Nine Climbs Back In Tv Ratings

[Di]

Melbourne~ Herald Sun

18 April 05

THE Nine Network is bouncing back in the television ratings, grabbing more viewers than rival Seven in the past week.

Nine attracted an audience share of 29.9 per cent in the 6pm-midnight timeslot for the week ending April 16, beating Seven, which has dominated the season until now.

Although Seven aired the three most watched shows of the week ? Desperate Housewives, Lost and the semi-final of Dancing with the Stars ? its viewing share trailed Nine's, with 27.6 per cent.

The network also struck trouble nationally when there was a lengthy blackout during its popular police drama Blue Heelers on Wednesday night.

Seven lost transmission between 9.07pm (AEST) and 10pm, said Seven's Director of Corporate Development Simon Francis.

Mr Francis said the program attracted an overall rating of 970,000 for the night, down by about 200,000 people.

"We certainly had a lot of people waiting around for the show to resume," Mr Francis said, adding that fans would be shown a special double episode this week.

Nine had seven shows in the top 10 most watched programs of the week, including 60 Minutes, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Backyard Blitz.

The network is also clawing its way back in the news and current affairs stakes, with its Sunday National News being watched by 1.8 million viewers, beating Seven News.

"Last week we had seven of the top ten programs nationally," said head of publicity at Channel Nine, Jamie Campbell.

He said the network would "absolutely" continue to take ratings away from Seven.

Meanwhile, the Ten network took an audience share of 21.2 per cent for the week.

The new series from British chef Jamie Oliver, Jamie's School Dinners, was Ten's highest rating show of the week, with 1.4 million people tuned into the premiere.

Krakatoa proved it was a powerful force for the ABC, with an audience of 1.3 million viewers making it the public broadcaster's most popular program.

The ABC attracted a share audience of 16.4 per cent, compared to 4.9 per cent for SBS.

Desperate Housewives, the most watched show of the week, grabbed 2.2 million viewers, while Lost attracted 1.9 million.

The Dancing with the Stars semi-final, in which Holly Brisley was booted off, was watched by 1.9 million people.

All three shows won their timeslots.

Diane Editor's assistant for the UK ( for BTTB The message board )

Valkyrie Resident news and article Editor for OZ (For BTTB The message board)

just giving Valkyrie a hand how am i doing Valkyrie on me first day as Editor's assistant