General TV History

I know that Channel Seven won in Adelaide and Perth thanks to the dominance of news and AFL as well as TV Shows in 2012.
Nine was strong in Sydney and Brisbane thanks to the NRL, The Voice, The Origin series, 2012 Summer Olympics, Big Brother. I would have thought Channel Nine won in Melbourne by a fraction thanks to Peter Hitchener as well as the Footy Show, and the above.

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Actually, Seven just took out Melbourne in 2012 because to my knowledge, Seven has won the last twelve years in Melbourne alone, mostly thanks to the AFL.

However, you are right in the sense that Nine News did take out that market, and very easily: it didn’t drop a single week (and neither would they until about mid-2016) in 2012.

Nine has also won (at least) the last five years in Sydney alone and hasn’t lost a week in this market so far this year. Highlighting Seven’s woes in the Harbour City, it once finished third behind both Nine and Ten in 2015 (the week of July 27).

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and speaking of 2012, what about The Price is Big W.

SEven had struggled a lot in Melbourne with The Price is Right. Seven Melbourne decided to push the show to 3pm. 7 News Melbourne has languished to 2nd and trailed well behind Nine News.

I would have thought that when Larry Emdur hosted the revived Price is Right, the ratings were too soft and trailed well behind, Hot Seat and TEN News at Five.

THis was similar to Nine perth back in 2005, where STW decided to push The Price is Right at an earlier time at 5pm because of poor leadin to news. The Price is Right ratings have dived. In late 2005, the show ended due to higher production costs. Larry Emdur presented a farewell speech, thanking his colleagues. When Nine had THe Price is Right it was produced in GTV9’s Richmond studios.

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Was Seven on a cost-cutting binge when they brought it back?

A post was merged into an existing topic: Overseas TV History

TV’s general decline in ratings around then would have meant that it would not have made sense to produce an expensive game show like The Price is Right with a big budget (remember, they were giving away $650,000 worth of prizes on some nights).

The obvious answer for a revival at that time was filming the show in a broom cupboard, giving away $50 vacuum cleaners from Big W as pricing game prizes, Nissan Micras as the showcase prize, and giving contestants 10 seconds to complete the showcase. Yikes.

We’re never going to see production values on Australian TV as high as they were in the late 90s-early 2000s.

I suspect The Price is Right on Nine operated at a loss, even at its peak in 2003/04, just as part of the whole Packer ‘to hell with the cost’ mentality, to boost the news ratings.

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The Price is Right gave away considerably lesser prizes (but still better stuff compared to the godawful 2012 Big W-infused version) in the 1990s, yet still had around five years on Nine?

It was only really 2004/05 when The Price Is Right was starting to feel the heat from Deal Or No Deal that showcases really became worth hundreds of thousands, if I remember correctly.

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I’d wonder what were the ratings like for the first run of TPIR on 9 in the 90s. Catch Phrase (later Burgo’s Catch Phrase) replaced Price on 9 until 2003 before the 2nd run of TPIR, again hosted by Emdur.

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In 2004 they had a showcase game where contestants either choose the money or the showcase. The monster showcase was worth more than $500000 worth of prizes and a condonium Ramada apartments on the Sunshine Coast, QLD. In 2005, nine started to struggle a 1 hour show as it was beaten soundly by Ten News (iirc). This show was reverted to 30 mins but didn’t have a showcase playoff. Two contestants had to spin the wheel to see who can get close to $1 without going’s over. If they get $1 Larry emdur give The contestant $1000. After the showcase reveal of prizes Larry revealed the total price on the screen.

Don’t know why it gave me the creeps as a 12/13 year old in 1996/97…

Technically their final game was the Collingwood vs North Melbourne game which was the replay game they showed post Sydney vs Carlton or late night in the NRL states (this was Saverio Rocca’s last game before heading to punt for the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Redskins). Russell and Cometti with Brereton called in Sydney, with Brayshaw, Taylor and Lyon handling the secondary call and Tony Jones in the studio. I’m sure there was a package following the late Sunday game but I’ve never seen it since it aired that day.

International feed guys like John Helm and Steve Banyard handled the earlier games, then once the SBS commitments ended Martin Tyler called the semis and final (those games were live on 9 with replays shown on SBS). Andy Harper anchored from the studio for 9 and had a single pundit with him unlike SBS who had Les Murray anchoring with the likes of Craig Foster and in his last appearance before cancer struck Johnny Warren alongside him. All studio coverage on 9 was Sydney based, can’t recall if SBS sent a team on the ground or not.

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I can’t remember, but there were a few times that the replay game ended up being live(with the earlier match being at 12:30). Believe that Russell and Cometti with Brereton called the earlier games with Brayshaw, Taylor and Lyon handling the secondary call. Sometimes Kym Dillon called with either JB or BT if in Adelaide.

Once, in 2004, Dennis or Dwayne and BT called a game between the Sydney Swans and Hawthorn at the SCG, which the Swans won by one point.

And in 2005, Dennis and Mark Readings (then at Nine) called the Sydney Swans vs West Coast Eagles game at the SCG (Swans won by 21 points).

In 2005, Nine televised a Western Derby match between West Coast and Fremantle at Subiaco in heavy rain conditions. The match drew strong numbers in Perth (with more than 300 000 Perth viewers watching the match on Television). I thought that Dennis Cometti called the Friday Night Western Derby match on TV.

He used to be part of Nine news before he left the network in 2013. He joined Seven and has anchored the WAFL matches, Commentated a few AFL matches in Perth and has done Telethon7.

To date it is the last time a Western Derby has been shown on free-to-air, or on a Friday night. Network Ten also televised this match on a Saturday night in round 22, 2003 (which was an inverse of round five the same season).

What was ratings like for that derby?
I can recall the r21 2006 western derby drew more than 400 000 Perth viewers on Channel nine even though its a fox sports game.


What is interesting is that the Perth was the strongest market during Nine’s Sunday Football coverage thanks to the WEstern Derby. Sydney and Brisbane had NRL match, while Melbourne had Collingwood vs Carlton match at MCG and Adelaide having the Showdown between Port Adelaide and Adelaide at AAMI Stadium.

No idea, I don’t really pay attention to ratings for some AFL matches.

Afl matches shown on Sunday arvo in Perth on Nine. I would have thought that a few AFL games on Sunday arvo provided a strong lead in to Nine News at 6. The west coast v Carlton game in 2006 had provided a strong lead into 6pm News in Perth with 380k watching. I thought that was The highest ever rating for Nine News perth.

What is interesting, is that National Nine News was Number 1 in Perth during that Sunday, but also it was the Number 1 program for the week in the West. Nine News SUnday beat Seven News Sunday in Perth. It was a rare occurance as Seven News was dominant over Nine in Perth.

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Various clips from Channel Nine Perth: 28/11/2004

“Blank” Production Closer


Sunday/Red Ident + Sponsor Billboard


Sunday/Red Lineup:


National Nine News Perth - 5:30pm Update with Sharlyn Sarac:

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Channel Nine Perth still used the same music for the sponsor billboards (Sep 2002-Aug 2004) for the August 2004- January 2006 with Mostly Chris Brown. While Melbourne Andy Sydney stations used their own music for sponsor billboards with Steve Britten voicing ads.
What was interesting was that Bob Peters voicing the lineups instead of the Nine Perth voiceover Chris Brown.

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