Mr Rice, a former Nine Network executive called in to rescue Ten from a lengthy period of poor ratings and financial instability, had sacked 300 staff from across Ten’s Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane stations – but it was the network’s news and current affairs portfolio that suffered the most severe cutbacks with the axing of the 10.30am bulletin, the axing of weekly program The Walsh Report, the reduction of the Melbourne-based Ten Evening News from one-hour to 30 minutes and the axing of local current affairs programs Sydney With Mike Gibson and Brisbane With Anna McMahon. Almost half of the 300 sacked workers were from the news and current affairs department alone.
The morning program Good Morning Australia was left hanging by a thread – with hosts Kerri-Anne Kennerley and Terry Willesee greeting viewers at the start of the two-hour program, not knowing if they would still have a job at the end of the show. The show was ultimately maintained, though with a tighter budget.
The radical cutbacks, expected to save Ten from losing $2 million a week, came a year after Ten sacked 350 staff and two months after the network was placed in receivership and 15 executives were sacked.
"This action gives us no pleasure,” Mr Rice said. “But it is one of several responsible decisions… to revive the network and to provide the basis for its financial recovery and future growth. The network will be slimmer… but its quality will be maintained and ultimately enhanced.”
There were also suggestions of trimming back the network’s schedule to cease broadcasting during off-peak periods such as mornings and overnights, and replacing each state’s 6.00pm news bulletin with a single national bulletin based in Melbourne. Another radical proposal was for Ten to merge with the Seven Network, also in receivership, thus reducing the number of commercial networks from three to two. Thankfully, none of these extreme measures were implemented.
Twenty years on, Ten is in a much better financial position. The network has just announced a full-year profit of $150 million, up from a $89.4 million loss in the previous year. Not a bad turnaround for an entertainment medium that is often thought to be in decline.
But while Ten’s balance sheet is a lot healthier, there is suddenly a large unknown on the network’s horizon.
James Packer.
James, the youngest generation of Packer moguls after his father Kerry and grandfather Sir Frank, has stunned the industry by making a bold investment in the Ten Network – around $288 million worth, representing around 18 per cent of the company. And there is a chance he could still buy up more.
It is a surprising move given that only two years ago, Packer sold most of his family’s long-held interest in the Nine Network, apparently to focus on more lucrative foreign and gambling ventures. He does, however, maintain a financial interest in Foxtel.
The motives for Packer’s move into Ten are unknown, and although he will only have a minority interest in the network, he is set to gain a place on the Ten board – something which has led to a lot of speculation in the media about Ten’s future.
At the other end of the spectrum, some are speculating that Packer’s motives are a little more sinister. Some have suggested that he will use his influence on the Ten board to tear down the One HD channel, a natural rival to his interests in pay-TV channel Fox Sports, or even jeopardise the network’s proposed and costly expansion of its news department.
Ten announced back in August that it is set to expand its news coverage in 2011 with the launch of a national 6.00pm news program, hosted by George Negus, followed by local news bulletins in each capital city at 6.30pm. The expanded news coverage is expected to cost an expected $20 million a year, including the hiring of additional staff. It is a strategy that James’ father Kerry might have approved of, but it is not known what the younger Packer thinks of the plan.
Whatever happens, it could be interesting times ahead.
Source: Herald Sun, Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, Herald Sun 27 November 1990.
‘I didn’t think I would ever get married’ 
Catherine doubles up Down Under 
The fax about Graham! 
Sale Of The Century hostess Alyce Platt (pictured) is about to return to television drama with a new role in the Nine Network series Family And Friends. It will be her first dramatic role since leaving Sons And Daughters in 1985, and is hoped to give Family And Friends a much-needed ratings boost. Her role as social worker Stephanie Collins is not expected to interfere with her weekly taping schedule for Sale Of The Century.
John Laws says… 
Thursday: ATV10 screens the one-hour special Phar Lap: The Verdict, presented by Ian Leslie. The special focuses on the trial, commissioned in late 1989, dealing with the question of who killed champion racehorse Phar Lap.
