The war is not over yet as King Kyle launches a verbal assault.
Also in this edition of MEDIA McKNIGHT:
- Where did Australian TV go? A week of the TV guide shows how little local content survives primetime
- Seven’s Bullying Tactics exposed
- ABC Caught Lying Over Secret Easter News Plan
You can watch the video version of MEDIA McKNIGHT in the YouTube player below:
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KYLE v MFW goes nuclear
Day two and three of his new streaming service has been much for Kyle Sandilands, despite a few ongoing tech issues.
And, no, the day one technical issues were not a publicity stunt, despite conspiracy theories being reported on.
The show is very enjoyable, even if the production side of me wants to jazz it up a bit from a visual point of view.
One extra note for Kyle – listen to Mayo – she is trying to produce the show and keep it entertaining.
She’s clever – if she thinks it’s time to move on… she’s right.
LISTEN. TO . MAYO!
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She seems like a bloody great producer to me, and she knows what she’s talking about.
You can check out his new streaming show at kslive.com.au
Meanwhile, there have been a lot of questions over whether Kyle was sacked from Australian Idol by Channel 7, or whether he resigned as claimed.
I asked him directly about that during an interview with him on McKnight Tonight last week. Kyle says he doesn’t know if Seven was planning to sack him, but he had already made the decision to leave when the group said they would target Australian Idol.
“I just said to Bruno, “Just, just pull the pin on this whole thing. Like, I, I don’t want anyone else to lose their job.” Now, whether they had also had those discussions at Channel seven and said, “You’re gonna have to f**king get rid of this guy,” that, that may be the case” Sandilands told me.
But that conversation soon led to a verbal spray against the activist group, the Mad Witches.
They are the group that targets the advertisers of shows they don’t like, usually hosted by men they consider misogynistic and racist.
“I just thought, do I really want to, you know, go through this sh*t again with these left-wing militant, corporate terrorists”
“If you have a look into what these people believe in and you wanna follow them, then you’re, you’re a disgusting human being, just like these people are”.
To say he didn’t hold back would be the understatement of the year.
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You can watch Kyle’s full spray in the video player below:
WHAT HAPPENED TO AUSTRALIAN TELEVISION?
This weekend the Logies will celebrate 70 tears of Australian TV, but just how many original ideas are we being served up on our screens in 2026?
While the industry keeps asking for Government handouts to keep local content on our screens, we need to ask one vital question – where is the local content?
7.30pm is considered the most important slot on television and Australian content is almost a thing of the past.
Yes, we have news and some current affairs shows, but look at the TV guide:
SUNDAY 9 AUGUST
Take Sunday just gone: Seven had The 1% Club – an Australian version of a British format.
Nine had The Block, which is basically the last remaining Aussie TV show on our screen.
It launched in 2003.
And 10 aired the finale of MasterChef – another British format.
MONDAY 10 AUGUST
On Monday, Seven had The Voice – a remake of a Dutch TV Show.
The Block continued on Nine.
10 had a celebrity edition of Deal Or No Deal – another Dutch format.
TUESDAY 11 AUGUST
On Tuesday it was more of the same, except Channel 10 had The Traitors Australia – yet another Dutch format.
WEDNESDAY 12 AUGUST
On Wednesday Channel 7 brings us The UK version of The 1% club – so we’re not even airing the local version now.
The rest of the week is filled with sport and filler shows, mostly based on overseas formats if the Aussie version is running. There are some exceptions including RBT and Find My House, which were created by Nine.
Post 8.30pm we do see an uptick on original Australian ideas, especially on Channel 10, which should be applauded for the Aussie shows and concepts they are airing in this timeslot.
And they rate.
But the main 7.30 timeslot is not Australian and nothing new is coming through. Any remaining Australian concepts are from years ago.
When was the last time an Australian idea launched at 7.30pm?
I’ll wait.
SUNRISE BULLYING CLAIMS
Former Sunrise panellist Amanda Rose has been making headlines after announcing that she left Channel 7’s breakfast show after being given an ultimatum about her appearances on Channel 9’s Weekend Today.
The small business owner revealed she received an email from the show demanding exclusivity if she wanted to continue her weekly appearances.
There was just one problem: Sunrise wasn’t paying Amanda for her participation in the Hot Topics segment.
You can see the video Amanda posted in the video version of this article, available in the player at the top of this article.
Amanda Rose has made headlines after posting a video on why she has quit Sunrise
Seven has denied the story, with The Daily Telegraph saying:
It is understood Rose was not told she had to be exclusive to Sunrise to keep appearing on the program, nor was she prevented from appearing on other media platforms.
Except she was.
Seven are playing games here.
The email clearly states that if she keeps doing the Today Show, she would lose her weekly Tuesday appearances.
It was a power play.
They were essentially saying – ‘Do us exclusively, or you lose your weekly spot’.
It wasn’t based on performance; it was based on the idea of exclusivity… which is just bizarre when you’re not paying someone.
If you want exclusive, you pay for it.
The cheek of Sunrise to bully anyone like this is just appalling.
Now, when I was running Studio 10, here’s how it worked with our fifth panelists. If they were on to promote something, I wouldn’t pay.
That was how it worked. If we were booking them on to be on the show, we would pay them $250.
In the scheme of things, that was a really low wage, but we were a show on a very small budget and I was honest and upfront about that with people.
For context, if someone appeared on The Project they would get $1,000 or $1,500.
When Sunrise and the TODAY Show do pay people to appear on their Hot Topics segment they usually receive around $200 – $250 for the 5-minute segment.
When I first started appearing on The Morning Show, I was doing it for free and then negotiated a $250 fee.
I am shocked that Amanda wasn’t paid, considering the social media traction that Sunrise got out of her.
As she showed in her video, clips of her comments would get millions of views.
And it wasn’t exactly profile building for her because she wasn’t talking about her subject, small business.
Sources tell me many people who appear on Sunrise have been told they cannot appear on Sunrise.
Since this story has gone viral I’m also told the network is trying to make sure their roster of free talent is locked in as they are worried more people will stop taking part.
Not paying people properly seems to be a bit of a thing at Seven, allegedly.
Adero Law says it has been approached by numerous current and former employees of Seven Network who have reported concerns about Seven’s employment practices and have been unable to resolve their concerns internally with Seven.
These concerns relate to potential:
- Underpayments
- Misclassification of roles
- Unpaid breaks
- Unpaid overtime
These concerns have been raised by people working as:
- Journalists
- Producers
- Camera operators
- Production crew
If you’d like more information, especially if you think you have been affected by these alleged practices, just go to aderolaw.com.au.
THE ABC’S OF FOI
The ABC is currently dealing with a Freedom Of Information inquiry I’ve made regarding my exclusive reporting about their plans to air a national news service across television and radio for four days over Easter.
After the story got media traction, the Government broadcaster quickly changed its plans and reduced the number of national news days to two, as had been done previously.
What they told the media at the time wasn’t just spin, it was an outright lie.
Something I hope to prove with this FOI inquiry.
Now, I’m like a dog with a bone and I intend to find out the truth.
But, it has been interesting going through the FOI process within the ABC.
First up, it becomes very obvious the FOI department does not have the resources it needs to complete work on time.
It’s an ongoing issue, made all the more laughable when you have a look at my latest correspondence on the issue.
I received an email on the 22nd of July, saying:
Good evening Mr McKnight
Unfortunately we are still processing your request and will not be ready to issue a decision to you tomorrow, Wednesday 22 July.
We are experiencing a high volume of new requests meaning we have a large number of FOIs due close together with limited staffing. Under s 15AA, it is possible to mutually agree an extension of processing time for a maximum of 30 days.
The ABC would be grateful if you would consider granting us a 12 day extension. Could you please let us know your thoughts either way by return email, by 12pm tomorrow if possible as we need to notify our regulator of any agreed extension of time before the decision falls deemed. This would have the decision due on Monday 3 August 2026.
We appreciate your understanding.
I agreed to the 12-day extension, but the FOI team also missed the new date of Monday August 3.
As I eagerly awaited my documents, this email popped into my inbox.
We are in the final stage of processing your request however unfortunately it will not be ready to issue to you today.
The ABC would be grateful if you would consider granting an additional 3 day extension under s 15AA of the FOI Act, which would then have your decision due this Thursday 6 August 2026.
We apologise for the delay and appreciate your understanding.
Frustrated, I didn’t respond.
I waited.
But even by August 6 I had not received the documents.
On Monday August 10, I asked for an update as the FOI team had not met their own extension of August 6.
And this is where things get silly.
Because on Monday August 10, four days past the deadline, I received this email:
I confirm the processing of your request has been completed and a decision is ready to be issued. As the decision fell deemed on Monday 3 August, the ABC has applied to the OAIC for an extension of time under s 15AC of the FOI Act to Tuesday 11 August 2026.
To ensure the decision is issued within the statutory framework, we will provide a formal decision to you once the OAIC has determined the extension application.
We apologise for the delay and thank you for your patience while we await the OAIC’s response.
So, to be clear.
This email came to me on Monday August 10.
The extension they want is Tuesday, August 11..
At this stage, they could have just waited the one day, but I did receive an official decision, which allowed the extension of one day.
Bureaucracy gone mad.
I have received the documents, and I will tell you what they reveal next week.
Let’s just say the ABC does not seem to believe in transparency.
Programming note: McKnight Tonight, celebrates 150 episodes tonight (Wednesday 12 August).
Media McKnight is published on YouTube every Tuesday at 8pm AEST at YouTube.com/@McKnightTonight.
The article goes live on the TV Blackbox website every Wednesday morning.
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