New Newscaf boss at Nine:
The Nine Network is abuzz today at the news that Mark Llewellyn has
been appointed director of news and current affairs for the network. He
was managing editor of 60 Minutes and has leapfrogged over his boss John Westacott.

Last night’s TV
ratings

The Winners SBS was the only winner last night with with the World Cup
qualifying game between Australia and Uruguay (2.5 million from 8pm to
10.53pm). Nine had to burn off two hours of new McLeod’s Daughters for only 1.055 million
viewers from 7.30pm to 9.30pm. Seven’s Home and Away was on as SBS’s build-up
started and was watched by 1.316 million, which wasn’t bad. But Temptation was
hurt, fading to 1.132 million. Today Tonight (1.253
million) and Seven News (1.181 million), plus Nine News (1.166 million) and A
Current Affair (1.178 million) were all down
The Losers

On a night like last night you can’t have any losers
such as the big sucking sound from the soccer. House on Ten (1.128 million) and
the repeat at 9.30pm (894,000) were victims, as was McLeod’s, Spicks and Specks
on the ABC (810,000 for the 2005 final, but it’s coming back next year).
Nine’s CSI Miami (832,000), Kath and Kim (780,000). The ABC’s New Inventors,
747,000 was also hit, losing around 300,000 viewers on recent levels. Merrick
and Rosso with 563,000 held up at 10.30pm. The repeat of Forensic Investigators
on Seven at 9.30pm with 465,000 and the Parent Trap movie at 7.30pm (745,000),
showed Seven’s hand: they simply decided to run dead last night with the soccer
programmed from 7pm to at least 10.30pm.
News & CA Seven News and Today Tonight but the figures were affected in
Perth by the soccer which was going to air at 6pm to 7pm Perth time. The Seven
duo won nationally and in Sydney where Seven News beat Nine by 90,000 people.
Nine News was a big winners in Melbourne and Brisbane. The ABC News with 812,000 and The 7.30 Report with 794,000 people were crimped by the first hour of the soccer
broadcast on SBS.
The Stats SBS won with a share of 34.6% to Nine with 20.7%, Seven with 17.7%, Ten
with 17.0%, and the ABC with 10.1%. Despite Melbourne’s claims to be
the sporting capital of Australia, the audience for the soccer was the
highest in Sydney (SBS’s share was 71% at the peak) and its overall
share of 41.2% was the highest of the five metro markets. In Melbourne
it was 35.9%. In Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, even less interest. SBS
had a share of 31.3% in Brisbane, 28.9% in Adelaide and only 21.1% in
Perth where it ran third. But that was due to the fact that the
broadcast started at 4pm local and was over by around 8pm.
Glenn Dyer’s
comments		 SBS’s big night actually
helped Nine in the battle for the second last week of official ratings. Nine
increased its lead slightly even though its actual share after last night fell.
Nine leads 27.5% to 25.8% and will put the week beyond doubt tonight with
Getaway, 20 to1 and RPA, plus Amazing Medical Stories. Seven will be nervously
watching to see how the second episode of Headland goes up against Getaway and
with a weaker program after it than Tuesday night. That will reveal the true
extent of the
turn-off.