Sydney will host the 2023 Logie Awards, Channel Seven has confirmed after weeks of rumours.
The network will now air TV’s night of nights on July 30 instead of June 18, as originally planned.
With funding from the Queensland government, the awards event has been staged on the Gold Coast since 2018, although that agreement expired in 2022.
The awards will be presented in Sydney for the first time since 1986.
The Voice contestant Sonia Kruger joined Home and Away favourites Ray Meagher and Ada Nicodemou on Sydney Harbour to help make the news.
The Logies needed a new home, and moving them back to Sydney after more than 30 years made perfect sense, according to Seven CEO James Warburton.
Sydney is home to many of Australia’s biggest production businesses and TV networks, he continued.
And many of the most watched TV shows in the nation are filmed in the city. Seven has wonderful things in store for the Logies.
The transfer of the Logies to Sydney, according to NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet, will bring in millions of dollars for the state’s economy.
“The Harbour City finally has its deserved place on television, exhibiting the glamour and glamour of our lively nightlife,” he declared.
The Star Casino is said to be the most likely location for the gathering.
The Logies were regarded as a Melbourne institution before they relocated to the Gold Coast, with the southern capital serving as the ceremony’s host for three decades.
The grandiose State theatre in Sydney hosted the Logies’ final presentation 37 years ago. That year, when the late Bert Newton served as the host, television great Daryl Somers won the Gold Logie.
It happens after TV Tonight revealed last month that Seven has been fervently promoting Sydney as the show’s host city.
Once the planned June date was cancelled, Logies publicist Kelly Black sent an email to all the networks in January assuring them that the show would still air.
‘It may be helpful to know the event would likely occur in the next financial year for preparation considerations,’ Ms. Black wrote in an email to the key figures.
The Logies have experienced numerous significant upheavals.
A 60-year partnership came to an end when TV Week magazine announced in February 2022 that it will stop producing the programme.
The magazine’s publisher, Are Media, retained ownership of the awards but delegated day-to-day management to the events business Rizer.
The final nominees, voting for the Logie Awards, and network submissions are now handled by Rizer.
The networks were shocked when it was revealed that Seven had purchased the show’s programming rights from competitor Channel Nine in September of last year.
The Daily Telegraph said that Nine executives were “furious” about losing the Logies because of the event’s lengthy affiliation with the network.
According to reports, the five-year contract is only about $250,000, which is nothing for a large network like Channel Seven, which will host the show from 2023 through 2027.
The Logies had been a Nine institution for sixty years, and many of its celebrities, including the late Bert Newton, had a close connection to the occasion.
With 885,000 metro viewers turning in to watch Lego Masters host Hamish Blake earn the Gold Logie in 2022, it was also a perennial ratings winner for the network.
The Logies were established by TV Week in 1958 to honour the best in Australian television. They have been a key event on the industry calendar for many years, drawing big-name international celebrities as guests and receiving strong ratings.
The Gold Logie, the ultimate award given out by the Logies and chosen by TV Week readers as the most popular personality on Australian television, is still widely sought after by professionals in the field.
