It's interesting looking at the timeslots for Big Brother for the first few weeks on air, and the corresponding ratings - look at the first eviction:

Friday 28th July 2000
20:00 - Brookside: 4.24m
20:30 - Big Brother: 3.72m
21:00 - Friends: 4.81m
21:30 - South Park: 2.48m
22:00 - Fraiser: 2.61m
23:00 - Big Brother: 3.36m

For reference - on BBC1 at 8pm (Ground Force, 6.62m), 8:30pm (Porridge, 6.06m). ITV1 at 7pm (Catchphrase, 7.66m), 7:30pm (Coronation Street, 13.06m), 8:00pm (Find a Fortune, 6.72m), 9:00pm (Airline, 8.81m), 10:00pm (Tarrant on TV, 6.23m). [How interesting is it to compare ITV's Top 30 from then to now, hey?]

Monday 31st July - 20:00 - 2.38m
Tuesday 1st August - 23:05 - 2.73m
Wednesday 2nd August - 23:00 - 3.37m
Thursday 3rd August - 23:10 - 2.81m
Friday 4th August - 20:30, 3.19m; 23:05, 3.81m

Source: BARB

During BB2 the BB evictions were at 10.30pm so pretty much as we have now, but between BB3 and BB8, it had a recognised slot at 8.30pm and 10pm for evictions, but Corrie put an end to all that and now they rate badly because the audience has got younger over the years.

Well lets forbget the 8pm death slot for BB and i just realised something positive.... that both tomorrow and Friday first show is on at 9pm WITH NO footie, so im guessing tomorrow and Fridays first show must be quite higher than normal.

You must remember that your beloved ITV and the bad, bad BBC agreed this deal. ITV decided to sacrifice pretty much every chance of first picks after the group stages for the two certain primetime games. Their both World Cup semi-finals, which will rate similarly and very highly too so cut the whining.

Channel 4 seem embarassed by BB and would probably have loved to have it killed off last year, but for the contract with Endemol. Also The Sun referring to it as Big Bore and their television critic, Andy Ross, counting down the days till it ends must be hurting, as it wasn't so long ago The Sun was almost as devoted to it as The Daily Star. However, I reckon it will stabilise around 2 million, possibly 2.5 million for the last night, as its hardcore audience is still watching.

Disagree Weds night almost hit 3m (will be around 3.3m officially) without the WC game, it proves that BB can do it without the World Cup up against it every single night.

LOL thanks for the best chuckle of the day after you attacked my football knowledge the other day.

Think you'll find Argentina are well and truly OUT!

The might have indicated that I wasnt being totally serious. Or maybe not

How dare you offer logic and point out the facts. Don't you know this is the ratings thread?

The World Cup is a big money spinner for ITV and gains them a male audience, which is so lacking at other times. 20 million viewers for England and other matches winning their slots is a godsend for them.

Your right. Two games guaranteed in primetime with 20 million tuning means ITV got what they wanted really. The BBC did not have a primetime England match and only just scraped a last 16 game. England are so poor in tournaments that there is no point in gambling.
There might have been an argument for ITV to have first semi final pick but on the whole I reckon the shake down of screenings was about right for the circumstances.

Given the circumstances, ITV are probably pleased with what they have got. The BBC have nothing important to lose in the negotiations, ITV do. The most important thing for them is to get the guaranteed games, especially when England are so bad. Obviously the BBC know that and can use that position to get a better selection overall.

Given how major companys were betting against England (eg £10 per England goal scored) it does not surprised me at all that ITV only cared about the Group England games.

ITV will be laughing all the way to the bank as, for all the matches were dismal, these two games will be their biggest rated programmes of the year now that BGT fell short of last year's 19 million. They did right to bag the two evening kick offs as this is where the biggest audience will be.

Exactly. Plus, I think we'd all prefer the latter stages to be on the BBC anyway - it works out for both broadcasters really.

There's something traditional about Gary Lineker introducing the match, and I think the BBC has more resources and more man power to ensure that mistakes don't happen, and that the quality is top notch.

There is also the thing about not having adverts. It works for ITV, and it works for the BBC - the former trying to sell ad space at the highest price, the latter trying to justify its licence fee with important national events.

FA Cup Football is also traditionally linked to the BBC, while Champions League is more glamorous and will always be suited to ITV. The Premiership has been treated very well over the years, with Sky Sports and BBC holding a monopoly which has pleased viewers on the whole. Sky's live matches are always top notch, and Match of the Day is the perfect highlights format.

There needs to be some kind of reform with football on BBC and ITV. For me, it needs to compliment what is already their other programmes during the week, and forward planning is a must because it can lead to very, very messy scheduling.

If there was any way to do this, I would propose this:-

Saturday's - Match of the Day Live, BBC One/Two
- FA Cup 3rd Round, 4th Round, 5th Round, 6th Round, Semi-Final, Final
- England v ? (Friendlies, Qualifiers)
- Premier League early/late kick-offs
- Championship/League One/League Two

Tuesday's - Match of the Day Live, BBC One/Two
- Midweek Premier League
- FA Cup Replays
- England v ? (Friendlies, Qualifiers)
- Carling Cup
- Championship/League One/League Two

Wednesday's - The Big Match Live, ITV
- FA Cup Replays
- England v ? (Friendlies, Qualifiers)
- Midweek Premier League
- Carling Cup Live

Sky would own the well-branded Super Sunday and Monday Night Football matches, as well as most Wednesday Premier League clashes.

