Currently manages CNET’s Australian output, among those other tech sites
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They need something news/current affairs orientated to fill the gap between the 5pm news and The Project. FF breaks the flow of Ten’s evening news/current affairs lineup.
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6pm with George Negus? 
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I had always assumed that catch-up would be rolled into All Access like it is in the US…do other people think differently?
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Ultimately, for a while I thought Bruce Gordon was a smart man, but it appears he wasn’t as smart as I gave him credit for. First, he creates a situation where SCA was able to trump him and become the Nine network affiliate, then he withdrew his underwriting of a credit facility for Ten and now may have lost Ten altogether to CBS.
One wonders whether his pride will get in his way of working with CBS should they take ownership.
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Once CBS take over Ten, will affiliation contracts have to re-negotiated or at least discussed with WIN and minor affiliates?
Would there also be any way for CBS to force WIN to scrap mappy and have them use either a transparent wordmark or a Ten circle with “WIN”?
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Could always have Eyewitness News at 6pm on CBS1 and The Project at 6:30pm on TEN.
Re: affiliation agreements, who knows? It’s a complete unknown what might happen from here. Gordon has threatened to program his own network should affiliation negotiations break down on numerous occasions in the past so if CBS tries to put WIN on a tighter leash, we’ll soon find out whether Bruce’s threats are fair dinkum or not.
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WIN and Prime claimed to have an alternative program supplier arranged for the WA joint venture licence if Nine didn’t sign a program supply agreement. So Gordon has already claimed he was able to source programs. Was he bluffing, I wonder?
Quite possibly, it depends on what approach CBS intends to take. I’m sure they could force WIN back to the table to renegotiate if they wanted to but exactly how that could happen is impossible to know without reading the actual agreement. There will certainly be clauses that give Ten the right to terminate the deal though.
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There are plenty of sources of cheap content but WIN firstly must comply with the Australian contents standard that includes things like 55% Australian content 6am-midnight, first run Australian drama in prime time, Australian children’s programming (50% of C time must be first release) and Australian documentaries.
Perhaps they could rebroacast a New Zealand channel to get local content 
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It’ll certainly be very interesting to see what happens with WIN and a CBS-owned Ten come affiliation contract renegotiation time. Personally I hope CBS will have a talking to WIN about their “watermarks”, because those are just about the most visually offensive branding on Australian TV (and probably up there with the worst on a global scale too) right now.
As far as the 6pm timeslot is concerned…
This may not be the most popular idea, but how about trialling a 90 minute version of The Project from 6pm to 7.30pm over Summer?
I know it won’t beat the 6pm news bulletins on Seven/Nine in the ratings (Although realistically, will anything?) but at the very least, you might be able to get the younger demographics watching during that hour. Then at 7pm as the news bulletins end on the other channels, The Project could run an hourly Opener/News Headlines bit for the channel surfers before rolling into the final “gateway to primetime” half hour.
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That still sounds like the current TEN programmer’s thinking.
I’m hoping for a much more aggressive approach to programming from a CBS-owned TEN that won’t settle for 3rd place anymore and goes head to head with Seven and Nine with the ultimate aim of beating them. Ten should be aiming to be the number one network 6pm (at least in the demos). With a bit of work they can dominate 4.30-6.00 pm and should program to keep those viewers into primetime.
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Now that the media laws have been reformed with the removal of the reach rule, wouldn’t it be possible for CBS to establish their own network of regional transmission sites if WIN does decide to pull out of the affiliation agreement? I’d imagine that ACMA would have to approve a frequency plan, but I’d imagine that availability of DTV spectrum out in regional areas wouldn’t be too much of a problem?
No - you need a licence to transmit Free TV and the only ones available have all been issued.
What was the original mechanism for aggregation to have taken place?
Was there legislation passed which forced broadcasters to affiliate with a major city network which would still apply today, or was it more of a gentlemen’s agreement? I’d imagine that if it’s the former, WIN would still be compelled to take Ten programming.
There is no legislation, licencing or regulation or any government control or influence over network affiliation. It is just that when aggregation came in there were now 3 broadcasters per regional looking for content. Affiliation was the logical outcome.
I can’t see CBS trying to capture the same oldies audience Seven and Nine appeals to. I can see them positioning the network back to the edgy, youth-oriented focus it had when they were owned by Canwest. I’m just not expecting a CBS USA clone.
I realise youngsters are consuming entertainment in a different manner than what they did back in the '90s and many don’t watch traditional television, but if they can produce some reality formats that will create buzz on social media they may have a chance of recapturing the market that once made the network so profitable. To an extent they’re already doing it with The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. They just need a few more reality formats to build their year around. A Big Brother reboot or a rip off of Jersey Shore set on the Gold Coast (Goldie Shore) would certainly attract attention. The programming and production expertise CBS would bring makes me confident that any such formats would have a better chance of success that the ham fisted attempts made in the past (The Shire and Nine’s diabolical attempt at Big Brother).
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Late reply, but the figure is increasing especially with younger generations. The prognosis isn’t good for commercial.
For traditional TV, with the younger generation looking to other sources it’s a good match for Catch-up / All access, not so much for linear broadcasts.
CBS seems to see the online future so perhaps you’re right.
Broadcast can become 3 streams of the most popular online content - with a goal of either bring people online for more, or supporting people who can’t or won’t go online.