News

A change to kids programming on channel 9 with the new series – season 11 – of Hi-5 coming to channel 9 at 3.30pm Monday to Friday from MOnday August 31.

Hi-5 has seen a complete revamp of stars this year, with none of the original cast remaining. Cast members now are: Lauren Brant, Tim Maddren, Fely Irvine, Stevie Nicholson and Casey Burgess.

Hi-5 will replace Here’s Humphrey in the 3.30pm timeslot. Humphrey has been playing out repeats at that time for the past few months.

Read more about the “new generation” of Hi-5 here.

Newcastle TV Ratings for week 32.

Despite how channel 9 performs in the cities, NBN continues to dominate Newcastle’s ratings with the Sunday news taking out the top spot, and both the weekday news and Saturday edition also in the top 10. Prime’s top show was Packed to the Rafters, following the national trend of being the top show on 7 and it affiliates. The top show on 10 was Eragon which aired on Sunday Aug 2 at 6.30pm.

In overall share, ABC has moved to second over Prime and SC10. ABC’s top show is Spicks and Specks, but other shows on ABC continue to perform well contributing to their share. Shows like the Librarians, the Bill on Saturdays, Australian Story, and United States of Tara are all top raters for the ABC. Furthermore, viewers are being lured back to watching shows on ABC as they tend to start on time, remain in the same time slot throughout the whole series, have no ads, and no pop up ads during the show. There seems to be a shift towards better quality viewing rather than relying solely on what the commercial networks show.

1 NBN Evening News Sunday NBN 108000

2 Packed To The Rafters PRIME 98000

3 City Homicide Sneak Peek PRIME 88000 (I think this was the one before Packed to the Rafters that week)

4 NBN Evening News Monday to Friday NBN 87000

5 Spicks & Specks ABC 86000

6 Eragon TEN 74000

7 Talkin’ Bout Your Generation TEN 73000

8 Random Acts of Kindness NBN 71000

9 Sunday Football NBN 70000

10 NBN Evening News Saturday NBN 69000

Network Shares

1^st NBN 28.8%. 2^nd ABC 21.6%. 3^rd SC10 19.8%. 4^th PRIME 19.2%. 5^th SBS 9.6%

Network shares include secondary digital channels. Figures are RegionalTAM for Newcastle and Hunter area. NBN is a 9 affiliate, PRIME is a 7 affiliate, SC10 is 10’s affiliate. Raw figures sourced from www.mediahunter.com.au.

 

 

Free to Air TV Ratings Friday August 14 2009

No, this is not a misprint. Looking at the networks shares it would appear that ABC and Ten have swapped shares, with 10 down at an unbelievable 14.6% last night. Although not all figures are available yet, this would be the result of So You Think You Can Dance continuing to under perform – just under 600,000 last night – very low for a two hour show from 7.30 to 9.30.

No doubt 10 can’t wait for the show’s finale in a few weeks so they can have some new programming on Friday night to start bringing viewers back. Fair enough, most of their core demographic is out for the night, but 14% would just be a major concern. Maybe they should try the GO idea of having shows on for older audiences on Friday night.

ABC of course had a very good night, with George Gently being the 4^th most watched show of the night.

