the view
The Age
Thursday March 31, 2011
IT'S not exactly a white flag of surrender but it's certainly a signal that Channel Ten's opening salvo in the battle for the key 6pm timeslot hasn't fired as planned. The network's move of 6PM with George Negus to 6.30pm from Monday follows two months of disappointing ratings.Negus's program tried to redefine the 6pm slot with its focus on national and international coverage and the presentation of longer, more detailed stories. But, to date, it's averaged only 366,837 viewers nationally, while Seven News has won the slot nationally (1.19 million) and in Melbourne, and Nine News has attracted 1.04 million viewers.Negus's show clearly hasn't made the desired dent on entrenched viewing patterns. The hope now is that people might switch to it after watching Seven or Nine but the admission is that it can't compete with them.The change leaves Ten with a whopping 90-minute news program and the unenviable predicament of putting its now-extended 5pm news up against the well-established 6pm offerings of its commercial rivals. It also means that SBS's World News Australia will have direct competition from Ten.Rather than ditch Negus's show, which has also attracted more than 200,000 viewers in late-night repeats, Ten has indicated some support by shifting it. From Monday, it will compete with the more localised, tabloid and consumer-oriented Today Tonight and A Current Affair. So it will be rebellion in Libya up against miracle diets and the behaviour of Australian soldiers in Afghanistan against best-buy irons. The choice is yours.
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