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Teen vixen Rosie Webster (Helen Flanagan) has had a number of sexy scenes in Coronation Street. - Source: ONE News
Fans are outraged at TV ONE's decision to screen Coronation Street earlier in the evening to make way for the final shows of MasterChef Australia.
TVNZ announced today that MasterChef is moving to 7.30pm every week night for the final three weeks of its season.
That will see Coronation Street , which currently airs on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7.30pm for an hour, bumped into the earlier timeslot of 5.30pm from October 17. There will be five half-hour episodes of Coronation Street a week, leading into ONE News at 6pm.
Since the change was announced tvnz.co.nz has received dozens of messages from fans of the show angered by the move.
"Bad move changing the time, it's too early and there is an overload of cooking programmes on anyway," Hamley wrote.
"Please keep Coronation Street at 7.30pm - Master Chef is boring and we've seen it all before," said Cherine.
"Stupid move TVNZ. We struggle to be home by 5.30 and WONT watch Masterchef (Doesn't interest us anyhow). If you want viewers to tune out - well done," Lordyme wrote.
"For our house who enjoy Masterchef, we are all home for tea when it airs in the 5 - 6pm slot which is great. For Prime time we are often out or at the moment watching the RWC." said Gralea.
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Explaining the reasoning for the move, Jeff Latch, head of TV ONE and TV2, said: "New Zealanders clearly welcomed the opportunity to watch the final of MasterChef Australia in primetime, so this year we are excited to screen at 7.30pm the final action-packed weeks of the Australian MasterChef competition."
He said coverage of the election in October and November will mean the schedule change will remain in place for Coronation Street and "a number of other primetime shows" for that period.
Fair Go, which airs at 7.30pm on Wednesdays, will not be affected because MasterChef show durations vary, and on that night a shorter Masterchef will show later.
MasterChef episodes run either 30, 60 or 90 minutes depending on the stage of the show.
Latch said TVNZ is "mindful of the need to provide regular access for Coronation Street viewers" and the decision was made to move the show rather than dump it for three weeks.
He told tvnz.co.nz that although the schedule change was temporary, there was a possibility the move for Coro could become permanent, depending on how it performs in the 5.30pm slot.
Nielsen TAM says on average 525,000 people have watched each episode of Coronation Street in 2011, with 158,200 of those aged between 25-54.
Latch said he hasn't made a call on what will happen at the end of the three weeks.
"A lot of things come into play and we will be interested to see how it impacts."
He told tvnz.co.nz that although the schedule change was temporary, there was a possibility the move for Coro could become permanent, depending on how it performs in the 5.30pm slot.
"I haven't made a call on what will happen at the end of the three weeks," he said. "A lot of things come into play and we will be interested to see how it impacts."
He said the Coronation Street audience has halved since 2002 in the face of numerous entertainment options across a wider range of channels.
The show's producer Granada has been making a deliberate attempt to lure younger viewers and has introduced some fairly saucy storylines over the past couple of years and focused on a number of younger characters.
The programme has drawn some attention recently for raunchy
scenes - including a seduction scene by a teen Rosie Webster and an
affair between character Kevin Webster and his best friend's
wife Molly.
Those episodes have been rated PGR but Latch didn't see this to be
an issue in the 5.30 timeslot.
"The show will be edited to comply with the 5.30 time much the same as Home and Away and Neighbours are," Latch said. He did not know if the TVNZ OnDemand version would contain the unedited versions.
An omnibus edition of the week's episodes is also being scheduled, with the day and time to be advised shortly.
Latch said today the new schedule is "not about moving Coronation Street, that's not the driver. It's about putting the hugely popular MasterChef into primetime to drive people there," he said.
Last year's MasterChef Australia final was a primetime winner with New Zealand audiences, with 1.1 million Kiwis tuning in to its conclusion and each episode attracting an average audience of 563,500 (aged 5+).
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