And now, Network Ten’s not-so new current affairs experiment which four months in has struggled to get out of first gear:
Channel Ten will trim its underperforming current affairs program, 10 News+, from one hour to 30 minutes as part of a broader overhaul of the network’s 2026 line-up.
– The Age, 30 October 2025
Launched to great fanfare, Ten News+ was an attempt to refashion television current affairs by going back to basics:
DENHAM HITCHCOCK: If it affects your life, we’ll ask the tough questions
AMELIA BRACE: Join us for more than just the headlines
– 10 News+ Promo
Poached from rival network Seven, hosts Amelia Brace and Denham Hitchcock promised in-depth reporting and a big-picture perspective on the news of the day.
The program opened strongly with the story of an Australian woman jailed overseas and occasionally shone, like in July when it scooped its rivals landing an interview with Greens candidate and protestor Hannah Thomas whose treatment by police is now the subject of a criminal prosecution.
But pitted against Seven and Nine’s 6pm news bulletins, which together typically attract more than two million viewers, Ten News+ was swiftly looking more like Ten News Minus:
… in its first week on air … [The show] averaged just 211,000 viewers nationally. Four weeks later, its audience had dwindled to 149,000 …
– The Sydney Morning Herald, 8 August 2025
Meanwhile, the program was pummeled by its critics, maligned for its terrible ratings and sledged by a panellist on the show that Ten News Plus had replaced.
That show, The Project, was cancelled in June after Network Ten’s boss Beverley McGarvey decided she could no longer afford to pay its external production company Roving Enterprises, nor the hefty salaries of its star panellists.
But the show was axed with no firm plan as to what would replace it.
And when the news division proposed a half-hour current affairs program at one-sixth the cost of the Project, McGarvey loved it so much she insisted it be stretched to 60 minutes with no additional resources.
But is returning the show to its original 30-minute format going to work?
Not everyone is convinced:
The 10 Network has long been associated with light entertainment … 10 News+ is the exact opposite … It is like Goldie Hawn suddenly deciding to do Shakespeare.
– Email, Colin Vickery, TV Columnist, 30 October 2025
While media economist Peter Cox offered this remarkable declamation:
… no longer should all networks be required to provide a news service as part of their broadcasting licence …
Ten News should be dropped altogether.
– Email, Peter Cox, Cox Media, 30 October 2025
Not sure we agree, Peter.
Ten’s news boss Martin White told us the show was attracting a growing online audience, adding:
When it comes to ratings – we’re aware of the challenges, but it’s not all about linear TV in this era of storytelling … A half-hour slot will suit the core DNA of the bulletin better …
– Email, Martin White, VP News Paramount, 31 Oct 2025
We certainly hope that’s the case, because Australia’s news media landscape needs more, not fewer, serious journalists trying to do serious things.
Which is why Ten must in 2026 stand by its commitment to give this show every chance at success.