Nine ‘livid’ Seven won broadcasting rights to TV Week Logie Awards

News that Seven will broadcast the Logie Awards from next year left the entertainment industry stunned – but none more so than executives at Nine.

TV Week publisher ARE Media is dealing with the rather delicate question of whether it may have breached its contract with the Queensland government’s tourism agency TEQ – in addition to its longstanding gentlemen’s agreement with traditional Logies Awards broadcast partner Nine – by entering into secret talks with the Seven Network to deliver the Logies to that network for the next five years.

News that Seven will partner with ARE to broadcast the Logies from 2023 to 2027 stunned the entertainment industry last week but none more so than executives at Nine, who were “livid” the network had lost the Logies in this way.

For more than a decade it was widely held that the awards night’s sinking ratings had diminished the Logies appeal as a broadcast asset.

Seven is paying less than $250,000 a year for the event – a figure that represents a mere drop in the network’s vast programming budget when compared to the $642m a year it will pay jointly with Foxtel for the AFL rights and the $70m it negotiated for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

After 25 years on Nine’s schedule, many assumed the Logies were headed towards extinction along with its traditional sponsor, program guide TV Week, which is still in circulation but has been bleeding readers to online websites.

Hamish Blake and Pattie Newton after Hamish won the Bert Newton Award at the 62nd TV Week Logie Awards in 2022. Picture: Josh Woning

However, following the cancellation of the Logies in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, Nine redoubled its efforts to revive the awards night in 2022 and were rewarded with a bump in ratings.

In June, the 62nd Logies Awards ceremony attracted 885,000 viewers (All People Metro) – 19,000 more than it reached in 2019, when 866,000 viewers tuned in to see the 61st awards.

It’s understood Seven boss James Warburton is considering relocating the Logies to Sydney.

With youthful funnyman Hamish Blake taking out the Gold Logie, Jimmy Barnes performing with son David, Patti Newton paying tribute to her recently departed husband Bert and seemingly everyone taking a shot at Karl Stefanovic’s “third-placed breakfast show” and his failure to attend a Logies rehearsal, it seemed producers had found the right mix of light entertainment and biting sarcasm.

Enter Seven, like a thief in the night. As Seven last week celebrated its new acquisition, insiders at Nine were taking aim at ARE Media’s CEO Jane Huxley who, they claim, only months ago informed Nine it wanted to vastly reduce its commitment to the event.

Under the terms of Nine’s agreement, ARE – bolstered by a government handout – oversaw the Logies’ vote counting, a dinner and the red carpet arrivals, and were joint partners in an after-party, while Nine picked up the tab for the broadcast, the cost of which ran to more than $1m per year.

After informing Nine ARE was no longer committed to these appendages, Nine turned to Sydney-based production company Rizer, who were already co-ordinating the red carpet, at the start of the year. In February ARE Media publisher Fiona Connolly confirmed TV Week would “continue to be a friend of the Logies as its official media partner” but was stepping away from day-to-day operations.

Ms Huxley did not respond when approached for comment.

This column was told Seven boss James Warburton had initially hoped to relocate the event from the Gold Coast to AFL capital Melbourne in 2023, but was thwarted by an apathetic Victorian government.

He’s now considering locations in Sydney, but may have to remain on the Gold Coast to satisfy ARE’s pre-existing contract with TEQ, an investor in the Logies.

Seven denied yesterday it had planned to take the Logies home to Melbourne.

The question of whether a “last rights” offer should have been made to Nine, which had “cherished” the Logies for more than a quarter of a century, remains, though Nine has no plans to take any formal action.