Fairfax and News Ltd go for Gold Coast. A Crikey reader from the Gold Coast writes: With the successful launch of www.brisbanetimes.com.au by Fairfax, I wondered if they had plans for a Gold Coast edition to eventually take on reportedly the most profitable paper in the Murdoch stable: the Gold Coast Bulletin.

Sure enough www.gctimes.com.au has been registered. The domain is not hosted as yet – just parked:

Domain Name: gctimes.com.au
Registrar ID: Melbourne IT
Registrar Name: Melbourne IT
Status: ok

Registrant: Fairfax Digital Australia and New Zealand Pty Ltd
Registrant ID: ABN 34087887456
Eligibility Type: Company

Registrant ROID: C3001750-AR
Registrant Contact Name: Admin Contact Fairfax Digital
Registrant Email: Visit whois.ausregistry.com.au for Web based WhoIs

Tech ROID: C3001752-AR
Tech Name: Tech Contact Fairfax Digital
Tech Email: Visit whois.ausregistry.com.au for Web based WhoIs

Name Server: ns2.fairfax.com.au
Name Server IP: 203.5.59.241
Name Server: ns1.fairfax.com.au
Name Server IP: 203.26.177.241

However, then I wondered why they didn’t match the domain naming style of www.brisbanetimes.com.au, by registering the equivalent www.goldcoasttimes.com.au … The answer, it seems, is a little corporate domain hijacking by the opposition:

Domain Name: goldcoasttimes.com.au
Last Modified: 08-Mar-2007 01:29:59 UTC
Registrar ID: TPP Internet
Registrar Name: TPP Internet
Status: ok

Registrant: NEWS LIMITED
Registrant ID: ABN 47007871178
Eligibility Type: Company

Registrant ROID: C4776711-AR
Registrant Contact Name: Domain Administrator
Registrant Email: Visit whois.ausregistry.com.au for Web based WhoIs

Tech ROID: C4776712-AR
Tech Name: Domain Administrator
Tech Email: Visit whois.ausregistry.com.au for Web based WhoIs

Name Server: dns0.news.com.au
Name Server IP: 165.69.1.6
Name Server: dns1.news.com.au
Name Server IP: 165.69.1.7

Nine wins (and an idea to keep winning). A question: If Nine is cleared to show Underbelly in Melbourne, will it broadcast the 13-part series in Melbourne on Friday nights at 8.30pm, up against the AFL on Seven? Nine won last week nationally because of the impact of the State of Origin Rugby league game on Wednesday night. Nine won with 28.5% (27.7% a week earlier) from Seven with 26.7% (28.2%), Ten on 20.5% (20.4%), the ABC with 18.3% (18.1%) and SBS with 6.0% (5.6%). — Glenn Dyer

Eddie’s triumphs and trouncings. Well, Eddie McGuire was a winner and a loser from last week, and I don’t mean Carlton’s emphatic win over the Colliwobbles in the AFL yesterday. He had a column in yesterday’s Sunday Herald Sun recounting the experience hosting ACA for a week, but because it was written late last week he had to miss his biggest triumph: he lifted the ratings by 87,000 viewers a night on average over the week, thanks to the two exclusives with Roberta Williams, ex-wife of convicted killer, Carl Williams. Eddie took some skin out of Today Tonight on Seven: its average audience last week fell to an average 1.399 million from 1.435 million the week before. TT ‘s audience in Sydney and Melbourne fell last week and ACA under Eddie rose. ACA rose from 39th most watched show nationally to 27th with the average audience up to 1.235 million under Eddie, from 1.148 million with Leila McKinnon filling for the first week. Tracy Grimshaw is back this week and no doubt will be taking the odd look over the shoulder. But Eddie’s main gig on Nine is the returned eps of 1 vs 100: Friday night he did better than the first week back the previous Friday, with the audience in Melbourne rising to 204,000 from 199,000. But his opposition on Seven, Better Homes and Gardens, saw its national and Melbourne figures soar. The program was the second most watched program last week in Australia with over 1.6 million viewers. Perhaps Eddie is outgrowing his Melbourne audience and is a national figure? Why then haven’t Nine brought 1 vs 100 back to the national schedule? Because it won’t work — it doesn’t work in Melbourne. — Glenn Dyer

