Nine Chases Gadget Guy. Secret Talks

Gadget Guy Peter Blasina has held secret talks with Channel Nine in an effort to score a national show.

A senior executive of the network has told SHN that the Network is interested in Blasina who is currently a contributor to the Seven Network show Sunrise. The Nine Network source confirmed that they had “met with Blasina on more than one occasion” and that they were now exploring the concept of a network role for Blasina across several shows including a new show being planned for 2006. Nine want to use Blasina across several shows including the Today show and Mornings with Kerri Anne. Blasina who claims he is a publisher not a journalist is fast earning a reputation for spruiking vendor products in his magazine and on air. In his most recent magazine he appeared in several advertorials for Intel, Microsoft, Amber Technology and Samsung. Friends close to Blasina have also confirmed that discussions have taken place with the Nine network.

 Earlier this year the ABC slammed Blasina on the National ABC TV program Media Watch. The Show presenter Liz Jackson warned Blasina to be more up “front in his business dealings”.Jackson accused Blasina for a lack of transparency in business dealings spanning companies such as LG, Samsung and Philips. She claimed that his actions and comments had “not fooled” the National Media program.

 At the time Blasina wrote to the show producers claiming he was not a journalist but a producer. This is despite the fact that on his web site he describes himself as being regularly acknowledged for having made a valuable contribution to the high standard of IT journalism both locally and overseas. He also claims that he is a well-known face and voice nationally and that he is often found contributing to mainstream newspaper dailies, key technology magazines, on broadcasting vehicles such as public broadcaster ABC Radio and TV station Channel Seven. He also owns and publishes two news stand magazines that are distributed in Australia and New Zealand. One of his publications was recently voted one of the top five in its field in the world.

A spokesperson for Channel 7 said that she would take the matter up with the Executive Producer of Sunrise. Blasina could not be contacted to comment. However a work associate of Blasina did admit that “Peter is shopping around for a better deal than that offered by Seven. He sees himself as a national star and is keen to get a prime time slot. His current gig at Seven is limited and only reach a small morning audience which is mostly females. They are not big buyers of technology”. He is also trying to cut some publishing deals associated with the Nine Network. ACP may even take over his magazine”.