Seven News (Regional Vic/NSW/ACT/WA)

[KICK-IT]

@jbhuntervalley

I cannot see Seven doing a Local News half hour in Newcastle, Wollongong and Canberra any time soon and would be the most sensible way to provide continuity. As it was pointed out earlier, people wont sit down for up to 90 minutes of news. If someone say is watching Seven News with Mark Ferguson presenting, goes away from the TV for a few minutes and then see Daniel Gibson presenting the news, they may switch to another channel if they think Seven News is over and go to watch another program

If Seven does do anything in Newcastle & Canberra, they won’t air inserts at 6pm and they won’t do 90 minutes of news. They’ll follow the formula they already have success with in Queensland and Prime stations in NSW - local news at 6, truncated “national news at 630

It’s a formula that Seven has proven success with and resonates with viewers

There is also the idea that Seven could remove the local bulletin for say Mackay and re-allocate those funds to have Watson, ACT staff produce an additional bulletin for Newcastle. 190,000 market size Mackay - 830,000 market size Newcastle - 4.5x bigger. I don’t see that happening at all - but it would make sense to me. But incredibly unlikely

[WAtvVideos]

Noel Brunning presenting GWN7 Local News tonight.

[Nick]

@WAtvVideos

Noel Brunning presenting GWN7 Local News tonight

Like he does every other night, your point…?

[Bort]

@Nick

your point…

…is at least on topic

[Nick]

@Bort

…is at least on topic

Likewise, I could say (outside of summer mode) that Daniel Gibson is presenting the 6:30 national news, but I don’t need to because it’s his regular gig and it’s generally expected that he will be presenting.

[LLZ]

Removing the Mackay bulletin is a bad way to go. WIN dropped out in 2015, and literally the city has no choice but to tune in to Seven.

[rock12]

@LLZ

Removing the Mackay bulletin is a bad way to go. WIN dropped out in 2015, and literally the city has no choice but to tune in to Seven.

Seven clearly makes a profit from having a Mackay bulletin. They’re a commercial entity so if it’s not making profit it’s gone. Being the incumbent broadcaster in the market has helped them tremendously.

Saying that I think Seven is likely to take a risk with a Newcastle bulletin (and Canberra plus Wollongong) and see how it goes. I think they’ll give it a decent crack as opposed to what Nine/SCA did.

[jason120au]

Let’s wait and see I hope you are right.

[tv_lee]

@rock12

Saying that I think Seven is likely to take a risk with a Newcastle bulletin (and Canberra plus Wollongong) and see how it goes. I think they’ll give it a decent crack as opposed to what Nine/SCA did.

Doubtful. The costs in setting these up would outweigh the financial benefits, especially if the existing setup is working.

[rock12]

@tv_lee

Doubtful. The costs in setting these up would outweigh the financial benefits, especially if the existing setup is working.

The only sub-market it’s working is Canberra. Let’s see if James can convince the board it’s worth their while.

Wollongong/Far South Coast and Newcastle have potential.

Was Gold Coast worth it? I’d say no but there’s other costs and a pissing competition with Nine at play.

[jason120au]

This conversation keeps going around in circles with the same speculation. Let’s just wait and see what happens.

[Tom_TV7]

@jason120au

This conversation keeps going around in circles with the same speculation. Let’s just wait and see what happens.

As long as all bulletins air at 6:00:00 every night it will be a good move.

[jason120au]

We will see what happens. I’d like to see local news in the regions that don’t have it atm. I agree it’s a 6 figure investment but under a 7 figure investment. It’s significant not undoable I just don’t think it will happen. Seven will cheap out. Hopefully I am mistaken.

[WAtvVideos]

Noel Brunning will present again tonight on GWN7 Local News.

[KICK-IT]

@tv_lee

The costs in setting these up would outweigh the financial benefits,

Any evidence or data or data to back this up? It’s a shallow statement.

Costs could be significant but long term gains to lifting primetime ratings and revenue can also be significant.

Stations that have strong 6pm news dominate primetime

[Radiohead]

@KICK-IT

Stations that have strong 6pm news dominate primetime

There isn’t the same $$$$ in regional TV as there used to be or in metro TV, so whilst ratings might be good, it might not translate into enough extra $$$$ to justify the cost of local news.

[Aurora]

And have 20 seconds of dead air? (Oops, I may have said too much).

[TonyCTC]

I’d rather watch 7 News Sydney than any local news product that’s cobbled together.

When Nine aired local news at 6pm in SCA markets a lot of people lamented the loss of the metro news bulletins until it was brought back.

[Radiohead]

Agree, even now that NBN News is in HD and better to watch than before (technical issues notwithstanding), I still find myself watching Nine News Sydney more than NBN simply because it’s a more polished product (better presenters, better set, more live crosses, also that NBN doesn’t have a lot of local news).

[KICK-IT]

@Radiohead

There isn’t the same $$$$ in regional TV as there used to be or in metro TV, so whilst ratings might be good, it might not translate into enough extra $$$$ to justify the cost of local news.

Ad revenue depends on market size, that is a given. And all markets have suffered revenue drop over the years.

However there are a dozen or more markets that support local news that are up to 4 times smaller than say the Newcastle market.

The extra revenue may not be enough to justify New local news, you are right.

Or, it may be.

I would hope Seven runs the numbers before making a decision