ABC: "It wasn't us"

The ABC has refuted claims it was malicious or had any say in cutting the Leaders' Debate feed to the Nine Network.

It claims "The National Press Club was awarded the right to host last night’s Leaders' Debate, and under the rules had responsibility for organising the broadcast of it. One of the accepted rules was that there would be no "worm" on any broadcast made available."

All decisions about the host broadcast feed, including decisions about who it would be provided to, were made by the National Press Club.

"The ABC had no role in this decision making process," an ABC Corporate spokeswoman said.

Press Release:

"The National Press Club was awarded the right to host last night’s Leaders' Debate, and under the rules had responsibility for organising the broadcast of it. One of the accepted rules was that there would be no "worm" on any broadcast made available.

Due to its traditional role as host broadcaster for the NPC, the ABC provided some host broadcast services to the NPC, including personnel to assist in this, and the Sound and Vision Office of Parliament House provided key resources and facilities.

This host broadcast feed was produced out of the Parliament House studio of the Sound and Vision Office, and provided to other broadcasters, including the ABC.

All decisions about the host broadcast feed, including decisions about who it would be provided to, were made by the National Press Club.

The ABC had no role in this decision making process," an ABC Corporate spokeswoman said. Read more...

Who Killed Channel Nine's Feed?

The Liberal Party is being accused of killing Channel Nine's Leaders' Debate feed.

As expected today the talk is not about the Debate content, but the cut to Nine's worm.

The ABC, in tandem with the Press Club cut the feed at the order of the Liberal Party, says Nine.

Nine was told vision was about to be cut, allowing it to switch to the ABC, which was again cut, before it went to Sky News, said Producer John Westacott.

The directive came from the political parties, after Nine didn't abide by an agreement.

"When Nine walked away from that agreement and used the worm it breached an agreement it had with the parties - not with the National Press Club," said Press Club Vice President Glenn Milne. Milne has also a been Chief Political Correspondent for the Seven Network.

UPDATED 12.15pm. But Nine disputes any agreement.

"The ABC and the National Press Club conspired to do the bidding of the Liberal Party to present the blandest possible Leaders' Debate. At no time did the Nine Network agree to any conditions – either verbally or in writing – about how the Debate should be broadcast." said Westacott.

“This is an appalling display of bias and censorship from two organisations who have publicly declared the support of free speech in this country."

Press Release:

Over 1.44 million Australians tuned in last night, Sunday 21 October, as the Nine Network Australia presented the first televised Great Debate between Prime Minister John Howard and Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd in a special 90-minute edition of 60 Minutes at 7.30pm.

Nine’s commercial-free coverage of the debate was hosted by Ray Martin and won its timeslot along the combined East Coast. Nine’s coverage featured its “Worm” which is a computer-generated analysis of 90 uncommitted voters who judged the debate live in-studio at Nine. The “Worm” provided continuous analysis throughout as well as the exclusive verdict declaring Opposition Leader, Kevin Rudd, the winner with 65% of votes versus 29% for the Prime Minister (the remaining 6% undecided).

Nine’s televised feed was cut twice during the coverage with the Network picking up a signal from Sky News.

Nine Network’s Director of News & Current Affairs, Mr John Westacott, said: “It’s not the preserve of the Liberal Party to determine the editorial policy of the Nine Network.

“The pulling of the feeds from the Great Debate last night was a blatant act of political censorship.

“The ABC and the National Press Club conspired to do the bidding of the Liberal Party to present the blandest possible Leaders Debate. At no time did the Nine Network agree to any conditions – either verbally or in writing – about how the Debate should be broadcast.

“This is an appalling display of bias and censorship from two organisations who have publicly declared the support of free speech in this country.

“The boss of News Ltd, Mr John Hartigan, just two days ago in his excellent Andrew Olle Media Lecture warned that free speech and press freedom in this country was under serious attack. Two days later, here is a perfect example.”

Additional Source: news.com.au,
Photo: Sydney Morning Herald Read more...

Ratings Week 43

Sunday:
1. National Bingo Night Seven 1.561
2. Kath & Kim – Series 1 Seven 1.484
3. Seven News Seven 1.423
4. 60 Minutes Nine 1.422
5. Australian Idol Ten 1.357
6. National Nine News Nine 1.208
7. ABC News ABC 1.183
8. Rove Ten 1.166
9. Thank God You’re Here Ten 1.030
10. The Leader’s Debate ABC 0.909
11. Singing Bee Nine 0.887
12. Australia Revealed Seven 0.841
13. Movie: SWAT Nine 0.817
14. The Einstein Factor ABC 0.802
15. Ten News Ten 0.675

Seven 27.2
Nine 26.9
Ten 24.7
ABC 16.1
SBS 5.1 Read more...

