Could still be Jan 18 or could be April… Who knows. You’d think earlier than later is what TA/Nine/fans want, but no doubt Vic Gov and players want it later. There’s also other ATP tournaments from Feb and other sports including F1 Grand Prix and from March NRL and then AFL. Also of note CA (whether they capitalised on the Aus Open uncertainty or it was already planner) have scheduled multiple cricket games in late Jan.
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It would definitely be better for Victoria if it was pushed back until the end of February or early March. It would be a big couple of months of sport. But then I do worry if there was another outbreak that it could go back the other way.
It would definitely be a fascinating ratings battle if Lego was in Q1. Lego Masters vs Holey Moley vs Masked Singer/Amazing Race. Certainly would shake up the landscape that was dominated by Married at First Sight and MKR for many years.
The Celebrity Apprentice probably wouldn’t work too well as a Q1 show. I always thought it would work better in the cooler months when there’s more people watching.
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February 1 has been reported as the likely starting date for the Australian Open.
This gives Nine the option of bringing some of its big shows forward to start in non-ratings during January. Otherwise they can air 2 weeks of filler content (not the best way to start the year given new I’m a A Celebrity will be airing on 10)
As long as they don’t start a show and pause it mid-season when the Open commences.
That’s going to stuff up Nine’s regular start to the year.
Or they could just do filler. They won’t be affected really at all for the ratings period.
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Agreed. It’s 10’s decision to air ■■■■■■■■ during that period and also a coincidence the Aus Open has been there too (as it’s always last two weeks of Jan).
Official ratings period is at least what Seven and Nine have always been about, so if Nine have nothing the last two weeks of Jan (and there’s Seven’s cricket too), doubt they’ll sweat much. It’s summer non-ratings.
No doubt Nine would’ve loved to keep the status quo, but I’m sure they’d take the first two weeks of Feb, they still get the tennis and Married and in ratings period.
Another question is what do Seven and 10 do against a Feb Aus Open, etc?
Surely Nine’s competitors will just run normal programming in Early February to cater for those not interested in the tennis?
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Yeah I don’t think anyone is that scared of the Australian Open. 10 have done it successfully with all their reality franchises launching on the same night as the final. The audience is usually different. I think it will benefit 10 and to a lesser extent 7. A show like The Amazing Race will probably do well against it. On the other hand Holey Moley might have a similar type of audience. I think 7 would have banked on having it up against Married. I think 7 might be wise to move Big Brother to the beginning of the ratings period. It would do very well against the tennis, like Celebrity has.
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It would certainly be interesting to see, if it’s a Feb Aus Open, how the tennis vs Holey Moley (if that’s what’s airing first) vs Celeb rate.
Still, even with Celeb performing well over summer (and would have to be one of 10’s top shows now that Bachelor et al crashed this year), I believe Nine still dominated viewing across the Aus Open’s run (winning each day and after the first couple of days Celeb ended up getting soundly defeated?)
Which would be interesting for when Married starts, would it be even bigger or worse? Or maybe they could try starting it in Jan against Celeb (maybe if so Seven would move too) and then pause, re-promote some massive upcoming Married eps (heavily edited of course 
) to suck even more viewers in during the tennis, as we’re all so used to.
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I would assume come February celebrity will be finished like it is in other years.
Well if 9 really wanted to kill off 10 then that is what they should do. Have married go during summer, have a break and then bring it back after the tennis. However, there are huge risks with that too. And they risk running out of content. At least this way they can pack content March-December Sunday-Thursday and really look at making their mark on 2021 - a year many are predicting 7 will reclaim. The Australian Open moving to ratings actually gives 9 a massive shot.
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I’m A Celeb is starting earlier than ever this year so quite likely it will be finished by February unless they choose to extend it this year. They can easily do that since its pre-recorded this year.
It’ll be interesting to see how 7 and 10 deal with the Australian Open. Just schedule as originally planned or strategically schedule around it to avoid certain matches?
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How would they do that?
Probably the finals I would suggest he is talking about. Or erratically changing the schedule if ash Barty is playing. You probably wouldn’t want to launch a show against a Serena v Barty match (I’m not sure if Serena is even coming for the Aus Open)
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Got ya. That’s pretty challenging and risky to do, programming and scheduling wise I’d imagine.
I’m suggesting when they know the fixtures, they might just not schedule episodes on the big nights of the finals. Less likely that they’d drop a scheduled episode at the last minute for a particular match up. But then again anything is possible these days with the erratic way networks schedule their programs.
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Should AO be postponed to February, I reckon Nine may show Lego Masters in January given it is a short season.
I don’t think they’ll waste any big shows in the non ratings season.
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Agree
Okay, that might be possible. But still, on the run, with no notice and marketing (considering the tennis matches are only locked in within 48 hours), etc you don’t want viewers stop/starting on a crucial new reality show and getting confused