I really think some of you guys overthink this stuff too much. These things happen all the time. In business. And in the media. Mike isn’t going to be ‘hurt’ by having a co-anchor. Seven wouldn’t ‘just create someone a job’ if they didn’t feel it was valid. They clearly have an idea/plan in place. Bec was available. Deal done.
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Every time something like this happens everyone is like “wonder how ___ feels”
They are most likely glad to have a job and in some cases probably quite content with the jobs that they have.
We forget they are people and don’t all strive for the 6pm anchor gig, just like the average Joe doesn’t necessarily want to be a CEO or a manager,
A lot of the fill ins who do 6pm that I know, actually like it to mix it up but wouldn’t want it full time.
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Interestingly, Rebecca, Jacqui and Sonia all worked at Nine at different times in the past 10-15 years.
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Nice photo of them both, IMO both look happy and seem to gel already (I know how ridiculous that sounds from just one still photo 
) Also I’m in the camp that thinks it might be beneficial for Mike (and he might have wanted it) as opposed to the opposite.
Maybe to an extent, but I wouldn’t be 100% positive on all that. Everything did seem to move rather quickly with Rebecca, Seven might’ve wanted to ‘lock her away’ quickly before Foxtel or 10 (for example) snapped her up.
Surely we’re also all thinking she’ll return to Martin Place eventually to fill-in on network shows and also sport events? Or put it this way, considering her stratospheric rise at Nine, some ‘sweets’ in her contract other than just weekend news co-presenter in one market.
Weekend News and Afternoon News duties shared with Mike for Bec?
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Probably…though it may not happen until after the move away from Martin Place (ie Sunrise over the summer etc).
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Viewers in Melbourne have demonstrated time and again they have a clear preference for the “voice of God” style of presentation. The people who watch these bulletins like a well worn, comfortable pair of slippers. They never learn at Seven. It’ll fail just like the other countless times they’ve tried double headers in Sydney and Melbourne. Nobody at GTV will be sweating over this appointment.
As the traditional audience dies off and the ratings for these bulletins continues to diminish, there will come a time when the network won’t be able to justify the cost of the two presenter format and someone will have to be cut loose.
Seven would be better off investing in local daytime bulletins and having Maddern as the face of daytime Melbourne news. She should never have been removed from the afternoon news in the first place. Don’t trust these bastards, Bec. They’ve shafted you before.
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I think Bec will only do weekends and maybe the odd hosting for Seven’s sport coverage here and there. I don’t think they’ll remove Jacqui from the Afternoon News because then all she’ll have left is weekend sport.
Or with Sunrise doing so poorly in that market, local news inserts and segments. Or another alternative would be for Bec to replace the woeful Tim Watson on sports for weeknights.
Bec is too good of a talent to be wasted yet they did it to her in 2015 in favour of Jacqueline Felgate. Clearly Seven Melbourne didn’t have good taste but then this is the same station that let both Bec Maddern and Jennifer Keyte walk/defect whilst other underwhelming talent (Mitch, Jacqui) continue.
She’s better off purely doing sports. Never really rated her as a newsreader. Always came across as insincere and fake in her presentation.
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Apart from Ten’s on and off again successes in past years it is true that Melbourne viewers never seem to like the dual newsreader format. The last time Nine tried it, piloting Brian Naylor and Sue McIntosh in the mid 1980s, it didn’t go anywhere. Seven’s past attempts (Jennifer Keyte/Glenn Taylor and later David Johnston/Anne Fulwood) were fairly short-lived as well.
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I feel like it’s because they have no plan in place for the future, and on top of that if there even is much of a future for state-based local news. Sure it rates well still now, but eventually, it won’t, and it’ll cost a lot of money. They’re kind of throwing things against the wall trying to figure it out.
With all the COVID cases around, it might be a case of last minute exposure/test results.
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This notion you keep making that Seven had no issues with Maddern and Keyte leaving is just nonsense. Both ladies left because they were offered ‘better’ opportunities at Nine and Ten respectively.
As much as networks might want everyone who works for them to be lifelong employees, the nature of the TV industry is people leaving one network to join another one in order to advance their career or to have new/different roles is something that happens.
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But how is it that it occurs with Seven so much more than the likes of Nine for example? You don’t see as many Nine talents defecting or leaving compared to the number of Seven talents defecting or leaving so clearly there’s something about Seven that doesn’t care if they walk away and they haven’t worked hard enough to keep them.
There must be a reason why the likes of Hitch, Tony and Livinia haven’t moved from Nine for so long. It seems Nine is actively trying to keep them as ‘lifelong employees’ whereas Seven seems to be a ‘don’t let the door hit you on the way out’ kind of place. Much of that I assume is probably because of budget cuts or protecting someone who they perceive is of more quality (Chris Bath situation comes to mind).
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They could’ve at least turned the lights on for that promo shot lol
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First add just screened on Seven Melbourne then, welcoming Rebecca back to Seven News. The promo showed past clips of her as a reporter in the field.
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The Melbourne desk is really not configured that well for dual presenting because of its curvy nature. You’d wonder whether they’ll just do a standing presentation for sport.
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Wasn’t there talk that the set and desk will be reconfigured to accommodate for Bec’s arrival?
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