US writers target FremantleMedia

The Writers' Guild of America, which is set to strike at the end of the month, is also up in arms over conditions on productions by FremantleMedia.

The union claims writers on shows like The Price is Right, American Idol and Temptation are being denied industry-standard compensation and benefits.

"Temptation writers were required to work excessive hours to produce 170 shows in 16 weeks," says the WGAW website. "They did not receive health insurance, pensions, residuals or appropriate credits."

Meanwhile an all-out strike looms larger from October 31 after 90% of union members voted to strike after failing to reach an agreement with Producers and Studios. The union is seeking better conditions and payment for new media.

The last strike by the WGA in 1988 lasted 22 weeks crippling television and movie production. There are enormous ramifications for both American and Australian viewers if this goes ahead...
Read more...

Nine worm sabotaged says Ray

Ray Martin says someone sabotaged Nine's feed of the Leaders' Debate.

At the end of the telecast Martin apologised to viewers for a loss of picture, which was covered by switching to Sky News instead.

“So much for free speech,” he said.

The Nine Network superimposed the famous worm, registering viewer feelings on the two leaders, despite it being unwelcomed by Howard.

“Nine breached the conditions of the broadcast (agreement),” a Liberal Party spokesman said. “It’s a matter for the National Press Club.”

After a dull Debate, it's likely to cause more discussion on Monday than anything the two leaders had to say.

Sources: news.com.au
Photo: idents.tv Read more...

Official Debate Thread

Oh is it time to wake up again?

Gee that was dull telly.

It only became fleetingly interesting when the two leaders got to ask each others questions and disagree with each other.

Dull content, dull presentation, 30 mins too long. On one point I'm with Howard: I don't want three of these.

And who was heading up the Sound Department?

Anyway, list all your comments on the Great Debate here. Read more...

Standard Def week upstages High Def launch

Week 42 saw Seven slip its High Definition Channel under the radar with an all-but-silent launch on Monday evening as a way of trumping Nine and TEN's plans.

But if the programming is indicative of what's to come we might as well save our money on upgrades. A bunch of tired movies and a forgotten US series does not a launch make, and it's hard to see what CEO David Leckie got so excited about. This was the television equivalent of one network's dad trying to look bigger than another.

Seven didn't need to get so excited about High Def, when its Standard Def programming won the week anyway. Seven won with 30.0% over Nine's 25.7%, TEN's 20.8%, the ABC's 18.4% and SBS on 5.1.

Kath and Kim's finale was its best since its season premiere. No doubt Shane Warne's appearance helped it score 2.3m viewers, making it one of the year's top shows. Also tops were Border Security, The Force, Dancing with the Stars, City Homicide, My Name is Earl, Better Homes and Gardens, All Saints, Seven News, Today Tonight, and Home and Away. But Las Vegas has let down the network on Wednesdays and continues to plague Prison Break. The casino drama is about to be replaced. Bionic Woman is just hanging on to its audience, but Heroes, trumpeted as one of the year's hottest new shows, is now under the 1m mark. It should also be noted that Seven's shares on Monday and Tuesday well and truly thumped Nine and TEN.

It was another awful week for Nine. The best audience it could manage for the week was 1.25m for National Nine News on Tuesday, when the Ben Cousins story broke. All of its best performing shows trailed behind figures achieved by Seven, Ten and the ABC. Hanging in there for Nine were the movie Mr & Mrs Smith, McLeod's Daughters, A Current Affair, 60 Minutes, Temptation, Missing Persons Unit and Funniest Homes Videos. Some better news came on Wednesday when the return of Without a Trace over Damages saw Nine finish the night ahead of Seven. Mondays aren't worth talking about until Nine test drives its new line-up tomorrow.

TEN managed to win Wednesday without having Thank God You're Here on air -quite a feat. Why? Because the ABC hijacked everyone else away from poor offerings on Nine and Seven. House was its top show. Next up was Australian Idol, The Simpsons, Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader, NCIS and So You Think You Can Dance. Life beat alternatives on Seven and Nine, will it go up when Chris Lilley ends on the ABC? Despite these the network is going backwards.

This week the ABC was all about The Chaser's "Eulogy" song, again its most popular show. Spicks and Specks, New Tricks, Summer Heights High, Rebus, ABC News and Four Corners were all strong. Compass: The Abbey attracted its biggest ever audience of 829,000. And Saturday's audience proved the commercials are all but off the dial when it comes to programming properly.

SBS will be pleased the second audience for Newstopia went up on a tough night.

Ratings Week 42 Read more...

Ten reasons why Mark Holden is wrong

I don’t know why I am so surprised to hear Mark Holden talking like he has a few screws loose today. After all that’s his act on Idol.

Today he reckons that Idol has been hurt by Dicko. Holden told the Sunday Telegraph that Idol isn’t working so well this year because there are 4 judges instead of three.

