Alicia has just announced the news on air.
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Peter Hitchener said earlier this year that he was going to keep going till he drops. Such a shame he has chosen to move to weekends now.
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Maybe he meant drops in ratingsš¬
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Citation needed 
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I donāt think you could solely blame Pete. At least give it another 12 months to see if the new lead-in has any effect.
No until he dies or becomes sick. Heāll have retired altogether by 2030.
We donāt know thatās how it played out
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You make it sound like he has given up which is clearly not the case. Heās still āgoingā, just at a reduced workload. Jesus, heās nearly 78.
If he does in fact anchor the 5PM news then heāll be doing 4 bulletins a week. Perhaps might also pop up during holiday periods on weeknights or as fill in?
There is one comment made by Hitch which sums this all up:
āI love this job, which has always been a privilege. I fully support the new lineup and look forward to working alongside Alicia and Tom, both of whom I have enormous respect for.ā
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Iāve pondered over this announcement for a bit. Yes I do think that the photo shoot gave it all away. Nine had no way out of this one - but thatās on them.
They shouldāve shown some dignity to the dedication of Peter. Regardless whether he decided to step back, he shouldāve been the one to make the announcement. Itās an absolute slap in the face to make him the fourth para in the release.
As for Tom, I donāt think heās what Melbourne is after. Cold, elitist and lacks empathy.
Glad Peter is around for the weekends but just stunned at the approach.
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Have to agree. I think the announcement should have come from Pete himself on air.
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clearly Iāve been living under a rock all day and the past 72 hours with MS
Wow, what out of the blue, bombshell media news 
Everybody has covered it all well above, so many angles. Iāve put a ālikeā next to all the comments I particularly like/agree with. Just a few points for mine:
Firstly, absolute end of an era. Not just Melbourne, but wider Victoria and even Australia from a national media and history standpoint. And not just his career presenting, but his wider earlier media career and his incredible half a century at one company/network in Nine (let alone station!)
Secondly, I think yep, sadly he was pushed, if not totally unexpected at some point. As weāve seen since the dawn of TV in regards to commercial/ratings and that ācut throatā industry. I look back to earlier in 2023 and same for last year (and really the past half a decade - very nearly won 2019 too and even claimed it on one metric initially) those large 300k-400k audiences for Seven and Peter Mitchell, both half hours too and not just that but the margins, sometimes was over 100k or even 150k or higher, 200k+ I think on AFL or cricket lead-out nights.
Thirdly, saw at least one comment on Mitchell above in the negative direction, but Iāve always thought and surely brought it up at least once that I think HSVās recent success is the whole bulletin (namely Jane Bunnās weather and Tim Watsonās sport), as well as its production values including the network executive, station management, producing team, reporters, editors, researchers, cameramen, direction and choice of headlines and stories, exclusives etc etc. Letās not just focus on Peter Hitchener and the anchor (i.e.) look at wider Nine News Melb team, GTV and Nine.
Iām sure the tabloids and sites like TVT, TVB and us at MS are going to have a field day over coming monthsā¦ By the way, Jackie Epstein at least at the HS has previously run articles on Sevenās ratings, but not sure bar TVBās itās been published today?
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Where did you find that comment?
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Looking at the ratings to the end of week 46:
Nine News Melbourne was down 9% for weeks 1-46 and down 7% in the ratings period.
For Seven in the same time the numbers were -3% and -3%.
Clearly age would have been a big consideration with an opportunity to āfreshen upā the presenting team if not the news itself.
For the record here is the performance for Nineās bulletins showing that Nine has some challenges ahead for 2024 with a lot will be riding on the new lead-in strategy. Melbourne was far from the worst performing market.
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I donāt think their announcement was spoiled too much. Likely had plans for tomorrowās papers.
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Rough, but I do agree thatās an accurate summary of TSās work. Itās an interesting decision to appoint him and Iām curious to see how it goes next year, Loxley is more than capable of reading alone and the general public perception agrees with this. A lot of people, myself included werenāt aware that Tom is even from Melbourne, shouldāve introduced him to the market first and get the viewers familiar with him, not everyone watches 60 Mins.
That wasnāt my point. It shouldāve been Peter announcing the weekend role.
Then follow up with the new presenters.
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Iād be pissed if I was Alicia Loxley to have to share stage with a random from Sydneyā¦ Also seems rough on Brett / Dougal / Tonyā¦
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Having the focus on the shiny new presenters distracts from the real story. If Pete wanted to step back, I suspect the whole approach would have been different.
You also have to be mindful that making such an announcement on air could be tough for Pete. Announcing it this way allows him to acknowledge it without addressing it ahead of his summer break. āSee you on weekends in the new yearā¦ā
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I doubt this would happen (at least anytime soon), but i would love to see Nine News Sydney trial the dual presenter style. Not sure why but i think it might do pretty well with viewers if they choose carefully.
With that being said - if Sydney was to do that, who do you think would be the presenter? Maybe Peter Overton and Amber Sherlock (thatās if Georgie doesnāt want to commit to a full time gig) And give Belinda the Sun-Thu Weather (If Amber becomes the second presenter).
Some nice comments coming in from the community and others in the industry in regards of Peteās āmilestoneā including this one from 89.9 The Lightās breakfast announcer Lucy.
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