TV

Channel 10, Glorious Provider Of ‘The Simpsons’ and ‘Cheez TV’, Is In Big Financial Trouble

What does this mean for Masterchef?!

by Osman Faruqi  14 June 2017
channel 10

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In these dark, troubling times there’s one thing that brings all young Australians together and unites us. The glue that binds our generation, if you will. It’s our shared experience of watching classic The Simpsons episodes on Channel 10 at 6pm on weekday nights.

Even though viewing habits have changed drastically since the ’90s, The Simpsons has remained a hugely important cultural touchstone, thanks to years and years of repeats burning classic episodes into our millennial brains. But now the TV network responsible for bringing us that cartoon gold, along with other iconic shows like Seinfeld, Futurama, Cheez TV, Video Hits, and more recently Masterchef, is in a significant amount of financial strife.

Today Channel 10 announced it has been placed into voluntary administration after some of its biggest shareholders, including Lachlan Murdoch and James Packer, refused to loan the struggling media company money. The administrators will now go through the network’s operational costs and assess its financial viability in order to prepare for a sale.

Like plenty of other media companies, Channel 10 has struggled to compete in the digital age. Its share price has dropped 99 percent in the past decade, and it has a lot of expensive, longterm contracts with US production companies for big budget shows that just aren’t as valuable in an era of Netflix and Stan.

The company has been trying to reduce costs over the past year, but its biggest shareholders, including James Packer, have run out of patience and are trying to sell out while they can. Channel 10’s flagship reality shows like The Biggest Loser used to bring in ratings, and the revenue, but audiences have tanked this year.

So what’s the answer? The public has been chipping in their two cents on Twitter using the hashtag #FixNetworkTen to suggest some improvements.

There are also some very suggestions from conservative Australian politicians, for some reason.

Channel 10 has announced that programming won’t be changing anytime soon. Even if the company is sold off it will probably take a while before the network’s overall strategy changes, although cost-cutting is a pretty certain outcome.

In the meantime it will be business as usual for Masterchef, The Simpsons re-runs and whatever else 10 airs (presumably there’s other shows, yeah?).