Top 30 for the night:
1 Seven News 7 1,464,000

2 Better Homes and Gardens 7 1,373,000 (excl A)

3 Today Tonight 7 1,295,000

4 George Gently ABC1 1,232,000

5 Nine News 9 1,185,000

6 A Current Affair 9 1,112,000

7 Two and a Half Men Rpt 7pm 9 1,111,000

8 ABC News ABC1 999,000

9 Home and Away 7 971,000 (excl A)

10 Collectors ABC1 807,000

11 Seven’s AFL: Rnd 20: Hawthorn Vs Adelaide

12 Deal or No Deal 7 742,000

13 Stateline ABC1 742,000

14 Hot Seat 9 693,000

15 Neighbours 10 679,000

16 The 7pm Project 10 664,000

17 Nine’s Live Friday Night Football 9 648,000 (S,B)

18 Ten News at Five Ten 644,000 (excl B)

19 The Simpsons 6pm 10 615,000

20 So You Think You Can Dance 10 594,000

21 Two and a Half Men Friday 7.30pm 9 593,000 (M,A,P)

22 The Bold and The Beautiful 10 510,000

23 Sensitive Skin Rpt ABC1 503,000

24 Huey’s Cooking Adventures 10 457,000

25 Nine’ Friday Night Football Nine 451,000 (S,B)

26 MASH 7 440,000

27 Can We Help? ABC1 433,000

28 Antiques Roadshow Rpt 9 410,000

29 Sunrise 7 395,000

30 Til Death 9 380,000 (M,A,P)

Ten News at Five 124,000 B (Not sure why Brisbane is listed separately here)

Network shares:

1^st 7 32.7%. 2^nd 9 26.8%. 3^rd ABC 20.4%. 4^th 10 14.6%. 5^th SBS 5.5%

Week so far:

1^st 7 28.7%. 2^nd 9 26.2%. 3^rd 10 21.6%. 4^th ABC 16.9%. 5^th SBS 6.6%

Raw figures sourced from Media Spy, and are 5 city metro OzTam ratings. Network shares include secondary digital channels. Time slot order not possible on Friday and Saturday nights due to varying air times and programming associated with NRL and AFL football as well as alternative programming in cities not airing the football matches. For shows not aired in all cities, abbreviations S for Sydney, M for Melbourne, A for Adelaide, P for Perth and B for Brisbane indicate those cities the show was aired in. If no letters after a show, the show was shown in all cities.

Here is your latest update to channel 9 programming in coming weeks.

1. Tuesday August 25. Tuesday nights gain are set to change at channel 9. At least this change has been made in ample time for the majority of printed TV guides to have the correct information in them. 20-1 will remain at 7.30pm, and the so called adults only double Two and a Half Men will sit there at 8.30. Following on at 9.30 is the movie Talledega nights.

2. Tuesday September 1. The 9.30 movie slated for that night is Blades of Glory. Check your local guides closer to the date.

3. Wednesday nights. Two and a Half Men will remain at 7.30 Wednesday on August 19 and August 26. August 26 sees the final of Australia’s Perfect Couple air. At this stage, Two and a Half Men will also air at 7.30 Wednesdays after Perfect Couple finishes. No doubt as a result of the high ratings the show is receiving. At this stage, 8pm is a “TBA”. Maybe they could consider Big Bang Theory after it, like they do on Monday nights as that show is also rating well. Another idea is to bring RPA forward or extend to an hour again. RPA remains at 8.30, with the Gift at 9pm.

At 9.30 on Wednesday nights, once Cold Case concludes it season August 19, Without a Trace is set to return to channel 9 with new episodes from August 26, followed by a repeat at 10.30.

4. Drop Dead Diva. Continues to air at 9.30 Mondays except in Adelaide and Perth, who will see repeats of the Mentalist instead.

As always, this information subject to late change by channel 9. Check guides closer to the dates.

 

According to USA website radaronline.com, Paula Abdul may have been offered a position on Australian Idol.

Paula Abdul ‘s contract with American Idol has not been renewed due to the fact that she is asking for more money than they are prepared to offer her. There was speculation that the addition of the 4^th judge Cara this year was in preparation for Paula’s departure.

Australian Idol, recently having to let go of judge Kyle Sandilands due to his 2Day FM stunt in which a teenage girls admitted to being raped live on air, now has a vacancy for a judge. Possibilities for Kyle’s replacement include James Mathison,

Jay Dee Springbett (form Sony/BMG Music) and Brian McFaden of Football Superstar (FOX8) fame.

Australian Idol apparently is in discussion with Paula but it is not clear as to what her role would be. She could be a guest judge, a mentor or possibly a full time judge. Given her many commitments in Hollywood though, the offer from Australian Idol would have to be quite substantial to hold her down for the duration of the show.

Australian Idol airs on Channel Ten Sunday nights at 6.30pm, concluding with its finale late November. American Idol returns in January 2010 on FOX8.

Ratings for Thursday August 13, 2009.

