The period that Seven didn’t have the AFL was nothing short of a disaster for the network.
2003, IMO, was the worst year. It won only one ratings week (the penultimate week of the ratings season during which the Rugby World Cup final took place, with Jonny Wilkinson potting the championship-winning field goal at the death to win his country the World Cup), many of its shows including Australia’s Worst Driver and Deal or No Deal flopped in the ratings (though DoND was later reformatted to air five nights a week before the news, and their flagship 6:00pm bulletins, especially in the problem markets of Sydney and Melbourne were regularly getting thrashed by Nine News by 100K.
Things did not get better in 2004 with its slate of primetime shows also flopping, however Sunrise did begin to overtake Today as the most-watched breakfast TV show (and it still is today), and while Seven News in Sydney began to improve with Ian Ross at the helm, Nine News still won the year convincingly (winning 27/40 weeks).