CBS bets future in Australia on Network 10 rebrand and 10 All Access

CBS is betting its future in Australia on the rebranding of Network 10 and the launch of its video-on-demand subscription service.

CBS is betting its future in Australia on the rebranding of Network 10.

CBS is betting its future in Australia on the rebranding of Network 10 and the long-awaited launch of its third video-on-demand subscription service, 10 All Access.

The US media heavyweight, which has been going through a transition phase since Leslie Moonves resigned as chairman and chief executive in early September following allegations of sexual harassment and assault, has taken a cautious approach with the free-to-air broadcaster after taking over last year in November.

Network 10 has lagged well behind rivals Nine Network and Seven Network in the ratings battle this year.

Its high-profile news-current affairs and talk show, The Sunday Project, has seen ratings fall, despite the arrival of Lisa Wilkinson, Nine Network’s long-serving co-host of breakfast program Today.

The Project, including the Sunday edition, has averaged 393,000 viewers across the five metropolitan cities this year. During the same timeslot, Seven delivered 859,000 metro viewers and Nine averaged 870,000.

Network 10’s lifestyle program, The Living Room, has averaged 429,000 metro viewers on Friday nights, compared with Seven and Nine’s 730,000 and 449,000 metro viewers, respectively.

Ten’s main afternoon news program, Ten Eyewitness News First At Five, has also lagged rivals, averaging 410,000 viewers over the weekday. Seven held the top spot with 970,000 viewers, while Nine had 905,000.

Its two high-profile reality shows, Australian Survivor and The Bachelor, have fared somewhat better.

Australian Survivor: Champions V Contenders recently attracted the biggest total audience for the Australian series, up four per cent on season one on Ten in 2016, which held the previous record.

The season, which saw swimming champion Shane Gould crowned as the winner, had an average national audience of 1.02 million viewers, including 769,000 capital (five city) city viewers.

The Bachelor delivered the highest total audience of the show’s six-series run, with 1.68 million people across the nation tuning to watch the series final on October 4.

Network 10 tried something different in August with the launch of Pilot Week, a no-frills approach to finding new original content.

Pilot Week featured eight original pilots of locally-produced TV programs, with Taboo, Kinne Tonight, Trial By Kyle and Bring Back Saturday Night set to return as full series in 2019. Pilot Week will run again next year.

In April, Network 10 lost the broadcast rights to the popular cricket competition, Big Bash League, to Seven and Foxtel. It was the home of the BBL for the past five years, thanks to its $100 million deal with Cricket Australia.

Network 10 chief executive Paul Anderson has tried to fill some of the void by snaring the Melbourne Cup broadcast rights with a five-year $100 million deal with the Victorian Racing Club.

The deal will begin with the four-day Melbourne Cup Carnival in 2019, which consists of the Victoria Derby Day, Melbourne Cup Day, Oaks Day, and Stakes Day.

10 All Access, CBS’s third video-on-demand subscription service after the US and Canada, will go head-to-head with US giant Netflix, and local players Stan and Foxtel for content-hungry subscribers across Australia from December.

The launch date of 10 All Access and pricing details will be revealed soon. Local analysts believe $6 to $7 a month is a realistic price point for Australia. That compares to $US5.99 in the US with CBS All Access.

CBS interim chairman Richard Parsons resigned on October 21 because of health issues, just six weeks into the role. He was replaced by new board member Strauss Zelnick. Two other CBS board members, Bruce Gordon and William Cohen, have also recently resigned.

Mr Moonves has denied he ever forced himself on anyone.