{"id":102917,"date":"2025-05-15T07:23:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-15T07:23:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/102917\/"},"modified":"2025-05-15T07:23:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-15T07:23:11","slug":"channel-7-boss-anthony-de-ceglie-to-leave-the-network-after-ratings-flop-and-controversial-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/102917\/","title":{"rendered":"Channel 7 boss Anthony De Ceglie to leave the network after ratings flop and controversial changes"},"content":{"rendered":"

By BRETT LACKEY FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA<\/a> <\/p>\n

Published: 21:38 EDT, 14 May 2025 | Updated: 00:29 EDT, 15 May 2025 <\/p>\n

Channel Seven<\/a> news boss Anthony De Ceglie is leaving the network after a year of slashing jobs while trying to boost ratings to take on a new role with the NRL<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Fremantle-born journalist, considered Seven Network chairman Kerry Stokes’ right-hand man, was the former editor-in-chief of The West Australian newspaper before he took on the top editorial role for Seven West Media in April 2024.<\/p>\n

Just over a year later, the 39-year-old is leaving the media game to become the first CEO of the Perth<\/a> Bears. He will reportedly be replaced by veteran Ray Kuka, who is currently Seven’s Perth news director.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was confirmed last week the Bears would join the national competition in 2027 and the NRL is preparing to appoint a seven-person board and a coach to work with De Ceglie, whose position was confirmed by NRL chairman Peter V’landys on Thursday.<\/p>\n

As director of news and current affairs and editor-in-chief for Seven West, De Ceglie was responsible for 7NEWS, Sunrise, The Morning Show, Spotlight and the online news website in addition to the WA newspapers.<\/p>\n

During his first 12 months he introduced national online newspaper The Nightly and improved The West Australian’s performance, but news ratings struggled as he introduced horoscope readings and a satire segment to Seven’s news bulletins.<\/p>\n

The 6.57pm News, as the satire slot hosted by comedian Mark Humphries was dubbed, was an attempt to bring in a younger audience but was axed over the summer ratings break, as was the astrology segment hosted by Natasha Weber.\u00a0<\/p>\n

De Ceglie’s appointment followed a period of upheaval at Seven sparked by the Spotlight scandal, in which the news program was accused of offering cocaine and sex workers to Bruce Lehrmann<\/a>\u00a0to secure an exclusive interview.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Seven <\/p>\n

Seven West Media director of news and current affairs Anthony De Ceglie (pictured) is taking on the CEO job for the NRL’s newest team, the Perth Bears<\/p>\n

His first few months were spent cutting costs at the network which involved slashing about 150 jobs, including popular newsreader Sharyn Ghidella and the Sydney and Melbourne news directors.<\/p>\n

V’landys said De Ceglie’s appointment was an important step forward for the code in Western Australia.<\/p>\n

‘To succeed in Perth, you need a well-connected local who knows how to get things done and has a can do attitude,’ he said.<\/p>\n

‘Anthony is a brilliant operator with a proven track record and a genuine Western Australian, and I am excited about what he can do for us as we grow rugby league in the WA market.’<\/p>\n

A board is expected to be implemented for the league’s 18th team within the next month.<\/p>\n

Former state Labor minister Peter Tinley is among those rumoured to be considered for the role as one of at least three WA directors.<\/p>\n

That will clear the way for a coach to be named, with Brad Arthur the favourite to mentor the team and Sam Burgess also interested.<\/p>\n

Off the field, local officials are confident they can amass a significant following.<\/p>\n

\"Veteran <\/p>\n

Veteran Channel Seven presenter Sharyn Ghidella (pictured right) was let go from the network after almost four decades in the industry<\/p>\n

\"Seven <\/p>\n

\u00a0Seven axed its satirical news segment hosted by comedian Mark Humphries (pictured) as its news ratings struggled against rival Channel Nine<\/p>\n

Next month’s State of Origin game at the 60,000-seat Optus Stadium is expected to be the third straight to sell out in Perth.<\/p>\n

NRL double-headers have also attracted crowds of between 30,000 and 46,000 in Perth.<\/p>\n

There is potential for strong support from devotees from the Western Reds days of the mid-1990s, along with ex-pats from both the east coast and England.<\/p>\n

‘I believe if this is done really meticulously and professionally, I would say 30,000 local members. I think 30,000 is achievable,’ NRL WA CEO John Sackson said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\n Channel 7 boss Anthony De Ceglie to leave the network after ratings flop and controversial changes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By BRETT LACKEY FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA Published: 21:38 EDT, 14 May 2025 | Updated: 00:29 EDT, 15…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102918,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3937],"tags":[92,77,12,30118,382,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-102917","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-dailymail","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-nrl","12":"tag-tv","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114510653276571123","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102917\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}