Bec was one of those underused talents many years ago before leaving Seven to join Nine. They might want try the same.
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Last night for example 7 News rated in 600,000’s. That’s pathetic. FTA is dying and so is FTA News. There’s no justification anymore for hiring talent to the extent that they’ve done for Bec.
Overton, Hitchener, Sully, Rick/ Sue and Mitch will be the last “expensive” and experienced readers of our time.
When they’re gone they’ll be replaced with cheap talent like Blake and Cox etc.
The FTA market wont sustain big names after these readers go. It hardly justifies them now.
Even the breakfast shows will loose their way. Look at Sunrise. All the talk is on Doran replacing Kochie. Back in the hey day you would almost guarantee that they would want to poach Karl or DC from Nine. That won’t happen anymore. After Karl and Ally leave and Kochie and Nat you’ll see people like Tim Davies and Eddy being the main hosts. The viewers by then won’t justify the costs of big name talent.
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They added Jacqui to weekend sport… and Tuesday and Friday afternoon News.
Also, the network is now rebuilding not cost cutting staff.
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I was more so referring to the likes of Sharnelle Vella, Estelle Griepink etc. who may get news reading opportunities down the track, but will now have to wait in line behind Bec.
On a completely unrelated note, the more I think about it, I’m surprised Seven and Nine don’t just get their 6pm anchors to read the 4pm bulletins (especially considering the amount of money they are being paid!!). Seems like an easy cost saving measure. Just seems like jobs are being added to this industry left, right and centre, which is what we want of course, but it just seems so unsustainable. I’m surprised Seven still get separate sport presenters for the 11.30am news.
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You would be good working for 10….
Oh thats right have you seen their ratings???
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Ummm I was just suggesting that the likes of Peter Mitchell could also read the afternoon news in addition to their main job. Would be a smart business decision. I couldn’t care less because I rarely watch the afternoon news, but just an observation.
David’s point still stands. The days of talent being the centre of FTA news is coming to an end.
Do people actually turn off the TV if they don’t like the reader? Doubt it. They’re there to get their news, no matter who’s presenting.
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10 years ago I would have said they do care, now however, absolutely not. Except Perth lol.
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You could also axe all local bulletins around the country and just run one national bulletin out of Sydney? That would be cost affective too, so where do you draw the line?
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Believe it or not, some people do.
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I disagree with this… if they did, then why not just have a robot read the news! lol.
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100%. I won’t watch the bulletin if I don’t like the presenter. How is this even a question?
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This will happen in the next 20 years. 100%. Free to air is dead now. Imagine what it will be like then.
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No it won’t. Believe it or not people like human interaction, it’s imbedded in our DNA.
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Of course it will. Local FTA news will be dead and buried in our time. Ratings won’t justify the costs of local readers and journalists.
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FTA most like, but News and journalists will still be around. For sure, just on another platform. I can guarantee you presenters will still be around.
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Not locally they won’t. FTA News will be national. Localism will be gone from FTA.
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No it won’t be. Local news platforms will be king. National doesn’t work.
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Yes but ratings might not be the deciding factor by then. 9,7,ABC in particular have made strong steps to move their news bulletins beyond just FTA. Social media didn’t exist (really) 20 years ago, and it’s now where most people get their news during the day. In 20 years, I daresay that local news products will still exist - but it will be dramatically different.
It might be that bulletins are developed for some other medium and simply simulcast on FTA - this, I think, is inevitable if these businesses are to remain operational as technology evolves.
In any case, I think content will remain local, at least in some form.
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You really think in 20 years when 7 and 9 News rate something like 300,000 nightly nationally that they’ll still have local news? You’re dreaming champ. There’s a clear decline in FTA now. It’s only going to get worse. This generation are all on internet and streaming. Once the oldies go who are keeping FTA afloat now there will be no one left for FTA. We will all know how to stream content.
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So you don’t think 7 or 9 News could be around on another localised platform in 20 years? I think you might be dreaming champ!
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