Seven and Nine confirm competing Sydney siege specials to air this Sunday
TV networks Seven and Nine have confirmed that they will go head to head this Sunday night with special interviews with victims of the Sydney siege.
The specials will go to air on the first night of the ratings year with Seven trying to get a half hour jump start on Nine by airing their special at 6pm when it normally has its Sunday evening news.
The duelling specials see each network feature Lindt cafe hostages who have each paid significant cash sums for their stories and it comes amid concerns by a former coroner that the specials could prejudice the coronial inquest into the Sydney siege, which began last month.Nine will go air at 6.30pm with a 60 minutes special featuring eight hostages, while Seven has signed six, but it is thought the network is planning to air some of the exclusive footage filmed from its offices opposite the scene at Martin Place.
Seven has signed mother of three Marcia Mikhael and 82-year-old John O’Brien who have both been interviewed by Melissa Doyle. The Australian last month reported they had been paid $400,000 and $100,000 respectively.
Ninel has used Liz Hayes as the interviewer in a special which will feature Lindt cafe workers Fiona Ma and Harriette Denny along with other survivors such as Joel Herat and Jarrod Morton Hoffman. Fairfax Media had reported that the survivors had been paid close to a $1m, although this figure has since been downplayed.
Promos for both special can be seen below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ltWvaoZkTs
Nic Christensen
