Tears as Ten president addresses staff at The Project after axing, 100 jobs impacted

News.com.au

20 hours ago

Close to 100 jobs are expected to be impacted and more than 50 shed when Network Ten winds up production on The Project this month.
Ten president Beverley McGarvey apologised while addressing the program's shocked staff at their Melbourne offices on Monday, explaining the network was cancelling the show because after 16 years on air 'it just doesn't stack up any longer'.
According to insiders as many as 100 jobs overall will be impacted by Ten's decision to drop the show, which is broadcast six nights a week and has production offices in both Melbourne and Sydney.
Among these are program hosts and panellists including Sarah Harris, Waleed Aly, Hamish Macdonald and Steve Price.
In a four-minute address to staff McGarvey confirmed Ten management had been contemplating cancelling the program 'for years'.
She said this was due to younger audiences drifting away from free-to-air television.
The audience that remained, McGarvey said, weren't 'as well served by The Project as (audiences) were back in the day'.
'It's really just evolution and we didn't think we'd ever have this problem,' she told stunned – and teary – staff.
'We didn't think we'd be here for 16 years but as you all know those younger demographics in particular who really made the show … thrive in the beginning have just evolved and they're watching different platforms and they're watching different services.
'For those reasons, unfortunately the show just doesn't stack up any longer.'
McGarvey explained the reason the network had decided to cancel the program mid year.
'Honestly it's not a decision that we've made lightly,' she continued.
'It's something we've thought about for a really long time. And I mean years. We have worked over the years to try and change things a little bit and evolve things – as you have all done – and unfortunately we're at the point now where it just doesn't make sense.'
The program will broadcast its last program on Friday June 27 because, McGarvey said, it was just too hard to change audience viewing habits in November or December.
'The reason to do it in the middle of the year is that it's just very difficult to do anything at the end of the year, in summer. It's harder then and it's harder for audiences to make changing habits.'
She said network executives did not expect ratings to 'quadruple' when a replacement 'extended national news' program is launched as an alternative in the 6pm timeslot.
'We're not doing it because we absolutely believe that suddenly the audience is going to quadruple at that time. It's really about servicing the audience in the timeslot that exist in this environment from a fee-to-air point of view,' she said.
The Ten president acknowledged the news of the show's cancellation would be 'difficult' and 'tough' for staff to hear.
'I know it's really hard to hear and today's a really tough day but I think more than any other show that the network has ever had that The Project did a lot of great things,' she said, reading the room.
'It did a lot of great things for the media landscape but I think more broadly it did great things for Australian culture and not many shows resonate in the way that The Project did. And that meant, for all of us, it was very high profile, people liked to talk about it.
'It's a click-baity show and you guys had to live through that. But I think more than anything there's a lot to be proud of and we're really proud of the show and we're really sad this day had to come and it's just a reality that it did.
'You guys have done a wonderful job in a very tough environment and I think the show has always had integrity which sets it apart from many other things and that's been amazing.
'Because of all those reasons, the show getting cancelled after 16 years is much more difficult than shows that we normally cancel after three seasons or five seasons or 10 weeks or whatever it is, so we appreciate that this is difficult and you'll need time to think about it.'
McGarvey said it had been difficult to give staff 'short' – just under three weeks – notice.
'It's difficult to give you short notice. It's almost more difficult to keep going when you know that you're not going to be going forever so we've landed on that (June 27) date.
'I want to thank you all for all your work, not just recently but over the years and thank all of the team at Roving, all of the various on-screen talent we've had over the years because you all work hard and they really bear the brunt of the good bits but also the hard bits of the show and we appreciate that and really thank them and also hope that you're all proud that you were part of something that properly changed Australian media. I'm very sorry.'