V8 Boss: "Ten's attitude is unacceptable"

The head of V8 Supercars Australia has accused Network TEN of being "unreasonable and un-Australian" in its blocking of live telecasts in Adelaide.

Tony Cochrane is threatening to pull the V8 Supercars from the Australian Grand Prix if Formula One network TEN has broadcast rights.

“One can only wonder how Network TEN claims to be the home of motorsport yet behaves in this totally un-Australian way to deny the very fans of the sport," he said.

The tense situation has arisen because the Seven network is required to transmit a replay of the Foxtel-produced Adelaide v Geelong game from AAMI Stadium for SA viewers. Seven had hoped to do so after showing the V8 series live in Adelaide instead of the coverage of the St Kilda versus Kangaroos game.

The AFL television rights deal dictates that each of Foxtel, Seven, Ten and the AFL must agree to proposed scheduling changes.

The AFL and Foxtel has consented to the change. But TEN refused.

Consequently, this weekend’s Sunday racing at Eastern Creek in Sydney will not be shown in Adelaide until 10.30pm.

"Ten's attitude is unacceptable,” Mr Cochrane said. “Seven has done all its power as has the AFL to overcome a scheduling issue which impacts only in Adelaide. Sadly, for reasons only it could explain, Ten has decided to veto any change proposed by both the AFL, Foxtel and Seven.

“Because of this we will now only attend the AGP next year if organisers can guarantee that Network Ten will not televise any V8 Supercar footage from that event,” Mr Cochrane said.

Press Release:

The V8 Supercar Championship Series may not return to the Australian Grand Prix next year if Network Ten continues to block coverage of the sport into Adelaide through its’ unreasonable behaviour.

V8 Supercars Australia Chairman Tony Cochrane today revealed the reason why Adelaide fans are being robbed of Sunday coverage of the sport that is treasured in South Australia – because Network Ten will not allow the Seven Network to do so.

As part of a four-way AFL agreement between the networks, the AFL and Foxtel, all four parties must agree to allow a change to AFL scheduling.

Seven is prepared to drop one of the two Sunday AFL games and show V8 Supercars from Eastern Creek this weekend in order to bring South Australia into line with every other market in the country. Seven, the AFL and Foxtel have all agreed the change which would mean South Australian viewers get what they want. Although their AFL coverage is not affected in any way, Network Ten refuses.

“Because of this we will now only attend the AGP next year if organisers can guarantee that Network Ten will not televise any V8 Supercar footage from that event,” Mr Cochrane said. “As much as we would like to finalise arrangements with the Australian Grand Prix, who we have been working quietly with for some months, and attend for our fans, sponsors and corporate partners it will not happen if Network Ten telecast the V8 Supercar component of the event.

“We will now only attend so the fans and corporates at the event can experience the thrill of seeing V8 Supercars race live. We have been working tirelessly behind the scenes to achieve a resolution to this problem in Adelaide and have agreement between Seven, the AFL and Foxtel.

“One can only wonder how Network Ten claims to be the home of motorsport yet behaves in this totally un-Australian way to deny the very fans of the sport.”

The impasse means that this weekend’s Sunday racing at Eastern Creek in Sydney will not be shown in Adelaide until 10.30pm whilst in every other market it will be live or near live.

"Ten's attitude is unacceptable,” Mr Cochrane said. “Seven has done all its power as has the AFL to overcome a scheduling issue which impacts only in Adelaide. Sadly, for reasons only it could explain, Ten has decided to veto any change proposed by both the AFL, Foxtel and Seven.

“V8 Supercars Australia and Seven are already working on scheduling for next season and are committed to ensuring that Adelaide will not miss out on a live or near-live broadcast in 2008. The tens of thousands of fans who are upset should express their concern directly to Network Ten." Read more...

The Gift that keeps on giving

Nine has announced Tara Brown as narrator for its new observational series about organ donation, The Gift.

It's a subject that has been in the news this week after Endemol's Dutch kidney-contest show turned out to be a hoax.