7pm saw another flip between Home and Away and Two and a Half Men – both rating very close to each other every night. Home and Away is back in front – just. On channel 10, the 7pm Project sinks further in ratings but still is hovering around the 700,000 mark.

No surprises at 7.30, with Getaway first as always, Amazing Race down slightly and Jon and Kate on 10 pulling same figures as Rules of Engagement was. Overall last night, there seems to be less viewers around than usual.

At 8.30, 20-1 is way in front, but as the figures for GO are not yet counted as separate programs, some percentage of that figure would have been viewers watching Gossip Girl on GO. Week after next GO programs will separated out from 9’s. The GO share being covered by 9’s percentage share is the reason why it is not another run away week for channel 7 this week, with channel 9 not far behind in the overall share for the week so far. Perhaps this is the reason there is finally some movement at channel 7, with potential names for their new channel being lodged with IP Australia (who look after trade marks).

Channel 10 has had a reasonably good night after 8.30, with Rush holding ground at 1.2 million. Law and Order was only second to the footy show, but if split into AFL and NRL markets, Law and Order CI would be first in the 9.30 time slot ahead of the NRL footy show.

Order of shows, based on timeslots:

6.00 – 6.30pm

1^st 7 News. 2^nd 9 News. 3^rd 10 Simpsons

6.30 – 7.00pm

1^st 7 Today Tonight. 2^nd 9 A Current Affair. 3^rd 10 Neighbours

7.00 – 7.30pm

1^st 7 Home and Away. 2^nd 9 Two and a Half Men. 3^rd ABC1 News

7.30 – 8.00pm

1^st 9 Getaway. 2^nd 7 The Amazing Race. 3^rd 10 John and Kate plus 8

8.30 – 9.30pm

1^st 9 20-1. 2^nd 10 Rush. 3^rd 7 TV Burp / Double Take

9.30 – 10.30pm

1^st 9 Footy Show. 2^nd 10 Law and Order CI. 3^rd 7 True Beauty

Network Shares

1^st 9 31.0%. 2^nd 7 25.1%. 3^rd 10 23.4%. 4^th ABC 14.7%. 5^th SBS 5.9%

Week so far:

1^st 7 27.9%. 2^nd 9 26.1%. 3^rd 10 22.9%. 4^th ABC 16.3%. 5^th SBS 6.8%

Top 30 shows.

1 Seven News Seven 1,291,000

2 Getaway Nine 1,372,000

3 20-1 Nine 1,336,000

4 Today Tonight 1,272,000

5 Rush Ten 1,206,000

6 Home and Away Seven 1,181,000

7 Two and a Half Men 7pm rpt Nine 1,176,000

8 A Current Affair Nine 1,171,000

9 Nine News Nine 1,127,000

10 ABC News ABC1 1,012,000

11 The Amazing Race Seven 949,000

12 The Footy Show Nine 913,000

13 Law & Order: Criminal Intent Ten 884,000

14 Ten News at Five Ten 831,000

15 Jon & Kate Plus 8 Ten 813,000

16 7.30 Report ABC1 777,000

17 Neighbours Ten 754,000

18 Tv Burp Seven 751,000

19 Deal or No Deal Seven 724,000

20 Double Take Seven 724,000

21 The Simpsons Ten 720,000

22 The 7pm Project Ten 697,000

23 Hot Seat Nine 694,000

24 True Beauty Seven 610,000

25 Australia’s Heritage: Nation Treasures ABC1 532,000

26 Whatever! The Science of Teens ABC1 511,000

27 Consuming Kids: The Commercialisation of Childhood ABC1 497,000

28 The Bold and the Beautiful Ten 494,000

29 Huey’s Cooking Adventures Ten 465,000

30 Q&A ABC1 457,000

Raw ratings figures sourced from Media Spy and Tv Tonight and are Oztam 5 city metro figures. Timeslot order is some cases will may be based on average figures over a number of time slots. Timeslot order is only offered where there is enough data available to put at least 3 networks in order at the times listed.

Timeslot times may not reflect exact times that show air due to network lateness. Here, a show starting as late as 9.45 for example will be considered as the 9.30 timeslot, if 9.30 is the time it was advertised to air.

Network shares include all extra digital channels for each network. Week so far is the cumulative network share from Sunday until the day of this report. When show not shown in all cities (top 30 list): S = Sydney, B= Brisbane, M = Melbourne, A = Adelaide, P = Perth. Feel free to leave comments and let us know what you think. Anything not here that you’d like to see?

All aspiring dancers get you tap shoes on and ready to audition for a chance of a lifetime as the audition process for the 2010 series of So You Think You Can Dance Australia is about to fire up.

 

 

The winner of the 2009 series Talia Fowler says, “Auditioning for SYTYCD was easily the best decision I ever made. After so many years of hard work to become a dancer, being part of the show was so amazing. It gave me the support and confidence I needed to fulfil my dreams. Then the unbelievable happened and I was voted Australia’s Favourite

Dancer. The ultimate experience was performing on SYTYCD in the US. It was a once in a lifetime experience I will never forget. If your dream is to dance then go for it, you never know what can happen.”

Auditions are open to anyone between 18 and 35 and kick off in September 2009, it is also important that you pre-register, you will then be given a specific time to audition.

AUDITION VENUES & DATES

ADELAIDE AUDITIONS
From September 17 at the AUSTRALIAN DANCE THEATRE
126 Belair Road HAWTHORN

SYDNEY AUDITIONS
From September 24 at the CARRIAGEWORKS
245 Wilson Street EVELEIGH (That’s where parts of Mastercehf and Aus Next Top Model were filmed)

PERTH AUDITIONS
From October 1 at the WAAPA Edith Cowan University
Building 1, 2 Bradford Street MOUNT LAWLEY

MELBOURNE AUDITIONS
From October 6 at the MINISTRY OF DANCE
Level 1, 64 Sutton Street NORTH MELBOURNE

BRISBANE AUDITIONS
From October 13 at the QUEENSLAND BALLET Thomas Dixon Centre
Cnr Drake Street & Montague Road WEST END

 

Register at www.ten.com.au/dance

[Updated] – For the latest on 7TWO – Seven’s New Digital Channel: http://www.throng.com.au/7two

News is breaking on the story of 7′s New Digital Channel almost daily now with full details including final name, content and official launch date to be announced pretty well any minute now.

For the latest posts relating to 7′s New Digital Channel, click on the words “7′s New Digital Channel” above the post or look just to the right for related posts above the poll.

Original Post follows (from back in August so its getting out of date now):

With the launch of channel 9’s new digital channel GO on Sunday (Aug 9 2009), channel 7 has become the only free to air network without a full time secondary digital channel. Channel 10 has ONE HD, SBS have SBS ONE and TWO, ABC have ABC1, ABC2 and soon ABC3, but 7 only has 7HD which can barely even count as a channel.

GO takes the FreeView count of free to air digital channels to 9 channels plus one part time channel 7HD. HD simulcasts do not count as separate channels. That therefore wipes out ABC HD, SBS ONE HD and 9HD – now a simulcast of the main channel 9 now that GO has launched – as counting as separate channels.

The FreeView channel count will become 10 when ABC3 is included later this year, and then 11 once channel 7 comes on board with their new digital channel. Then the question will remain if 7HD break aways will remain once 7’s new channel starts. As we know, GO has spelt the end of 9HD break aways, much to the disgust of AFL fans in Sydney and Brisbane who now have to wait for the later broadcast of the AFL Footy show rather than being able to watch it live on 9HD at the same time as the NRL footy show airs on 9 main.

TV Tonight is reporting that channel 7 have lodged a trade mark with IP Australia – the body that looks after corporate trade marks – of PLUS7 or 7PLUS which suggests that one of these could be the name of the new channel. TV Tonight ran a similar story in relation to GO!99 back in April when channel 9 lodged the GO! Trade mark. Then again, the new channel could be a completely different name and 7PLUS ends up being the branding of another channel 7 service such as re-branding on demand episode catch ups online.

