Network 10 has axed its current affairs program 10 News+ after just one year on air following struggling ratings.
The program is being removed from its weekday line-up and shifted to a single Sunday night broadcast.
From August 10, the broadcaster will instead extend its flagship 5pm news bulletin from 60 minutes to 90 minutes, giving audiences more local news coverage in the key early evening timeslot.
10 News+ will continue to air on Sundays at 6.30pm.
Hosted by Amelia Brace and Denham Hitchcock, the program was introduced as the replacement for The Project, which was axed after almost 16 years on air despite attracting a larger audience.
Staff were told about the changes on Wednesday morning by Ten vice-president of news Martin White, who said the decision had been driven by audience demand for more local reporting.
Network 10 has axed its struggling current affairs program 10 News+ after just one year on air following struggling ratings (Pictured: 10 News + co-hosts Amelia Brace and Denham Hitchcock)
‘While we are still finalising the format, we are making this change because our audience has told us they want more local news,’ White said in an email to staff, obtained by the Sydney Morning Herald.
‘We will still give audiences investigations, exclusives and insight via the 10 News+ team across the week, as well as on Sunday’s dedicated program. This will provide more content for the states and lighten the workload on teams around the country.’
White also praised Ten’s news performance, noting that the network recorded its biggest monthly national total audience for news since January last month, while streaming audiences had increased by 45 per cent compared with 2025.
He said the changes were designed to ‘maximise our resourcing’ and allow the network to deliver more local news coverage.
Both Hitchcock and Brace will remain at Ten, with the former working on several documentaries while the latter will take maternity leave and then return to the network’s news division.
The move comes just over a year after 10 News+ launched in June 2025 as a one-hour nightly program.
The format was later reduced to 30 minutes in January as the network attempted to improve its performance.
Both Hitchcock and Brace will remain at Ten, with the former working on several documentaries while the latter will take maternity leave and then return to the network’s news division
At the time, Network 10 trialled an ‘experiment’ aimed at improving 10 News+.
TV Blackbox reported that an internal email outlined plans for the shake-up, which aimed to prevent viewers switching over to Channel Nine or Seven bulletins at 6pm.
‘Next week, we’re going to experiment a touch, to try and hold people better over the 5pm/6pm changeover,’ Channel 10’s Vice President of News, Martin White, said in the email.
Under the proposed shake-up, the 5pm bulletin no longer concluded with the presenter bidding viewers ‘goodnight’.
Instead, a graphic of the weather forecast would be shown with weather presenters delivering the final line of the bulletin before segueing straight into 10 News+ at 6pm.
‘No music, no goodbye, disclaimer along the bottom of the screen over the graphic,’ White added in the email.
‘Then we go straight into the Plus opener – pics and VO, not on camera.’
It was also revealed that the change would be trialled for one week.
The move comes just over a year after 10 News+ launched in June 2025 as a one-hour nightly program. The format was later reduced to 30 minutes in January as the network attempted to improve its performance
‘We’ll see what difference it makes next week before deciding what we’ll do next,’ the email continued.
The news also comes after Channel 10 cancelled its afternoon bulletin back in December 2025.
Hosted by veteran broadcaster Narelda Jacobs, the half-hour news program was launched with much hype at the start of 2024.
Staff were informed via email just before Christmas that the bulletin would not return in 2026, and were told that the move would have no impact on jobs at the network.
The internal memo also announced that Channel 10’s late bulletin, hosted by Ursula Heger, would be moved from 10.30pm to 9.30pm.
White said in the memo that the changes were based on ‘research’ and making better use of ‘resources’.
In the email to staff, which was later obtained by Yahoo Lifestyle, White said cancelling the afternoon bulletin was ‘no reflection on the work our daytime team has done’.
‘This is based on putting more of our news and resources where – research tells us – there are more viewers,’ he said in the email.
The news also comes after Channel 10 cancelled its afternoon bulletin back in December 2025. Hosted by veteran broadcaster Narelda Jacobs (pictured), the half-hour news program was launched with much hype at the start of 2024
‘We want our audience to see as much of your work as possible, on as many platforms as possible.’
White also used the email to farewell Chris Bath, who left the network after a decade.
‘She will always be a valued member of the 10 family,’ he said.
After Bath’s departure, Georgie Tunny replaced her as host of the network’s weekend news bulletin.
Read the full article here
