An interesting passing comment on the TVBlackBox podcast this week regarding this topic. A 24-hour 9News channel is “so close” according to Rob McKnight.
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He didn’t mention a specific network just said rumblings are out there.
7 need to get the jump on 9. They already have one extra channel, which makes a difference in network shares. If they had a 24/7 news channel, it surely would get a couple of percentage points each night.
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Seven has enough on their plate with the relocation - if they launch a news channel surely it wouldn’t be until the end of the year at the earliest. Eveleigh would present the opportunity to create dedicated facilities to support a rolling news channel though (ie a small secondary news studio/set and the control room capacity to support it which they don’t have at present).
Nine could launch quite easily with rolling news bulletins to start and then new programs/content added over time.
Will be interesting to see what (if anything) comes to fruition.
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Have also been thinking… if 7 don’t want to touch Home and Away at present, is it time to try a 7pm bulletin again on 7Two? It could be branded as The Latest and shown 7-7.30.
I know it didn’t take off last time, but given the ABC news often wins it’s timeslot at 7pm, there is a market for it at that time.
Then when the time comes for Home and Away to leave the main channel, the programs could switch channels.
As long as 7Two remains in SD then no thanks.
And besides, Seven don’t need to lose any more viewers from Home and Away by providing a serious alternative on a secondary channel.
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What about state based editions of The Latest ably about 9:30 Sunday to Thursday.
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To be honest I didn’t see the point in having a national bulletin at 7:00pm on 7TWO when it immediately followed the metro-based bulletins at 6:00pm. 90 minutes straight of news across two channels was overkill IMO and I wasn’t surprised when that 7:00pm bulletin eventually disappeared from the schedule.
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Frankly, it probably makes more sense for Nine or Seven if they’re actually considering launching some type of news service to establish a streaming news service that is available everywhere (similar to what ABC, CBS & NBC offer) and reflects how people consume news in 2022 rather than a news channel per se.
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As per caps above, the first 5pm bulletin from Adelaide
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Any reason why it came out of Adelaide this afternoon?
I don’t think it would be about getting a few extra % points (unless somehow miraculously those % points exclusively came from rival networks and none of Seven’s channels otherwise what’s the point?) I think it would be more about:
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repurposing and re-using existing content and infrastructure to add even more content and output at incremental cost (Ie pump out more with what they are already paying for)
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adding even more content to the 7+, 7news.com.AU ecosystem to be able to better compete against abc News, nine/smh/age/
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and adapt to consumer habits of news and media consumption which is increasingly away from set times at 7am, 4pm, 6pm etc to user on demand “always on” news. If 7 doesn’t do it 9 will. And if 9 doesn’t do it - seven will. Eventually. It’s inevitable. The way digital news is always on 24/7 - eventually “TV” news needs to be too.
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ABC, CBS, NBC would add their streaming channels to FTA too if they owned spectrum and could. But they mostly rely on affiliates. Seven has the advantage of owning the air channels that reach 90% + of the population - if US networks did too their streaming channels would simulcast over the air.
If 9 or 7 do a news channel in the next few years - I’d imagine it’s “everywhere” - both FTA, 7+, 9now, online, digital, etc… they’ll go as wide as possible.
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That would be like bringing back the state editions of 7:30; probably wouldn’t work, and eventually would be scrapped.
Seven seeking to close the news ratings gap with this marketing initiative in Sydney. Are they doing it in other markets? I wonder if Nine will counter with a similar giveaway. Bring back news bingo, I say!
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Yes Melbourne too.
I think that was a given. I can’t see Coles or Seven spending $1.25million on a competition like this.
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