It wasn’t always as low as made out, Seven’s dramas were still a major drawcard, as well as Home & Away, Today Tonight with Naomi Robson, Sunrise and Deal or No Deal.
But yes, news was struggling and the loss of AFL (Fridays and Saturdays hurt) was significant, as well as failing to fire against the might of Ten’s new reality hits and several Nine hits, including US shows.
Can’t recall how BH&G or The Great Outdoors did in Melbourne pre-2005. After this things started quickly turning around thanks to some big Sunday-Thursday shows, mainly from the US and some changes to other shows and timeslots which worked well, plus some luck with major sports.