I dunno. I think mid 400k is a reasonable mid-term goal with local news at 6, and can build.
The question is, who would host the bulletin in each market AND would regional markets air Local News in that timeslot OR would WIN be the first network to move full length LOCAL NEWS bulletins to secondary channels and screen noodle updates on the main channel?
Who cares about WIN? And the 5pm readers would do it.
If Ten did delve back into the 6pm news market, it has to be different. Seven and Nine offer 1 hour formats, so the answer would either a 6pm (or 6:30pm) 30 minute bulletin - no longer, otherwise viewers would turn to the other offerings as well as pairing it with something else - perhaps something like Sale Of The Century or some other Australian show. Perhaps even cater to the different markets, rather than one size fits all national 5pm til 7:30pm schedules.
I know it was a “generation” or more ago, but look at how Seven programmed that slot in the 1980s, some markets had half hour news bulletins, some had 1 hour formats, some had local current affairs. Try to appease your viewers in each market and show you care
If it were to happen… and it won’t 
…, Jens is spot on… no reason the 5pm readers can’t do it… and Ten wouldn’t give a stuff about WIN
Why not 1 hour? No reason why a Ten News hour at 6 can’t compete. They can differentiate in lots of ways - content, style, presentation.
Ten News at 5
Ten News at 6
The 7PM Project
Regional viewers are getting sick of being treated as second rate citizens - a lot of regional markets get second rate presenters repacking national news in a compact format on Prime7 and Nine regional (SCA) - so obviously viewers will notice.
I am actually surprised WIN hasnt tried to capitalise on repackaged news and tried airing an encore of Ten News First At Five on One at 6:30pm
you need to be the point of difference to work. As you said yourself @KnowItAll,
If Ten don’t do a half hour news format, they are better off with a Game show or another first run format - maybe even an Ellen style chat show. Ten NEEDS to dare to be different.
True… but that’s an issue for WIN not TEN
No. They shouldn’t be 30 minutes just because it’s different. They should be an hour because that second half-hour is equally ripe as a hunting ground for local news viewers. As for differentiation, Ten News at 6 can be different in all sorts of ways. What is the point of putting on a short newscast and a game show - if the second half hour is going to pull most viewers with local news?
I a lot of capital Cities people struggle to be home before 6pm, so at 6:30pm start time screening for 30 minutes could work. If you don’t try a different perspective, you NEED to do something else - I don’t think there is a hard and fast answer - but i definitely think its not to copy what others already offer
Is this a history thread or mock schedules? 
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Funnily enough up until the mid 80s I think it was news on 7 and 9 was at 6.30 presumably for that very reason. The move to 6 was forced by the success Ten was having with the earlier bulletin and there it’s stayed ever since.
If the “people aren’t home” argument was relevant then it certainly is now too.
Posting this to remind people Ten’s news department weren’t exactly stable at the time.
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My parents also had this version that went up to 1997.
Was unaware they published them on a regular basis.
Yes. Indeed they could do a 6pm news AND a 6:30pm news - as in, two more or less distinct programs. Obviously we are talking about window-dressing and packaging things up which are basically the same as Seven and Nine, but yes you can present it with a point of difference.
Yeah this is the TV History thread. Let’s move that discussion to Mock Schedules or elsewhere please.
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But yet, when this move took place, the majority of metro markets, was still only a 30 minute bulletin. Other than ABC, no other network currently offers a 30 minute bulletin between 6pm and 7:30pm
Both Seven’s and Nine’s mainland state capital cities had moved to the 6pm slot by the mid 1980s, noting that Brisbane was well in front, having screened News at 6pm since the 1960s. Below is a television guide for Brisbane from Tuesday 10 September 1963 - noting a 30 minute bulletin on both Seven and Nine
True and there was the time when 7 experimented with Seven Sydney News at 6 before Seven National News af 6.30… and I think 9 had a Sydney news magazine at 5.30 at some point.
The move to a full hour at 6 I think was initiated by 7 to get rid of Today Tonight on the east coast as a cost cutting exercise. Nine was forced to follow. (I’m sure there’s network insider or two who’ll correct me if I’ve got that wrong)
I actually thought it was a natural progression for Nine given the troublesome 7pm slot and trying to find a recognised brand that would attract an audience, hence the move of A Current Affair to 7pm - up against Home & Away and the second half of The Project
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