"I am not loving the four judges,'' Holden said. "I am all for formats being bent but, in this particular case, I think three judges are right.''

Yeah, that’s right Mark. Stoke that fire, fuel that flame. And hey, do it on a Sunday too, the very day you want people to turn to your show. No stunt there, eh?

Idol’s figures this year aren't that bad given the competition from Kath and Kim and a Rugby League Grand Final.

To think that people would not tune in to the show because there are four judges instead of 3 is to insult the audience. You could put 2 judges on the show, or 5 and you’d still get pretty much the same result.

So for absolutely no consultancy fee, let’s go through the reasons that Idol is where it is today (which, frankly isn’t doing too badly at all).

1. Fatigue. Your toy was new four years ago. Now I have new things to play with.
2. Kath and Kim. Like it or not hornbags still rule.
3. Judges stunts. You can argue, you can brawl, you can thump the table but we know it’s all for publicity and we’re tired of it.
4. SMS voting. Why don’t we just write you a cheque now and we can all go home? Or better yet why don’t you just make the damn thing free? And hey, where DOES that money go?
5. Sacrificial teenagers. Even the Christians had a better chance before the lions than the ridiculous path you make these kids tread. Not exactly nourishing is it?
6. That results show. 60 minutes to tell me one thing. Yeah that’ll have longevity.
7. All 4 judges. One is loopy, one trashed the show only to return when his other gigs flopped, one never gives any criticism and the other is obnoxious.
8. The failure of your stars. We liked Guy, Shannon, Anthony, Ricki-Lee and one or two Young Diva songs. What happened to the rest?
9. Hillsong. Mud sticks.
10. Just the whole, darn idea that our next pop idol can be manufactured by a reality television show over the tried and true method of writing songs, paying their dues, singing in pubs, building their character and learning the ropes the old-fashioned way.

Australian Idol Watch
Read more...

ITV phone-in scams revealed

It may be a scandal breaking in the UK, but the culture of TV phone-ins is not exclusive to Britain. Investigators have discovered wide-ranging and serious deception in television voting programmes. What they revealed shows habitual and fraudulent behaviour.

Viewers had paid more than £7.8 million ($17.8m) on phone calls which they thought was influencing reality programmes.

Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway neglected to tell viewers that one of its competitions was only interested in contestants within 1hr travel of the contest's "travelling pig." Producers shortlisted the most exciting contestants rather than pick them at random.

Soapstar Superstar threw out two singing contestants despite them not receiving the lowest amount of votes. Scotland Year is indicating it may investigate the matter.

In Queensland last week the state's Attorney-General Kerry Shine called on reality voting shows to have free voting systems. "While these programs target the key 18 to 35 years demographic because of their high disposable income, I am concerned that many of those viewers who are voting are teenagers who may not be able to afford the associated costs," Mr Shine said.

Big Brother has previously booted the wrong contestant when it accidentally evicted Bree Amer then reinstated her into the BB House after realising a counting error. This year during the show's finale, numbers were unable to be correctly calculated in the allocated time frame.

Sources: The West, The Age
Read more...

First Review: Crime Investigation Australia

There are far too many terms associated with Adelaide that are darkly ominous: Beaumont, Truro, Snowtown and of course ‘The Family.’

For someone who has never lived in the city these tales of abducted young boys during the 70’s and 80’s blur. But as “The Butchered Boys” episode of the Crime Investigation Australia details, they were not only too real, they make CSI pale into insignificance.

In 1979 17yo Alan Barnes never made it home from hitchiking in the Adelaide suburbs. Found dead under a bridge, Barnes had been kept captive, sexually abused and a bottle had penetrated his rectum resulting in massive blood loss. Two months later 25yo Neil Muir was also found dead, mutilated into two garbage bags, his severed head re-attached to his torso. He too had been raped and tortured with a bottle. Both had been heavily drugged.

By 1982 two more boys, 18 and 14, suffered the same cyclical fate: abducted, subjected to days of sexual torture, murdered and dumped.

But when Richard Kelvin, the son of Channel 9 Newsreader Rob Kelvin disappeared, it gripped the city like never before. Adelaide watched nightly as Kelvin’s female co-presenter would detail the case as he sat beside her. Richard was found seven weeks later wearing a Channel 9 top and a pet’s dog-collar he had jokingly worn when he disappeared.

At the time, notably with former Premier Don Dunstan still influential in the city of churches, tabloid media had a frenzy pointing the finger at the homosexual community. Were they easy targets or protecting a criminal? Rumours about politicians, high-profile businessmen, clergy and even judges entertaining young boys were whispered with disdain.

By 1984 Forensics identified accountant Bevan Spencer von Einem. He was sentenced to 36 years imprisonment, but only for the Kelvin case. A key witness indicated he did not act alone. There were other accomplices, including at least one woman, who assisted his horrific acts. They remain at large.

