TV3 FINALLY gets it

Breakfast TV battle back on
The TV breakfast war is back on - TV3 is resurrecting its morning news show with a hard-hitting 2 hour bulletin every week day.

The Rachel Smalley-fronted Firstline, which starts tomorrow, will be modelled on rolling 24-hour news channels such as CNN and BBC World.

TV3 head of news and current affairs Mark Jennings fired the first potshot at TVOne rival Breakfast when he said his channel had identified a gap in the market for "serious news viewers".

Wow. Finally. Well almost finally.

It only took the dead James Coleman, awful Oliver Driver and a bloated budget and cast of millions, but TV3 have FINALLY clicked that apparently there's a recession on and the consumer culture might not be coming back anytime soon.

It's good to see them move with a reality that began 4 years ago. That's pace.

With the massive change in culture comes a real thirst and hunger for news, hard news, for the first time in their lives, many middle class volk don't feel middle class, they want news that answers their realities and fears. I always said that instead of the 7 people on stage at once with all their banter and Oliver Drivers fake laughter making any understanding of what was actually happening utterly impossible that TV3 should have always had a one person hard news format with that person doing agenda setting interviews (PM, leader of Opposition, leader of Greens, leader of Maori Party).



Cheap to produce and in an election year riveting viewing, its good to see TV3 have finally got it. It's like watching a dinosaur trying to use a calculator.

During the media meltdown, all broadcasters can do is scramble to gain viewers in a 6.8% unemployment environment while they work out how to cost cut the actual creation of TV in the way the next generation of broadcaster like Stratos has.

Stratos is now across the nation for free on Freeview 21.