Hitch went to 4 days a week for a reason. Why would Nine ask 76 year old Hitch to come in on his night off? They could’ve got Dougal Beaty to read tonight’s news, but the fact it’s Pete is very telling IMO.
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Hitch’s social media indicates it’s a last minute call up to do the bulletin so Alicia must have called in sick at short notice.
Plus presenters are entitled to take on extra work if they can/want to. I’m not even sure why this is a talking point when it’s only one Friday. If it continues sure but I’d say this is an anomaly for the week.
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Putting the ‘is it a one off or permanent’ thing to one side - what does it say about Nine getting Hitch instead of Dougal to do 6pm tonight? Dougal is 3rd in line - naturally he’d cover Alicia.
They clearly must be worried about the ratings. They can’t fall back on Hitch forever though, and will have to place confidence in their other anchors at some point.
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I thought reading this from that Alicia rates well but a few posts Up said she loses Fridays often?
He presented for most of this week (Tuesday to Friday, Kate Collins did Monday night solo).
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With Hitch reading Friday this week they were able to hold onto the week by less than 1k.
I think there’re a few worrying signs when he retires. I’m not sure Alicia will be able to hold the audience on weeknights. Seven currently have an outstanding presenting team with Peter, Mike snd Rebecca.
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I have a feeling it will be like in Sydney, when Ian Ross retired at Seven everyone flocked over to Nine. I feel like when Peter Hitchener retires everyone will go to 7.
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Pete read all week and they just won by 1k. Despite Alicia being away, 9 still lost last night too. It’s not really a strong argument.
I don’t think either anchor is the (a) problem. The AFL rights and their coverage without a doubt would be the leading factor in skewing audiences to 7.
I don’t think that’s the main factor considering Nine News has won the ratings battle in Melbourne for the past decade (IIRC) and Seven has had the AFL throughout that entire period.
For whatever reason/s, it’s become a much more competitive battle this year.
Seven have had AFL for the last 15 years…. I don’t think that’s a valid excuse.
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Very narrowly though…when Alicia does Fridays, Seven wins by a huge margin, but with Hitch reading last night, the gap closed by a lot.
It’s quite clear that more people will tune in for Hitch.
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Saturday 14 May-
Dougal Beatty is presenting First at Five News and 6pm Melbourne News.
Stephanie Anderson is presenting weather in Melbourne again this weekend.
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Alicia must be either sick or filming promos in Sydney.
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Yes. Those are the only two options.
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Elizabeth Creasy is now on maternity leave.
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I’ll still stick with Nine
It depends who replaces him. For example, had it been Tony Jones (which we know it won’t be), they would be flocking to 7 in droves.
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I remember when Brian Henderson retired in 2002, Sydney viewers remained with Nine and Jim Waley for a few years until he was abruptly replaced by Mark Ferguson, at which point the droves switched over to Ian Ross on Seven.
Once Roscoe retired, viewers quickly switched back to Nine and Peter Overton, who had just finished his first year at the helm.
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I would be one of those people switching to Seven if he was Peter Hitchener’s successor.
I thought you were going to stick with Nine?
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