Sunday 11 May 8:00 PM
Someone above asked about 911 and whether Seven still owned it.
The answer is yes. It will return soon.
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Reports today that Seven are considering a new 3pm-5pm show, similar to The Daily Edition, in a bid to boost The Chase Australiaâs ratings.
First reported by Annette Sharp in her weekly column:
https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/sharp-shooting-dumped-nine-star-alex-cullen-in-line-for-new-gig-on-rival-seven/news-story/7f53bb42ed19f2393cd962861cb8de55
(Alex) Cullenâs reps have been in discussions with Seven we hear and Cullen, who previously appeared on Sevenâs screens as a reporter on Sunday Night , is expected to screen-test within days.
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That is certainly an interesting development and shocking they want to snatch Alex so soon. Tarsh would be good and youâd have to assume they would want to use Ann somewhere.
Whether it is what is needed to boost The Chase, I am not too sure at all.
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Seems like a cost cutting measure - replace 5 local 4pm bulletins with one that includes advertorial.
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The news.com.au article says a ânews showâ, so you wouldnât assume infomercials. Otherwise, why not run House of Wellness five days?
Sigh. So from 5am until 5pm, we will see various Sunrise-like programming? With a short break from 1-3pm for reality repeats?
Early News - Sunrise - The Morning Show- the Midday News - (reality repeats) - The Afternoon ShowâŚ? RivetingâŚ
The Chase UK put of the equation? How has Beat The Chasers been doing lately?
Iâve seen enough, welcome back THISafternoon.
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I donât understand the logic behind introducing a âSunrise Liteâ program like The Daily Edition, only to cancel itâthen bring in a replacement based on exactly the same concept.
Hereâs a thought: Why not spin off production responsibilities for Sunrise and all other non-core 7NEWS content to a separate in-house production entityâperhaps The West? That way, these programs could develop and thrive independently of the news division, allowing the 7NEWS team to focus entirely on strengthening and refining the core news brand.
Different management with different ideas.
I can understand why theyâre thinking of creating more chat/news shows in their schedule. This is a thing that is happening in Europe. Itâs a cheaper and easier way to fill schedules rather than create scripted drama or game shows which are way more expensive.
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There isnât any, Annette is off the mark there.
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Agree. Unfortunately history is repeating it self again.
This type of format doesnât work in the late afternoons. People prefer straight news formats at this time of the day.
Maybe invest in a 3-4pm format first before axing and destroying the 4-5pm news bulletins that have worked.
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I donât think Seven has been number one in the slot in a while. Possibly back 12 years ago when Rebecca Maddern was presenting. I am certainly not saying a talk show is the solution. But it is probably worth looking at why their local news has performed so poorly, especially in Sydney and Brisbane.
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Pretty sure 7News was number one at 4pm until TP UK came along, and started to slowly unravel their winning afternoons, culminating with the Australian version of TP at 5pm, which went on to have an effect on 6pm.
Iâve always said this, but Nineâs rugby league coverage and the longevity of their news presenters are main factors as to why they are number one in those two markets (which I always like to call the âleague marketsâ). Seven started to decline in those markets when Ian Ross retired, and Kay and Rod were switched to weekends, in 2009 and 2013 respectively.
IMO it was Nine that needed to address their late-afternoon issues; Tipping Point UK was supposed to replace Nine News Now over the 2019-20 summer but permanently remained in the schedule after the Australian Open with NNN quitely being axed.
Then, of course, Nine ârestedâ Hot Seat and commissioned the Australian version of TP in its place. We all know that TP is now doing well, which led me to think⌠has the Chase met its Tipping Point?
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Locals news at 4.00 is not the problem. The Chace UK and Australia are becoming tired formats that now need to be replaced.
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I thought when it went local in Melbourne initially with Jacqui Felgate (or was it someone else) it was doing pretty well?
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To be honest, I know in 2025 itâs probably a better look to be local, but the majority either get their news via other mediums or will wait until the 6pm local news or catch-up. Why not just bring back like the old 4.30 national News, which was successful for many years, itâd at least address any financial or budget problems.
I agree The Chase is the problem. But the 4pm News wasnât doing well before The Chase became tired.
Melbourne picked up, but you would assume that the reason they went local in Melbourne (pretty early on) was because of weaker ratings in that market for the national bulletin.
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Maybe by the mid-2010s, but I used to watch it sort of 2008 - 2012 back when Samantha Armytage was at the helm and David Brown did the weather, it was a well paced, informative, 30min national bulletin and thought local news was also covered fine.
They used to go âSeven News is coming up in your capital city at 6 oâclock and these are some of the stories making headlinesâ with local 6pm preview inserts as well.
Iâd be very surprised if, certainly pre-2011, the bulletin wasnât well on top everywhere, just based on Seven Newsâ general local and national performance and the broader network back then.
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I remember Seven launched a news bulletin known as âTarget Iraqâ in 2003, at a time when the Seven News brand was struggling nationally (except in Perth), then it was reformatted to the 4:30 News after the strike on Iraq ended in May that year.
That bulletin gave David Johnston and weatherman David Brown national profiles, and later on Rebecca Maddern (who took the role after DJâs retirement in 2005). Nine, of course, launched its own Afternoon News the following year (2004).
What I liked about the 4:30 news was the local 6:00pm news preview as you alluded to; at first it was DJ/Bec previewing the main story in each of the five majors, before switching to having the local presenter (e.g. Ian Ross in Sydney, Peter Mitchell in Melbourne, Kay and Rod in Brisbane) present about 4-5 headlines.
The bulletin didnât feature any sport.
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