How on-set tensions with Jonathan LaPaglia led to his sacking and doomed the show.
In this edition of Media McKnight:
- Australian Survivor’s theme for its ‘final’ season
- NRL’s $5.3B rights deal – and the anti-siphoning question nobody’s asking
- Daryl Somers on the Hey Hey TV Week snub
- National Press Club’s 480p problem
- Channel 10’s weaving workshops amid $566m in losses
You can watch the video edition of Media McKnight below:
NO CHANCE OF SURVIVAL
Channel 10 is gearing up to shoot what is likely the final season of Australian Survivor.
With a change of location to Malaysia, sources tell me production company Endemol Shine is struggling to make a reduced budget work, and the whole thing is already turning into a sh*t show.
Media McKnight can also reveal that the theme for the season will be ‘rivals’.
After the sacking of original host Jonathan LaPaglia, the show is set to finish on a whimper with audiences tuning out from the series hosted by his replacement, David Genat.
The decision to cast Genat has led to lower ratings – and lower advertising revenue.
Now angry insiders are revealing what went on behind the scenes during LaPaglia’s time on the show… and it turns out it certainly wasn’t a case of happy campers.
And this year’s theme of rivals is apt considering what I’m now hearing about the production of the show.
Multiple sources have revealed to Media McKnight that tensions were high between LaPaglia and a high-level Producer working on the show.
As one source told me…
“Jonathan wanted to be involved in the show’s creative process and often pitched ideas he believed would improve the program. However, Production rarely entertained them. They wanted a host who would simply deliver the lines and direction they envisioned, but Jonathan wasn’t that person”.
Apparently, that led to a showdown between the two, and their relationship never recovered.
In fact, it’s alleged there were some seasons where the two barely talked, and sources claim on one occasion the two argued in front of contestants, who had to be taken away.
Endemol Shine Australia denies the claims, but I’ve been ringing around, and it seems the hostility between the two was common knowledge.
Look, that certainly can happen when a host and Producer have different ideas about content.
And one of my sources even acknowledged that, saying:
“Was Jonathan difficult at times? Certainly. But many who worked on the show believed that stemmed from the way he was treated by Endemol executives rather than from his personality alone”.
How – and whether – those tensions led to LaPaglia’s sacking is up for debate, but sacking a popular host is always a risk.
Sometimes you can do it and everything just continues as normal – but that probably says a lot more about the host you already had.
In the case of Australian Survivor, there’s no doubt LaPaglia was loved by viewers.
Now, they’ve tuned out and the show is hanging by a thread… unlikely to survive the next season.
DARYL REACTS TO TV WEEK SNUB
There’s a lot of confusion over why Hey Hey It’s Saturday was snubbed by TV WEEK in its shortlist for the top 70 Aussie TV Shows of all time.
That’s despite the fact host Daryl Somers is a three-time Gold Logie winner and the show won multiple awards over the years.
I spoke to Daryl on a recent edition of McKnight Tonight about the snub, who told me:
“Bewildered. Honestly bewildered.”
“I thought maybe it’s a PR stunt that they’ll take something obvious off the list and it’ll create controversy and therefore give them more publicity for their list,”
“But, you know, I would dearly love to know the real reason why we’re not included.”
It’s a very good question and one TV WEEK wasn’t really able to answer when approached by The Age.
According to TV Week editorial director Amber Giles:
“The shortlist was designed to spark conversation, not define it,”
“Australians were encouraged to vote for any show that shaped their TV experience, regardless if it was on the 140-show shortlist or not. We love to see the passion this poll has brought.”
Was it wokeism? Was it because it was just an oversight? Is it because a 21-year-old compiled the list?
We don’t know, but we do know the answer we got doesn’t cut it.
During my chat with Daryl, he also revealed plans for a new streaming service and stage show. The current website at heyhey.tv will be teaming up with Vimeo and Stripe, giving viewers access to over 800 episodes.
Daryl is also shooting brand new links which will include stories about the making of the show.
There are no dates set for the stage show as yet, but plans include a giant LED screen, a band and special guests.
THE BIG ISSUE FACING THE NRL BROADCAST DEAL
Peter V’landys has done it – he’s secured a record-breaking TV rights deal for the NRL…. eclipsing the AFL’s current deal.
The seven-year contract is worth 5.3 billion dollars, with Nine and Foxtel retaining the rights.
Foxtel/DAZN will air all games except for State of Origin and the Grand Final.
“We’re about to announce the highest ever media broadcast deal in Australian sports history” stated a very happy V’landys.
“Starting from 2027 for a seven-year period where we’re getting $5.3 billion in media rights. Most is cash. 95% is cash. 5% is Contra. This compares to the previous deal where the Contra was 10%. So we have got a 90% uplift in cash”.
V’landys also confirmed Amazon was a bidder, ultimately missing out for the status quo.
