Channel 7 axes lifestyle program SA Weekender
A day after cutting Today Tonight in SA, Channel 7 has also axed lifestyle and travel show SA Weekender.
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Channel 7 has dumped its weekly lifestyle and travel series SA Weekender in another blow to the local television industry.
A day after Seven axed its top-rating news and current affairs program Today Tonight in Adelaide, the network has cancelled the half-hour Sunday afternoon show as part of a nationwide cull of its lifestyle shows.
Other programs cancelled around the country include Sydney Weekender, The Great Weekend in Melbourne, and Queensland Weekender, The Great Day Out and Creek to Coast in Brisbane.
SA Weekender, which featured a team of presenters including Belinda Sloane, Callum Hann, Michael Keelan, Alana Smith, Andrew Hayes and Kelly Golding, was previously known as SA Life, which was on air for six years.
It’s still unclear how many jobs will be lost as a result of SA Weekender’s demise.
Seven West Media chief executive James Warburton said the moves would help “focus resources where they will make the most impact”.
Seven announced yesterday it was axing Today Tonight, which is hosted by Rosanna Mangiarelli, and replacing it with a one-hour news bulletin from 6-7pm, starting on Monday.
Seven jobs will be lost in Adelaide as a result of the cost-cutting measure but longtime presenter Mangiarelli – who also hosts the local 4pm bulletin – will remain with the network, with most of the staff being redeployed into local newsrooms.
Today Tonight, which debuted in Adelaide in 1995 and chalked up a record 750th consecutive weekly win in the official TV ratings this year, will air its final episode on Thursday night.
The double blow comes less than two months after Seven dumped its flagship national current-affairs show Sunday Night.