There’s no love lost between the two fierce rivals as we reveal the answer to the burning question everyone has about the coaches of THE VOICE
Channel 9 has taken a shot at rival Seven after the network secured the rights to reality TV favourite The Voice for 2021. In a statement issued to TV Blackbox the network points out Seven is building success from its old shows, but says it is not sad to see The Voice out of its slate:
“Unfortunately due to the age of the show and declining demographic profile, The Voice had become by far the poorest financial performer on our slate. We wish 7 well in their quest to revive yet another Nine show.
As we reported earlier this morning, Channel 7 has swept in and picked up the rights to The Voice from ITV after Channel 9 failed to renew within the required timeframe. Sonia Kruger will return as host.
The statement is not without truth. This year Seven has aired Big Brother and Farmer Wants A Wife, which both aired on Nine (Big Brother has also aired on 10). The procurement of those productions has seen a lift in Seven’s ratings share with the programs outperforming My Kitchen Rules and House Rules, both of which were long term Seven shows.
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Last week Nine CEO Hugh Marks claimed the show was a “$40m cost in the schedule”, but many in the industry believe this was an inflated price. TV Blackbox understands this figure isn’t just production costs but includes marketing as well.
Sources at Seven say they will produce a ‘supercharged’ version of the show for less than half that. Those sources also point out in these uncertain times The Voice is a production which is can still be made during COVID-19 and is within Seven’s budget plans.
Nine, meanwhile, is in a comfortable position in being able to trim shows without affecting its overall performance. The network is set to host its annual upfronts in the coming weeks and has warned media commentators not to expect any major changes. For the network which has built a solid lineup of programming it will be business as usual:
“We are very excited about the schedule we have now set for reinvigorating our slate and we will have announcements at our upfronts on September 16. We remain focussed on our audience and the financial performance of Nine.”
There has also been plenty of speculation on whether the current coaches of The Voice will move across to Seven. TV Blackbox can reveal Guy Sebastian, Delta Goodrem, Boy George and Kelly Rowland are not contracted to Nine and are only on run-of-show contracts. This means Seven can, if they choose to, do new deals with the current coaching team. Presumably, the network will want to make some changes to the lineup.
