I think it's the fact that TXF and its various predecessor 'famous popstar for 6 months' contests have quite happily aired up to the Saturday two weeks before Christmas, with their finals that night. SPOTY has aired for decades on one of the first two Sundays in December, and I believe on this particular Sunday for 20 consecutive years now. Whatever ITV's cheerleaders might say about it being irrelevant and not watched by anybody they know, the fact is that SPOTY is a key point in the sporting calendar itself, and an event that matters to the sporting community and millions of sports fans - 10m regularly tune in to the climax of the show every year.

This year, ITV has - within the past week or two - confirmed that it will move the climax of TXF to that same Sunday, and reveal the winner - it seems - at precisely the same moment that BBC1 reveals the SPOTY.

Pretty shabby and unnecessary for ITV1 to be doing this - they have plenty of opportunity to air their singing contest climax and get big ratings and Christmas ad revenues for it. But instead, they've employed what obviously look like petty spoiling tactics, to force viewers into watching one result or the other.

Does anyone know if Tyne Tees or Look North (NE & C) did impressive numbers for its flood coverage on Friday?

Out of curiosity, does someone in this thread have a subscription to the BARB thing? I dont want to use it. Just want to know what extra stuff you get to know...

So whats the overlap? SPOTY, despite what you say, is not a highlight of the sports year. Presumably you ar similarly outraged when BBC1 competitively schedule against other "trade awards" such as The Brits or the TV Soap Awards?

The show has moved, though. The results shows are now on Sundays. That's a major decision for the entire series, not done just to upset Sports Personality of the Year.

If it's that important it will do just fine and get 10m as usual.

What would be appropriate to air against SPOTY? Sports are obviously not allowed. Now it turns out that entertainment shows aren't allowed. Will the same kind of rules apply to the BBC when ITV show the NTA's?


Where are these opportunities? It's either continue with the successful format of this series and air the results in the Sunday slot.

Or return to Saturdays, have huge clashes with Strictly and stick the results in a slot where they perform far worse than on Sundays and finish at the end of primetime.

Why would ITV care about SPOTY or want to dent its ratings. The X Factor results show is going to be their most valuable show for years. They need to put it in the best slot possible.

Well, given that it's been on at 8pm every Sunday religiously since the live shows started, I take it the second half of the final, 90mins long it seems, will be airing in that same slot, 8pm, winner announced at around 9.25pm so as not to clash with the SPOTY reveal at around 8.55pm?

Will it?

As far as I'm concerned there's no case to be made here. There's no legitimate reason for ITV not to competitively schedule against SPOTY if that were the case - they're a commercial broadcaster and they need to bag the best possible audience for their shows.

But as has been said, the results show has been airing on Sundays since October - that was a decision made for the good of ITV's schedule, not some fiendishly complex plan formulated months in advance to scupper the BBC's awards ceremony. You can't compare it to previous years - the results are on Sundays this year and so it makes complete sense that the final will also air on a Sunday.

The NTAs are awards for tv shows so BBC1 will have to show a film opposite it as no other 'tv show' would be allowed

I think Sports Personality of the Year is great. It's the best awards ceremony of the year and I know plenty of people who watch it. The figures posted by D.M.N. are interesting as it's usually the highest rated awards show of the year, but in 2005 it dipped quite a lot when it faced heavy competition:

If it remains at 19.00-21.00, then it'll be completely overshadowed by The X Factor and I'd expect it to fall below 4m. ITV's definitely making the right decision to keep The X Factor in its Sunday slot - why should they move it when it's been there for 10 weeks? The extra 30 minutes is completely understandable as it's the grand final, so one would expect a longer than usual show. The same thing happens for Strictly Come Dancing and other reality shows. TXF's mostly started at 8pm, but has started before that once already and will happen one more time before the final, so it won't be a completely new change.

Obviously it's a headache for the BBC schedulers who wouldn't have expected this scenario to happen when the date for SPOTY was chosen. The BBC could go back to 20:00-22:15 for SPOTY this year if they want a good peak audience watching the winner revealed. The problem is that it would cause scheduling problems for Small Island and Top Gear.

It's difficult to see any solution where SPOTY would avoid TXF unless it's split into two shows, at 6:30pm and 9pm (with Small Island in the middle).

Anyway, I hope the schedules turn out so the winner's announcements of both shows aren't at the same times as I'd like to watch both live. If they do clash, then I'd watch TXF and so would the vast majority of people. Even a little 15 minute extension by the BBC (as Robbie suggests) would be good for SPOTY.

No. The only occasion on which the results show was extended was week 2 when it became 75 minutes. They brought the start time forward to 7.45pm rather than running it to 9.15pm.

The Susan Boyle show has the 9pm slot.

The Susan Boyle show can be aired at any time, any day. It's not an event taking place at 9pm that Sunday. If necessary, it could be shown at 9.30pm after the TXF final. ITV has no obligation, say, to show a news bulletin at 10pm on Sunday, and if they have decided Boyle merits a post-watershed slot, then 9.30 is as good as 9pm.

No, the reason ITV are proposing to move the Sunday half of the TXF final forward to 7.30 is because they want most viewers to watch the TXF reveal at 8.55 instead of the SPOTY reveal at 8.55. In the same way they run an hour long Emmerdale over EastEnders "in the interests of viewers".

I think it will bite them on the bum anyway, because SPOTY will prove more resilient than they think. In which case bye-bye to the 18m audience they crave...

I think 9pm is a better slot for it, it's not the kind of thing I'd expect to run after 10pm. Certainly not just so as SPOTY can get a good audience. Tbh, it's not the kind of thing I'd have thought of as post-watershed anyway unless it had the X Factor lead-in.

And as I said, the precedent is that where X Factor is longer on Sundays, it starts earlier rather than finish later.

If it was an hour long, it would be finishing at 9pm anyway.


Why do you think they even care about SPOTY? It's going to get crushed to about 4m. It couldn't even hold up well against the Royal Variety Performance. ITV aren't going to steal any ad revenue from the BBC which is what they care about. It's not like it's a much hyped and talked about ratings battle either.

They just want as many viewers to watch ITV as possible and to make as much money as possible.

Indeed. What better way to try and eliminate that irritating 10m peak audience that BBC1 gets on the 2nd Sunday in December every year than moving the TXF result to go out at exactly the same time.

Like their Emmerdale/EastEnders scheduling, it annoys viewers. And we know from all of ITV's wailing in September about TXF and SCD how much they apparently want to ensure viewers aren't forced into these clashes...

I think a certain SPOTY supporter is on dodgy ground here, considering how the BBC have been scheduling Strictly Come Dancing to clash with The X Factor for most of the autumn. The BBC knew that The X Factor Results were Sunday shows - why the hell did they expect it to change for the final? Just so ITV could fit in with the BBC? Maybe they should just air a blank screen when SPOTY is on, eh? Isn't that the argument used when people moan at the BBC for scheduling clashes? That they have to air something. After all - SPOTY could be moved to a different timeslot (say 6-8?) or different weekend.

Saying this, ITV should stick to 8pm for The X Factor. I think it'd benefit them as well because they won't be using the same bridge as BBC1, so people may stick to the channel instead of switching to watch something that is already halfway through.

Sorry, rant over.

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Superb for Children in Need - I thought it was a weak year entertainment wise, but the figures did excellently. ITV1 did well with the soaps and I'm A Celebrity - that's the toughest evening they'll have until the end of the series out of the way.

Channel 4. As said before, it doesn't need much to fix it, but it needs to be done. There's no structure to the channel, no formula. The early evening schedule has some definition, but primetime really hasn't.

A quick Google confirms the date, venue and time for SPOTY was announced by the BBC on 30 April. Did they know TXF would be airing on Sundays then? Many on this thread were still debating whether there'd be a Sunday final until a few weeks ago.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tv_a...ar/8012272.stm

If they were really concerned or bothered by the (fictional) 10m peak, ITV could just stick on the RVP and blow it apart like they did a few years ago. It doesn't really matter what SPOTY does, the BBC aren't selling that ad space.


Those are two similar shows. Entertainment/entertainment and soap/soap. This is sports/entertainment. It would be like ITV complaining if the BBC scheduled Doctor Who against BGT.

But they must've guessed what may have happen when ITV announced the scheduling of The X Factor - why did they suddenly start whinging now about it when it's been on the table for weeks. The BBC may do some stupid scheduling sometimes but they're not daft. They would've put two and two together and made four.

I just think the BBC are being wholly hypocritcal about the whole thing. They clash Strictly with The X Factor then whinge when The X Factor goes up against something they don't want to sacrifice. They moaned (rightly IMO) about the Tuesday soap clash between Emmerdale and EastEnders, but when ITV finally come to their senses, the BBC then go and instigate it themselves!

Both BBC and ITV are guilty when it comes to double standards. For 2010 they need to sit down and actually discuss scheduling so this stupidity doesn't happen again.

I noted this in the BBC news piece:


Now that's obviously the peak, not the average, but it does fit in with my vague recollection of the peak figure. It averaged 6.8m across the whole two hours according to BARB, so an absolute peak of 9.8m sounds about right.

[quote=C14E;36826552]If they were really concerned or bothered by the (fictional) 10m peak, ITV could just stick on the RVP and blow it apart like they did a few years ago. It doesn't really matter what SPOTY does, the BBC aren't selling that ad space. QUOTE]

The BBC seems like it cannot win. When it brings in a big audience its accused of ruthlessly and callously scheduling shows against channels needed ad revenue. If it moved SPOTY or any other show away from X Factor or a high ITV achiever then the ITV cheerleaders ( and thats not aimed at you) from criticising the beeb whenever it gets low figures. I know its PSB but still should be allowed in the same race as a commercial channel.

Ah the NTAs, ITV's little awards baby where the BBC shows walk off with nearly everything. Always surprised me they don't fix the NTAs too like they fix everything else.

The hypocrisy is hilarious. It used to be annoying but now I come in here for a good laugh. Double standards all over the shop then claims the thread and they themselves do not lean towards a particular broadcaster when pulled up over it. Love it.

It definitely works both ways - maybe it's like rubbish football decisions; evening itself out in the end.

I really don't think this matters.

You can put whatever you like up against The X Factor final, it wont matter.

Strictly is one of the most popular shows on TV and X Factor manages to get by against that.

You could put a Royal Wedding up against The X Factor final and it will still hit a record series high.

In this case, I think the argument is the other way around. The BBC feel that ITV are being unfair to the viewer by placing the final against Sports Personality, affecting the latter's standing.

well I have only seen Robbie who is staunchly pro everything the BBC and totally one sided. And I don't count Robbie and George anymore as they play their own little game. But everyone else bar 1 or 2 are getting just as bad as George. At least those that bother to give praise to the BBC eg. rzt, sn_22 are doing it where it is due and will equally comment when the BBC has performed poorly as well. So I don't think there's a balance at all but that's just my own opinion. You all seem to enjoy yourselves.