Fairfax cuts The axe has started swinging at Fairfax Media…across the Tasman where there are media reports this morning about impending cuts. In its now familiar bumbling style (think Rupert Murdoch in the newsroom of The Sydney Morning Herald in stylised pictures), Fairfax published news of the changes on its intranet a day before it was due to be announced. Up to 40 jobs will go as Fairfax goes down the old ‘centralise’ the sub route already being pursused by rival publisher, APN News and Media in NZ and in Australia. The hand of deputy CEO, Brian McCarthy can also be seen in these cuts. Fairfax NZ’s executive editor Paul Thompson is quoted as saying initial predictions suggest around 40 redundancies among its 190 sub-editing staff. However the NZ reports say the final number won’t be determined until after consultation with staff. Revenues in NZ are under pressure with retail sales, home mortgages and house sales and consumer and business confidence all weak to very poor. The economy contracted 0.3% in the first half and could have done that again in the June quarter. — Glenn Dyer

Sensitivity, News Ltd style. Newsreader Tracey Spicer has decided to go public about her mother’s battle with cancer — and the pain of seeing her suffer — to raise fresh questions about the euthanasia debate. The Herald Sun tackled the issue with the sensitivity it deserved.

But yesterday afternoon, the Daily Tele showed its sister site how to turn down the volume when a matter calls for discretion. If the paper hadn’t pictured the implement in question, the words “mad axe rampage” might have proved insufficient. Do they even think their readers have an imagination?

Hollywood braces for another strike. Hollywood movie studios are preparing to go into shutdown here Monday, when a contract with the top actors union expires, raising the grim possibility of another crippling strike. Negotiations to renew the contract between the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) have so far been deadlocked, echoing the build-up to this year’s screenwriters strike. Entertainment industry press have said most major movie studios had already planned their schedules to complete filming on existing projects by Monday. — Breitbart

Last night’s TV ratings

The Winners: 13 million viewer plus programs last night with a better performance by Seven; a hint of the strength they showed on Monday nights last year enabled them to prevail over a very solid Nine line up and nothing much from the ABC and Ten. Seven News was tops with 1.714 million viewers, City Homicide was second with 1.611 million and Border Security was next with 1.503 million for Seven at 7.30 pm. Today Tonight was 4th with 1.494 million people and Surf Patrol averaged 1.383 million in 5th place. Nine’s A Current Affair had a high 1.363 million viewers (Thanks to another paid for Iguanagate related interview). Nine’s repeat of Two And A Half Men averaged 1.355 million at 7 pm and Nine News was 8th with 1.312 million. The buy in of David Attenborough’s Life of Mammals averaged 1.302 million at 7.30 pm for Nine and Home And Away was 10th with 1.268 million. Nine returned The Farmer Wants A Wife at 8.30 pm and it averaged 1.267 million, which is OK, the ABC 7 pm News was 12th with 1.225 million and CSI New York averaged 1.064 million at 9.30 pm. Australian Story averaged 896,000 at 8 pm for the ABC, Top Gear, 872,000 at 7.30 pm for SBS and Third, beating Big Brother. Elders With Andrew Denton, 812,000 at 9.35 pm. Mark Loves Sharon, Ten, at 9.30 pm (and did well in the young demos). City Homicide did well in 25 to 54, as it should; The Farmer Wants A Wife also did very well in the younger demos. Antiques Roadshow at 5.30 pm averaged 639,000, which is 70,000 more than the axed Wheel of Fortune was averaging some nights.

The Losers
Losers? Anything to do with Big Brother. 7 pm, 860,000, the Live Nomination from 8 to 8.30 pm, 793,000 (Basically the audience doesn’t care any more); Big Brother Big Mouth, now at 10 pm (and still on air!), 558,000. Too many. Good News Week suffered as a result and slid to 791,000 from 8.30 pm. All self-inflicted pain by Ten.The 5 pm news was Ten’s most watched program nationally and it doesn’t count in the 6 pm ratings battle!

News & CA
Seven News again won nationally and in every market. Today Tonight won everywhere bar Sydney and Melbourne. Ten News At Five averaged 888,000, the Late News/Sports Tonight 302,000. The 7.30 Report, 805,000, Lateline, 380,000, Lateline Business, 207,000, close to an all time high. 6.30 pm World News on SBS, 247,000, the Late News, 156,000. 7 am Sunrise, 336,000, 7 am Today, 283,000. Closer and closer.

The Stats
Seven won with a share from 6 pm to midnight in All People of 30.0% (28.4%), from a strong Nine with 28.9% (28.5%), Ten on 17.6% (17.4%), the ABC with 16.1% (17.7%) and SBS with 7.4% (8.0%).
Nine won Sydney and Melbourne, Seven won Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth where the 12 point win lifted Seven to the national win. Nine leads the week 30.9% from Seven with 27.7%. In regional areas Nine won through WIN/NBN with 32.0% from Prime/7Qld with 29.2%, Southern Cross (Ten) with 17.5%, the ABC with 13.9% and SBS with 7.5%.

Glenn Dyer’s comments
They can’t get enough of crime in Melbourne, or chefs who swear, or AFL Football. The return of City Homicide did well last night for Seven at 8.30 pm: second nationally but the highest single audience anywhere was in Melbourne with a very big 541,000 (Look at it another way, its larger than any audience so far on Pay TV in this country). That was 100,000 more than the slightly larger Sydney market. It’s not odd. Underbelly would have rated its socks off in Melbourne had Nine not botched the legal due diligence on the ganglands wars. Canal Road, which was also shot in Melbourne, didn’t do as well and was canned, but the Melbourne audiences were higher. So it has to be well-done Melbourne crime drama, they are discriminating down south. Sydney crime drama just doesn’t seem to work at all. But how does that then explain their liking for the swearing of Gordie Ramsay (it’s no longer ‘novel’ to hear the f-word just after 8.30 pm and the food is average to dull). Answer: Melbourne people like Sam Newman (not all, but enough to keep on encouraging him). And then there is AFL…! I reckon that if Nine could find a way to reset The Farmer Wants A Wife to Melbourne, it would also do better than McLeod’s Daughters. Tonight 10 to 1 with Bert Newton has grown back to 20 to 1 with Bert (or is it new, improved bonus Bert?). Seven has the conclusion of Australia’s Got Talent, and then a compilation program, afterwards. Nine has one repeat of Two And A half Men at 7 pm and then a cross over program with CSI at 8.30 pm to 9.30 pm, or is it two eps of Two And A Half Men? The latter. And Nine will then repeat them later in the year at 7 pm. Nine also has the blokes version of Ladette to Lady with a bunch of Brit yobbos taken into the army. Bad Lads Army it’s called and no wonder the British Army is having trouble. Ten has a fresh NCIS after a fresh and a repeat Simpsons eps. Sideshow Bob returns in the new ep. SBS had a doco called The Boys From Baghdad High, worth watching from reports. Foreign Correspondent on the ABC at 9.30 pm.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports.