ACA Sunday

Programming Amendments Update March 29.

1. ACA Sunday.

Nine have confirmed that ACA Sunday will remain in the schedule for the next two Sundays April 3 and April 10. The previous three editions of ACA Sunday have been such last minute changes, that EPGs and even the next morning’s ratings did not reflect that the show was on.

ACA Sunday will be hosted by Karl Stefanovic, who, according to the Sunday Telegraph will remain host until a regular host can be found. Tracy Grimshaw, who hosts the weekday editions ACA, and hosted the first surprise ACA Sunday earlier in March, is not interested in the extra work, while Karl only plans to stay there until a permanent host is found.

Nine, however, have not committed to ACA Sunday for the long term and are watching how it goes. So far figures have been mixed, with the highest numbers reached – of around 1.2 million – for the school bully interview two Sundays ago.

Customs now will now air 7pm on Sunday April 3 and 10, and Send in the Dogs Australia is out of the schedule on those tow nights.

2. 7TWO Fridays 7.30pm.

As of this Friday, April 1, 7TWO will now be playing two episodes of Are You Being Served from 7.30pm. That’s My Boy, which was about to move into its second season, is now out of the schedule.

Are You Being Served also airs at 7.10pm Sundays and 8.10pm Tuesdays on 7TWO.

3. Dexter on ELEVEN

The season finale of Dexter airs at 9.30pm Monday April 4 on ELEVEN. From Monday April 11, 9.30pm, Dexter moves in to repeats – starting from the first episode, the Pilot.

ACA Sunday is back again this weekend in what looks like an ongoing programming move now.

This week, the show will be hosted by Karl Stefanovic and will feature an interview with Year 10 student Casey who fought back a school yard bully this week.

Last Sunday, Nine aired ACA Sunday for the first time, in a move that many viewers believed was to provide extended Japan coverage. The show contained the latest Hey Dad story as well as usual ACA style stories on top of a live cross to Japan.

ACA Sunday is Nine’s attempt to take away some of the shine from Seven’s Sunday night. Given the fact that ACA rates lower then Seven’s Today Tonight on the majority of nights, and the fact that ACA Sunday so far appears no different to its weekday editions, ACA Sunday is, in my opinion, not likely to make any difference to how Sunday Night on Seven performs.

ACA Sunday – 6.30pm Sunday March 20 on Nine.

 Source: TV Tonight

A few weeks ago, it was reported to be considering a current affairs based program to air at 6.30pm Sundays, to go up against Seven’s Sunday Night – a regular winner of that timeslot. This is in addition to 60 Minutes, that remains at 7.30.

Last night, the network unexpectedly aired a program called ACA Sunday – which appeared to serve a number of purposes.

Firstly, ACA Sunday featured a “Hey Dad” exclusive where another person has just come out speaking up about the wrong doings of the “father” from the show – the very same exclusive that Seven had been promoting all weekend as being first on Today Tonight on Monday night. Having this story airing on ACA Sunday means Nine got in first.

Secondly, ACA Sunday allowed extra coverage of Japan – which many viewers may have expected. With Seven having Sunday Night already airing at that time, it was a given that there would be updates on Japan during the program. 60 Minutes as well presented a story on the unfolding disaster.

Thirdly, ACA Sunday allowed Nine to test the waters of having such a show against Sunday Night. As it was clearly a decision made over the weekend, there was no time for promotion other than on Nine itself.

As a result, Customs moved back to 7pm, while Send In The Dogs Australia was not seen at all.

ACA Sunday was hosted by Tracy Grimshaw.

At this stage, there is no indication whether ACA Sunday will become a regular fixture for Nine on Sunday night.