As part of the deal, Foxtel’s owner – DAZN – will market the game to its 400 million subscribers around the world.
Foxtel CEO Patrick Delany explained what his company gets for its $500-million per year”
“We’ve been, uh, partners with the NRL for 30 years. When you add another seven, that’s good. During those 30 years, the NRL’s grown and it’s become very important to our business, so we’re very glad to be here on the renewal. The deal’s good for our customers. As the NRL grows and adds more games, we get more games, more exclusivity. We’re really hoping for the 20th team to be added. And by the time there are 10 games, we’ll have seven of those exclusive and three non-exclusive, which is great”.
Exclusivity for Foxtel/DAZN is a very interesting component here because under the anti-siphoning legislation, there should be no exclusivity for pay TV providers like Foxtel/Kayo.
Well, that’s my interpretation of it.
Is the deal legal?
The anti-siphoning list was last updated by then Minister for Communications, Michelle Rowland, in November 2024.
The NRL is the 7th listed sport and says:
(1) Each match in the National Rugby League Premiership, including the Finals Series.
(2) Each match in the National Rugby League State of Origin Series.
That says to me that EVERY game should be available to fans – FOR FREE.
There’s no carve-out- there’s no allocation of a number of matches that don’t have to be made available for free.
So, how can Foxtel have exclusive matches that people have to pay to see?
It’s the same for the AFL.
There’s no doubt Foxtel pays a lot more for rights, which is why the free-to-air broadcasters turn a blind eye – but it seems the Government does too.
Under the legislation, ALL games should be available to watch for free.
It’s not ambiguous.
Nine a winner… and a loser!
Meanwhile, Nine had made an audacious bid for all the rights so that it could put the games currently aired by Foxtel onto its streaming platform STAN.
Nine’s CEO, Matt Stanton, would have been disappointed in the outcome but at least happy to retain the free-to-air rights.
Also speaking at the press conference, Stanton didn’t seem to be bustling with the same level of enthusiasm as Delany, saying:
“Nine are delighted to retain their rights. You know, we’ve had the rights for 30 years and we’re really pleased to pick up the free-to-air rights.”
“It’s very important for us to be the only free-to-air owner of those rights, so very important. And the exclusivity around State of Origin and the finals. So we’re absolutely delighted with that. And, you know, it really is key to our network”.
The words were right, but the delivery seemed off.
And there could be a reason for that.
As James Madden points out in The Australian, Nine’s streaming ambitions have been dashed with this deal.
It’s no secret Nine is pivoting it’s business from free to air TV over to its streaming service STAN.
It’s a smart play.
But part of that plan required high-value sporting rights, and the company was hoping to build its subscription base with the NRL.
When Foxtel got wind of Nine’s plans it started putting together a bid to buy all the rights and then on-sell games to Channel 7 and Channel 10.
Seven was very keen to get State of Origin and the Grand Final but neither plan stood a chance, with V’landys too smart to choose one player over the other.
Once he hit the financial benchmark, it made sense for him to go with the status quo.
Why put all your eggs in one basket?
You can’t blame Nine for being audacious, but you also can’t blame the NRL for wanting multiple partners.
It just makes sense.
NATIONAL PRESS CLUB FAIL
I interviewed Pauline Hanson last week on McKnight Tonight and when I went to get a grab of her National Press Club address I was more than a little surprised to find her speech had only been uploaded to the National Press Club YouTube page in 480p.
The footage looks like the thing was recorded on VHS
I mean, seriously, it’s 2026!
The show I make in my garage is in high definition, and with all the resources the Press Club has, they can only do 480p?
And while we’re on speeches at the press club, why on earth are they not streamed live on their YouTube page.
I know the ABC broadcasts them (and sometimes SKY NEWS), but it beggars belief these speeches are not available live and in high definition on the YouTube page of the actual organisers.
Seriously, do better.
10 GOES WEAVING
Imagine your Australia’s third-place commercial TV network… fourth if you include the ABC.
You’ve had a combined pre-tax loss of approximately $566 million between 2023 – 2025.
Would you be focused on increasing ratings and revenue?
Well, not the folks at Channel 10… they’re more interested in teaching staff how to weave.
I kid you not.
As first reported by entertainment guru Peter Ford, the network is holding weaving sessions on Thursday as part of NAIDOC Week.
You can’t make this stuff up.
Maybe the network is trying to teach staff new skills for when the next round of redundancies take place?
There’s no doubt NAIDOC Week is worth celebrating, but surely staff should be more focused on using their time to draw audiences to the troubled network.
And, don’t forget, this is the same network that cancelled Australia Day because it is “not a day of celebration”.
You know what they say – you go woke you go broke – and Channel 10 certainly seems to be proving that’s true.
Media McKnight is published on YouTube every Tuesday at 8pm AEST at YouTube.com/@McKnightTonight.
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Darryl Brew