od save The Bill!

ABC Foreign Correspondent staff have just been informed (10 a.m. Friday 1 April) that their 9.20 p.m. Tuesday timeslot is being bounced to save The Bill which has dipped below one million audience in the face of stiff competition from Channel Seven’s Dancing With the Stars.

Foreign Correspondent, which in the last two years suffered a $1million cut to its budget and duration (one hour to 40 mins.) and loss of in studio presenter, needless to say, is outraged at the ABC’s ratings driven motivation.

Foreign Correspondent is being told it will screen anywhere between 10 to 10 or 10 p.m. Tuesday which takes it out of prime time and potentially is a death blow to the program. There is said to be no managerial dissatisfaction with Foreign Correspondent, an Australian-content production, but director of Television Sandra Levy, is desperate to save The Bill, which is seen to be vital to the viability of the ABC’s television schedule, reliant as it is on imported shelf programs, mainly British.

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An ABC insider.