This will never happen, mind, but it would solve nearly all of the scheduling worries for both channels that we have identified in the last few months - and would be far better for all viewers on the whole in my view.

It could mean potentially:-
- EastEnders, Holby City and female skewed dramas would play out on Wednesday nights against ITV's football.
- Coronation Street to find a permanent 7.30pm slot on Tuesday's after Emmerdale, with award ceremonies and various other female-skewed shows from 8pm against BBC One's football.
- BBC One can offer an alternative against ITV's early evening entertainment on Saturday's, which will also mean that Doctor Who will move to 7ish, which I'm sure will please all fans.

All in all, BBC One would once again have a great package of football rights, being able to put less preferred games on BBC Two and broadcasting movies on BBC One ad hoc. It also means that the corporation can challenge Sky. Meanwhile, ITV would only air stuff on Wednesday's, which suits most viewers as they tend to hate the broadcaster.

It would be more consistent for all broadcasters, and we need some regulation so something like this can be put into place. It will mean fair competition between all broadcaster. Alas, things have the ability to shuffle around, but an around-the-table agreement would suit everyone.

I've always been a fan of having more football on the terrestrial channels, even though I'm also a fan of Sky's coverage.

Does anyone else share my thoughts? Or, more likely, have obvious qualms about it? There is a lot of fantasy about the above post, I'm only suggesting that something like this would be a great idea (IMO), I'm not suggesting that this is GOING to happen.

Much as I would like this to happen, I can't see the BBC or ITV spending £ 300 million a year on football rights. I could imagine if a female journalist from the Daily Mail picked this up. BBC BLOWS £ 300M ON SPORT MOST WOMEN HATE.
However, I do think the current terrestrial deal is fair given the massive presence Sky and ESPN has: the BBC has all the league highlights, the Carling Cup, international tournaments shared with ITV, ITV has half the Champions League, half the Europa League, FA Cup, England home games.

Where will the BBC and ITV get the money from? Live Premier League and England matches don't come cheap, you know! ITV's current football contracts are loss-making as it is. They aren't going to bid for high-cost Premier League matches which won't even involve the big teams as they'd probably be on Sky!

Saw a trailer this evening for BBC1's new Saturday night light entertainment series 101 Ways To Leave A Gameshow.

Number 1: Switch off television set.

Number 2: Sack Jay Hunt as BBC1 controller.

I think it looks quite good for a Saturday evening light entertainment show. Its obviously been commisioned because of Total Wipeout's success.

No, it hit its hardcore audience last year when it plumetted to either side of 2m. This year is about half a million up on it and only one episode out of 26 has fell under 2m compared to 9 out of 28 at the same stage last year.

There is another mini series yet to come at the end of this series which will attract the casual viewer, so BB will no doubt finish with over 4m viewers. The Sun haven't properly bothered with BB since BB8 and their coverage is actually better this year than it has been for quite a while.

This year is being hit very hard by the world cup, as shown when the two aren't head to head at 9pm and the 10pm episodes are still rating better than most of last years eviction episodes.

And when you also consider that last nights eviction show finished second at 10.35pm, it really isn't bad going at all. Before you keep trotting out the same argument time after time when BB performs below your personal expectations, look at it in context and you can see this year is actually performing quite well.

Ally Ross hasn't liked the show since BB2, I think. So not sure he's a barometer on it, to be honest.

BBC appears to have extended its coverage of The Open Golf on BBC One - final day coverage will run until at least 8pm on BBC One on Sunday 18th July. The following weeks 9pm slots are mainly TBA on BBC One with the exclusion of Friday - as are the weekend. The weekend schedules at the moment are as follows:

Saturday 17th July
BBC One
19:00 - 101 Ways to Leave a Gameshow
20:00 - TBA
20:50 - National Lottery Saturday Draws
21:00 - Casualty
21:50 - TBA
22:20 - BBC News

ITV1
18:30 - Animals Do the Funniest Things
19:30 - TBA
20:30 - TBA
21:30 - TBA (FILM)
23:45 - ITV News

I suspect the TBA's on BBC One will be first off filled with Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow and probably a full Lottery show - not sure what the next format is up next for it.

As for ITV, I think we should be seeing 71 Degrees North soon, shouldn't we? There's a few other new shows that could go here - the names of which escape me.

Sunday 18th July
BBC One
12:45 - Golf
20:00 - BBC News
20:20 - TBA
21:15 - TBA
22:00 - BBC News

ITV1
18:45 - ITV News and Weather
19:00 - TBA
20:00 - TBA
22:00 - ITV News and Weather

BBC can't really debut anything new on that night. Also, I think it'd be ludicrous if the schedule remained that way with 2 news bulletins in 2 hours. BBC Press Office also labels the Golf as on BBC One until 8pm, so I presume it will remain that way.

As for ITV, it appears its Press Office may be wrong, and that Heartbeat will be on at 7pm, not 8pm, with the 2 hour dramas on from 8pm.

well i've seen promo's for 2 new shows tonight.
Magic Numbers - which i've heard about before.
and then Odd one out with Bradley Walsh - which i can't really remember being discussed on here.

And having done a quick Google search, Magic Numbers will be starting it seems on July 17th: http://entertainment.stv.tv/tv/18531...-spell-on-stv/

And also Odd One In on the same night: http://entertainment.stv.tv/tv/18531...one-in-on-stv/

I'm not sure though in the idea of having 2 game shows back to back though. Surely something would be in between?