MasterChef, the prequel. The good times are back in Australian TV. The indicators: Nine is bringing back The Block in the hope that it will be the biggest thing since, well, the second series in 2004 after which it was axed. The Reserve Bank’s rate rises might be a factor Nine should keep an eye on. Last night’s launch of the second series of MasterChef Australia in Sydney was another factor: last year 150 people turned up, this year 350, with good food (naturally), bubble, beer, fake tans, LBDs of all sizes and makes, contestants all over the place and Matt Preston looking as rounded as ever. And we have a broadcasting summit in Sydney where the cares and woes of the past three years were forgotten and the future studied. But all this won’t make the debt at Seven and Nine go away.

Masterchef #1: Kim Williams, at Foxtel, and Dave Malone, at Premier Media Group, should ignore the bait offered by Ten TV CEO Grant Blackley at yesterday’s broadcast summit in Sydney. Blackley said in in his speech: “This relatively low level of pay TV penetration is something that is often remarked upon by our international visitors who have witnessed the pay model achieve a much more entrenched position in their markets, within much shorter time frames than has been the case in Australia. Free-to-air television delivers mass audiences. We have a large number of programs which regularly deliver in excess of one million viewers at a time.” Normally that would drag the pay-TV mob out of their bunkers in reply.

Mastechef #2. So before Williams pens another missive on facts, let me say just one thing in response to Blackley’s comments: “anti-siphoning”. That list of sports preserved for free-to-air TV has done as much as anything to keep pay TV’s penetration low in this country. And, of course, Blackley isn’t shy using pay TV for Ten’s own ends. Ten is partnering for Foxtel in the Commonwealth Games later this year. Nor is David Gyngell at Nine, which partnered with Foxtel for the recent Winter Olympics and will back up in 2012 for the London summer Games. So while the FTA networks bag Foxtel, they are keen to use its money and financial strength when it suits them. And, of course, Kerry Stokes is paying Foxtel and PMG the ultimate compliment by putting his money where his ambitions lie at Cons Media, which owns 25% of Foxtel and 50% of  PMG.

Masterchef #3. One thing Blackley didn’t mention in his speech was that the Ten Network is Asper-free with the collapse of Canwest Global into bankruptcy. Next Wednesday Ten produces its first six months figures as a standalone, company independent of Canwest and the Aspers (who needed every dollar that Ten could generate because of the huge debts they had loaded onto Canwest). It is the only commercial TV network in this country wholly Australian owned: Nine is controlled by CVC, the European and Asian buyout group. Seven has 47% owned by KKR, WIN is controlled by the Gordon family, with Bruce Gordon a tax exile in Bermuda, Prime is controlled by Kerry Stokes, Lachie Murdoch and Paul Ramsey, but is not national. Macquarie Media, (about to become Southern cross) is now independent of Macquarie Group, but is a regional broadcaster.

Masterchef #4: The tone at last night’s launch was ebullient. It reminded me of parties in the 1990s and the early years of last decade. There were thousands of people auditioned and one ep will show the finalists catering to a P&O cruise ship, preparing 8000 entrees. Ten has a lot riding on it ;$20 million reportedly in sponsorships, against $5 million, perhaps $7 million last year (and a lot more from people hopping into the program towards the end). No wonder ad bookings for TV land are up 6% to 8% and heading towards 10% this half. The gloom of 2009 has gone, leaving behind the ugly debt piles at Nine and Seven and a bit around the edges at Ten. And those interest payments.

It’s only the UK economy. The British Budget is out tonight (our time), and there’s already a long line of people who don’t like what the Brown Labour Government will be offering. Britain’s main employer group, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), is forecasting a sluggish recovery for the economy. The employers want debt and the deficit cut, as well as government spending . There does seem to be a glimmer of recognition that this could mean lower economic growth, high levels of unemployment and a weak economy for much longer than many businesses will find comfortable. The CBI forecast unemployment to continue rising to a peak of 2.75 million later in the year, before falling in 2011.

This was in the Australian Financial Review, page 48, yesterday: “I’ didn’t know much about financial markets after 30-odd years in Treasury — I’ve learnt most of what I know since I came here.” Ted Evans Westpac chairman and from 1993 to 2001, head of federal Treasury, a position that required him to sit on the board of the Reserve Bank. That included the Asian financial crisis in 1997-98 and the collapse of Long Term Capital and Russia’s debt default, both in 1998.