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Haircut? Boning? They shoot TV stars, don't they?, by John Elder - 10th June 2007
(Credit: The Age)

What's going to happen to the old favourites at Nine now that Packer has left the building? John Elder reports.

IT'S NOT a matter of cutting the pay of its big stars; Channel Nine would be better off taking them all out the back and shooting them like broken-down horses, as has already been done with Today show pundit Alan Jones. That's the word from hottestontv.com.au, a youth-oriented website that monitors the popularity of Aussie stars.

"It's very telling that Channel Nine is rarely in the top rankings," says Jonathan Nolan, CEO of Pisces All Media, which owns the hottest-on-TV website. "The feedback we get is that Nine is run by middle-aged suits, and that it's unimaginative, stodgy and mean-spirited. Very few of their stars are connecting with the audience."

The "hottest" website has been going for four years and claims more than 5.5 million hits a month.

The top rankings in the monthly polls are dominated by the human chipmunks of evening soapies Home and Away and Neighbours — although it's worth noting that Channel Seven's veteran newsreader Ian Ross is currently at No. 10, while Sunrise dag-star David Koch sits at 13. His co-star, Melissa Doyle, is at No. 6 on the female chart. Channel Nine's only stars in the top 20 for June are Jonny Pasvolsky (9) and Simmone Jade McKinnon (21) both from McLeod's Daughters.

Whereas industry heavyweights play down the authority of the poll, Mr Nolan says the site has "a broad demographic" that takes in middle-aged public servants, single mothers and "tens of thousands" of teenagers.

"We own the youth market hands down," he says.

Suggestions that Channel Seven employees might be inflating the voting figures were dismissed as "impossible" by Mr Nolan, who said the site was governed by three filtering systems that limited votes from single sources.

While rumours ran wild about extravagant head-chopping at Nine — who among the mighty was set for a fall? — The Sunday Age asked several media analysts and poll-takers if the network's highest-paid stars were delivering value for money.

Mr Nolan was quick to write off Ray Martin (reportedly on $2 million a year, with a much lower profile than in previous years) and Sam Newman ($800,000 for lurching about for a few minutes here and there on the set of the AFL Footy Show).

"Ray Martin is appalling," said Mr Nolan. "He doesn't even get into the top hundred usually. We've had emails in the last six months saying 'take him off the list … what does the guy do?' He irritates people. That's not always a bad thing, because Naomi Robson and Grant Denyer irritate the shit out of people but they're still popular. Ray Martin gets no good feedback."

As for Sam Newman, Mr Nolan scoffed: "Another one on the site that people can't stand — and woefully overpaid. He makes the network look like it's run by mug punters."

At this moment Bert Newton (said to make between $400,000 and $800,000 for fronting a sorry game show recently euthanised) might be reading this story and thinking sorry thoughts. "Actually, Bert's very popular … he's usually in the 30s," said Mr Nolan. "Whenever there's a story in the press that says he's up against the wall, or there's a suggestion that he's being mistreated, there's a surge of voting support."

Where some industry analysts believe Newton's marathon career is all but done, Mr Nolan says: "His era will be over when he's dead. He's the last man standing. You have to be very careful going after a legend."

Steve Allen of Fusion Strategy disagrees. "When Bert was 'coming home to Nine', we said 'this is a load of hogwash. Bert will do nothing for Family Feud, it's just spin.' In our view, it's the end of an era. There is a measurable difference in the size of an audience when Eddie McGuire hosts a program … we believe he is a very good on-air talent and the ratings show the difference. We don't feel the same way today about Bert. For these people to be worth the money, they have to be better than the next guy. Bert's had a fabulous innings. The feeing is it's coming to an end."

Regarding Sam Newman's $800,000, Mr Allen said: "To my knowledge, it's unprecedented. The only thing that comes close to it was in Sam Chisholm's day when people were paid not to be somewhere else. The network can't afford to do it any more. Part of why Nine is going to change no matter who owns it: you can't, anywhere in the world, own a free-to-air TV network on a high-cost running basis. Sam Newman was hired when there was previous management in place and he got away with a ridiculously high salary. The Footy Show itself has rated in Melbourne at higher levels in years gone by than it does now."

Mr Allen believes Nine's new owners, private equity firm CVC Capital Partners, will be most interested in the reported $20-million-plus to be paid to Eddie McGuire over the next five years. "I'd say they'll be going over Eddie's contract very carefully … looking for an escape clause. The question is: what has Eddie promised to deliver that justifies the amount they're paying him?"

Harold Mitchell of Mitchell & Partners says: "We're yet to see if the new owners of Channel Nine will continue with the star system that made them No. 1. Without a total commitment from the owners, the star system doesn't work and the big salaries no longer apply. This probably isn't good news for the high-paid people in television."

Mr Mitchell argues that CVC could be making a mistake by writing off the old stars. "For a network to be popular, it has to have appeal … it's not just about cutting costs."

New boss Adrian McKenzie has said, "The concept of the proprietor doesn't exist for this company any more," and Mr Mitchell feels this stance likewise is a mistake. "The big media companies that are successful have a totally engaged owner. You can't run it from the boardroom. Australian media has always been successful when there's been an owner out front."

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