Ten News Shakeup
Network 10 Ends Weekday 10 News+ Due to Low Ratings, Expands 5pm Bulletins
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Key Points
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10 News+ launched as a one-hour program in June 2025 and was later trimmed to 30 minutes in January, underscoring continuing ratings pressure before the decision to drop weekday airings.
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The network notes the 5pm bulletins have performed comparatively well, averaging above 300,000 viewers this year, which is a key reason for boosting local reporting in that early-evening slot rather than extending 10 News+ on weekdays.
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Staffing details on the Sunday show include Brace and Hitchcock continuing to host, with Ashleigh Raper and Georgie Tunny also remaining on the Sunday program; network executives say fewer than five roles will be impacted by the weekday-to-Sunday shift.
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Ten has denied rumors it will outsource its news service as part of the restructuring.
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Streaming audiences for Ten have risen, with a reported 45% increase compared with 2025, highlighting a shift in viewer habits alongside the local-news expansion.
Network 10 will axe its weeknight 10 News+ program on August 10, moving it to Sundays only after it failed to find a strong audience since launching in June 2025, according to Mumbrella. In its place, the network will stretch its 5pm news bulletin from 60 minutes to 90 minutes, packing in more local reporting during the early-evening slot.
The shake-up comes just over a year after 10 News+ replaced The Project, which ran for nearly 16 years, ABC reported. The show had already been cut from 60 minutes to 30 minutes in January, a sign of mounting pressure before the final call to pull weekday broadcasts entirely.
Weak Weekday Ratings Sealed the Show's Fate
Monday-to-Friday editions of 10 News+ averaged around 150,000 to 160,000 viewers — a figure too low to justify the cost, according to Channel News. By contrast, the 5pm bulletins have averaged above 300,000 viewers this year. That gap gave the network a clear reason to put more resources into the earlier slot rather than keep the weeknight program alive.
Sunday nights told a different story, with higher figures convincing Ten to keep 10 News+ alive in that slot. The show will continue at 6:30pm on Sundays, anchored by Amelia Brace and Denham Hitchcock, Head Topics reported.
Most Staff Stay On Despite the Weekday Axe
Network executives say fewer than five roles will be affected by the shift, Mumbrella reported. Brace and Hitchcock stay on as Sunday hosts. Ashleigh Raper and Georgie Tunny will also remain on the Sunday program. The network framed the changes as a restructure, not a mass cut.
Ten also pushed back on rumors about its future. The network denied reports it would outsource its news service as part of the changes, according to SSB Crack. Executives promised continued investigations, exclusives, and state-level reporting across the week — including on Sundays.
Streaming Rises as Linear TV Audiences Shrink
The decision reflects a bigger shift in how Australians watch TV. Ten's streaming audiences have risen 45% compared with 2025, Head Topics reported. That growth puts pressure on the network to rethink which live, linear programs are worth keeping — and which are not.
The expanded 5pm bulletin is Ten's bet that local news still draws a crowd in that early slot. By going to 90 minutes, the network can add more state-level stories and fill the gap left by the dropped weeknight hour of 10 News+.
Paramount Eyes Exit as Ten Struggles to Compete
The cuts arrive as parent company Paramount Skydance is weighing its options with the struggling network, Channel News reported. Ten has long lagged behind rivals Seven and Nine in ratings, and the 10 News+ experiment — launched to fill the void left by The Project — never closed that gap.
Ten's management insists the new format is not a retreat but a smarter use of resources. Still, the fact that a program was launched, trimmed, and then pulled back to one night — all within roughly 14 months — underlines the pressure the network is under to find a news model that works.
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