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Ten says programming chief Beverley McGarvey will stay in role

McGarvey

McGarvey

The Ten Network has confirmed Beverley McGarvey will stay on in her chief programming officer job when she returns from maternity leave, after court documents revealed John Stephens was vying for the role.

However, Ten has refused to reveal who will be filling in as the top programmer for McGarvey while she takes her maternity leave.

Speculation about her future was prompted by an email exchange between Ten CEO Hamish McLennan and Stephens – the veteran programmer at the centre of a legal battle between the network and Seven – where Stephens suggested he take on the role of director of scheduling and acquisitions.

The correspondence reported in The Australian came out as part of the court proceedings between Ten and Seven, which started after Stephens initially signed a contract with Ten, before changing his mind and pulling out of the deal. In the email Stephens suggested McGarvey’s role be changed, with him assuming “total responsibility for all things programming” except news, which now sits under Peter Meakin.

“This is fine by me but must be under the proviso she (Beverley) remains a team player,” Stephens wrote.

In recent weeks Ten has suffered a major dip in ratings with shows like Secrets and Lies, So You Think You Can Dance and The Biggest Loser all failing to get traction, and the network recording its worst ever Sunday night audience share this week.

In another email exchange Stephens wrote: “The challenge of fixing Ten still greatly interests me particularly following the disappointing debut of Secrets and Lies last night that could have been minimalised with more thought!

“Now thinking that perhaps a part time role such as director of scheduling/ acquisitions for the three channels with maybe Bev remaining in something like her current position and running everything else programming.”

However a spokesman for Ten told Mumbrella McGarvey will return to exactly the same role when she comes back from maternity leave, and refused to answer questions about how the programming department was being run in her absence.

The spokesman said any changes to McGarvey’s role were ideas floated by Stephens in his emails to McClennan, and there was no discussion and “certainly no agreement” from Ten.

Ten started legal action against Seven when Stephens told McClennan he could no longer accept the appointment as director of scheduling and acquisitions and had decided to stay with Seven instead, with Ten claiming Seven induced him to break his contract with them,

A hearing is scheduled in the matter for May.

Megan Reynolds

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