News

From 3:00am on the 8th of July, Michael Jackson will dominate the television airwaves in Australia.  Seve, Nine, ABC and the E! channel will all run coverage of the memorial service being held at the Staples centre in Los Angeles where more than 17,500 will be gathered to farewell the pop icon.

Scalpers have upset many fans who were unable to secure tickets from the lottery as they’ve appeared on ebay.  Irate fans have obviously tried to nullify the auction by blowing the price out to nearly $100m.

Which coverage will you watch live or delayed or will you just stay in bed and catch the undoubted million replays on the news?

The Nine Network will bring viewers live and commercial-free coverage of the MICHAEL JACKSON MEMORIAL CONCERT, tomorrow morning from 2.50am.

Coverage of the emotional public farewell to the “King of Pop” will be anchored by TODAY co-host Karl Stefanovic in the studio, with TODAY Show Weekend Edition co-host Leila McKinnon reporting from the concert at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles. Nine’s US bureau chief Robert Penfold and Nine News reporters Peter Stefanovic and Tom Steinfort will also present live reports from the historic event.

Then, in a special encore presentation, Nine will broadcast REMEMBERING MICHAEL JACKSON at 7.00pm tomorrow night, with all the highlights from the Memorial Concert.

Meanwhile, later tomorrow morning on TODAY, Nine’s Entertainment Editor, Richard Wilkins, will have live and exclusive reports from the red carpet at the world premiere of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in London.

As of tomorrow, there will only be 10 days left to be in the running to become a kids TV host, as part of the ‘Me On 3’ nationwide search for new talent.

On June 18, ABC TV put out a casting call for “big personalities” to apply for one of a number of presenter positions on the new digital kids channel, ABC3.

Since the campaign began, more than 50,000 people have visited the site abc.net.au/meon3, while 12,000 application forms have been downloaded by eager people
hoping to become faces of ABC3.

Some of the more ambitious applicants have begun their own Facebook group to gather support, posted their audition video on youTube, or pitched themselves into their local
newspaper for a story.

Applications for Me On 3 are open until Friday July 17, 2009 at 5pm (EST).

To apply you need to follow these steps:
• Visit abc.net.au/meon3 and fill in an application form
• Send us some photos of yourself
• Shoot a 1‐2 minute video clip on DVD telling us why we should choose you!

Tonight’s live final will reveal whether CASSI VAN DEN DUNGEN of Melbourne or TAHNEE ATKINSON of Perth is the winner of AUSTRALIA’S NEXT TOP MODEL.

This current series hosted by SARAH MURDOCH is the most successful so far and it will be a battle to the end.

“Each of the girls have tried to prove they have what it takes to make it in the high-stress, high-stakes world of modelling in what has been a very challenging competition. Our final two, Cassi and Tahnee are very different girls and have worked very hard to get to the top two positions. In my opinion, both girls are well on their way to be working models and to hit the international modelling scene”, host Sarah Murdoch says.

The series culminates in a LIVE final in front of an audience of almost 2,000 at Luna Park’s Big Top, and broadcast across Australia exclusively on FOX8 tonight, TUESDAY JULY 7
at 7.30PM.

The LIVE show brings back all 13 girls and for the first time this series’ finalists TAHNEE and CASSI will be asked to perform a LIVE two-part challenge to help the judging panel (Host SARAH MURDOCH, Australian designer – ALEX PERRY, Model mentor – CHARLOTTE DAWSON, Style Director – JONATHAN PEASE, Model agent – PRISCILLA LEIGHTON CLARK, world renowned photographer – RUSSELL JAMES and Harper’s Bazaar fashion editor – CLAUDIA NAVONE), and the audience at home, to decide on where their vote should go for this season’s winner.

AUSTRALIA’S NEXT TOP MODEL live final will provide a spectacular ending to the most successful series so far with runway shows, live musical performances, surprise guests and a special celebrity message from BRUNO as well as roving reporter MTV’s RUBY ROSE keeping us up-to-date with all the latest backstage action.

In a LIVE FINAL FIRST CASSI and TAHNEE will be asked to complete two more challenges to try to impress the judges and viewers at home.

