Sunrise host to stay on but confirms retirement talks

The Seven star has agreed to stay with the top rating breakfast program, defying persistent speculation he was to retire.

Sunrise presenters David Koch and Natalie Barr

The king of Australian breakfast television, David Koch, will stay with Seven’s Sunrise for at least two more years, defying persistent speculation he was about to retire.

The Australian has learnt that Koch agreed to the extension in a Wednesday meeting with Seven West chief executive James Warburton, signing up to a deal that sees him remain on the program until at least the end of 2024.

As part of the new deal, Koch, 66 – who has dominated the breakfast TV ratings for most of the 20 years he has fronted Sunrise – has negotiated greater flexibility that will allow him to take more breaks from the show according to his requirements.

When The Australian contacted Koch at the weekend, he confirmed that he had struck the new two-year deal. But he also admitted that he had mentioned departing to Mr Warburton before he was ultimately persuaded to stay.

“After 20 years, I’ve felt I needed more flexibility in my life with my wife Libby and my business interests,” Koch said. “So when I mentioned leaving to Seven, James very kindly asked me whether we could work together on a plan that I wanted, which also kept my connection to the network and my focus on Sunrise.”

Koch added that Seven’s chairman, billionaire businessman Kerry Stokes, also played a pivotal role in discussions in recent weeks that ultimately saw Koch stay on.

“I’m grateful to James and Kerry Stokes that they approached it this way,” he said.

“I’ve had long chats with both of them, and they asked me is there a way to come up with a plan that gives you the flexibility you want, and gives you a connection to the network and a continuing focus on Sunrise. I love it dearly. So I’m really fortunate to have the best of all worlds.”

One of the key considerations for Koch was having more time to devote to his business streaming service, ausbiz TV, amid mooted expansion plans, along with his content marketing and video production business, Pinstripe Media.

Edwina Bartholomew, Natalie Barr and David Koch on the Sunrise set.

Koch’s decision to stay on follows consistent rumours over the past year that he would retire from Seven when his existing contract was to expire at the end of this year, with significant speculation in the media about who would replace him at the program.

Even a bout of laryngitis that saw Koch leave one shift on Sunrise early a few months back was enough to reignite a fresh round of speculation about the future of Koch on the breakfast show.

The news is likely to disappoint Nine, who would have hoped that Koch’s departure could give the Karl Stefanovic and Allison Langdon-hosted Today show some respite in the cutthroat breakfast TV ratings battle in 2023 against the Koch and Natalie Barr-hosted Sunrise.

Sunrise has already well and truly won the 2022 ratings year. But if Koch had walked away and a new host was installed on the show, the established pairing of Stefanovic and Langdon would have had their best opportunity in years to finally beat the Seven juggernaut. Last week, Sunrise beat Today every day in the five capital cities and on a national basis.

However, the margin has narrowed somewhat since the federal election campaign earlier in the year, when Today was frequently relegated to third place in the ratings by the Michael Rowland and Lisa Millar-hosted ABC News Breakfast.

Koch’s reign on Sunrise started way back in October 2002 as a temporary fill-in, when he was still the network’s finance editor.

By January 2003, he was ­snapped up as the permanent co-host of the show, but not before a lengthy contract negotiation.

Koch was offered what he ­describes as a “pathetic contract” to go full-time on the show, but thought of an inventive way to boost it: proposing to the network’s then-chief executive, the late Maureen Plavsic, an incentive scheme to beat Nine’s Today, which at that point was thrashing Sunrise in the breakfast ratings.

“I proposed that I ­receive a bonus if Sunrise ­achieved 50 per cent of Today’s audience, and if we beat it, I would get another bonus,” Koch has previously told The Australian.

Ms Plavsic initially ­refused. When Koch asked why, she replied: “Because it will be ­demotivating for you. You will never get to 50 per cent of the Today show’s audience, and you will never beat it.” “I said to her, ‘Stick it in. You’ve got nothing to lose. I promise I won’t be ­dispirited or demotivated’.”