Donor donation was also the subject of two earlier specials on the TEN Network earlier this year, The Ultimate Donation. Whilst it didn't rate that well, RPA has been going great guns for Nine, so it's obviously all about packaging, scheduling and the type of audience networks specialise in.

Press Release:

The Nine Network and FremantleMedia Australia are proud to present The Gift, an eight-episode factual series hosted by 60 Minutes reporter Tara Brown which showcases the stories, trauma and importance of organ donation and transplants.

Nine’s director of programming, Michael Healy, said today: “This is a remarkable new series for Nine which chronicles the complex issues surrounding organ donation.

“For the families of organ donors and the recipients there are a myriad of emotions that each person will face.

We are incredibly privileged to be able to tell their stories.”

The Gift, which will be narrated by Brown, is an original format which has been championed by FremantleMedia Australia CEO, Mark Fennessy.

"There are presently hundreds of people across the country desperately waiting for the call that will save their lives,” Mr Fennessy said. “We'll follow their dramatic stories and the extraordinary Australians who run the donor and recipient teams. The Gift will be a ground-breaking, inspirational and life-affirming series like no other, because there is nothing greater than the gift of life.”

The Gift is remarkable, life-changing television. It will follow real life stories as they happen. We will see the donor family and their journey as they face a wall of grief, yet still choose to give life to strangers they will never meet.

The Gift will profile the people on the transplant list who wait for the call that will rush them to hospital, surgery and an uncertain future. Extraordinary professionals work around the clock to make this happen.

Medical procedures will inform and intrigue audiences, who will witness first-hand the resilience of people facing some of the most extreme circumstances.

The production is based in Melbourne, executive producer is Paul Franklin and series producer is Julia Peters. The Gift will work closely with Life Gift, the division of the Red Cross responsible for organ donation and transplants. The series will premiere later in the year. Read more...

A Jamie Blitz

He's on Nine, Seven, he's on Nine.

Jamie Durie is even on TEN when he's a guest of Oprah.

Now Nine is bringing back Backyard Blitz to Sunday nights - with Durie hosting!

What a confusing, sprawling mess is our scheduling these days!

So Durie, the man who parted ways with Nine when they said the gardening genre had been exhausted, and ran to the Seven Network, will re-appear in a new series of Backyard Blitz from 6:30pm Sunday June 17.

The "Junior Landcare Blitz" which sees the team helping out a school after Cyclone Larry will replace The Lost Tribes.

These are obviously first-run eps the network owns but have kept on the shelf. After all Cyclone Larry hit Innisfail in March 2006.

2006!

Durie left nine in January 2007.

He is now signed to the Seven Network where he will appear in Australia's Best Backyards.

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Can Tinky Wink get into a gay pub?

Here's a sneak peek at tonight's episode of The Chaser's War on Everything in which that supposedly gay TeleTubby tries to get into the Peel Hotel, Melbourne!

Last week the Peel won a discrimination ruling that allowed it to ban heterosexuals. So how does Tinky Winky fare?




The Chaser's War on Everything airs tonight at 9pm on ABC TV.

