I take back what I said about ITV "deliberately" scheduling bigger shows against. However I hope you are not suggesting the BBC do .

I don't know - Sports Personality of the Year and Cranford seem bigger than The Bill and Police Camera Action.

If anything the best thing about the BBC is no adverts or interruptions of a tv show - if ITV had an option where for 50p a day you could be rid of cash for gold ads or gocompare - imagine for a moment that utopian ideal.

I am sure many people would be willing to pay it on top of the licence fee ( I know I would) - the thing is ads ruin programmes to some degree and it is likely some faithful BBC viewers remain on the channel just to avoid intrusive commercials and programme sponsorship.

I don't think 50p'd a day from each viewer (that's assuming they'd get the same number!) would be enough though. Good thought though, shame they don't do something like that!

*Posting just so my last post can be seen *

Off-thread, yet relevant because we've discussed how much the Simon Cowell publicity machine has played its part in boosting X Factor's ratings this year, but...

Turns out Rage Against The Machine, Joe thingy's rival for the Xmas number 1, is signed up to Cowell's record company (mentioned by Polly Hudson in her column in The Mirror.)

As Cowell rages (no pun intended) against the campaign to stop Joe being Xmas no. 1, could it be that he is actually the person behind it, because no other act is willing to take up the challenge and drum up the extra publicity and sales. It also appears to be another chance to bash the BBC, for apparantly being biased in favour of RATM.

Could Cowell really be that cynical and calculating?

Utopia is available, on Virgin Catch Up, where there aren't any ads on ITVPlayer progs. Also, if you use AdBlockPlus with Firefox, you get the same effect from the website (it works for me, anyway, other FMs don't seem to be so lucky!).

K

I don't think he is behind it, but I think he knew exactly what he was doing when he called it 'cynical' and 'stupid' - he was pushing it. Did he mean it to do this far? Who knows.

He is a senior executive at Sony BMG. I think he sits on the board too.

UNtil Cowell revived the Christmas No 1 race it was Mr Blobby and Bib The Builder that were making No1. Now the anti XF usual suspects (BBC & gauardian types) are claiming its their chance to vote on TXF. Havent they heard of the tv off button if they dont like the show?

I think Agent F will find F1 is definitely a key elemet of the weekend BBC One schedule.

On that note, I notice a big mass lump of snow heading towards England on Monday.

The Bill - 4.1m

Above 4m

DS ratings page has refreshed...

G&S 5.9m

K

PRIMETIME SHARES:

BBC One 23.6%; ITV1's 22.2%; BBC Two 6.8%; Channel 4 5.6% (+1: 0.9%); Five 4.3%.

I think it could perform better on Tuesdays myself, and benefit both The Bill (a less competitive slot) and ITV (a weak night without a lynch pin).

Before ITV moved it I always thought Tuesday and Wednesday at 9pm would work for The Bill, with episodes dropped in football weeks meaning around 80 episodes a year - indeed could be knocked down to around 60-70 when things like Britain's Got Talent, I'm a Celeb and other events take the slots too.

UK TV Guide has updated, and here are the confirmed schedules for Saturday 9th January:

BBC1
17:40 Hole In The Wall
18:10 The Best of Total Wipeout
19:00 So You Think You Can Dance?
20:05 National Lottery: In It To Win It
20:55 Casualty
21:45 So You Think You Can Dance? Results

ITV1
16:50 FILM: Charlie and The Chocolate Factory
19:00 Harry Hill's The Best of TV Burp
19:30 Take Me Out
20:30 All Star Mr and Mrs
21:30 FILM: Notting Hill

How uninspiring. Notting Hill again, come on ITV, that's pathetic. It was last shown in a similar slot just this march, when it only got about 3m, so it's very lazy scheduling. The teatime movie is understandable as it'll get a decent family audience, but Notting Hill again at 9:30pm is stupid. Mr and Mrs is on too late too, as it bombed last Summer at 8:30pm, as it does better earlier at about 6/7pm.

There's no race
Simon cowel has seen to that one.
Years ago acts used to release songs and hope togo to number 1.The papers and Bookies made a big thing about it.

Now The bookies know its the Xf
The papers just say the Xf is fav for number 1 and very few acts release songs now(Look at this weeks Rubbish top5 mid weeks)

Its got nothing todo with anti BBC and all this other rubbish
people want to see someone else get the Number1 spot(last time was 2004 band aid 20).

Not to mention the xf single being the worst one so far.

Goes to show how desperate Cowell is every year
cowells acts are the only ones to have single cds in Asda,Tesco ect(apart from Charity records)
yet all the other acts have Cd singles selling in HMV only.for the record the BBC is promoting the XF single too

Excellent for Gavin and Stacey, setting it up perfectly for good ratings next week.