Under the clinical narration of Steve Liebmann, Foxtel’s CIA series has a formidable reputation for highlighting unsolved cases, and sometimes eliciting new evidence. In this edition it re-enacts key moments, and speaks to the parents of all but one victim plus the case’s retired Detective Superintendent. Years on, one father is at a loss to find a word to describe the killers of his son. “They’re not men. They’re not people. They’re not even animals. What word do I use?” he asks.

Crime Investigation Australia: The Butchered Boys premieres 7:30pm Thursday on the Crime & Investigation Channel. Read more...

Returning: Surf Patrol

Seven is returning its observational series set on Aussie beaches, Surf Patrol.

The production is shot with the cooperation of Surf Life Saving Australia.

It will return in initially in the Sydney market on Monday October 29th at 8pm. Other markets will follow.

The series replaces The Force which has been doing good business for the network.

A shark invasion has lifesavers on high alert tonight on SURF PATROL. A group of people go missing at a treacherous surfing spot. And a moving tribute to a lifesaving hero.

Lifesavers in northern NSW are on high alert after an influx of sharks close to shore. Beaches are closed, and sea and air missions mounted to locate the marine predators. But has the warning come too late?

In Victoria, lifesavers are on the lookout for three people who’ve gone missing at a notorious surfing beach.

And on the Gold Coast, the patrol team pauses to pay tribute to a fellow lifesaver that died in a tragic accident. Read more...

Monday night's a big gamble

Nine has a lot riding on this Monday night.

It is hoping to turn around its run of bad luck (or is that just bad programming?) that has seen it languish in lowly figures and a string of flop Monday shows. What a Year, ER, Weeds, Commercial Breakdown, and RFDS are now dropped, paused, shelved, rested or axed -depending on your preferred terminology. And Eddie McGuire's 1 vs 100 has made way for Eddie McGuire's Who Wants to be a Mullionaire, now with a whopping $5M on offer.

Nine's bold move to air the show entirely live and from 7pm is clever (although figures will show if 90 minutes is taking things too far). The network must be hoping it can give away a big chunk of the cash and reap the publicity.

Viva Laughlin's premiere immediately afterwards is already being tarnished by disappointing reviews in the US. American critics have not warmed to its musical / drama hybrid. Several reiterated my review's point (or had I reiterated theirs?) that the direction was not committed enough. That said, claims it is "the worst show ever" are way off the mark.

Nine will follow the premiere with a movie, shelving episodes of the cult Weeds and Girls of the Playboy Mansion.

But Monday isn't all about Nine. The ABC has a terrific Helen Mirren interview on Enough Rope with Andrew Denton. And SBS is launching a new series of both Pizza and Shameless.

Meanwhile there are a couple of interesting guests on Seven.

Former Neighbours actor Shane O'Connor makes a return to screen in City Homicide years after his much-publicised falling out with producers. O'Connor eventually won a nasty legal battle claiming wrongful dismissal.

And on Criminal Minds former Dawson's Creek star James van der Beek turns killer in the first of a two part storyline.

That just leaves TEN with its youthful line-up of Idol, Supernatural and the racy Californication.

May the best network win!
Read more...

Private Practice greenlights full series

The spin-off from Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, has been greenlighted to a full series by ABC.

It is currently the most successful new show of the Fall season.

In the US new series are never guaranteed a full run, until they have performed well in their first outings. Practice has held around 12m viewers, with wins in the 18-49 demographic. It will air in Australia on Seven next year.

Meanwhile sitcom Big Bang Theory for CBS has also won a full season. Nine has this for 2008.

Other approvals so far are Gossip Girl (Foxtel) and The Unit, which although not new, was only ordered for 13 eps and has been holding up well with 11m viewers. The following allows it to have a full series.

But the news is not so encouraging for Bionic Woman, which while tentatively viewed as a hit just lost 2m viewers this week, down to 8.5m after a strong opening of around 14m.

Sources: Variety,
NY Times
Read more...

'Tart-tongued' Dicko unleashed on America

Prior to his American debut, Dicko's first appearance on The Next Great American Band has him called 'tart-tongued' by one journo.

"'Band' follows a recipe similar to its benefactor: a pair of well-known judges and an unfamiliar-to-America wild card who plays the role of the, well, in this case, his name is revealing: Dicko," says MTV.

"The latter is Ian 'Dicko' Dickson, a tart-tongued former Australian 'Idol' judge who will take his place alongside former Prince protégé Sheila E. and Goo Goo Dolls singer Johnny Rzeznik."

The role will see our Dicko criss-cross the globe on a weekly basis, leaving Australia after Idol eps to record Band for FOX and returning back again for Idol.

Source: MTV
Read more...