Another Ten failure as The Shire is quietly axed

We say goodbye on Monday September 10 to The Shire, one of the worst programs to appear on Australian TV in recent years

The Glenn Dyer breakdown: A close night, almost a draw between Seven and Nine, but not between Ten and the ABC, which ended up third, again, for the fifth night in a row.

On the whole though, the night was forgettable, especially the weak documentary on a big cruise liner, Mighty Ships, Seven aired in NRL markets at 7.30pm. That was PR pap. Nights like that make Thursday night shopping such a joy. Last night even makes me look forward to next Thursday night when the second series of Rake appears on ABC 1. My least favourite ABC program of 2011 looked positively interesting from the promo last night, especially compared with the dross that screened on the rest of the networks.

ABC 2’s coverage of the Paralympics boosted it to top spot in the digital channels with wins in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. Brisbane and Perth viewers weren’t so interested. In regional markets, ABC 2 finished third behind 7mate and 7TWO. The live ABC 1 broadcast of the Opening to the games averaged 211,000 national viewers from 5.20am to 8.30am. The ABC 1 6pm to 7pm coverage had 511,000 viewers who watched the highlights of the opening.

The final episode of Go Back to Where You Came From averaged 692,000 metro and 940,000 national viewers on SBS ONE last night. Insight has a follow up tonight.

And we say goodbye on Monday September 10 to The Shire, one of the worst programs to appear on Australian TV in recent years (along, it must be said, with Everybody Dance Now).

Tonight: The last competition rounds for the AFL start on Seven (main channel digital channels) and on Foxtel (Fox Sports) and NRL on Nine (main and digital channels). Seven also has Better Homes and Gardens on the main channel in NRL markets. Nine also has Big Brother. Ten has The Living Room, SBS has an Insight special at 8.30pm to follow up on the three part second series of Go Back to Where You Came From. ABC 1 has another Scott & Bailey. Paralympics on ABC 1 and 2 tonight through Sunday.

Saturday: AFL on Seven and Foxtel, NRL on Foxtel. The Inspector Morse repeat is on 7TWO at 8.45pm. Seven has lots of movies in NRL markets. Nine and Ten have lots of movies nationally. SBS has a fresh RocKwiz. The ABC has a New Tricks repeat and then a Agatha Christie’s Poirot repeat from 7.30pm on ABC 1. The Tour of Spain on SBS ONE tonight and tomorrow night from around 11.35pm.

Sunday: The morning chats. NRL on Foxtel and Nine. AFL on Seven and Foxtel. Sunday Night and more Kath & Kim: The Souvenir Editions on Seven, but it has been shuffled back to the unfunny time of 9.10pm because of weak ratings and two new episodes of Border Security dropped into 7.30pm and 8pm slots. Mrs Brown’s Boys is brought forward to 8.30pm. Ten is a disaster area — avoid. Nine has Big Brother, 60 Minutes and starts a local series called House Husbands at 8.30pm. It will either be a pleasant surprise, or a one trick wonder from Nine. The ABC has a new UK series, Call The Midwife, from 8.30pm. The Miss Marple repeat is back to 9.30pm. ET (the movie) is on 7mate at 7pm. The Client is on Gem at 8.30pm.

The top 10 national programs (metro & regional combined):

Seven News — 1.717 million
A Current Affair — 1.554 million
Nine News — 1.550 million
Mrs Brown’s Boys (Seven) — 1.423 million
Home and Away (Seven) — 1.410 million
ABC News — 1.405 million
Big Brother (Nine) — 1.383 million
Today Tonight (Seven) — 1.265 million
Big Brother: Confidential (Nine) — 1.197 million
7.30 (ABC 1) — 1.009 million

The Metro Winners:

Seven News (6pm) — 1.160 million
Nine News (6pm) — 1.049 million
Big Brother (Nine) (7pm) — 1.040 million
Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.028 million
ABC News (7pm) — 1.009 million

The Losers: Ten, again, again, again..

Metro News & CA: Nine News won Sydney by 76,000 viewers, but lost Melbourne and the rest to Seven News, with a 95,000 losing margin in Perth. A Current Affairs won Sydney and Melbourne, but lost the rest to Today Tonight, with a big loss in Perth, again.

