ITV m/c (CITV, 2,3 & 4 incl. +1's) was over 6% though wasnt it?
Wonder what the ITV1+1 will add to add to ITVs share (If it goes ahead)?

Yes ITV m/c was 6.2% which is very good indeed.

Only problem for ITV is that if a viewer switches from ITV1 to ITV m/c ITV loses money because of the ITV1 premium.

I'm sure ITV1 + 1 will add significantly which is why it is being launched - they can't afford to delay it any longer (though it's complicated by CRR).

Good for the BBC1 documentary in the 9pm slot last night, The Fixer isn't doing well though....

I think 'Monday, Monday' should be brought back to ITV2, as it definitely appeals to the channel's audience. The budget must be quite low, as its filmed in an office only, and could claim the trashy audience from the women that don't like ITV's Monday Night Thrillers. It could definitely get 500K-1m, which is good business.

As for the explanation on ITV's Monday night success at the beginning of this year, there are the following factors to take into consideration:-

- The BBC took ages to get up-and-running, with none of their hit dramas returning, and a run of 'Who Do You Think You Are?' shown instead, which commanded an OK audience.
- The Panorama audience has been very low, from around 2-2.5 million viewers, and not usually higher. Whereas the 8:30pm episode of Coronation Street was commanding an audience of over 10 million viewers, ITV's biggest audience of the week
- ITV have a reputation for quality drama on a Sunday and Monday night in the past, not so renowned on other nights.
- Drama Premieres are more respected by viewers on ITV than full series. Notice that 3-part-thrillers in general always do better than full series, bar Law & Order I spose. They have a bigger reputation in it, especially as ITV axe a lot of their series per se, and thrillers actually reach a NATURAL conclusion.

Therefore, I think we can conclude that ITV are in a bit of a situation.

The Fixer won't do well on Tuesday, but my Dad enjoys it and compares it to other Monday night dramas. But I think it's aimed at men, and should get repeat showings on ITV4. Why is it on Tuesday nights, a night where there's football on Sky Sports and a night where ITV are renowned for their floppy programming. The Fixer obviously costs a lot of money, and needs care, unlike say, Dancing on Ice (hence my radical argument of moving that, or an entertainment like that, to Tuesday night).

They have a whole list & potential list of successful Monday night dramas (+ up-and-coming prospects) , that can achieve 5-9 million viewers all year round:-

- Whitechapel
- Above Suspicion
- Law & Order UK
- The Fixer
- Blue Murder
- Taggart
- Identity
- Murderland
- Hidden Depths

But how can they extend this success to other parts of the week? Well, I think Sunday's the place where improvements must be made.

ITV need to make it a platform. Remember how Above Suspicion performed there, and various Bank Holiday dramas, Wire in the Blood, The Commander, Trial & Retribution.

The Sunday/Monday split has always worked with these sorts of dramas, and I think there's mileage left in ones like Above Suspicion.

So there's a way of extending their Monday Night Thrillers success back to Sunday nights. Another is to re-instate a rota of Sunday night drama in that 8pm slot, with soaps before it, and family drama after it.

ITV could really take advantage of BBC1's decision to axe Strictly Come Dancing's results show on a Sunday with this quick turnaround schedule next year:-

7:00pm Emmerdale
7:30pm Coronation Street
8:00pm The Royal (Winter) / Wild at Heart (Summer) / Heartbeat (Autumn)
9:00pm Kingdom (Winter) / Doc Martin (Summer) / Downton Abbey *Upstairs, Downstairs re-make (Autumn) + BANK HOLIDAY & CRIME SPECIALS WHICH CONCLUDE ON MONDAY
10:00pm News at Ten

With the option to fit their 2 hour dramas in that schedule also in-between the family dramas:-

7:00pm Emmerdale
7:30pm Coronation Street
8:00pm Lewis / Foyle's War / Midsomer Murders
10:00pm News at Ten

ITV have enough detective dramas and enough reputation with detective & period drama to use Sunday and Wednesday nights as their home, both with the Corrie lead-in.

