Channel Ten are seriously aware of how much they fucked up this year. A historically woeful ratings performance, buoyed in part by a well received Julian Assange mini-series, sport, and an obligation to launch as many permutations of MasterChef as possible, suggest a truly terrible year for the network, one which marked the ritual sacrifice of programming chief David Mott, The Shire, and the inexplicable production of some of the worst TV shows ever, ones which programming executives adult human beings with functioning eyeballs somehow considered a good idea at the time that not even a former Destiny’s Child member could save from being escorted behind the programming shed and euthanised.
Chairman Lachlan Murdoch admitted as much during his annual address to the network’s shareholders yesterday.
“Poor execution of our spring programming schedule compounded by a
weak advertising market, has negatively impacted our results,” he said. “We’ve all felt the pain, the advertising market in this
country has deteriorated significantly. We cannot put our heads in the
sand and hope things get better.”
The SMH also adds that “the broadcaster compounded its audience woes with a high-cost tilt at
news programming that meant its costs rose last year while viewers and
advertising revenue dropped significantly,” and that “about 100 news staff are
now being made redundant as the company reduces its costs to match
revenue.”
Despite conceding even more viewers to Nine and Seven this year, it’s not all doom and gloom for the network who are clearly now leaders in the hate-watch genre. Congratulations guys! More of the same next year please.
