The other question, of course, is whether this will lead to more content switching to Pay TV.

Sky's income is still rising strongly and ESPN will want more content to expand.

So if BBC and ITV are not willing to pay so much there is a strong chance that more content will go Pay.

The Champions league is loss making for ITV and the manchester derby got over 7.3m on BBC one

]


Wishfull thinking by a SKY man.

What?

Not wishful thinking at all. Just a commercial question - and if more content does switch I'd expect more to go in the direction of ESPN rather than Sky.

Sky don't really need any more content whereas ESPN does.

Sunday 14th February 2010
BBC One
14:00 - Live Six Nations Rugby: 3.83m (23.9%)
* match average: 4.25m (25.7%)
18:00 - Countryfile: 6.08m (26.7%)
19:00 - Antiques Roadshow: 6.92m (26.4%)
20:00 - Lark Rise to Candleford: 6.31m (23%)
21:00 - Seven Ages of Britain: 4.5m (17.1%)
22:25 - Great British Railway Journeys: 2.47m (13%)

BBC Two
12:00 - Winter Olympics Highlights: 1.84m (16.4%)
19:30 - Top Gear Winter Olympics Special: 2.18m (8.1%)
20:30 - Winter Olympics 2010: 2.54m (9.5%)
22:00 - FILM: Apocalypto: 1.80m (11.5%)

ITV1
12:55 - The FA Cup Live: 3.37m (20.9%)
* match 1 average: 3.21m (22.0%)
* match 2 average: 4.09m (22.4%)
18:20 - Harry Hill's TV Burp: 4.1m (18.1%)
18:50 - Dancing On Ice: 8.34m (31.4%)
20:45 - Wild at Heart: 7.3m (27.5%)
21:45 - Dancing on Ice Skate Off: 7.21m (29.6%)
22:15 - Piers Morgan's Life Stories: 3.76m (21.4%)

Channel 4
20:00 - FILM: X-Men: 962,000 (3.6%)
* +1: 141,000 (0.6%)
22:00 - Derren Brown: Evening of Wonders: 813,000 (4.5%)
* +1: 115,000 (1.2%)

Five
19:00 - FILM: 50 First Dates: 1.53m (5.7%)
20:45 - FILM: Click: 1.87m (7.7%)

BBC Three
21:00 - Being Human: 700,000 (2.7%)
* last week: 967,000
22:00 - Heroes: 405,000 (1.9%)

BBC Four
21:00 - Indian Hill Railways: 603,000 (2.3%)

E4
22:00 - Desperate Housewives: 304,000 (1.5%)

More4
17:50 - Come Dine With Me: 1.01m (4.7%)
18:25 - Come Dine With Me: 1.08m (4.6%)
18:55 - Come Dine With Me: 841,000 (3.3%)

Sky1
18:00 - Got To Dance Final: 1.12m (4.7%)
* largest audience since series opener
21:00 - 24: 502,000 (1.9%)

Sources: dubsj, DS, MG

Note for whatever reason, MG are reporting the same as DS for the DOI/WAH shows.

oh no
Hopefully that will be lowest episode of the season and we will surely see it rise to the season finale now.
The good news is that the season 1 lowest episode last year was 578k (2.5%) so its still doing better this year.

Its disappointing that Being Human has dropped viewers nearly every week after such a big opening rating. However it has been doing very well in the officials and is regularly number 1 on iplayer each Monday.

Sky1 must be delighted with that audience for Got To Dance. I really thought it would just be some pale imitation of SYTYCD and flop but it has done pretty well.

Davina McCall might have found life after Big Brother.

Some very good shares for the Winter Olympics - could be a nice boost to the BBC2 February shares. The midday programme did great, and while the primetime coverage isn't anything to write home about for a Sunday night, on other nights of the week that will improve significantly on BBC2's average.

Another tremendously solid response from BBC1, I wonder how far off AR and DOI were from each other in that hour. And Seven Ages has picked up from last week.
The BBC are I guess a little fortunate to have 3/4 shows that offer such a good alternative to ITV's skatefest-if they didnt I wonder how many schedules would have come and gone amidst a chorus of boos from the press-and from some on here no doubt.

If it is loss making why on earth do they stake such a claim to getting the rights-which they have had since its birth?

Go away for a weekend and end up with 16 pages to get through. Now got to try and remember why I quoted these posts in the first place!


Was the worst opening ceremony I've ever seen IMO (covering the last 20 years). So dull, whilst the temporary indoor cauldron was an absolute farce and an insult to the tradition.


Good old NBC!


I do think though it works, but the Lottery should have been scheduled as a ten minute break in between the show and results for those who want to watch just that. Would certainly be an idea for Strictly this autumn - performances 6.30-8pm, then the Lottery, then results at 8.10pm.


The rugby wasn't the issue - it was putting an unnecessary repeat of Total Wipeout at 6.45pm which shook up the schedule.


The clock kind of works, but the rest of the changes won't make a difference. It's had it's day and is long overdue the axe. Rest it a couple of years and then perhaps bring it back in the Hotseat variant at 5.30pm on weekdays.


Four matches a weekend when they're only obliged to show two - no commitment their at all then!


Shows BBC2 shouldn't have been afraid to schedule it in lengthy slots in primetime, rather than just a couple of hours here and there (or not at all as tonight and Thursday).

Is that Opening Ceremony figure for the 12:00 highlights or the 02:00 live coverage? I'm guessing it's the latter with the wrong time.

Also, how is it doing in Aus for Nine?


Another Holby tomorrow night too, but I believe unrelated to this story.


Well, if he was going to snuff it you'd already know, so what's the point.


Remember though these aren't the same matches year on year, so not really comparable figures as ratings do vary from match to match, though crunch encounters not featuring England will get the ratings where they warrant it.


