Australia’s Ten announces news shake-up

Wednesday 21 Sep 2011
Australia’s Ten Network has dumped The Late News and Sports Tonight in another major restructure of its news schedule, the Herald Sun reports.

Both late evening programmes will end next Friday, according to a leaked staff memo from the head of news and public affairs Dermot O’Brien.

The network has blamed “declining ratings and increased competition for audiences” for the decision.

In a publicity statement just released, the network has presented the changes as a re-allocation of its resources and a commitment to its 5 p.m. 90-minute bulletin.

Ten also said that Sports Tonight has not been dumped but will be part of its 5 p.m. news.

“This development is part of the strategy to focus our news resources on delivering a high calibre 90-minute nightly news service, seven nights a week at 5 p.m.,” Mr O’Brien told staff.

“Over the past 12 months we have made significant inroads towards developing a high quality news service that’s built to compete. Today’s announcement is about ensuring that our exceptional journalistic resources and talent are invested in the areas where they will continue to have the most benefit.”