Top Model fans around the country can again have their own say by voting for who they think should be AUSTRALIA’S NEXT TOP MODEL.

FOXTEL and AUSTAR viewers are able to vote in one of two ways – Interactive whenever they see the red button on screen or SMS.

To vote for CASSI VAN DEN DUNGEN            SMS CASSI to 1999 FOX8 (3698)

To Vote for TAHNEE ATKINSON                      SMS TAHNEE to 1999 FOX8 (3698)

Voting lines will close during the live final tonight, giving fans a last minute chance to decide the fate of the final two.

Then it comes down to the judges to cast their final vote which is then tallied with the public vote and the winner announced. It’s a result that will go down to the wire with this series being the closest and most competitive competition ever seen on Australia’s Next Top Model.

Who is AUSTRALIA’S NEXT TOP MODEL? TAHNEE ATKINSON or CASSI VAN DEN DUNGEN?

Find out during the LIVE series finale tonight – Tuesday, July 7 at 7.30pm on FOX8 and at 9.30pm on FOX8+2.

Michael Jackson’s Memorial Service will be broadcast LIVE at 3am AEST tonight on ABC1, with an expected duration of around two hours.

While the running order is under wraps, it is certain to be a star-studded event paying tribute to the King of Pop.

Channel Nine has announced that Head of Production, Andrew Backwell, will expand his current role at the Network, assuming the responsibility of Sydney Program Manager.

Backwell already works closely with Nine’s Program Director, Michael Healy, and will now assist with the day-to-day programming department duties. Along with Healy, Backwell will be responsible for overseeing and developing new programs for the network, as well as planning the long term programming strategy.

Michael Healy said, “I am pleased to announce Andrew’s newly expanded role.  He has a strong background in television production, and is a proven asset to Nine. I am pleased to formalise his contribution to the programming department, and hand over the daily management of the Sydney office.”

Andrew Backwell said, “It is a privilege to work with Michael Healy and the outstanding team here at Nine. I’m excited about the new challenge and look forward to making a significant contribution to Nine’s programming strategy.”

Here are how shows performed on Sunday, July 5th, 2009 between 6.00 and 10.30pm*. This is week 28 of the official 2009 ratings period.

The return of Dancing with the Stars pushes 10 back to second for Sunday night, while 9’s decision to show a movie at 8.30 puts them at distant 3^rd. The 9pm finish with Dancing helped keep the audience there for Bones, and later Castle as well. Rove was quite high last night, but Masterchef was still number with almost 2 million viewers.

7 won all time slots from 6pm to 10.30 with the exception of 7.30-8.30pm. Biggest Loser US is letting 10 down after Rove, pulling their share down.

1^st ch 7 News. 2^nd ch 9 News. 3^rd ch 10 Secrets of Merlin

1^st ch 7 Dancing With the Stars. 2^nd ch 10 Merlin. 3^rd ch 9 Random Acts of Kindness.

1^st ch 10 Masterchef. 2^nd Dancing With the Stars. 3^rd ch 9 60 Minutes.

1^st ch 7 Dancing With the Stars. 2^nd ch 10 Rove. 3^rd ABC1 Miss Maprle

1^st ch 7 Bones. 2^nd ch 10 Rove. 3^rd ABC1 Miss Marple

1^st ch 7 Bones. 2^nd ABC1 Miss Marple. 3^rd ch 9 Music and Lyrics Movie

1^st ch 7 Castle. 2^nd ch 9 Music and Lyrics Movie 3^rd ch 10 The Biggest Loser US

1^st ch 7 29.9%. 2^nd ch 10 26.1%. 3^rd ch 9 23.8%. 4^th ABC 15.7%. 5^th SBS 4.4%

Top 10 last night

1 Masterchef Australia – Challenge Ten 1,979,000
2 Seven News – Sun Seven 1,768,000
3 Dancing With The Stars Seven 1,571,000
4 Bones Seven 1,419,000
5 Nine News Sunday Nine 1,386,000
6 Merlin Ten 1,378,000
7 Rove Ten 1,290,000
8 Random Acts Of Kindness Nine 1,196,000
9 60 Minutes Nine 1,172,000
10 Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple ABC1 1,119,000

*Raw data sourced from Tv Tonight and Media Spy and is based on 5 city OzTam metro ratings. Positions are only shown for times when ratings figures are available for at least 3 networks in order. Outside of 6.00 – 10.30pm, this is not the case so cannot show detail in this format for those hours. The week so far is the progressive network shares starting from Sunday and ending on Saturday.

