Seven settles Sydney news reading roster. The Seven
Network’s Sydney news reading roster is about to be sorted. Ian Ross is
reading Monday to Thursday under his new contract and it was thought
that Chris Bath would take the Friday, Saturday and Sunday evening
gigs. However ,
incumbent weekend reader Ann Sanders dug her heels in, citing contract
and appealing to the highest of powers at Seven. But in TV, the wishes
of those in command are usually granted and Bath is now wrapping up a
new deal to read the Friday, Saturday and Sunday 6pm news broadcasts.
But don’t cry for Sanders. She gets the network morning news that’s
likely to be expanded to an hour if chat from Seven programming staff
is right. That would see it challenging Ten Morning News in its second
half hour from 11am (if its start time remains at 10.30am). The push
for the extra half hour is said to be coming from Seven programming and
not news. – Glenn Dyer

Last night’s TV
ratings

The Winners Hey, its Tuesday and Seven won again last night with the
four top programs, led of course by Dancing With The Stars (2.2 million people),
followed by Today Tonight (1.533 million), Seven News (1.392 million) and All
Saints (1.339 million). Ten’s The Biggest Loser was up sharply on its normal
million or so level to an average of 1.262 million. Home and Away
was next for Seven (1.247 million). Nine’s best was the news with 1.218 million, while Ten’s new
Simpsons (1.213 million) and Futurama (1.054 million) completed a good night for
the network.
The Losers Bert Newton and his Family Feud
had 535,000, up 100,000 over the past couple of weeks. Shouts of joy at Willoughby.
Magda’s Funny Bits, up to 715,000, but holding the fort for Nine against
Dancing.
News & CA Seven News and Today Tonight again won, although Nine
won Sydney and Brisbane but Seven won Melbourne. A Current Affair remains a
basket case and in danger of becoming irrelevant unless its performance picks
up. The ABC News averaged 859,000 but Kerry O’Brien and his 7.30 Report shed
more than 200,000 from Monday viewers to average
701,000.
The Stats Seven with 38.3%, down from its record 40.8% of the
previous Tuesday. Nine was second with 23.6% compared to 22.1% a week earlier.
Then came Ten with 20.9% (19.4%) then ABC with 12.6% (13.8%) and SBS with 4.7%
(4.4%).
Glenn Dyer’s comments A good win for Seven, but compared to the previous
Tuesday and the night before its viewing levels were down a bit from 5pm
onwards. But not enough to provide any heart murmurs. All Saints fell from last
week though, which will be a worry. No matter that it averaged 1.33 million – to lose almost 900,000
viewers is a worry. But Nine’s problems are deeper than either Seven or Ten, who had a good night. Tonight its House v. Prison Break. Seven’s News, Today Tonight and
Home and Away will help give it the edge.