Paul Holmes' current affairs show on Prime has become the first victim of the competition in the 7pm timeslot and will move forward an hour, pitching it head-to-head with news bulletins on TV1 and TV3.
Prime chief executive Chris Taylor said the change to 6pm was not an attempt to take
on the news bulletins, but to draw through the audience from Prime's own news bulletin at 5.30pm.
"Over 120,000 viewers watch our news at 5.30pm each week night," he said. "They get the information they want a full half-hour before the other networks and now they will get their current affairs first too."
The programme changes are Prime's response to continued disappointing ratings for Paul Holmes in the 7pm slot.
Mr Taylor said he was not afraid to defy conventional programming wisdom that the 6pm slot was dominated by the main news bulletins.
He said: "Prime has never tried to take on the 6pm slot because of the news bulletins on the other channels. I don't have any ratings or audience numbers in mind, but we have no audience to defend in that time slot and our viewers have already seen their news on Prime."
An added benefit was that Paul Holmes might be able to get more of the interviews that currently went to Close Up or Campbell Live because the earlier timeslot would give people the chance to do both.
The news was greeted as a logical step by Mark Jennings, news and current affairs head of TV3, who said he did not expect to lose or gain any viewers from the change.
Paul Holmes will start in the 6pm slot on June 6. Prime will screen new game show Deal or No Deal at 6.30pm, followed by Tempation, an updated version of Sale of the Century, at 7pm.
