Channel Ten Skips Breakfast

Despite the fact that most ordinary humans (i.e. the Defamer Australia team) aren’t awake early enough in the day to watch it, breakfast television is probably second only to the Friday and Sunday night ratings in terms of one-eyed network rivalries. With Seven’s Sunrise and Nine’s Today currently in battle, and ABC2’s Virginia Trioli vehicle on the way, Channel Ten has stayed reasonably tight-lipped – and they’re sticking to that stance, despite word that they are about to enter the field.

A Ten spokeswoman yesterday denied the network was dumping its kids line-up for news entertainment. “We were shooting for the regular 6am bulletin. I don’t know where this talk of a breakfast program has come from,” a Ten news publicist said.

Ten was unable to provide ratings for the one-hour bulletin, but network rivals claimed its average of 10,000-15,000 Sydney audience figures would hardly put a dent on the current competition.

“You can’t do cheap television the way Ten want to do it in this timeslot,” a TV rival told Confidential yesterday. A Ten News spokeswoman said speculation over the show could have surfaced from the shuffling of the station’s news set.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I get the feeling Ten would actually do breakfast programming rather well – without Nine’s hopeless naffness or Seven’s dad jokes, and the right host(s), they could be on a winner. Provided Kyle Sandilands, The Bass and/or Mike Goldman are kept well away, that is.