The ACMA finds that Ten failed to provide a captioning service for The Inauguration of President Obama

The Australian Communications and Media Authority has found the licensee of TEN, Network Ten (Sydney) Pty Ltd, breached the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (the BSA) by failing to provide a captioning service for the live coverage of The Inauguration of President Obama, broadcast on 21 January 2009.

Under the BSA, commercial television licensees must provide a captioning service for all television programs transmitted during prime viewing hours as well as television news or current affairs programs transmitted outside prime viewing hours.

TEN initially failed to characterise the broadcast as news given it was not a typical news bulletin and was a one-off event. However, upon review, it acknowledged that the broadcast was ‘news’ within the relevant definition and, accordingly, should have been captioned.

‘By not capturing this event, Ten has not only breached its regulatory obligations but deprived its hearing impaired audience of fully participating in this historic moment,’ said Chris Chapman, ACMA Chairman.

In response to the breach finding, TEN has taken the following steps:

- Reviewed its current process to ensure that programs are captioned in accordance with the BSA
- Distributed the investigation finding to relevant personnel from the Programming, Operations and News Departments at TEN
- Is preparing an updated handout summarising captioning obligations under the BSA and Free TV Code, with particular emphasis on the relevant definition of ‘news or current affairs program’
- Provided a tailored training session with relevant personnel from the Programming, Operations and News Departments in June 2009, which included detailed discussion of the ACMA’s finding, and will repeat tailored captioning training on an annual basis or as staff turnover requires
- Include captioning as a topic in both regular Legal and Code training for the News department.

The ACMA will continue to monitor the licensee’s performance to ensure that these measures result in ongoing compliance. In this regard, the ACMA notes that while the licensee breached the captioning provisions during 2007, there are no recorded breaches in relation to captioning during 2008.

Last night’s premiere of Dancing with the Stars recorded a staggering peak audience of 2.173 million viewers* and was 220,000 viewers up on last year’s premiere.

Scoring an average national audience of 2.207 million viewers across all markets (metropolitan and regional), Dancing with the Stars placed in the top 10 programs in all key audiences: total viewers, 16-39s, 18-49s and 25-54s and secured a 36% share in all people.

The ninth series premiere of the program made Dancing with the Stars history when its first blind competitor, adventurer and paralympian Gerrard Gosens, took to the floor with partner Jessica Raffa for a moving performance earning the couple a standing ovation.

The competition heats up Sunday night with the first elimination for the series.  In the lead after last night’s premiere is international cover girl Emily Scott and partner Michael  Miziner, followed closely by comedian Fiona O’Loughlin and partner Craig Monley.  In last place on the leader board, entertainer Rob Mills and partner Sriani Argaet will be feeling the pressure to stay in the competition.

*(one minute average peak audience across 6.30-9.00pm)

Channel Nine announced today that newsreader Mark Ferguson had declined to sign a new contract with the network.

Nine is very disappointed Mark has turned down the generous offer that was made to re-new his contract.

Mark has been with Nine News for over 17 years, and will be greatly missed by his colleagues. Everyone at Nine wishes Mark and his family all the best for the future.

Nine CEO David Gyngell said today, “Mark has been a colleague and friend for many years. I wish him all the best. We’re actually flattered that another network had to look to Nine to find a new newsreader.

“Our own news service is the strongest its been for many years, it’s building a dedicated audience. We’re delighted that Georgie Gardner is joining Pete Overton and the 6pm team to continue the fight back. They both bring a warmth and authority which Nine’s viewers appreciate.”

Mark Ferguson said: “I’ve had a wonderful journey at Channel Nine – and worked alongside some great people – but it’s time for a change. I wish David and his team all the very best.”

Mark Ferguson will continue on air as part of the Nine News team until his current contract ends last this year.