Australian Open tennis tournament ratings fell when Australian players performed below expectations at the event, he argued.

The Ten boss has also admitted stunts would play a key role in restoring the program to its former glory. Ten personality Kyle Sandilands entered the Big Brother House earlier this month, a move heavily parodied in the media.

MrBlackley said: "Do we apologise for stunts? Absolutely not. That’s part of reinvigorating the franchise and making it more attractive."

He also denied Ten was overly dependent on Big Brother, despite the fact it broadcasts 120 hours of the program during a 14-week period. "Is it critical to (our) fortunes? Absolutely not."

He described Big Brother as a "contributor, like every other program" in the network’s mix.

"Big Brother on aggregate would deliver maybe nine half-hours: about four hours a week out of 63 (peak-time) half-hours. So we really need to keep that in perspective."

Meanwhile, Mr Blackley hoped the new programs, Fifth Grader (which starts in September) and Dance, would become ubiquitous franchises along the lines of Big Brother and Idol.

On Fifth Grader – to be hosted by Rove McManus and made by his production company, Roving Enterprises – Mr Blackley said: "It will be 10 one-hour programs we commence with, and then we’ll look at whether we can turn it into a more definite and broader franchise."

He was also looking at turning Dance into a "dancing Australian Idol". Such a format was under consideration for 2008, with Ten screening a fresh US series in the coming months, he said.

Mr Blackley said the new programs were in part a way of spreading Ten’s risk across more franchises. "I’m not sure if we’d describe them as anchor programs, but it is a good thing for us to be able to market all of our other programs through (franchises with) successful ratings," he said.

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