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Wed June 6

[Seven/11:00am] Moonlighting. ATOMIC SHAKESPEARE. A boy hoping to watch Moonlighting but forced to study Shakespeare instead daydreams about the cast performing their own version of The Taming of the Shrew.
[Seven/8:30pm] Heroes. CHAPTER NINETEEN '.07%' After 'helping' Suresh search for more people with special abilities, Sylar's rampage continues. Nathan must factor what he's learned from Linderman into difficult decisions that will shape the future - for him, his family, New York City and the world. As Thompson uses every tool at his disposal to find Claire, Linderman drafts Jessica into his far-reaching plans. Guest starring ERIC ROBERTS, MALCOLM MCDOWELL.
[Seven/9:30pm] Prison Break. SWEET CAROLINE. Michael pays the consequences, but finally comes face to face with the president. An unlikely alliance forms between Bellick and Sucre. T-Bag loses his money. C-Note's offered an out if he double-crosses Mahone.
[Seven/10:30pm] 24. 3:00 A.M. - 4:00 A.M.Jack must pull out all the stops to retrieve his nephew, while the White House tries a desperate manoeuvre to retrieve the component from the Chinese. Guest starring RICK SCHRODER and POWERS BOOTHE.
[Seven/11:30pm] The Night Stalker. Pilot. PILOT Carl Kolchak is the 'Night Stalker,' a newspaper reporter who investigates strange deaths and unexplained phenomena. When a pregnant woman is attacked and murdered, her husband is accused but Kolchak senses there is more to the story. Starring STUART TOWNSEND, GABRIELLE UNION, ERIC JUNGMANN, COTTER SMITH, DAVID DENMAN, ELE KEATS, J MARVIN CAMPBELL, TIMOTHY MCNEIL, CLAY WILCOX, SARAH LAFLEUR, MADELINE CARROLL and SUSAN MISNER.

[Ten/7:00pm] Big Brother. 1 hr.
[Ten/8:30pm] House. “Insensitive.”
[Ten/9:30pm] Medium. “The Boy Next Door.”

[Nine/8:30pm] Cold Case. “Blackout” Guest: Donna Mills
[Nine/9:30pm] Without a Trace. “Tail Spin”

[ABC/8:30pm] Spicks And Specks. Joining Adam Hills this week are Katy Steele (Little Birdy), John Reid, Shane Jacobsen and Mikey Robins.
[ABC/9:00pm] The Chaser's War On Everything. George W. Bush waged a war on terror, but only The Chaser has the courage to wage a War On Everything.
[ABC/9:30pm] The Robinsons. Ed starts dating his neighbour Zara, believing she is his ideal partner... until she becomes obsessed with his family. She even reinstates the passion between Ed's parents, much to his horror. CAST: Martin Freeman.
[ABC/10:00pm] At The Movies. Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton take us into the world of cinema. Shrek 3 plus interview with Jeffrey Katzenberg - Dreamworks producer. Hostel II plus interview with director Eli Roth. Driving Lessons starring Julie Walters. Sydney Film Festival highlights package…

[SBS/7:30pm] Vasili's Garden - A fresh and thoroughly entertaining gardening program with a little bit of piano accordion and a lot of information. Each week, real-life gardening guru Vasili Kanidiadis starts off pruning, trimming and spraying in his own garden, before visiting a special garden or two. He's there to solve problems - providing seasonal tips and advice - as well as to explore the obsessions of each garden's creator. He will fire viewers' culinary senses as he regularly introduces viewers to his mum, Eleni Kaniadis, who will share traditional Greek recipes using home grown ingredients. (Commissioned by SBSi, in English) (Documentary Series) G CC
[SBS/8:00pm] Bluelist Australia. Premiere. - A new four-part series by Lonely Planet reveals Australian’s favourite travel experiences. The program presented by actor Samuel Johnson, features some of Australia’s most unique and thrilling travel experiences, road-tested by prominent Australian personalities, and introduces the best travel videos submitted by contributors to the Australian Bluelist website. Features Tastiest Food Safaris & Top Urban Adventures. (An SBS Production, in English) (Documentary Series) (Part 1) **New Series Premiere** G CC

[Fox8/7:30pm] Confidential. Premiere.
[Ovation/7:30pm] Masterclass: An Audience with Filmmakers. Eric Bana
[Ovation/7:30pm] Masterclass: An Audience with Filmmakers. Read more...

BB: Special # 3,428

Do not adjust your set.

Another "Special" is coming.

Who knows what sort of spin Big Brother will put on this one, due Wednesday June 20 at 7:30pm. The last one called "The Works" was canned after audience members had already been lined up.

At this rate I'm sort of hoping for Big Brother to put in some Intruders from Thank God You're Here because TEN is clearly floundering without the series back on air each Wednesday night.

Tonight, they still have a one hour edition of the Daily Show followed by a Simpsons repeat. Gee that's creative.

Big Brother Watch

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