The Bill should be doing better though especially as it was snowing in some places yesterday night. To edge just over 4 million when there's snow in some areas is pretty poor.

The revamp is clearly not working, though I liked some of the episodes I've seen. They should move it back to 8pm on Wednesdays or Tuesdays, keeping it at once a week if they still want to keep the cut budget for it.

Thursday 17th November 2009
BBC One
13:45 - Doctors: 1.75m (25.2%)
19:30 - EastEnders: 8.05m (37.6%)
20:00 - Countryfile at Christmas: 4.31m (18.9%)
21:00 - Gavin and Stacey: 5.85m (25.4%)
21:30 - QI: 4.53m (20.4%)

BBC Two
20:00 - The Restaurant: 1.6m (7%)
21:00 - Rick Stein's Christmas Odyssey: 2.13m (9.4%)

ITV1
19:00 - Emmerdale: 6.52m (32.2%)
20:00 - Emmerdale: 6.68m (30%)
20:30 - Coronation Street: 7.84m (33.6%)
21:00 - The Bill: 4.06m (17.9%)

Channel 4
18:30 - Hollyoaks: 1.52m (7.5%)
* +1: 115,000 (0.6%)
20:00 - Jamie's Family Christmas: 2.32m (10.4%)
* +1: 305,000 (1.3%)
20:30 - Come Dine With Me: 1.29m (5.5%)
* +1: 258,000 (1.2%)
21:00 - Cutting Edge: 1.22m (5.4%)
* +1: 178,000

Five
18:00 - Home and Away: 843,000 (4.5%)
19:30 - Live UEFA Europa League: 1.1m (4.9%)

BBC Three
22:00 - EastEnders: 749,000 (4%)

ITV2
00:40 - Coronation Street: 185,000 (5.5%)

E4
19:00 - Hollyoaks: 480,000 (2.5%)
* +1: 166,000 (0.8%)

More4
22:40 - Curb Your Enthusiasm: 77,000 (0.7%)

Fiver
18:30 - Home and Away: 541,000 (2.8%)

Source: DS, MG

Good for BBC One last night, Countryfile did well out of its normal slot. Poor for Emmerdale and Coronation Street in the 8pm hour, clearly dented by some 'oldies' watching BBC One and one or two watching Channel 4.

Poor rating for Five's Europa League coverage, and poor for Home and Away, seems like they are *missing* the Neighbours lead-in.

17 day December primetime share is now BBC1 21.04 vs ITV1 27.05. So assuming BBC1 wins the 25th by +15, they would still need to win every other night by an average of +6.75. Can they do it?

I was under the impression we were talking about the weekday daytime schedule.

Well let's see:

Friday - BBC

Saturday - BBC
Sunday - BBC
Monday - ITV
Tuesday - BBC
Wednesday - BBC
Thursday - BBC
Friday - BBC

Saturday - ITV
Sunday - BBC
Monday - BBC
Tuesday - BBC
Wednesday - BBC
Thursday - BBC

Not sure, it really depends on the size of BBC's victories to be honest and how well ITV holds up...

...or rather how much dramas and films on ITV flop.

I would guess:

ITV win (1 day)
Monday 21st

Possible Draws (too close to call) (5 days) - asume they net out to +/- 0
Wednesday 23rd; Saturday 26th; Sunday 27th; Monday 28th; Tuesday 29th

BBC wins
all other days (8 days)

so the 8 days BBC1 win would need to be by a large magnitude to win the month (+13/ +14 each day)

Hmm, I think you may have underestimated ITV a little. For sure, they'll have a lot of real flops this Christmas, such as Stars on The Street, Love Actually, Ad of The Decade, Bridget Jones, Taggart (Christmas Eve won't work for it). Mr and Mrs, Poirot (as Taggart), The Holiday and Sleep With Me. But, I think Take That, Fattest Man In Britain, The Millies, The Nolans, TV Burp, Ant and Dec, Family Fortunes, All Star Impressions Show, Countrywise, Piers Morgan and Marple will all range from OK to excellent, so they shouldn't do too horrifically overall.

The one I'm really unsure of is An Englishman In New York. It's supposed to be very good, and the original is hugely well known, but is it mainstream enough? I do genuinely think it could get anything between 2.5-7.5m and it's going to be one of the most interesting ratings over the Christmas period for me.

Just a note - I think Top Gear could get over 7m on Sunday, considering Jenson Button is their guest.

In 2007, Lewis Hamilton's guest appearance gave Top Gear's highest ever audience to date.

Not sure why it actually matters - after November and the start of December ITV1 is bound to edge the years primetime share no matter what BBC1 does at Xmas.