CHANNEL 10's Chief Programming Officer has resigned as the network remains crippled by dismal ratings and expensive failures.

In just a week, Ten has lost programming chief David Mott, cut talent show Everybody Dance Now and announced MasterChef is moving to Melbourne in an effort to revive a tired format.

media_camera The girls from The Shire at Cronulla Beach: (L-R) Beckaa, Gabby, Kerry, Sophie and Vernesa. Picture: Tim Hunter

Ten has been crushed by a series of ratings disasters for locally made shows like Being Lara Bingle, The Shireand Don't Tell the Bride.

media_camera Lara Bingle poses for a photograph in Mumbai, India while filming for Being Lara Bingle. Photographer: Dhiraj Singh

But the biggest blow came this week when it axed talent show Dance after just two weeks and new show I Will Survive failed to capture a significant audience.

media_camera 'Everybody Dance Now' mentors Jason Derulo and Kelly Rowland

The decision to chop Dance came after it launched poorly to a national audience of 598,000 viewers, which fell by half to 304,000 the next episode.

Even after it was trimmed back to a one-hour, one-night format on Sunday - Dance stumbled to just 385,000 viewers this weekend, beaten badly by strong competition from Nine and Seven.

Where do you think Ten went wrong? Read Colin Vickery list of five things Ten did wrong and add your thoughts in the comment box below.

Programming chief David Mott acknowledged that poor ratings had soured things of late but he insisted risk taking is a necessary part of making quality programs.

"I am proud of the bold programming decisions we have made at Ten over that time, because without risk there is less chance of success," he said.

"In a job where you live and die by the numbers, perhaps I’ve been luckier than most. It’s been a great ride, and I’ve loved every second of it," Mr Mott said.

News of Mott's departure came just a month after the network cut popular daytime talkshow The Circle to save money and the poor performing Breakfast with Paul Henry was cut back by 30 minutes.

Premiering to great expectations in February, Breakfast has failed to trouble the OzTam scorers or dent the rivalry between Nine's Today show and Channel 7's market leader, Sunrise.



Mott who quit earlier today has overseen some of Ten's biggest hits during his 16 years with the network but things have soured recently.

Ten CEO James Warburton praised Mott's legacy.

"David's legacy at Ten includes landmark television programs such as MasterChef, Australian Idol, Rove Live, The Biggest Loser, Thank God You’re Here, The Project and Big Brother, and - more recently - Offspring, Puberty Blues, MasterChef All Stars and Bikie Wars: Brothers in Arms."

Mott described it as "a sad day".

Ten's main channel has been a distant third behind Seven and Nine in the ratings in recent times - sometimes slipping to fourth behind the ABC.

-with Holly Byrnes

FIVE THINGS CHANNEL TEN HAS DONE WRONG:

1. Launched too many shows at the same time. Ten launched six Aussie shows in less than a fortnight - Everybody Dance Now, I Will Survive, Class Of, Can of Worms, Don’t Tell the Bride, Puberty Blues. That is way too many new shows at a time when Seven and Nine were rolling out big guns including X Factor, Howzat! and Big Brother.

2. Timing of MasterChef All Stars during the Olympics. It was a pro-active strategy to counter Nine’s Olympic coverage. But Ten executives might now be asking if they would be better off with MasterChef All Stars was part of the post-Olympics mix.

3. Confused viewers with last-minute program changes. Late last week Ten changed the time slots for I Will Survive and Don’t Tell the Bride. No wonder viewers were left bewildered.

4. Modern Family Repeats. Ten had already repeated this US sitcom ad-infinitum before it shunted it into the 7pm time slot. Poor Modern Family ratings have hurt Ten’s 7.30pm shows this week.

5. Made niche shows. Being Lara Bingle, The Shire and Everybody Dance Now were part of Ten’s strategy to be bold. But they simply didn’t appeal to the mainstream audience.

Originally published as Ten's exec resigns as network struggles