What I personally think we should be seeing on Ten Melbourne (& affiliated stations) next Saturday, but most likely won’t:
6.30pm - The Election Project.
8.30pm - Movie, including regular “10 News First: Victoria 2018” updates.
10.30pm - 10 News First: Victoria 2018, special half hour bulletin wrapping up the night.
Similar deal with the NSW Election in 2019 and the Federal Election (likely slated for May), because surely I can’t be the only one who thinks that presenters like Jennifer Keyte, Walleed Aly, Lisa Wilkinson, Hugh Riminton and Sandra Sully would make for considerably better election coverage than some of the ex-politicians, commentators and other hacks we’ll see on the likes of Seven & Sky News?
It’s an interesting question… I reckon there should be updates but resourcing full programs even just to top and tail the evening is probably a waste.
Anyone who has any serious interest in the election won’t be satisfied and will go elsewhere and anyone who doesn’t care in the first place will be pissed off that their regular programs have been interrupted.
Of course, there is the branding argument … 10 needs to be “seen” at the big tickets events to build their cred… and there’s some truth to that.
An interesting comparison is the use of comedy on election nights… in my early years I was a great proponent of this… but over time my observation has been that people who want election results and analysis will be annoyed by the funny bits… and those who want comedy don’t give a shit about the election.
Nothing is ever black and white of course, so I wouldn’t rule out lighter moments but I don’t reckon it can be the driving force behind a coverage.
I actually have a slightly different schedule I would suggest for Ten - especially given they are trying the Ten News First brand AND I know it steers away from the strict 5pm news start time
Victoria
Ten
12:00pm Motor Racing: Supercars: Coates 500
5:00pm Ten News First
5:30pm Ten News First: Victorian Election 2018
6:30pm The Project: Victorian Election 2018: First Results
7:30pm Ambulance Australia (rpt)
8:30pm NCIS
9:30pm Ten News First: Victorian Election 2018
10:30pm Movie
Ten BOSS
5:00pm Motor Racing: Supercars: Coates 500
NSW/ACT/Tas/QLD/SA/WA/NT
6:00pm Ten News First
6:30pm The Project: Victorian Election 2018: First Results
7:30pm Ambulance Australia (rpt)
8:30pm NCIS
9:30pm Movie
11:30pm Ten News First: Victorian Election
If Ten did screen this schedule, and the election schedule was shifted to Ten Boss, then assuming contractual arrangements don’t forbid this, the A league game scheduled for that night could be shifted to Ten or alternatively be screened on delay at 8:30pm on Ten Boss
With game of games on saturdays, i would think that ten will need to schedule their programs. Having the Vic Election in all states wont work.
Melbourne
10
1200 - V8 Supercars
1700 - 10 News First (the continuation of v8 to go to 10 Boss - ends at 1800)
1730 - Vic Election 2018
1830 - The election project
1930 - Game of Games
2030 - Ambulance AU
2130 - NCIS
For NSW/TAS
1800 - News
1900 - Game of games
FOr SA
1730 - News
1830 - Bondi rescue rpt
1900 - game of games
For QLD/WA
1700 - News
1800 - (bondi rescue x2)
1900 - Game of games
I would like to see something like this from 10 late nights:
9:30 Shows such as; Wanted, 48 Hours Australia, Australia in 30 Minutes (new current affairs show), Gogglebox finishing at 10, The Political Games (hosted by an ex PM if 10 can encourage) etc.
10:00 Sports Tonight
10:30 Ten Late News
11:00 The Project Encore
Encores don’t work in this digital age… if you want to watch something again or if you want to catch up you go to the channel’s streaming service.
At best they’re a time filler.
How about a “Tonight” style show with news, sport, talk and variety content? It worked for Seven with Vizard years ago… If Ten could make it work it would set up a valuable franchise. But the Oz market isn’t America and I’m not sure how it would play these days.
Easier said than done. Is a great idea but I’m not sure if it would work in a country like Australia where people sleep early (for some reason). With that in mind I’m not sure if the cost would add up.
It also has to be said that Australian TV tried (and failed at) reviving the idea of a local Tonight-style program relatively recently in the form of Tonightly with Tom Ballard on ABC COMEDY.
If Ten wanted a news focused show (or the like) for that 9:30pm (or later slot), perhaps they could look at what they are doing between 5pm and 7:30pm. Say if for arguments sake, Ten turn the 5pm news bulletin into a national service, and screen a 30 minute state based edition at 6pm (or 6:30pm if they were to wind The Project back to a 7pm half hour format), Ten could potentially edit the 5pm bulletin and only film new content to for a late edition if a major event occurs, possibly making it a 30 minute bulletin.
The main costs here would be production and editing costs as opposed to a news service. Could it be done - quite possibly, will it be done… NO