CHANNEL Ten has performed the inevitable by pulling the plug on 6.30pm with George Negus.

Negus, who remains under contract at Ten, will stay with the network in a mentor role and to contribute to an expanded 7PM Project, which will run for an hour.

The 7PM Project will be renamed The Project and will kick off at 6.30pm from Monday October 31.

While Ten insists Negus has taken the decision well, it’s a blow for the news veteran, who has long been a critic of substandard commercial current affairs. His attempt to draw viewers to a credible current affairs show, and hurt A Current Affair and Today Tonight in the process, has proven unsuccessful.

Negus’s show premiered at 6pm, but earlier this year was moved to 6.30pm. Last night Negus attracted 650,000 viewers. Today Tonight had 1.1 million and A Current Affair 875,000.

Negus was given the job as host as part of a $20 million overhaul of Ten’s news service.

“Ten has given us more time and we’re not going to say no,” 7PM Project’s Charlie Pickering said.

"Carrie (Bickmore), Hughesy (Dave Hughes) and myself have always got something to say and whether or not the world needs to hear it we’re just glad to have the extra half hour to say it."

David Mott, chief programming officer of Network Ten said: "The move to expand The Project from a half hour format to the hour reflects our belief that this type of contemporary, informative, fast-paced, funny, yet relevant news offering is what best connects with our audience."

“We’re incredibly proud of George and our 6.30 team, both in front of the cameras and behind the scenes. 6.30 has been a high quality, credible, and thought provoking news program for the network.

"The decision to discontinue 6.30 was a commercial one and in no way reflects on the quality of George, the program or the team. We are grateful to George for establishing and steering this bold experiment over the last 10 months," he said.

Negus said: “Working on 6.30 has been incredibly fulfilling. From reporters to production crew, we have worked together to bring viewers a high quality, soil-breaking program and some of the year’s biggest stories and interviews.

"We are immensely proud of all we have achieved. The truth is that unfortunately a program like 6.30 was ahead of its time, but who knows about the future.

"Though sadly 6.30 has come to an end, I’m looking forward to getting back with my mates at The Project. They’ve also broken new ground with their irreverent approach to what’s going on around us, it’s my kind of tongue in cheek program," he said.