TV3 announces new Friday night show

The new show will be "the sister" to Story, hosted by Heather du Plessis-Allan and Duncan Garner from Monday to Thursday on TV3.

TV3 has announced the launch of a new Friday night show, which will extend their 7pm current affairs offering across five nights.

The Friday Story will be fronted by Story presenters Heather du Plessis-Allan and Duncan Garner, who will alternate hosting duties each week.

They will be joined by a panel of guests, including journalists, comedians and local personalities to discuss a range of issues from across the week.

In a media statement, Mediaworks said the new show will give viewers "an informative and entertaining" introduction to their weekend and will focus on lighter content than Story's offerings.

Group entertainment content director, Andrew Szusterman, said The Friday Story will be "a lighter take" on the week.

"The show will have opinions from a full range of New Zealanders, discussing everything from the big news stories of the week through to the more lighthearted."

The move comes after MediaWorks has seen a decline in its Friday night ratings, which has traditionally been one of its strongest nights.

Following the cancellation of Campbell Live, which regularly saw a dip in Friday night ratings, the company announced Story would only screen four nights a week.

But despite testing a range of alternative Friday night programmes, including sitcoms, reality television and celebrity lip synching competitions, the network has continued to see weak results in the Friday slot.

The Friday Story will being screening on April 29.