Ten’s poor performance seriously impacts CanWest. The Ten Network may have downgraded it’s share price by revealing a 10% fall in 2008 earnings because of an expected slump in TV revenues and profit this quarter, but the impact on its Canadian parent has been almost as dramatic. Ten cut its final dividend to 3.5c a share from 4c last year and the shares closed 10.4% lower at $1.765. It had a knock-on effect in Canada on Friday night as the share price of its parent CanWest Global Communications Corp fell 3% to a six-year low. The Ten share price finished at the lowest point for at least five years! CanWest controls about 56% of Ten’s shares. Some Canadian analysts and investors wanted CanWest to sell Ten last year after the Howard government eased media ownership rules. CanWest has huge debts: $A4 billion incurred when it purchased Alliance Atlantis Communications with the help of investment bank and partner, Goldman Sachs last year. In an effort to convince analysts of Ten’s long-term value — it churns out $80-100 million in annual dividends — CanWest flew in executives from Australia in January to talk to analysts about why the asset was too valuable to sell. But CanWest’s shares have slumped badly amid concerns over its $C3.9 billion debt. The shares closed on Friday in Canada at $C3.46, down 10 cents. That gave CanWest a market cap of $C611.2 million. Ten had a market cap on Friday of $1.637 billion, more than twice that of its parent. — Glenn Dyer

Last night’s TV ratings
The Winners: Seven News averaged 1.878 million nationally, powered by another solid effort in Melbourne and Brisbane. 60 Minutes was second with 1.635 million and Nine’s 6.30pm program, Domestic Blitz was 3rd with 1.515 million. CSI was 4th with 1.459 million and Seven’s new program The Battle of The Choirs was next with 1.445 million at 7.30pm. Nine News was 6th with 1.435 million (more than 400,000 behind Seven News) and Grey’s Anatomy averaged 1.281 million at 8.30pm. The 7pm ABC News averaged 1.267 million viewers and Wild China on the ABC at 7.30pm had a solid 1.267 million in 9th spot. Seven’s Gladiators averaged 1.254 million for 10th, Brothers and Sisters won the 9.30pm slot with 1.026 million; Big Brother’s Live Eviction was 12th with 1.010 million and Nine’s Without a Trace averaged 1.006 million at 9.30pm, and a rare loss. Rove averaged 903,000 after BB and Northanger Abbey, the latest Jane Austen bodice ripper on the ABC at 8.30pm averaged 964,000.

The Losers: Ten: another poor Sunday night. The Big brother Live Eviction averaged just over a million, which is said to be “good” by Ten. It is in fact “poor” compared to times gone by. At least the Live Eviction audience was up 150,000 on the 6.30pm BB which averaged 859,000. That’s tragic. It was beaten by The Einstein Factor on the ABC at 6.30pm with 964,000 and the 7pm ABC News with more than 1.2 million viewers.

News & CA: Seven News again won nationally and in every market but Sydney where Nine got up. The Seven News in Brisbane beat Nine by over 150,000 last night, 405,000 to 244,000. Delaying Carlton vs. Collingwood in Melbourne helped Seven win the news battle 587,000 to 463,000 for Nine. Ten News averaged 863,000. SBS News at 6.30 pm averaged a high 256,000 last night. In the Sunday Morning chat battle Early Weekend Sunrise from 7.30am averaged 177,000, Weekend Sunrise from 8am averaged 416,000, Landline on the ABC at noon averaged 275,000, Insiders at 9am on the ABC, a high 215,000; Inside Business at 10am, 156,000, Offsiders on the ABC at 10.30am, 150,000 (all three were solid), Sunday, 119,000 from 7.30am and a big disappointment, except for Laurie Oakes. Meet the Press at 8am was pre-empted by the Ten coverage of the US open, which averaged 201,000 up till the finish at noon after the 6am start.

The Stats: Nine won 6am to midnight All People with a share of 30.4% (31.6% a week ago) from Seven with 27.9% (25.3%), the ABC with 19.2% (20.1%), Ten with 18.5% (17.4%) and SBS with 4.1% (5.6%). Nine won Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide. Seven won Melbourne and Perth. It was a second week for Ten to finish 4th behind the ABC in third spot on a Sunday night. In regional areas a win to Nine through WIN/NBN with 36.6% in front of Prime/7Qld with 23.5%, Southern Cross (Ten) with 18.4%, the ABC with 17.2% and SBS with 4.3%.

Glenn Dyer’s comments: Nothing wrong with TV last night. Enough choice, and even a highlight or two. 60 Minutes went and looked at the oil sands in Canada, and forgot that Venezuela also has vast heavy oil deposits. At least the pollution angle to the story wasn’t forgotten. Seven’s The Battle of The Choirs, was better than anything the network has had in the timeslot of 7.30pm all year. Nine’s Domestic Blitz is still a ratings success and an emotional cripple. Tonight Andrew Denton talks to David Attenborough and the final episode of Desperate Housewives for the season on Seven at 8.30pm and then Boston Legal. Nine also has David Attenborough’s Elephant – A Spy in the Herd, this time at 7.30pm. Then Sea Patrol at 8.30pm. Ten has more Big Brother including the appalling Big Mouth program at 9.30pm. How to Look Good Naked at 8pm and Good News Week will do it tough because of BB from 7pm.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports