“10 News First: Breakfast” is the newest contender in the breakfast TV wars.
The show will start at 8 a.m. on Monday, June 27 on Channel 10 and 10 Play.
It will be presented by Lachlan Kennedy on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, with Natasha Exelby taking the reins on Thursdays and Fridays.
The launch of “10 News First: Breakfast” will push 10’s morning talk show “Studio 10” back by 30 minutes.
The breakfast experiment will take on “Today” on Channel 9 and “Sunrise” on Channel 7 in the key morning slot.
Network 10 previously flirted with a breakfast program back in 2013.
At the time, “Wake Up” was hosted by Exelby, Natarsha Belling and James Mathison from 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m, however within weeks Exelby had departed.
“Wake Up” only lasted six months due to poor ratings.
The network said the new program will offer viewers a concise news update at the start of their day, delivering all the latest breaking news and up-to-date reports on local, national and international stories.
“The addition of a new morning news bulletin in ’10 News First: Breakfast’ expands and strengthens 10’s commitment to news across the day,” Martin White, head of broadcast news for “10 News First”, said.
According to figures from the Seven Network last year, Channel 7’s “Sunrise” remained the dominant force in breakfast TV.
Its average metro viewers for the survey year last year, excluding summer, Easter and the Olympics broadcasting period, was 260,000 to “Today’s” 223,000. Across the whole country, including regional viewers, “Sunrise” had an average of 446,000 daily viewers, compared to “Today’s” 329,000 for the survey year.