How DAVID KOCH backed SEVEN into a corner during contract negotiations

There has been plenty of media speculation about whether Kochie would continue to host Australia’s #1 breakfast show but, as I stated a year ago, he guaranteed he wouldn’t be going anywhere.

People have been writing David Koch off for over a year now, but today The Sunday Telegraph reports he has signed a new contract with Channel 7 for at least a year.

Well knock me down with a feather.

The media bubble has been gunning for Kochie for some time now. His departure from Sunrise would provide plenty of column inches and ongoing fodder in the battle for breakfast.

But it was NEVER going to happen.

And it’s not because he is hosting Australia’s number 1 breakfast program – the departure of Melissa Doyle in 2013 proved Seven are not afraid to make on-air changes to the program.

No, Kochie played it smart and made a very public statement that pushed Seven into a corner when he told The Herald Sun last year;

“I’m there if the viewers say yes, and if the bosses say yes. I’m like any other person, in any other job. But it’s a job that gets measured every day.

“If people still want me, I’d love to do it. It’s a privilege.”

Those quotes were in reference to ongoing rumours he was set to be replaced. On October 13 last year I wrote;

The rumours persist and Kochie’s been in the game long enough to know there’s no guarantee he’ll be allowed to continue hosting the show he took to number 1.

But if the network decide to let him go, they won’t be able to spin it that he has left by his own choosing.  Kochie is making it clear, time and time again, that he wants to stay.

I went on to make the point Seven would have trouble spinning the line Kochie had resigned when he was so public about wanting to stay;

Kochie has drawn a line in the sand and backed the network into a corner.  If they want him gone, they’ll have to wear a PR storm.

It’s a tactic previously used by Chris Bath when rumours were circulating she would not take over from legendary news reader Ian Ross upon his retirement as the main news reader for 7 News. Bath went on the offensive during an interview with Steve Price on 2UE and specifically named the executives who had promised her the gig;

“When Roscoe retires I am taking over Monday to Friday … and Fergo will be doing weekends. That’s the plan,”

“That’s what I’ve been told. I have no reason to disbelieve David Leckie , Peter Meakin or Chris Willis.”

It was a smart move and Bath eventually assumed the role.

it would seem the only way to guarantee your safety in television is to make sure a network can’t spin your sacking. Both Bath and Koch have learned this lesson well.