Peter Stefanovic to co-anchor breakfast show on Sky News after being axed from Channel 9

Former Channel 9 star Peter Stefanovic is returning to TV screens to co-anchor a breakfast show, opening up about the “tough year” he went through after his contract was suddenly ripped up.

• Time ticking for Nine to recover from Uber-gate
• Stefanovic moves on from Nine in ‘massive shake-up’

A Stefanovic will soon be back on our morning television screens.

Former Channel 9 star Peter Stefanovic will co-anchor Sky News’s flagship breakfast show First Edition alongside Laura Jayes and said he was “thrilled” to take on the “great challenge”.

After 15 years with Nine, Stefanovic, 37, had his contract suddenly ripped up last December while in Mexico celebrating the wedding of his brother, former Today show host Karl Stefanovic, to Jasmine Yarbrough.

Peter Stefanovic will be the new co-host of weekday breakfast program First Edition, alongside Laura Jayes. Picture: Jonathan Ng

“New gig, new year, new me,” the former foreign correspondent and experienced host laughed. “I’m excited. Thrilled about it, actually. It’s a great challenge, a wonderful opportunity and a fantastic privilege to be asked to be part of the Sky News team.

“I’ve been watching with great admiration, not just for Laura, but for all of the reporters and hosts on Sky, especially during the election campaign. I hope, with my experience, I will be able to add to that.”

MORE NEWS

Teens stabbed at southern Sydney skate park

Royal Park victim Courtney Herron suffered ‘horrendous bashing’

‘Don’t walk alone’: Sydney suburb a hotbed of violence

Stefanovic will also front a new documentary series unravelling one of the most extraordinary stories in criminal history: Sky News Australia’s probe into the infamous gangland figure Lawyer X.

He jumped at Sky’s offer in February to tell such an amazing story, the implications of which will be far reaching not just in Victoria, but nationally.

He joins as Sky celebrates record prime-time viewing figures and election night coverage, with audiences up 44 per cent on the 2016 election­.

The brothers have both been embroiled in controversy which left the network upset. Picture: Instagram/@peter_stefanovic

Stefanovic has been regrouping after being reluctantly thrust into the spotlight for his off-camera activities last year.

He was, perhaps, collateral damage in his brother’s far greater saga in which Karl’s private life and fallout from his divorce from Cassandra Thorburn were often in the headlines.

And then there was the infamous Ubergate affair in which the siblings were recorded criticising some of their Channel 9 colleagues­.

Eventually the network had had enough — and the change was swift and brutal.

Peter was axed and Karl was dumped from the ailing Today show while still on his honeymoon.

Both the Stefanovics were moved on from the Today Show.

He also credited his wife, Sylvia Jeffreys, for her support. Picture: Instagram/@sylviajeffreys

“It was a tough year,” Peter Stefanovic said. “It did have its challenges, particularly because I’m inherently quite a shy person so, when there’s stuff going on out there, it’s embarrassing and I felt responsible and ashamed for a lot of what happened. Not just because of the damage I might have caused to my employer, but also to my family as well.

“I’ve done a lot of stories around the world on people who have really lost everything and that put everything in perspective. You’ve just to pick yourself up and dust yourself off and carry on.”

He also credits Jeffreys with supporting him, “knowing that it will be all right in the end”, and said his enforced lay-off had done him the power of good.

“I’m hungry,” Stefanovic said. “I’m rested and ready to attack and to put together some great shows with Laura and the team.”

Sky News chief Paul Whittaker said: “Peter Stefanovic is an outstanding journalist and broadcaster and I’m delighted to welcome him to the Sky News team, joining Laura Jayes, one of the sharpest political journalists in the country.”

First Edition airs weekdays from 5am-9am on Sky News on Foxtel from July 1.