As the TV year draws to a close, newly installed Seven CEO, James Warburton is continuing to ‘clean house’ by announcing the axing of several state-based travel shows.
The decision means Seven will cease producing brand funded local window programs which include Sydney Weekender, SA Weekender, The Great Weekend in Melbourne, and Queensland Weekender, The Great Day Out and Creek to Coast in Brisbane.
Update: TV Blackbox can confirm that there are no changes for WA with this announcement.
In some cases, episodes already produced will continue on-air through early 2020 but no new episodes are planned.
The popular programs had provided strong ‘lead-ins’ to weekend 6pm news bulletins across the country. The decision comes as the new CEO continues to reign in the budget at the network while investing more heavily in primetime content.
This latest announcement comes in the same week as the network confirms the axing of Today Tonight in Adelaide and Perth. Current affairs program Sunday Night has now broadcast its last episode after being axed in October.
Seven West Media Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, James Warburton, said:
“The programs that are not continuing have all made a valuable contribution to Seven, particularly Sydney Weekender which has been a Sydney weekend institution for 25 years.
However, we will continue to make decisions that support our content led growth strategy and focus resources where they will make the most impact.”
Featured
The Brisbane shows had a healthy dose of advertorial, and sponsorship from the likes of Queensland Rail, Isuzu, Discover Ipswich, the Cancer Council, and Tourism Queensland, so they must at least break even. I assume the interstate shows had similar funding arrangements and strong local appeal. As I’ve said before in the context of radio, commercial broadcast licences should be conditional on there being a certain amount of local content. News is not enough. Of course, Seven has axed so many people now, there’s virtually no one left in Brisbane to stand up for homegrown production. I can only assume that Seven is trimming itself down for sale or a merger. Is a deal with Nova, SCA or foreign asset-strippers on the horizon?
Yeah, the rumour is Seven are preparing themselves for sale and that News Corp is being courted to do "merge" with them like Nine merged with Fairfax.
The Brisbane shows had a healthy dose of advertorial, and sponsorship from the likes of Queensland Rail, Isuzu, Discover Ipswich, the Cancer Council, and Tourism Queensland, so they must at least break even. I assume the interstate shows had similar funding arrangements and strong local appeal. As I’ve said before in the context of radio, commercial broadcast licences should be conditional on there being a certain amount of local content. News is not enough. Of course, Seven has axed so many people now, there’s virtually no one left in Brisbane to stand up for homegrown production. I can only assume that Seven is trimming itself down for sale or a merger. Is a deal with Nova, SCA or foreign asset-strippers on the horizon?
Yeah, the rumour is Seven are preparing themselves for sale and that News Corp is being courted to do "merge" with them like Nine merged with Fairfax.