Probably not. Didn’t Jane join 7 after the switch? Around 1989?
More likely George Donekian wouldn’t have joined 10 and Graeme Goodings would have remained in the chair at least until News Production was moved to Melbourne in the early 2000s.
What if Countdown was never axed in favour of Rage? How long would of it still been on the air for?
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What if Fairfax didn’t buy HSV7 Melbourne in 1987? Would have World of Sport survived to at least the 1990s?
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What if Rupert Murdoch never sold TEN in the 1980s?
Ten would have been a “shop window” for Foxtel had Murdoch kept it.
And another thing, what if DMG not sold its regional radio network to Macquarie Bank/Southern Cross Austereo? We would have regional Nova and Smooth FM combos instead of Hit/Triple M!
Ten would be in a much better position now. If they kept Ten as well as launch Fox Sports, then they would have all major sports.
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What if Kerry Packer hadn’t poached Rob Gell and Jo Pearson from Ch 10?
They were married at the time and I believe this was part of his plan to break up the successful 10 news. If my memory is correct Jo was the more successful one when they were at 10, but once they went to Ch 9 Rob moved into weather but Jo seemed to fade away. Presumably they were a package deal, but her career pretty much ended soon after.
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I don’t think it had anything to do with KP, Alan Bond had taken over Nine by then and I don’t imagine he was as hands on with the business as KP was.
But if the pair had stayed at Ten they probably would have continued for some years until the inevitable late '80s purging started, although Jo did return to Ten in 1992 for a few years but the magic was gone by then.
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What if Rupert Murdoch/Bruce Gordon bought Ten in 2017? This is my opinion:
- Entire news operation, Ten and WIN off-sourced to Sky News
- WIN rebranded to Ten, however the WIN News name is retained like with NBN
- WIN resigns with Ten for an affiliation deal permanently
- More major sport on Ten
- Sky News on WIN is launched on Ten and WIN
- Channels are reshuffled to be the same with Ten and WIN
- SpreeTV is replaced with GOLD
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Who is going to sign a contract in perpetuity?
unlikely if a Murdoch is involved as they will want sport on Fox
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More sport would most likely be on Fox (SOO, NRL GF, AFL GF, BBL), but the ones on anti-sophning (AFL, NRL etc.) on Ten, however probably bare minimum (3 games of AFL/NRL, test cricket only)
Most likely a longterm deal, as WIN would own 50% of Ten. I highly doubt they would go back to Nine if they owned 50% of Ten.
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I get having a long term contract but you wouldn’t do one to go for infinity. And even if your proposed ownership of 50/50 that’s also not open ended and either party could sell up or buy the other one out which might invoke some interest in forging new contractual terms or even looking at other networks.
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What if Channel 7 never sacked Ross Symonds and Ann Sanders in 2003? What would the ratings of 7 News Sydney look like today?
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Were they sacked or replaced? Ann is still reading news on Seven.
They were replaced. I meant sacked as in they were let go from their position, not the network, but what if they were fully fired from 7?
Yeah, replaced is a better term because sacked means dismissed from employment.
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Ross probably wanted to semi-retire anyway or had at least a few more years in him. He’s now retired and living very happily in Tweed Heads I’m sure.
I’d say they’d be number 2 in Sydney and not make any dent in Nine’s ratings 20 years on.
What if Good Morning Australia was not axed? Would it still be on the air today?
If it was, Bert Newton wouldn’t be able to host.
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What if Foxtel was never started in the '90s? 