Ten counts down to tonight’s launch of 6PM With George Negus
Tonight sees the beginning of what is likely to be one of the biggest free TV battlegrounds of 2011 – Ten’s attempt to turn the two-way battle of the 6pm news into a three-way fight.
6PM with George Negus puts the network head-to-head with Seven and Nine’s 6pm bulletins for the first time since the early 1990s.
Executive producer Tony Ritchie discusses his plans for 6PM With George Negus with Mumbrella editor Tim Burrowes:
The decision by Ten to move to a two-and-a-half hour sweep of news and current affairs comes after this month’s launch of digital channel Eleven saw Neighbours and The Simpsons move across.
Ten’s programmers are banking on viewers who currently watch its 5pm news before switching to Seven or Nine at 6pm sticking around. Ritchie told Mumbrella: “We know a lot of people watch Channel Ten news then go and watch another news at six o’clock. We’ve got to find a way that says to them ‘please stay with us – if you’re seeking more information, stay with Channel Ten and we’ll provide that’.”
Ten now has a news bulletin at 5pm followed by the more in depth 6PM with George Negus with a state-based Evening News at 6.30pm. The pace then changes with the more lightweight The 7PM Project.
The line up is pitted against Seven’s schedule of tennis, News, Today Tonight and Home And Away, and Nine’s 4.30pm-5.30pm news bulletin, Hot Seat, 6pm news , A Current Affair and Two And A Half Men.
The network is also trying to lower expectations over audience size. Ritchie said: “I’d be happy with half a million.”
According to a trailer for tonight’s opener, it will include a report on teenage terrorists in the Middle East.
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large. He returned to Mumbrella as Publisher in January 2025
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I’m actually really looking forward to see how this show pans out, I’m a fan of old George
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All sounds a bit Foreign Correspondent for 6pm. Are they going for ABC viewers rather than those from 7 or 9?
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Time to see a gutsy program with lots to say.How about a health question for ALL Australians being medicated (poisoned )without our consent when all the information says it is a 5 decade fraud.The government (if you can call them that) acts more like a dictatorship.EG: see this page for lies.
http://users.adam.com.au/brianbrain/amanda.htm
and this from my local member.
It’s almost like the horses with blinkers,they only know one way to run and unfortunately don’t have the same sense..
Letters I have sent before seem to get lost almost as though the government has ordered the media to leave it alone.
Perhaps Wikileaks should have a look at this government as Timor was invaded without a murmur from Australian and the excution of 5 journalists.
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Hi George, just a quick word. I though were going to ask the hard questions, you had the PM on but why didnt you ask her why there was going to be a means test on the money for flood relief, /the person that she saw may not get any help because she would get more than $900 a week as most of the people that need help. Also why didnt you as her to defer the NBN to help pay for the floods.
If you want people to watch your program then show us you realy care not just ask things that my not count. Ill watch the next program but if you dont want toask the hard questions then you wont be there for long. I hope you do ask and show us you realy care. TT Bill
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6 pm with George Negus turned out to be a VERY
Good show. I enjoyed the Aussie manner of reporting.
I will be watching.
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Having just seen the show, I think this is going to be a big problem for Ten. After an hour of News, we get George at 6.00pm, then another news with Sandra Sully. It’s two hours of news programming that’s invariably repetitive and on tonight’s outing, just plain boring.
George was his usual polished self and the folksy, Aussie delivery style will have its fans. But far from living up to his promise to explain the news more fully, this was the usual once-over-lightly. The interview with Juiia Gillard was all puff. She’s “disappointing” as PM? Yeah, mate, that’s putting it mildly. The Middle East terrorism piece was totally ho-hum, OK for SBS maybe but irrelevant on Ten. You could hear the stampede for the remotes all over the country. Hamish McDonald has been out of Australia way to long and sounded like just another “international” reporter. And using English subtitles on commercial television at 6.00pm is utter lunacy. The kids are unruly, Mum’s getting the dinner, who’s going to bother getting close enough to the set to make out what they’re saying in Arabic? The interview with the VC winner was a total dud and way too short. We got no chance to measure this guy up. “Kill or be killed?” Yes, George, that’s the general idea? And that’s when Negus just couldn’t help himself, making it quite clear in the tone of his questioning that he, the great oracle, didn’t approve of Australia’s involvement in Afghanistan.
Of course, it might get better. But this was the big first night and they’ve had weeks to get it together. Hugh Riminton’s “what the year holds in politics” was so pedestrian given the turbulence in Canberra that it was really quite astonishing. Couldn’t we find some politician to actually say something? James Packer and Lachlan Murdoch will have watched the whole evening shaking their heads at the number of audience conventions disregarded and broken. And the likes of David Gyngell and Peter Meakin will sleep soundly tonight in the sure knowledge that Ten won’t come within a bull’s roar of knocking off its competitors with this effort. Desperately needs to be a lot better or it’s back to the Simpsons. Packer will make sure of it.
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Nice to NOT see a fluffy story about a cat being rescued from a tree or 15 minutes of sport. It wasn’t dumbed down like most commercial news services are in this country. Needs some work but I’ll be watching.
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Gee Dee’s got it exactly right. An opportunity squandered and no doubt at great cost to the budget. George and his producers will have to try a lot harder to keep hold of any of that most difficult of audiences – early evening, commercial TV viewers, all busy eating, dealing with the kids, talking to the wife/husband/significant other.
Delivering a disorganised menu of stories or interviews that fail to make a clear, strong (dare I say, simple) point is a recipe for disaster.
But then the 6:30 news effort was even more down that unfortunate track and the figures show the viewers thought so too
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