Seven News (6pm) — 1.160 million
Nine News (6pm) — 1.049 million
Today Tonight (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.028 million
ABC News — 1.009 million
A Current Affair (Nine) (6.30pm) — 984,000
7.30 (ABC) (7.30pm) — 697,000
Ten News (Ten) (5pm) — 677,000
The Project (Ten) (6.30pm) — 510,000
The Project (Ten) (6pm) — 421,000
Lateline (ABC) (10.35pm) — 160,000
SBS News (6.30pm) — 140,000
Ten News (Ten) (10.30pm) — 128,000
The Business (ABC) (11.10pm) — 108,000
SBS News (10.30pm) — 87,000
The Drum (News 24) (6pm) — 44,000

In the morning: News Breakfast on ABC 1 had its highest ever figures yesterday morning as the number of viewers was boosted by the Paralympics Opening Ceremony coverage that ended at 8.30pm. Ten’s Breakfast slid, again.

Sunrise (Seven) (7am) — 378,000
Today (Nine) (7am) — 324,000
The Morning Show (Seven) (9am) — 170,000
News Breakfast (ABC) (7am) — 160,000 (+32,000)*
Mornings (Nine) (9am) — 103,000
Breakfast (Ten) (7am) — 30,000

*On News 24 simulcast

Metro FTA: Seven (3 channels) won with a share of 29.5% from Nine on 27.6%, the ABC (4) was on 20.2%, Ten (3) was on 15.2% and SBS (2) ended on 7.6%. Seven now leads the week with 31.1% from Nine on 28.9%, the ABC with 18.2%, Ten with 14.9% and SBS (2) with 6.9%. Main Channels: Seven won narrowly with 20.8% from Nine on 20.6%, ABC 1 was on 13.5%, Ten was back on 9.7% and SBS ONE was on 6.8%. Nine still leads the week with 22.6% from Seven on 22.3%, ABC 1 on 13.6% and Ten on 9.5%.

Metro Digital: The Paralympics coverage boosted ABC 2 to top spot with a share of 5.0%, from 7TWO and GO tied with 4.4% each, 7mate on 4.3%, Eleven was on 3.8%. Gem was on 2.5%, ONE, 1.8%, ABC 3, 1.0%, SBS TWO, 0.8% and News 24, 0.7%. The 10 channels had an FTA viewing share last night of a high 29.7%. 7TWO and 7mate lead the week on 4.4% each, with GO on 3.5%.

Metro including Pay TV: Seven (3 channels) won with a share of 24.7% from Nine on 23.0%, the ABC (4) was on 16.9%, Ten (3) was on 12.7% and SBS (2) ended on 6.3%. The 15 FTA channels had a total share last night of 85.8%, with the five main channels on a share of 61.7% and the 10 digital channels share, a high 24.1%. The 200 plus channels on Foxtel saw Pay TV’s share steady on 14.2% from the night before.

The top five pay TV channels were:

LifeStyle & Fox 8 (2.6%)
TV1 (2.3%)
Fox Sports 3 & A&E (1.6%)
Crime and Investigations, Fox Footy, Comedy Channel, Fox Classics & Discovery (1.4%)
LifeStyle you (1.3%)

The five most-watched programs on pay TV were:

AFL: 360 (FF) — 100,000
The Simpsons (Fox 8) — 88,000
AFL: League Teams (FF) — 82,000
America’s Got Talent (Fox 8) — 78,000
Grand Designs (LifeStyle) — 73,000

Regional: prime/7Qld (3 channels) won with a share of 33.5%, from WIN/NBN (3) on 26.0%, the ABC (4) was third with 18.9% and SC Ten (2) was on 14.5%. SBS (2) was on 7.2%. Prime/7Qld won the main channels with 22.0% from WIN/NBN on 19.0%, ABC 1 was on 12.1% and SC Ten ended with just 7.7%. 7mate won the digitals with 6.4% from 7mate on 5.0% and ABC 2 on 4.7%. The 10 digital channels had a very high FTA share last night of 32.8%. Prime/7Qld leads the week on 33.1% from WIN/NBN on 28.7%.

The five most-watched programs in regional markets were:

A Current Affair — 570,000
Seven News — 558,000
Mrs Brown’s Boys — 509,000
Nine News — 502,000.
Home and Away — 453,000

Major Metro Markets: A clean sweep for the ABC and ABC 1 in that they finished third overall and in the main channels in all five metro markets, with Ten a distant 4th. Nine won Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane overall and in the main channels, but Seven had huge wins in Adelaide and Perth in particular that was enough to push it in front nationally. ABC 2 was the digitals in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. GO won Brisbane, 7mate won Perth. Seven leads Nine and the ABC everywhere bar Melbourne where its Nine from Seven and the ABC.

(All shares on the basis of combined overnight 6pm to midnight All People)

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports