Holmes show axed by Prime

Paul Holmes

Prime Television has axed the nightly Holmes current affairs programme, saying it will air for the final time this evening at 6pm.

Prime chief executive Chris Taylor said it had proved too hard to woo viewers to the channel.

"While we were unable to change viewing habits to the extent we would have liked, we are very proud of the programme and its achievements over the course of this year," he said in a statement.

"The Holmes programme has provided the network with great confidence in its ability to produce premium quality current affairs."

Holmes would stay with the network as its leading on air broadcaster, he said. 

"Paul has been and will continue to be an invaluable part of this network's future," Mr Taylor said.

"We are excited about a number of projects in development and look forward to utilising Paul's supreme broadcasting talents to bring these programmes to life."

Numerous projects were planned with the broadcaster, Mr Taylor said.

There would be a one-hour special on August 30 featuring Prime Minister Helen Clark and Opposition leader Don Brash.

A series would be broadcast once a week in prime time under the current programme's Holmes masthead, Mr Taylor said.

Holmes has been unable to attract the prime minister to appear on his nightly show.

Prime's Paul Holmes show began on February 7 at 7pm, in direct competition with TVNZ's Close Up and a few weeks later with TV3's Campbell Live.

It had poor early reviews and constantly struggled to attract viewers.

The first show reached a 12.2 per cent rating in the second half of the show, but two days later it had a rating of 3 per cent.

In viewer number terms it had slipped from 151,160 to 37,790.

The rating was as low as 1.8 per cent in March.

In late May, Prime announced it was shifting the programme to 6pm to avoid Close-Up and Campbell Live, saying it was too hard a ratings battle to win.

When the shift to 6pm was announced, Mr Taylor said "Paul Holmes created current affairs at 7pm and now he's going to create current affairs at 6pm".

Figures hit an all-time low in July, pulling just 16,100 viewers aged five and over, or less than 0.5 per cent of the nation.

TVNZ head of news Bill Ralston slated the programme in March, saying he would be "throwing himself of Auckland's tallest building" if he was Mr Taylor.

- NZPA