Will it? It will surely only add those viewers that, if there was a clash previously, given a choice between watching ITV1, missing ITV1 or recording ITV1, chose to miss or record it. But there would be some other viewers who might have watched ITV1 that would now be able to wait until the +1 showing.

So, the net effect will be:
[LIST=1][*]+ve for those that previously missed it[*]+ve for those that previously recorded it (on the basis that they would probably have skipped the ads)[*]-ve for those that previously watched it. (because it won't earn as much in revenues)[/LIST]
So, it will probably be a net positive, but whether that will be a significant gain is yet to be determined. I suppose the equivalent question could be asked of c4. Is the total income of c4 and c4+1 significantly greater than c4 alone, before c4+1 existed?

K

Press sites have updated. Interesting schedules from both BBC1 and ITV1! As it stands, the Saturday 19th September schedules are:

BBC1- 18:40 Merlin, 19:25 Strictly Come Dancing, 21:05 The National Lottery Draws, 21:15 Casualty
ITV1- 19:00 The Cube, 20:00 The X Factor, 21:15 TBA

Looks like there's going to be plenty of Strictly v XF clashes this year, as it seems that the BBC are now putting SCD at the centre of their primetime schedules not the outskirts like last year.

On Sunday 20th, new programmes starting:

BBC1- 19:00 Countryfile, 20:00 Antiques Roadshow, 21:00 Waking the Dead
ITV1- 19:00 All Star Family Fortunes, 19:45-21:00 TBA, 21:00 Doc Martin

Mondays and Tuesdays are the same. Then on Wednesday, it's:

BBC1- 19:00 The One Show, 19:30 Nigel Slater's Simple Suppers, 20:00 Trawlermen, 21:00 Wounded
ITV1- 19:00 Emmerdale, 19:30 Coronation Street, 20:00 Midsomer Murders

So, we have an extra Corrie on Wednesday. Just a few months after ITV announced they would be getting rid of Weds Corries!

Strictly and x factor will clash again

Saturday 19th september
6.40-7.25 Merlin
7.25 -9.05 scd

Itv1
7-8pm the cube
8-9.15 the x factor [final auditions]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pro...tml#sat_merlin
edit beaten by rzt

That'll be to 'gain' one of two lost episodes from showing the UEFA Super Cup.

Not good for ITV regarding TXF clash.


Waking the Dead vs Doc Martin will be one hell of a clash. The TBA is 75 minutes - the only programme I know on ITV that is that long is Beat the Star, but that has been axed...

Some very tough clashes there

SCD V X Factor-virtually a full on clash.
Waking V Doc Martin-thankfully this only seems to be for one or two weeks.

What is the deal though with Corrie on Wednesday??

See my post above.

Does anyone know what is on before Merlin and how long it is set to run for?

They'll probably have news at 19:45-20:00. No idea about 20:00, though!


Yeah, it'll be two weeks. The BBC recomissioned the show for a 10 episode run, but it looks like they're going to show just 8 of those this year.


As D.M.N. says, probably the episodes not aired a few Fridays back due to the Super Cup.

Uh-oh, seems like Strictly means business this year. TXF will definitely suffer in that clash.

I think it's another episode of The X Factor, as the PI on Saturday's episode says the 'final audition shows' which implies there'll be another on Sunday, which'll give Doc Martin a leg-up.

Very interesting schedules, but I think ITV have cocked up Saturday. I'd have put The X Factor at 7.15pm, to get a head start on Strictly, with The Cube after it. BBC1 have done a very good job. All Star Family Fortunes on a Sunday is an interesting one, but it should do OK.


It will, and I think ITV have ballsed this up badly.

The Royal/Heartbeat?

I wonder Simple Suppers will do tonight as it's unusual to see a cookery show in primetime on BBC One, I'm thinking 3-4m but I do wonder whether we could see more cookery shows transfer from BBC Two if it is a success.

Wounded won't do well because for some reason shows about war or the military never seem to do well and on two occassions, documentaries about soldiers and War on BBC One all but flopped.

The radio times has these down provisonally

As Seen on TVSaturday 19 September
5:50pm - 6:20pm

Walk on the Wild SideSaturday 19 September
6:20pm - 6:50pm

How long is Walk on the Wild Side?

