Alex Cullen has signed a contract to host a new afternoon news program on Channel Seven, the presenter announced Wednesday, marking his return to television eight months after he was sacked by the Nine Network.
Cullen, 44, revealed the appointment on Gold 104.3’s The Christian O’Connell Show, saying he will be "the Afternoon Host on Channel Seven" and that the program will air at 3 p.m. "It was a significant day yesterday with me, signing a contract with Seven, which was really exciting," he said, adding that the show will aim for an older daytime audience and is expected to launch later in the month. "We're going to get all the nannas, the pensioners, the stay-at-home mums! We're going to do something a little bit later in the month. Commercial TV moves at a glacial pace and we want to get this right."
Cullen said he will continue in his role as sports presenter on the top-rated Melbourne breakfast radio show while taking on the Channel Seven hosting duties. The move represents a return to Seven for the veteran journalist: he was a presenter on Seven’s current affairs program Sunday Night from 2010 to 2019.
The announcement follows Cullen’s departure from the Nine Network in January after an internal review into a payment he received from property entrepreneur Adrian Portelli. The controversy began when Portelli offered a cash reward for the first presenter to use a new nickname on air; Cullen called Portelli "McLaren Man" on Today and Portelli later posted what appeared to be a bank transfer of $50,000 to Cullen on Instagram. Cullen was suspended while Nine investigated the payment, and Today host Karl Stefanovic later told viewers the network and Cullen had agreed he would finish with Nine. A Nine spokesperson said, "Nine has agreed with Today presenter and journalist Alex Cullen that he will finish with the network following a review into a recent incident."
The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) code of ethics says accepting cash, gifts or benefits in a way that undermines journalistic independence, and improperly using a journalistic position for personal gain, are breaches of professional standards. Nine suspended Cullen while it examined whether the payment breached those standards. Portelli has said the money was intended for charity.
On the radio show, host Christian O’Connell joked that the new program would face competition from Channel Nine’s afternoon game show Tipping Point, to which Cullen replied, "They are doing well... but not for long!" Cullen also stressed the network and production team were taking time to launch the program properly, reflecting the pace of commercial television scheduling and commissioning.
Cullen’s return to television occurs amid scrutiny of media practices around gifts and payments to on-air talent. He has not publicly detailed where any of the disputed funds ultimately went, and Channel Seven has not disclosed further programming particulars beyond Cullen’s statement that the show will begin in the coming weeks.
The new appointment means Cullen will resume a visible broadcast role after nearly a year away from television, while maintaining his presence on Melbourne radio. Further details about the format, staffing and exact premiere date for the Channel Seven afternoon program are expected to be announced by the network in the coming weeks.