Maybe local news on Ten could work at 6pm if it was the only network in that timeslot or only had to deal with one competing bulletin, but it’d be absolutely slaughtered at 6pm against Seven/Nine News and their highly popular and influential presenters. Sandra Sully would be 3rd against Pete & even Fergo.
At least The Project at 6pm might (with an emphasis on that word) provide a point of difference like their program’s slogan promises.
I see your points.
Re, 5pm local as well as 6pm local news. I fear that it would just dilute viewership for the flagship 6pm bulletins. It really is there only as a legacy and to send viewers to the 6pm news (and to stop 7 or 9 claiming to be the “only commercial network with news at 5pm” or something).
Re, 60-90 min late news. In my opinion the audience for late news, if any, is really only there to catch the headlines before bed.
I agree about the late audience. But they are watching at different times. All the local FOX and second-tier stations in the US (like Ten) do massively long late news - like 10-11:30 or 9-11 and so on.
Just throwing this out there: what if, in the short term before 10 launch a breakfast show, they brought CBS This Morning forward to 6am leading into Studio 10. Just to slowly introduce more eyeballs into that early morning slot on 10? Surely some form of news would rate higher than gameshow repeats and it wouldn’t cost them anything.
I would like for them to give it a try, but what point of difference will they able to offer then the current trash we have from Seven and Nine? At the end of the day it’s a matter financially where can waste more millions in another failure. Remember they had two failures.
I reckon Studio 10 should be revamped as a Studio 10 Breakfast or Project show from 6:30 to 8:30am and then a state bulletin at 8.30am and then a Studio 10 Talk (or something) … Keep branding more the less the same From 9am to 11am followed by the Ten First National News and then your general American trash from 12:00pm to 3:00pm (such as Dr Phil, The Talk Entertainment Tonight, Judge Judy or whatever else would fit the niche)
States should have a local half hour bulletin around 8.30am in the morning, to give them a point of difference and update to the “important news events”.
Studio 10 Breakfast would be just short interviews, news, tidbits, previewing sport, and entertainment etc, political analysis etc. With a bit of type of Meet the Press etc etc among it. To give it that serious side. Something that Studio 10 as a panel show has never really done because of the clap shaps and The View and The Talk like trash they are copying.
So it could look like
6:00am Station Living
6:30am: Studio 10 Breakfast
Up to date with hte news, analysis, entertainment , competions and daily life stories etc
8:30am Ten First Local Bulletin
Providing viewers in their local states up to date live news of today’s events etc or whatever.
9:00am Studio 10 Talk
Talking about today’s issues, current political and entertainment in an energized way. Basically what we have now but not till 12pm
11:00am: Ten News First
National bulletin. From Perth Studios. (wishful thinking) that way Ten Perth would have a localized national bulletin, at 11:00am there time.
12:00am: Dr Phil
1:00am: The Talk
2:00pm: Entertainment Tonight (double episodes)
3:00pm: Judge Judy
3:30pm: General Entertainment or catch ups
4:00pm: General Entertainment or catch ups
4:30pm: The Bold and The Beautiful
5:00pm: Ten News First State Bulletin
6:00pm: The State with Lisa Wilkonson.
A current affairs program focusing on the local matters Australia that are important to you.
6:30pm The Project
7:30pm: General Entertainment or a game show
8;30pm: Australian shows
9:30pam Australian shows/Reality shows (depending on the night)
10:30pm: Ten Late News
11:00pm: Sports Tonight:
12:00pm: Late Night Shows
3:00am: Paid Programming
4:00am: CBS day old news
I know it’s crap but i’ve had it forming in my head for a while it’ll be interesting what to see everyone things. 
Yeah just realized it’s a bit shit, lot of news between 5 and 7.30pm
Perhaps with Australian Based News Inserts could work and screen Studio 10 from 8am?
Or a Game Show like Sale Of The Century at 7pm, with WIN doing Local News Opt outs, maybe?
The State is a terrible idea. They had 6pm with George Negus and no one watched. 10:30 is too late and too short for late news - and national bulletin doesn’t cut it anymore.
Local news too expensive at breakfast.
Studio 10 doesn’t really work as a breakfast brand.
We shall see come the day 
Yet local late news isn’t?
I honestly don’t understand where you get these budgetary ideas.
I think everyone agrees that Ten should and probably will (maybe) invest in more news staff.
The question then is where should the staff be used to best effect?
Some random thoughts;
(1) Point of difference is needed
(2) Competing at 6pm is going to be difficult
(3) The Project is different and entrenched and could be enhanced
(4) Don’t surrender 5PM
(5) Programmers will need a lot of convincing to do news in prime time
(6) Local news could be the answer for late and breakfast… but the viability would need to be carefully considered
I think now having the Head of Programming as responsible for news, sport and general content (instead of working alongside those department heads) gives her the ability to be more easily convinced. (read: her getting direct answers from her staff.)
I think there is a seismic shift coming for TEN, a massive form of realignment and reevalution of what they do and how they do it.
I can see new staff coming on board, but they’ll be working smarter not frivolously.
Lexington, if you can’t see the difference in cost between adding local 9:30pm news and local breakfast, I can’t help you.
Your comments are especially odd given that you also advocate an additional evening newscast - yours being at 7pm.
Less of the snark please people
7pm is far easier to produce than 9.30. Far easier.
As for breakfast, I firmly believe there are more potential eyeballs looking for simple news, sport, traffic, weather, humour.
People aren’t interested in waiting for news bulletins for their hit of information these days - especially at night. Breakfast, though, they could be enticed in by live and local news and all that.
Get a traffic guy that literally drives in the traffic and gives you live reports. Smash down the expectation of delayed prerecorded traffic reports.
I know it didn’t back onto Studio 10 or its predecessor, but didn’t they try a 7am finish for CBS This Morning before their last attempt at a breakfast TV show? I think one issue they need to address is waiting til Monday to air Friday’s edition -effectively airing news content over 48 hours old.
CBS This Morning airs 6 days a week in the US with CBS Sunday Morning on Sundays, so why don’t they do the same here? I guess Ten are too attached to their infomercials being on the main channel instead of relocating them to a secondary channel, but I guess the audience at the time of day infomercials screen aren’t big enough to justify a move like that
My idea for Tens early evening:
MONDAY-THURSDAY
5:00 Ten News
6:00 Come Dine With Me
6:30 The Project
SUNDAY AND FRIDAY
6:00 The Project
7:30 Regular lineup
Lisa will no longer be on The Project but rather present a The Project presents special and 6pm Sunday and 6pm Friday.
Do you mean like produce News bulletin for each state to air at say 7am for either 30 minutes or 1 hour?
More a 2 hour cheap and cheerful breakfast show like they do in the States.
I think a 1 hour program would be better OR to insert state based news into a longer edition such as at end of National news updates - the news presenter could say NOW to news for your state (or region) and have a 5 minute of so update