Next chapter for Peter Mitchell as Seven Melbourne moves to new home
Farewell to Broadcast Centre Melbourne at Docklands. Hello Melbourne Quarter Tower in Collins Street.
- Published by David Knox
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When Peter Mitchell reads the news bulletin tonight from Seven Melbourne’s new home at Melbourne Quarter Tower in Collins Street, it will mark a third chapter at the network for the seasoned newsman.
‘Mitch’ became weekend news presenter for Seven in 1987 and weeknight anchor in 2000, originally at Seven’s former home in South Melbourne.
On Friday he read his last bulletin at Broadcast Centre Melbourne, Docklands, adjacent to Marvel Stadium (previously Etihad Stadium).
“It’s strange to be leaving there, because it was purpose built as Kerry Stokes’ offshoot from the football stadium. It was the broadcast centre of the network, and we thought we’d be there forever,” he tells TV Tonight.
“There’s only a handful of us who will have worked in all three places. I first got the Monday to Friday gig over at Dorcas Street, and I read there for 18 months with Jim Wilson and David Brown, before we all moved over to BCM at Docklands.
“You might even recall what it looked like before that stadium was built… the old Footscray Road was just one of the ugliest parts of Melbourne by an absolute mile. Once it was all knocked over we had the new place open, and the big red Seven.”
That big red Seven may have become a Melbourne landmark, but it won’t be moving to MQT, which stands almost opposite Southern Cross railway statton.
“We’ve been told, sadly, it’s being sawn up into scrap metal. We saw the workers with the cherry pickers there yesterday taking off the Seven Melbourne signage from our building, and that’s going to suffer the same fate. Unfortunately, that’s progress for you.”
Seven’s has two floors of the building, shared with other businesses such as Medibank and even Don Smallgoods, and coincidentally brings the network closer to Nine’s Bourke Street home, also opposite Southern Cross.
“Viewers won’t notice much of a difference, apart from the fact that everything’s brand new and the screens are state of the art. It’s crystal clear quality, and the graphics will be very clear, so it’s going to be very slick. But aside from that, the actual presentation of the news doesn’t change one bit,” he continues.
“The studio is so big they can swing the cameras around and do another show from the other direction. And there is a secondary studio… for visitors or for Sunrise or The Morning Show where they can cross to anybody. The Sunday football show has its own area, as part of the new studio as well.
“There’s two control rooms, so you can have two shows going at once, not that that happens all that much, but it is possible.”
Another floor is open plan for Sales and Administration. Progress also demands there are no dressing rooms, save for one room for males and another for female presenters.
“They’re quite spacious, and the corners have a hospital curtain that you can pull around for privacy. It’s an interesting move, because none of the presenters have got offices like at Docklands. We’ve all got workstations so I’m looking forward to seeing how that dynamic works,” Mitchell suggests.
“It’s a very open plan newsroom, much like you’d find anywhere around the world, where everyone has to muck in.”
Mitchell has mixed feelings about departing BCM, which was once the tech hub of the network, serving as playout centre for all national broadcasts.
“There’s an element of sadness, in a way, that we’re leaving this area,” he explains.
“But if I’m being brutally honest, I still scratch my head and wonder about the planning of Docklands itself. Where we’re going into Collins Street, it’s vibrant. There are cafes and bars all around us. When you walk in, there are workers eating their lunch in the gardens and parks. It’s just great to see life, whereas in Docklands, it’s always been a strange area especially over on that side, I know the collapse of the waterfront there hasn’t helped one bit, and they’ve tried festivals and all sorts of things to bring some life to it, but it’s still a work in progress.”
Mitchell can’t say what will become of BCM.
“I really don’t know what’s going to happen to the Channel Seven building. Will it be knocked down? More apartments put up? Is that the answer to bringing life to that area?” he asks. “I don’t know, but I think it will have to involve some sort of plan to open up the stadium a bit more, maybe bring the concourse down onto Harbour Esplanade.
“In a way, I’m sad to be leaving there, but in another way, I’m very excited to be starting at a new place at this stage of my life.”
Seven News 6pm nightly on Seven.
- Tagged with Seven News
13 Responses
“It’s just great to see life, whereas in Docklands, it’s always been a strange area especially over on that side” ….that’s an understatement! Despite having a major sporting ground & observation ferris there (Melbourne Star which closed in 2021 after a flawed history), it has failed time & again to attract many visitors due to its grey looking facade & multiple apartment buildings, yet hardly any shops or food outlets. They never seem to be able to get the balance right.
