Network Ten’s new CEO James Warburton made his public debut last night at the launch of a hopeful new ratings winner, Young Talent Time.
The show starts Sunday night as part of Ten’s new “Super Sunday” line-up, three weeks before the ratings season kicks off.
Spotted swirling around the Luna Park venue greeting all and sundry with his wife and Austar marketing boss, Nikki, Warburton opened the night with a brief speech.
“We’ve hit the reset button on prime time – we’re starting strong, we’re back and we have attitude,” he said. “It’s not a surprise to us. But it is a surprise to many others that we’re firing the first shots. The focus at Ten is now on providing funding for programs that allow us to get Ten back on the map with our viewers. I must caution expectations by saying we’re not getting ahead of ourselves. Ten’s schedule needs to be attacked on a slot-by-slot basis and frankly, we expect no respite from our competitors.”
Although there has been some conjecture around the tenure of Ten’s chief programming officer David Mott under Warburton’s regime, Warburton publicly backed his programming boss. “I regard David Mott as the best in the business – bar none,” he told the audience.
It was a big call, given Warburton’s long and successful relationship with Tim Worner, Seven’s former programming boss who was appointed chief executive of Network Seven before Christmas.
Ten will launch it’s official Sunday night format for the ratings season this week, starting with Young Talent Time at 6.30pm, Modern Family at 7.30pm, New Girl at 8pm and Homeland at 8.30pm. Homeland took out best TV Drama Series at the Golden Globes this week and Modern Family Best TV Comedy Series.
Ten’s management team and talent were out in force last night, including chief sales officer Mike Morrison, who started last week – Morrison was a wild-card appointment by Warburton days after starting on January 1. Morrison has no media sales credentials although he has been the chief strategy officer for several international advertising networks – Y&R and George Patterson Y&R. He started his career in an agency media department.
The Young Talent Time team performed for the crowd. Ten and YTT producers Granada, have hired American Chucky Kaplow, a dancer in productions and concerts for Michael Jackson and an Emmy winner for his choreography on High School Musical.
Original YTT member, Tina Arena, is also part of the cast and performed, She also admonished TV critics to come to terms with a show that “would come from the heart”.
NAB and Swisse Vitamins are YTT’s founding sponsors.
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