Other ideas and rumours for the name of channel 7’s second digital channel have included 7-too which would be on channel 72, 7A, as well as 7 Extra. All of which seem to include 7 as part of the name. Perhaps 7 will maintain their branding on their second channel whereas channels 9 and 10 have opted for names completely unrelated to their main channel. In fact, so far, I have not even seen a channel 9 ad on GO. There are frequent channel 10 ads on ONE HD. So it looks like 9 is trying to keep the GO branding separate from their channel 9 branding at this stage.

So what will be on the new channel? Rumours over past months have suggested that the channel will most likely be a lifestyle based channel which would see shows like the Great Outdoors, Better Homes and Gardens, New Idea TV, and factuals like Border Patrol, Airways, The Force, Triple Zero Heroes, Find My Family and the like played in repeats. There may also be scope for classic channel 7 shows such as A Country Practice, Sons and Daughters, and Hey Dad to appear on their channel. Some of these shows already appear late night or on 7JD break aways. Repeats of game shows like Deal or No Deal and the Rich List are also possibilities.

Given that Ten’s channel ONE have gone down the sports route, and 9’s GO is aimed at the younger audience, chances are that 7’s channel would be more for an older audience, which fits in to lifestyle kind of format.

Back when 7HD launched on October 15 2007, channel 7 talked about offering movie nights with first to free to air movies on 7HD as well as alternative and experimental content. Some of which they have aired on 7HD.

Other ideas for 7’s new channel could be a news channel – in fact Sky News Australia is in talks with FreeView to be included into Free to air TV somewhere, as well as a channel that shows documentaries. Out of the three commercial broadcasters, channel 7 airs more documentaries with shows like Air Crash Investigation frequently appearing in channel 7’s schedule.

Channel 7 could also use their deal with Disney to provide many more hours of childrens’ viewing in addition to what they already offer on Saturday mornings. Their deal with Disney could go head to head with 9’s deal with Warner Brothers. Sounds like a family based channel could be an idea as well!

GO has its major launch in October. Expect channel 7’s new channel to launch at a similar time. I have always though they would use October 15 as a launch date, marking the second anniversary of 7HD, which is a Thursday this year. ONE HD’s launches have been Thursdays, and when SBS TWO launched, that was a Monday.

No doubt we will know soon enough.

Tell us what content you would like to see on 7′s new digital channel. Click here for our poll.

Ratings for Wednesday August 12, 2009.

Another strong night for the ABC with Spicks and Specks, The Librarians, and United States of Tara all performing well. Tens’ new Law and Order Franchise Law and Order UK fell only just shy of 9’s ratings for Cold Case.

9’s decision to halve Australia’s Perfect Couple and put Two and a Half Men on at 7.30 seems to have paid off with very high ratings for the 7.30 offering of the show.

Order of shows, based on timeslots:

6.00 – 6.30pm

1^st 7 News. 2^nd 9 News. 3^rd 10 Simpsons

6.30 – 7.00pm

1^st 7 Today Tonight. 2^nd 9 A Current Affair. 3^rd 10 Neighbours

7.00 – 7.30pm

1^st 9 Two and a Half Men. 2^nd 7 Home and Away. 3^rd ABC1 News

7.30 – 8.00pm

1^st 7 Worlds Strictest Parents. 2^nd 9 Two and a Half Men. 3^rd All New Simpsons

8.00 – 8.30pm

1^st 7 Worlds Strictest Parents. 2^nd 10 Simpsons. 3^rd ABC1 New Inventors

8.30 – 9.00pm

1^st ABC1 Spicks and Specks. 2^nd 7 Criminal Minds. 3^rd 9 RPA

9.00 – 9.30pm

1^st 7 Criminal Minds 2^nd ABC1 The Librarians. 3^rd 9 The Gift

9.30 – 10.00pm

1^st ABC1 United States of Tara. 2^nd 9 Cold Case. 3^rd 10 Law and Order UK

10.00 – 10.30pm

1^st 9 Cold Case. 2^nd 10 Law and Order UK. 3^rd 7 Scrubs

Network Shares

1^st 7 27.6%. 2^nd 9 25.0%. 3^rd 10 20.9%. 4^th ABC 20.6%. 5^th SBS 5.9%

Week so far:

1^st 7 28.5%. 2^nd 9 25.0%. 3^rd 10 22.8%. 4^th ABC 16.7%. 5^th SBS 7.0%

Top 30 shows.

