Nine months after walking away from Sunrise, Mark Beretta has lifted the lid on a side of breakfast television that viewers rarely get to see.
After 22 years as the program’s much-loved sports presenter, Beretta has opened up about the fierce competition between Seven and Nine, the intense preparation that happened away from the cameras and the unexpected friendships that survived one of Australian television’s biggest rivalries.
Speaking on the Dos and D podcast, the 60-year-old reflected on an extraordinary career that spanned more than three decades at Seven — and revealed just how intense the battle for breakfast audiences could become.
The end of a 22-year Sunrise chapter
Beretta announced his departure from Sunrise in November 2025, bringing an end to 22 years on the breakfast program and 30 years with the Seven Network.
His final appearance on December 12 was an emotional farewell, with Beretta describing his career as “the ultimate privilege” and thanking the colleagues, sporting stars and viewers who had become part of his remarkable journey.
His decision came after what he described as “a lot of long nights thinking about it”. At the time, Beretta also spoke about the importance of family following the loss of his father and his mother’s ongoing battle with cancer, saying he wanted to devote more time to family and his work with cancer charity Tour de Cure.
Now, with some distance from the Sunrise desk, he has been able to look back on those years with a different perspective.
Inside the breakfast TV battle
For Beretta, the rivalry between Seven and Nine was never simply about what happened between the presenters on screen.
“It was an incredible battleground,” he explained, describing Sunrise and Today as shows that were constantly going head-to-head for viewers.
According to Beretta, the stakes were enormous. The thinking within breakfast television was that winning the morning audience could influence what channel viewers stayed with throughout the rest of the day.
“That’s why it was a war,” he said.
The comments offer a glimpse into just how seriously the networks treated the breakfast ratings battle — and why the competition between Sunrise and Today became such a defining feature of Australian morning television.
They were watching each other closely
Perhaps one of Beretta’s most revealing observations was just how closely the rival programs monitored one another.
“The rivalry was incredible,” he said, explaining that the opposition was watched closely from behind the scenes.
The teams knew what was happening on the other network, from the talent being used to the stories being covered.
Beretta compared it to the way television newsrooms monitor their competitors, with both sides keeping a close eye on what the other station was putting to air.
It was a reminder that while breakfast television could appear relaxed and spontaneous to viewers at home, there was an enormous amount of strategy happening behind the scenes.
The surprising friendship that crossed the divide
Yet perhaps the most unexpected part of Beretta’s revelations came when the conversation turned to his relationship with Today host Karl Stefanovic.
Despite representing rival networks for years, Beretta revealed that the pair are actually good friends.
“Karl’s a good mate,” he said, adding that they “hang out a bit” and that he has “a lot of time for him”.
Beretta went even further in his praise, describing Stefanovic as an “incredible television interviewer and host” and suggesting he is among the most talented people to have worked in Australian television.
The friendship is a striking contrast to the intense professional rivalry that surrounded their respective breakfast programs.
Why breakfast television was different
For Beretta, the unique pressure of breakfast TV came down to one thing: there was nowhere to hide.
He contrasted the format with the evening news, where presenters might read an introduction before moving into a prepared package.
Breakfast television, by comparison, was live, fast-moving and unpredictable.
“You just nowhere to hide. It’s on,” he explained.
That pressure was part of what made Sunrise so demanding — but also, in Beretta’s view, part of what made the program special.
After more than two decades of early starts, live television and relentless competition, he now has the luxury of looking back on that world from the other side.
A career that stretched far beyond Sunrise
Beretta’s legacy at Seven extends well beyond his 22 years on Sunrise.
During his 30 years with the network, he covered 13 Olympic Games and some of Australia’s biggest sporting events, including the AFL, Australian Open, Supercars and Commonwealth Games. He was also part of Seven’s coverage of the Sydney 2000 Olympics and Cathy Freeman’s unforgettable 400m gold medal run.
His commitment to Tour de Cure also became a defining part of his career, with Beretta taking part in numerous fundraising rides supporting cancer research. His contribution to charitable organisations was recognised with an Order of Australia Medal.
Looking back — with a little more distance
Beretta’s latest comments reveal something that can be easy to miss when watching breakfast television from home.
The smiles, jokes and seemingly effortless conversations on screen were backed by an intense environment where rival networks were constantly watching one another and every live moment mattered.
After 22 years at the centre of that world, Beretta has now had time to step back and reflect on what it really took to make Sunrise work.
And perhaps the most surprising part of his story is that, despite all those years spent on opposite sides of the breakfast battle, some of the strongest relationships were never defined by the network divide.