BREAKING: Australian breakfast show axed.

 UPDATE: Wake Up’s replacement announced.

Ten’s new morning line up has been announced, in the wake of news that breakfast TV show Wake Up has just been axed amid cost-cutting measures .

The new morning line up will kick off with Ready, Steady Cook at 6am, followed by repeats of Bold and the Beautiful, Entertainment Tonight, and then Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals.

Studio 10, which was launched at the same time as Wake Up last year, survived the cuts and will continue to air at 8.30am.

Previously Mamamia reported…

Network Ten’s breakfast TV show Wake Up has just been axed amid cost-cutting measures at the station that include axing early, morning and late news bulletins too.

TEN chief Hamish McLennan has announced that Wake Up and the Early, Morning and Late News will cease production on Friday, May 23, 2014.

An email, apparently from McLennan, was leaked this morning with the announcement to staff:

“Today we are announcing a series of proposed changes at Network Ten.

As you all know, the television advertising market has been soft in recent years. At the same time, our ratings, revenue and earning performance has been disappointing.

It is a tough period for Ten and we need to take some painful, but necessary, measures to restructure the business.

Our existing business model needs to change and we need to achieve greater efficiencies, tighter cost management and greater focus in terms of the parts of the company in which we invest.

A review has been conducted to establish a new structure for Ten and to better allocate our resources, with the aim of improving our performance.

As a result of that review, there are proposed changes to News programs, the structure of News and Operations, and other departments.

Unfortunately, it is proposed that Wake Up and the Early, Morning and Late News will cease production of Friday, May 23, 2014. Studio 10 is performing well and will continue as a vital part of our daytime schedule, which ranks number one.

Despite the commitment and enthusiasm of its staff, Wake Up has not resonated with enough viewers to make it a viable program.

It is very disappointing that these programs have not been more successful, but I would like to thank everyone involved with them for their focus, dedication and hard work.

We need to use our News resources – staff and content – more effectively, while continuing to provide high-quality News services.

TEN Eyewitness News at 5pm, which is consistently number one in its time slot, will continue to be produced locally in each market. It will continue to have presenters, reporters, production staff and so on. It will continue to bring local news to viewers.

A process of consultation will begin tomorrow around a proposed voluntary redundancy program in News, Operation, and Engineering. Consultation will take place in each station with the News Directors, Operation Managers and Human Resources staff to manage this process.

We are in a constant, fierce battle for the attention of viewers and we need to ensure we are investing in the areas that will deliver the greatest potential in terms of audience and revenue.

The next few weeks will be a difficult and sad period, as colleagues leave the business.

Let me assure you the changes are not being undertaken lightly. No one is happy about them, but unfortunately they are necessary.

To the people affected by today’s announcement, please accept my thanks for your contribution to Ten.

Thank you,

Hamish.”

Wake Up, which is filmed in a beautiful location at the Queenscliff Surf Club on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, has struggled in ratings against breakfast regulars Today and Sunrise. It’s had about one tenth of Channels 9 and 7’s audience.

Creator of the show,  Adam Boland, brought on James Mathison, Natarsha Belling, and Natasha Exelby to launch the show late last year. Exelby was fired early on, but ratings did not improve with Mathison and Belling on the desk alone.

At the moment, Wake Up gets about 35,000 viewers a day, while Sunrise attracts about 350,000 viewers and Today gets 300,000.

Ten’s other breakfast show, Studio 10 with hosts Sarah Harris, Ita Buttrose, Joe Hildebrand and Jessica Rowe, is fairing much better in the morning line-up. It’s expected to survive this round of savage job cuts.