TV3 is replacing its 5:30pm staple Home and Away with Jamie Oliver’s 15 Minute Meals cooking show, which currently airs 7pm Saturdays.
MediaWorks (which owns TV3) lost the rights to Home and Away in July, reportedly due to a clause in its contract with Endemol which gave the distributor a way out when MediaWorks went into receivership.
TVNZ was on hand to scoop up the popular beach-side soap, which will begin airing on the 5:30pm timeslot on TV2 from 19 August.
It’s still to be seen how much of a blow the loss of Home and Away will be to TV3’s ratings (and MediaWorks’ bottom line), the show has a large fan base and is a big draw card to the time slot directly preceding 3 News.
15 Minute Meals isn’t the most direct replacement for the soap opera, but could provide TV3 access to a new cooking-friendly demographic. However, this reporter has yet to see a recipe on the Jamie Oliver cooking show which has taken less than 40 minutes to cook.
