TV3 throws some sport at the schedule to see if it sticks

MediaWorks sent out a press release today announcing “the launch of two new sports offerings: Super Sport Sunday and 7 Days of Sport.”

The latter is a spin-off of the popular, long-running 7 Days panel show that screens on Fridays at 9.30pm and features local comedians riffing on the news of the past week.

As noted in the release, the new iteration simply takes that formula and “makes it sporty”.

Although it will be hosted “by a different prominent Kiwi sportsperson each week” rather than 7 Days host Jeremy Corbett, the show will feature 7 Days regulars Dai Henwood, Urzila Carlson and Ben Hurley.

It launches on Tuesday 29 September at 9.30pm.

The advent of Super Sport Sunday is more significant.

It too appears to be a sports-based panel show: “There will be a mix of regular and guest panellists who will dissect the weekend’s sport news, with a particular focus at launch on the upcoming Rugby World Cup,” the release reads.

The real kicker, however, is when it will screen: “Super Sport Sunday will be part of 3News at 6 and will provide extra sports coverage. It premieres on Sunday 20 September.”

That means that just five months after MediaWorks announced with great fanfare that it was launching an “innovative Sunday night news and current affairs hour” featuring a half-hour news bulletin followed by 3D at 6.30pm, it’s abandoning the initiative.

At the time of the April 13 announcement, MediaWorks group head of news Mark Jennings said, "We know that Sunday night is a good place for current affairs. People are increasingly time poor and we believe 30 minutes of news plus 30 minutes of current affairs is a winning formula for this popular timeslot.

“This way we can guarantee a pacey, high-quality product that will be appointment viewing.”

In today’s release, group entertainment content director Andrew Szusterman is quoted as saying, “Super Sports Sunday in 3News will make sure TV3 viewers get a full round up of that week’s action along with the rest of the weekend’s sport.”

3D will apparenlty have a two-week hiatus before returning on Mondays at 9.30pm. 

There is no mention in the release about whether Duncan Garner (who now also hosts RadioLive’s Drive show and co-hosts Campbell Live replacement Story ) and Samantha Hayes (who co-hosts late news programme Newsworthy) will retain their roles fronting the show after the shift.

Update: Two months after the fact, Mr Garner clarifies the matter via social media:

Can someone tell the @nzherald I haven't been on 3D for two months .. #facts

— Duncan Garner (@DuncanGarnerNZ) September 11, 2015

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