Australian TV series or program
Nightline was an Australian late-night news bulletin television program produced by Nine News for Nine Network. Introduced in 1985 as a 5-minute late-night news summary before becoming a 30-minute bulletin in 1992, it was cancelled in 2008, then was brought back in 2009 before it was cancelled again in July 2010. It aired at around 11:30 pm on weeknights, but was not shown in Perth or Adelaide. Nightline was previously presented by Kellie Sloane. Its main competitors were Ten Late News and Sports Tonight and ABC News's Lateline, both of which aired prior to Nightline at 10:30 pm.
The series was patterned after the version that airs on ABC (US), but that one is different from the Australian counterpart even though at one point both versions used the same opening graphics, which both no longer use.
History
In 2007, Nightline was also broadcast at 10:30pm on Nine HD, an hour before it was broadcast on Nine SD. This only lasted for a short period of time, however.
Nightline was axed on Friday 25 July 2008 due to budget constraints as part of Nine's news and current affairs division.[1] Wendy Kingston presented the final edition.
In May 2009 during the major expansion to the Nine News brand, Nine's Late News bulletin was re-introduced into the 11:30pm time slot left vacant by Nightline. Nine's Late News, presented by Wendy Kingston, was first broadcast on Monday 4 May 2009.
In November 2009, Nine's Late News was re-launched as Nightline. However, after declining audience numbers due to increasing sporting commitments with televising Friday night NRL (in the northern states) and Wimbledon in June 2010, the Nine Network permanently retired Nightline. It was replaced with sporting telecasts and more "youth" programming that is borrowed from sister networks GO! and GEM, including the continuing of national-produced comprehensive half-hourly news updates presented by reporters who are on shift and is produced from the Willoughby news studios, if reporters are from Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide or Perth must travel to Sydney to present the news updates. Nine offered Kellie Sloane a redundancy package.[2]
Presenters
At the time of Nightline's 2010 axing, the presenters were:
At the time of Nightline's 2008 axing, the presenters were:
The past presenters of Nightline are:
Other past fill-in presenters of Nightline included:
Presentation
When Nightline returned in 2009, it was presented from the Today set. However, only one camera angle was used, being the plasma screen showing a live night-time shot of the Sydney skyline. The program was presented from TCN9's "Studio 3". The backdrop is now of the Nine newsroom. The set is also used for the Early, Morning, Afternoon News bulletins.
In 2006–2008, Nightline's opening sequence used the same generic city buildings of the National Nine News opener, except that they were shown at night instead. Nightline also used its own arrangement of the National Nine News theme.
