SBS
beats Seven last night in sportathon:

A big, big weekend in sport. It started with the AFL, NRL and Ashes
cricket on Friday night and finished Monday morning with Roger Federer
beating Andre Agassi at the US Open. Meanwhile, minor sports like golf
popped up on Pay TV, and Rugby Union on the ABC in NSW Saturday
afternoon.

So who
won this head to head? Well in terms of audience numbers it was the AFL on
Friday and Saturday nights in southern states: a massive 53% of the Adelaide audience was
tuned to Ten on Saturday night for the local derby
between Port and the Crows. The
Crows-Port audience averaged more than 1.241 million on Saturday night, the
biggest audience for any of the sports.

The
fifth Ashes test saw SBS peak last Thursday night and run third nationally: the
telecast lost ground Friday night and Saturday night as competition from the
AFL and the League intensified, but last night, the nation tuned back in with SBS
running third again with the national share up 17.6% (compared to 12.7% on
Saturday night, 18.0% on Friday night and a massive 20.2% last Thursday
night).

Peking to Paris pushed back:
On Friday
I wondered: “When will the ABC’s ambitious series on the
recreation of the Peking to Paris car
race appear?”

Well, according to the latest edition
of the email newsletter,Inside The ABC that was sent
to interested viewers on Friday morning (September 9), the “extraordinary journey” will premiere next month on ABC TV. But ABC
TV now says it won’t be seen till next year. This is
what Lesna Thomas, the Head of ABC TV Publicity told Crikey.

“The
series has no ‘troubles’ as you claim. The guys got back in the country in late
July and editing for four hours of television does take time, so it was decided
that the project deserved more post-production time than initially planned
for. The
very idea that Sandra left ABC TV for Nine over this
project is insulting to both networks and the program, and boarders on the
ridiculous.”

So the
program is late. It won’t be going to air in 2005, as originally planned. It’s
on air date, according to Ms Thomas, is 2006.

Last night’s TV
ratings:

The Winners

 Nine, Ten and the cricket on SBS. 60 Minutes with 1.794
million (thanks to a promoted story on Super Dope, and we don’t mean any of the
presenters, do we?). Nine News was second with 1.752 million and Backyard Blitz
was third with 1.728 million. The cricket on SBS averaged 617,000 across the
night from 7.15 pm and after 8.30 the network ran second at times, especially
after about 10 pm. Australian Idol lifted for Ten for the first time in weeks as
the live finals started. The 1.308 million will give the network some hope that
the third series will not be a washout. The ABC did well and held up, especially
Cheap Tricks at 8.30 pm: head to head with the final hour of Idol, Seven’s telemovie and Nine’s movie Strange Bedfellows (1.072 million), Cheap Tricks was
watched by 1.135 million people
The Losers

Seven from after the news. The special Dancing with the
Stars, Strictly Backstage bombed at 6.30 pm with only 889,000. That was down on
the figures the Guinness Book of Records series was getting (around 300,000
lower). Could Seven devalue the Tuesday night Dancing episodes by trying to milk
the franchise? Massive Nature at 7.30 pm was also lower on 715,000 while the
special telemovie Oil Storm was watched by 748,000. Seeing as it had some of the
elements of current news events (hurricane hits oil industry in Louisiana)
that’s a bit of a disappointment. Ten’s telemovie Blackjack at 9.30 pm was
watched by 643,000 which would also be a disappointment for Ten. Even at 9.30 pm
they would have expected more
viewers.
News & CA

Nine News with a strong finish thanks to good figures in Sydney where the
NRL final provided a good lead-in. 60 Minutes was again strong as the most
watched program (news was second). Seven news also had good numbers (1.267
million) as did ABC News on 1.174 million. The Sunday morning chat shows were
influenced by the US Tennis broadcast running over into Business Sunday’s time.
It finished around 8.30 am. Therefore Business Sunday’s numbers of 523,000 were
unrealistic. Sunday had a more normal 361,00, Weekend Sunrise on 293,000, The
Insiders, 168,000, Inside Business (126,000 which was sharply higher) and
Ten’s Meet the Press with 79,000.
The Stats

Nine won last week with a strong finish on Saturday
night after Seven snuck a win on Friday night. Nine won the week 27.1% to 25.0%
for Seven. Ten was third, the ABC was fourth and SBS was last. Last night it was
again Nine(29.2%) with a solid win, Ten was second (20.8%), SBS third(17.6%)
with the Ashes telecast, Seven was a weak fourth(16.8%), just in front of the
ABC on 15.5%.
Glenn Dyer’s
comments

For a peak Sunday night only 8 programs with a million viewers
or more. The consistent cricket audience on SBS drained viewers away from just
after 7 pm. And tonight it doesn’t get any easier for the
Networks with the Ashes telecast on SBS a major disruption. Nine’s The Alice and
Seven’s Grey’s Anatomy, along with Numb3rs on Ten will all battle, as will
Millionaire on Nine and Law and Order on Ten at 9.30 pm. A week ago the ABC had
a big Monday night without the cricket; they’ll be hurt tonight but Australian
Story and Andrew Denton’s Enough Rope will do
well.