News

Seven dumps Today Tonight in favour of one hour bulletin on east coast

Today Tonight logoChannel Seven has confirmed that it is dumping Today Tonight in favour a one hour bulletin in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

The announcement was made this morning to staff by Seven CEO Tim Worner.

The move has long been speculated and comes after the Nine Network gained a ratings bump earlier this year by moving to the one hour format. However, Today Tonight will continue to air in the Adelaide and Perth markets.

In his email announcing the changes Worner said that staff on the east coast would contribute to “news investigations and features” in the new hour long bulletin under the direction of former Today Tonight executive producer Max Uechtritz who will now report network director of news.

Worner said the move was exciting and paid tribute to the staff who had worked on the program.  “We see this as an exciting opportunity to serve our news audience in a better way,” wrote Worner. 

“I want to take this chance to pay tribute to Today Tonight  and the TT team on the East Coast. Over many years, and as recently as last week, the program has broken big stories, kept consumers informed and held  people to account,” he said.

The dumping of the often controversial Today Tonight had been expected after the show’s host Helen Kapalos moved to the Sunday Night program earlier this year. As Mumbrella reported last year, Seven has trailed its rival Nine in its east coast news for much of 2013 and the move to a one hour bulletin is seen by many as way of lifting the Network’s ratings in the news space.

Nic Christensen

Tim Worner’s email to staff:

Good morning,

Today we are announcing plans to transition to a one hour news bulletin at 6pm in our Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane markets, effective from tonight.

In Adelaide and Perth, we will continue with Today Tonight  where the programs serve as really important local windows.

All staff previously working on the East Coast editions of TT will continue in their roles and will contribute to News Investigations and Features as well as TT ( Adelaide and Perth) under executive producer Max Uechtritz. Max will now report to Rob Raschke, the Network Director of News.

This move is about building and investing in Seven’s leading news coverage . In recent times we have increased our level of news across the day with great success. We plan to do even more in the future.

We see this as an exciting opportunity to serve our news audience in a better way.

I want to take this chance to pay tribute to Today Tonight  and the TT  team on the East Coast. Over many years, and as recently as last week, the program has broken big stories, kept consumers informed and held  people to account.

Thank you for your continuing efforts and commitment.

Later this morning, we will be organising local briefings to provide more detail and answer any questions you may have.

Regards,

Tim Worner

 

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