1 Seven News Seven 1,548,000

2 World’s Strictest Parents UK Seven 1,453,000

3 Spicks and Specks ABC1 1,449,000

4 Today Tonight Seven 1,406,000

5 Two and a Half Men – Rpt 7pm 1,309,000

6 Two and a Half Men Wed 7.30pm 1,253,000

7 Home and Away Seven 1,238,000

8 Nine News Nine 1,189,000

9 A Current Affair Nine 1,142,000

10 RPA Nine 1,106,000

11 ABC News ABC1 1,062,000

12 Criminal Minds Rpt Seven 1,031,000

13 The Librarians ABC1 1,028,000

14 The Simpsons 8pm Wed Ten 1,023,000

15 The All New Simpsons 7.30pm Ten 1,019,000

16 United States of Tara ABC1 990,000

17 The Gift Nine 986,000

18 Ten News at Five Ten 913,000

19 The New Inventors ABC1 888,000

20 Law and Order SVU Ten 887,000

21 Neighbours Ten 838,000

22 The Simpsons 6pm Ten 807,000

23 7.30 Report ABC1 804,000

24 Cold Case Nine 797,000

25 Law and Order UK Ten 775,000

26 The 7pm Project Ten 772,000

27 Deal or No Deal Seven 758,000

28 The Cook and the Chef ABC1 719,000

29 Hot Seat Nine 711,000

30 Australia’s Perfect Couple Nine 701,000

My Name is Earl Seven 697,000

Scrubs Wed Rpt Seven 582,000

Family Guy Seven 529,000

The Bold and the Beautiful Ten 529,000

At the Movies ABC1 502,000

American Dad Seven 452,000

Sunrise Seven 386,000

Today Nine 324,00

Louis Theroux Seven 245,000

　

Raw ratings figures sourced from Media Spy and Tv Tonight and are Oztam 5 city metro figures. Timeslot order is some cases will may be based on average figures over a number of time slots. Timeslot order is only offered where there is enough data available to put at least 3 networks in order at the times listed.

Timeslot times may not reflect exact times that show air due to network lateness. Here, a show starting as late as 9.45 for example will be considered as the 9.30 timeslot, if 9.30 is the time it was advertised to air.

Network shares include all extra digital channels for each network. Week so far is the cumulative network share from Sunday until the day of this report. When show not shown in all cities (top 30 list): S = Sydney, B= Brisbane, M = Melbourne, A = Adelaide, P = Perth. Feel free to leave comments and let us know what you think. Anything not here that you’d like to see?

Want more channels? More choices?

Well, with the launch of the new Optus satellite on August 22, Foxtel will be able to offer substantially more channels giving viewers their biggest choice ever. Foxtel can confirm that they will launch 30 new channels later this year including 20 standard definition channels and 10 high definition channels as part of an overhaul of the pay TV service.

Foxtel content, product development and delivery executive Patrick Delany yesterday confirmed the new channels would be launched late this year, in addition to a revamped TV guide and free TV and movie downloads for subscribers.

The extra channels will be made possible by a new Optus satellite that spokesman Paul Sheridan yesterday confirmed would launch into the skies off French Guiana on August 22.

Mr Delany said Foxtel had been planning to launch new channels for some time, though he would not confirm their content.

“This is the biggest thing we’ve launched since digital TV and it is a massive overhaul,” he said. “We’ll be using six transponders on the satellite, which will deliver 20 new standard-definition channels and 10 new HD channels.”

The pay-TV revamp will also include an overhaul of Foxtel’s on-screen TV guide, and a bigger addition is due for October when Foxtel launches TV and movie downloads from its website for subscribers.

“We will introduce 400 hours of catch-up TV that you can download to your PC,” he said. “It will be included in your package.”

Mr Delany said the downloads would also include pay-per-view movies.

Stay tuned for dates and channel details and content.

source: news.com.au