Channel Nine's weight-loss reality series Excess Baggage is the first casualty of this year's battle for TV viewers, even though the official ratings period is yet to start.
Nine yesterday decided to move its heavily promoted show, in which celebrities and ordinary Australians undertake physical challenges in exotic destinations in the hope of shedding weight and dealing with psychological problems, to its digital channel GO! from next Monday.
The move was expected in light of poor audiences since the show launched last week.
It came fourth in its 7pm timeslot on Monday with 610,000 viewers nationally, easily eclipsed by Home and Away (1.06 million), ABC News (1 million) and rival weight-loss show The Biggest Loser (811,000).
Nine said the show had ''performed below expectations''.
The network will now screen re-runs of the sitcom The Big Bang Theory in the 7pm slot.
It will rush the much-hyped bawdy US sitcom 2 Broke Girls into its schedule from next Tuesday and the acclaimed BBC nature series Earthflight from Thursday.
It is a blow to the network, which was beaten in last year's ratings by perennial underdog Seven.
Seven is set to be an early leader in this year's ratings race, with its surprisingly successful cook-off competition My Kitchen Rules averaging around 1.5 million viewers four nights each week.
Ten has successfully established its Sunday night offerings with the updated Young Talent Time, US comedies Modern Family and New Girl, and edgy thriller Homeland, all of which are attracting national audiences of one million-plus.
According to data issued last week, the Seven Network landed 38.1 per cent of $2 billion advertising revenue in the second half of 2011, compared to Nine's 34.8 per cent and Ten's 27 per cent.
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