Anyway i hope Mitch & co are happy in their new home. What a shame the 7 logo went to scrap metal, maybe they could’ve auctioned it off for charity? the logistics might of made it a bit difficult due to it’s size though lol.
I was in the audience of a few shows at BCM over the years, Game Day and the Front Bar.
I guess shows like the Front Bat will be recorded in the new facility?
I presume so, but has been at another site in recent weeks.
The irony of all this “We are leaving Docklands”. The new building although on Collins St is still a Docklands property location…. So really they are just moving down the road. Yes leaving Harbour Esplanade, but moving around the corner..
There’s always mixed feelings about workplace changes besides your new travel arrangements. From metal doorkey to plastic card with magnets to PIN number to smile at the camera and a different button to press in the lift. All the same faces but in different places. Lightbulbs to fluoros to led’s and a click to a touch. From tea-lady to tea-room to cofee machine to walk-to-the-coffee-shop and no free biscuits. Phone on desk to intercom to mobile. From letter opener to intray to e-mail to SMS. From polished wood to plastic to brushed aluminium. And most importantly from cash at the pay office window to cheque in your hand to check your bank balance.
“There’s two control rooms, so you can have two shows going at once, not that that happens all that much, but it is possible.”
Oh wow, such progress. I recall when GTV9 used to have three shows going at the same time. And they didn’t have enough videotape machines to record them all so many, such as “Division 4”, would be sent up the cable to TCN9 for recording.
We had a lot of good times with you Mitch, Sandy and Brownie. I hope it’s still fun for you. Cheers, from Noosa.
To think Docklands was ‘state of the art’ back then and now outdated… It had that whole precinct vibe, extending on Jeff Kennett’s 90s dream and Kerry Stokes and Colonial Stadium for the footy (later Telstra Dome) connected. Originally artist impressions had BCM even bigger with more departments,like a campus HQ, something the size of Coles’ icnoic Hawthorn East ‘battlestar galactica’. Seven however would soon after infamously lose AFL rights after the stadium and BCM was signed off, project started in 1999 with Seven’s stalwart head of broadcasting Andrew Anderson, an HSV native, who moved to Epping in the 90s and set up the early playout automation after network aggregation.Really, BCM wasn’t the same since 2016 and Seven hasn’t been at their company peak since the late 2000s and on a performance front since MKR’s decline/COVID save for Tokyo Olympics and a few successes. All good things must come to an and, good luck everyone at Collins on their new era officially starting today.
“they can swing the cameras around and do another show” that’s exactly what they did when today tonight was filmed in the same studio as the news remember? They swung the camera around literally you could see them do it
Great read David. One thing I have loved about Seven News around the country is that each 6pm news set is vastly different, as apposed to Nine’s all looking the same. In the picture, it looks identical to the Sydney set…
I’d think the plan has for a while now, been for Seven News Melbourne’s new set design to mirror those launched in Brisbane last year and Sydney in 2023. Besides…apart from the immediately previous set launched in (IIRC) 2018, Seven Melbourne has mostly gone for sets identical to those used by its Sydney sister station – with obvious differences such as local backdrops – for decades now.
The big question now: Will Seven News in other earkets eventually receive similar sets?
From this distance, it appears that Perth could rather easily accomodate an East Coast-style set. Knowing Seven News’ enormous success over there, I’d say Rick & Sue are more than deserving of the priviledge of presenting from one too!
Adelaide, the regions and likely soon Tasmania (with that and other SCA Sevens to soon become network O&Os) may have to go for something on a smaller scale though.
God I wish that they would change their look and sound.
They have had the same graphics for almost five years.
It’s time for a new look and sound for 7 News.
The current Seven News graphics have been in-use since April 2022 (prior to that, it was a slightly tweaked 2016/19 package for the current logo in July 2020), while the current theme music was introduced in 2016.
Maybe they’ll do something in 2026 for 70 Years (I can already imagine a potential celebratory logo!) and/or Tasmania likely being brought into the fold but it’s difficult to imagine a Seven News relaunch happening in the immediate future.
Besides, 10 News First – currently using what is essentially a tweaked version of a 2018 package – is in even more dire need of a full brand reset than Seven News is IMO!