Ten winds back 10 News+ to Sundays and doubles down on local news

Network 10 will scale back its nightly 10 News+ experiment from Monday 10 August, reducing the national current affairs program to a weekly Sunday 6.30pm slot and redirecting resources into local news. The weekday 5pm bulletin expands to 90 minutes Monday to Friday, matching the network's weekend schedule.

A Network 10 spokesperson confirmed the change in a statement to Mediaweek: "From Monday, August 10, 10 News will expand to 90 minutes from Monday to Friday, with more resources being invested into the local 5pm news bulletin to deliver audiences more of the local stories, breaking news and in-depth reporting they rely on." Amelia Brace and Denham Hitchcock will continue to front the Sunday edition of 10 News+.

In an email to staff, vice president of news Martin White said the network was responding to audience feedback. "We are shifting resourcing to local news at 5pm, with a return to our 90-minute bulletin Monday to Friday, in line with our weekend schedule. 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 the 10 News+ team would continue producing investigations and exclusives across the week, feeding state bulletins as well as the Sunday program.

The restructure will affect a small number of roles across 10 News+ and operations, with a consultation process under way given the roster changes. The decision comes despite audience growth: White told staff 10 News recorded its largest monthly national audience since January last month, streaming audiences are up 45 per cent and Late News is drawing its biggest audiences since returning in 2024.

Why it matters for Australian advertisers and media buyers: the change adds a half hour of local news inventory every weekday in the 5pm to 6.30pm window, a daypart where news adjacency is prized for trust and attention. It also confirms how hard the nightly national current affairs format is to sustain commercially in 2026, barely a year after 10 News+ launched as the replacement for The Project. Buyers using news environments for brand safety and older demos get more supply from Ten, while the Sunday-only 10 News+ becomes a scarcer, appointment-style buy. The move also fits a wider pattern this year of networks and publishers reallocating newsroom resources, following Nine's publishing cuts announced this week.

Sources: mediaweek.com.au (Network 10 statement and Martin White staff email, 22 July 2026)