If the chat is correct, there are contrasting fates for two of the three small business
shows on commercial TV.

It
seems Nine, which apparently signed Business Success for at least four more
years only late last year, isn’t as enamoured for next year and wants the producers to find more sponsors to support the
show – and cut the costs to Nine. But Business Success, which has done reasonably well in the 7.30am
timeslot on Sunday mornings ahead of Business Sunday, is already loaded with
product placement so it’s hard to see where any extra sponsorship could be
fitted in without turning the program into an infomercial.

That would make it similar to Bread, the Sensis-sponsored
program on Ten on Sunday mornings. Its ratings are not as good as those of Business Success, nor Seven’s
My Business, which at times has been the most watched Sunday morning
business-related program.

Bread was originally on the Nine
Network as part of its discarded Small Business Show. I bet Nine wishes that David Gyngell
hadn’t killed off that program back in 2002. Bread
does draw more viewers Sunday mornings than Ten’s Meet The Press.

My
Business on Seven will be coming back next year – and the network has written good revenue against
it, which is always a good sign for a program’s future. Complicating the Seven program
is the ownership uncertainty of My Business: Palamedia
has put the magazine of the same name up for sale. The TV rights have been
licensed.

So from
no future for small business on TV in 2002 when Gyngell canned the Nine program to three programs this
year, small business is a growth areas for
the networks. It’s more than you can say for big business, covered only by
Business Sunday on Nine and Inside Business on the ABC.