Still clear then that E4 should have left Desperate Housewives in the 11pm "first look" slot on Wednesday where I'm sure it would get more.

How do these ratings compare to the sort of figures E4 used to get on Sundays when they still did their "Second Chance Sundays"?

It's the 12:00 highlights.

It's worth pointing out what matches they were in each specific timeslot, as that clearly makes a difference. So that's...

Saturday
2009 - Match 1 - 14:00 to 16:50 - 3.7m (28%)
2010 - Match 1 - 13:40 to 16:25 - 2.9m (23%)

England vs Italy in 2009, Ireland vs Italy in 2010.

2009 - Match 2 - 17:00 to 19:05 - 4.7m (24%)
2010 - Match 2 - 16:35 to 19:05 - 5.8m (28%)

Ireland vs France in 2009, England vs Wales in 2010.

Sunday
2009 - Match 2 - ???
2010 - Match 2 - 14:25 to 17:15 - 3.5m (23%)

Whatever it got, it was Scotland vs Wales in 2009, Scotland vs France in 2010, so probably a slightly higher audience last time.

Six Nations - Weekend 2
Saturday
2009 - Match 1 - 14:30 to 17:00 - 3.2m (26%)
2010 - Match 1 - 13:10 to 16:00 - 3.2m (25%)

France vs Scotland in 2009, Wales vs Scotland in 2010.

2009 - Match 2 - 17:15 to 19:35 - 6.6m (32%)
2010 - Match 2 - 16:10 to 18:45 - 3.8m (21%)

Wales vs England in 2009, France vs Ireland in 2010, hence the massive drop-off.

Sunday
2009 - Match 1 - 14:00 to 16:30 - 2.9m (22%)
2010 - Match 1 - 14:00 to 16:30 - 3.8m (24%)

Italy vs Ireland in 2009, Italy vs England in 2010.


In terms of scheduling it wasn't that great a weekend, the only all-British one was in the worst slot, France vs Ireland was the primetime game (although Ireland do of course include Northern Ireland) and England's match was an obvious England win, as well as the fact it was rubbish. In addition, last year ITV had two live FA Cup matches, one at 12.30 on the Saturday and one at 4.30 on the Sunday, the other two were on Setanta, leading to minimal clashes which probably split the audience.


Yes, and when the Beeb got it back from ITV in 2002, the final that year got its lowest ever audience. The only impact ITV had on the decline of the FA Cup is that when they last had it they signed an appalling deal which gave them second choice and Sky first choice so ITV showed a load of rubbish and the competition looked a mess. It improved its reputation on the Beeb as the Beeb had first choice. The Carling Cup attendances haven't increased this season, it just so happens the Manchester derby turned up.


Are we still suggesting that everyone just watches BBC1 because it's there? More people watch the Queen's Speech on BBC1 than ITV because on BBC1 it's between Top of the Pops and a big film and on ITV it's between a crap film and another crap film. More people watch the news on BBC1 than ITV because ITV's news is crap. More people watch football on BBC1 because BBC1 had the Manchester Derby and ITV haven't.

My gran used to keep ITV on all day in the eighties and nineties, as did everyone's grandparents by the sounds of things. What with multichannel, I would estimate about 0.1% of the population watch BBC1 all day just because it's there. The leader debate on ITV will get less viewers then the Beeb if Alastair Stewart is rubbish or it's on opposite EastEnders and will get more if the Beeb's is opposite Coronation Street. Not that any of them will get massive audiences, I reckon.

Yes The audience is extremely solid for the entire block,Lark rise and AR are up year on year as well

Fab ratings for Got to Dance! It was a brilliant show which deserved its every success.

Any figures for the Glee repeat?

I agree, the cauldron lighting was a complete joke.

It was just plain odd. WOW - the torch is coming to the stadium in 26 minutes, in 12 minutes... now its here! Light the malfunctioned cauldron and then once the show is over switch it off. Er... OK.

They'd have been better off just lighting the nice one out on the bay.

I got sent a chain e-mail last night instructing me to vote for Matthew Koon. First time that's happened with a reality/talent show.

Fair play to Sky1 for producing a UK hit. We'll see how long this one lasts.

I wouldn't read anything into it as he didn't even get into the top three.

I really hope it lasts a long time as it puts BBC1's efforts to shame in terms of it's outstanding productions values, superior talent involved (the judges and host are far better on GTD) and sheer quality of entertainment. They've found a keeper.

I wasn't reading anything into it. The e-mail was from a friend.

Ah sorry, I thought you meant that it was from an organisation linked to Sky or something! Whoops, that'll teach me not to read too much into things.

I preferred it to Beijing though.


Great performance there, but I did question the reasoning of putting "Great British Railway Journeys" at that timeslot, seemed completely bizarre yet did unusually well.


Winter Olympics doing well for BBC Two. Does anyone know what the Opening Ceremony got overnight on Friday/Saturday. It was simulcast on BBC Two and Eurosport.


The FA Cup getting an Okay figure. I'm disappointed by Life Stories, with little competition and good promotion it didn't do what I thought it would.


Channel 4 are starting to be beaten by FIVE, they need some rating pullers. However, their multi-channels are doing very well.


Can't blame any figures here.


I can't help think that Being Human isn't doing what it deserves while Heroes was a bad investment.


Woah! 1m, amazing!


Sky1 should think of going FTA, they'd do well. Targeting the same audience as FOX while putting +1s and catch-ups for only Sky Subscribers, can't see anything going wrong for them.

hey guys

Monday afternoons are the new Weds lunchtimes

TNS/Kantar are sending the data over on Mondays now, so you can all check BARB website for new data then.

unless they send it too late for me to put up, then you'll have to check Tues morning

anyway week ending 7th February 2010 is now up

enjoy