Crikey. Game on at the weekends this autumn!

BBC One making things much more difficult for ITV. Looking at the provisional schedules, obviously its far from idea for TXF, but its also putting The Cube in real danger of being crowded out too, I would have thought.

I'd be highly surprised if they don't switch things round as the autumn goes on to pre-empt Strictly and continue supporting The Cube after it.

Looks like a good schedule for BBC One. Not sure how the changes will affect Merlin. On one hand, its not got TXF to deal with, but on another, its without the SCD lead-in. At least they've resisted the temptation to push it too early - I think 6.40 is decent enough once the long nights start to set in.

As for Sundays, well Doc Martin isn't the most imaginative thing to use TXF lead-in for (surely would have been a great opportunity to flog something to young viewers?), but it will at least surely pull big numbers. 8 million, maybe more once Waking the Dead is done. An easy win for ITV for the night, but I suspect much like in spring when DOI is running, the reliable BBC schedule will pull decent enough numbers.

its an eight episode run and i think that this saturday is episode 5. Hole in the wall has an ten episode run so i presume that will take over from it when it finishes.

EDIT yes saturday the 19 th will be episode 6/8

Both WOTWS and The Cube finish on 3rd October (3 weeks into the clash to be replaced probably by Hole In The Wall and Harry Hill's TV Burp respectively.

And I still reckon Brucie negotiated the prime centre-of-the-evening slot for Strictly in exchange for agreeing to a pay cut.

Meanwhile...

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/a1766...r-and-mrs.html

ITV really are desperate for ratings, aren't they?

I would have thought ITV will move X Factor to 7.15pm. It won't help that much, casual viewers can still flick at the ads, but it's better than starting 35 minutes after. I can only assume that they switched X Factor and The Cube because SCD tends to be the start of the BBC schedule. Merlin is probably screwed, but since it went down like the Titanic on NBC, it just got more expensive so they might not mind dropping it. If it sticks this way, odds are that SCD and XF will both decline this year.

Rough start for The CW. I didn't have high expectations, but the figures for 90210 are worse than I expected and Melrose Place is off to a particularly bad start.

Last year, 90210 premiered with a 3.1 18-49 rating. After losing much of its audience through its first season, last nights second season returned with a 1.7.

Melrose Place kicked off with just a 1.6. Early impressions don't seem too great, so it could be in big trouble this year. 90210 didn't get much of a boost from where it was in May. But reaction for its second season premiere has been more positive.

http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/09/09...he-night/26542

Even the CW spin sounds half hearted.

Merlin did okay in an earlier timeslot last year so I reckon it will be fine, the international sales of Merlin are quite good. I reckon BBC America or Syfy will pick up Merlin for its second season especially as BBC America needs a new show now that Robin Hood and Primeval are gone.


I reckon Melrose Place will be gone by midseason unless Dawn ostroff decides to pick it up for a full season. It will be interesting how The Beautiful Life and The Vampire Diaries do. I reckon VD will be a hit though I'm not sure about TBL.

Merlin got 6.3 million last year for an episode starting at six o clock.

Regarding Corrie I don't see why the 2 episodes need to be rescheduled, because the episodes that aired on Bank Holiday Monday were supposed to air there, therefore there was no delay. Airing it on Wednesday will just confuse viewers and it is obviously there to give a leg up to a randomly scheduled episode of Midsomer, which despite being pushed around the schedule still manages to find a solid 6m every time.

Beat The Star I would have thought will find a solid 4m (like Beat The Star), then when XF starts airing at 8pm it may increase slightly.

I agree to an extent about the scheduling of Doc Martin, already a successful programme being used as the XF lead in, but I suspect it was either this or Fridays. I think after The Fixer is flopping ITV will be weary to air much drama on Tuesday 9pm. Doc Martin should retain most of its 8-10m viewers from its previous series. And I think Benidorm will start on Fridays after Rebus finishes and SCD is out of the way.

Personally I think it is a good sign ITV are airing The Cube in an earlier slot before the XF. They seem to have faith in it and it seems to have gone down well at ITV, though I don't think it will achieve the best ratings in that slot.