Network Ten is betting heavily on new and returning reality shows in 2015 to maintain the momentum of this year’s ratings growth and to make the company a more attractive take-over target as potential buyers circle.
News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch has confirmed the 50%-owned Foxtel is looking at buying a small stake in the loss-making broadcaster, reportedly in partnership with Discovery Communications. Cross-media laws would limit Foxtel to a 14.9% stake.
Murdoch told News' AGM that independent advisers have been hired to look at the potential purchase but he ruled out buying his son Lachlan’s stake in Ten.
There were only two fresh dramas among eight new local productions highlighted at Ten’s upfronts presentation on Thursday night.
FremantleMedia Australia will produce Mary: The Making Of A Princess, a telemovie dramatizing the fairytale of the Tasmanian-born real estate agent who met a Danish crown prince in a Sydney pub and became Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark.
Shine Australia will produce The Peter Brock Story, a miniseries on the motorsports champion who was plagued by self-doubt. He died in 2006, aged 61, when his car hit a tree during a rally in Western Australia.
FremantleMedia’s Wonderland returns next year and Neighbours will celebrate its 30th year, but there is no Offspring.
The only major new Australian factual project announced is The First ANZACs, a series of mini-documentaries produced by Ten that will bring to life the diaries and letters from Australian heroes and heroines. The cast includes Kat Stewart, Peter Phelps, Matt Day, Rodger Corser, Rob Carlton, Brooke Satchwell, Shane Jacobson.
Julia Morris and Bondi Vet’s Chris Brown will host the Australian version of the UK hit I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!, produced by ITV Studios Australia. Filmed in the South African jungle, the show will follow 10 celebrities as they compete to win $250,000 for their favourite charity.
Based on the international format Dragon’s Den, produced by Shine Australia and hosted by Sarah Harris, Shark Tank will see crazy, practical and hilarious products and ideas pitched to multi-millionaire entrepreneurs. If the sharks Janine Allis (Boost Juice), Andrew Banks (Talent2), Steve Baxter (investor, internet pioneer), John McGrath (McGrath Estate Agents) and Naomi Simson (Red Balloon) like idea they will invest their own money to bring it to market.
Co-commissioned by Foxtel and Ten and produced by Shine, Gogglebox will premiere in February, capturing the reactions of 12 households as they watch the nightly news, argue over politics, cheer their favourite sporting teams and digest current affairs and documentaries.
In addition to new seasons of Shine's MasterChef Australia and The Bachelor, there will be a spin-off of the latter, The Bachelorette, in which some of the country's most eligible bachelors will compete for the heart of one girl.
Ten also announced the return of Shine’s The Biggest Loser Families, reverting to a format that was last seen in 2011 after The Biggest Loser: Challenge Australia underperformed this year.
Chief programming officer Beverley McGarvey said a new, multi-night entertainment show will be announced in the new year.
There will be new seasons of Gold Coast Cops, Bondi Vet and Bondi Rescue .
Two new US series will debut in 2015: CSI: Cyber, which stars Patricia Arquette as a cyber-psychologist who tracks crimes that start in the mind, live online and play out in the real world; and The Odd Couple, CBS’s reboot of the Neil Simon sitcom which sees Friends' alumni Matthew Perry as a messy sports writer who takes in his neat-freak friend after his wife kicks him out.
Network Ten executive chairman/CEO Hamish McLennan, said: “Over the past year, our focus on people 25-to-54 and Event TV, including premium live sport, has delivered what we promised: audience growth and greater consistency for viewers and advertisers.
“Next year, we will give Australians more of the shows they love – including MasterChef Australia, Family Feud, The Project, The Bachelor Australia and the KFC T20 Big Bash League – as well as new, exciting content in all genres.
“So far in 2014, we have increased our audience in 31 of the 63 half-hour blocks that make up prime time. Our aim in 2015 is simple: to build on that momentum and deliver even greater growth and consistency.”