You put it better than I ever could, it hits the nail on the head.

Who wants to watch the human interest? Noone - people want serious journalism. It's nice to have human interest on the 'And Finally...', but it should no way be at the heart of any news bulletin.

Waterloo Road doing okay, although I think it preferred the Thursday 8pm slot back in the day.

That's not a good example, because Creek's episode on Easter Sunday clashed with the last ever Frost.

Sky just like pushing their weight around.

It's an ego thing for their power-crazed owner.

So viewers dont mind watching yellow NaT on Monday, but suddenly the colour scheme is a problem on Wednesdays. Maybe they should have a different colour each night?

That one's different as JC was against the last ever Frost plus the 2009 special was the first JC in five years and was against Marple. I reckon Whitechapel will be 6-6.5m.

LOL - NaT in the 80's always put a human face to the news. the BBC do it today all the time.

Looking through the archives, Man Utd group matches actually very rarely rate over 5m:

2007:
Man Utd v Roma: 4.8m
Dynamo Kyiv v Man Utd: 4.3m
Man Utd v Sporting: 4.7m

2008:
Man Utd v Celtic: 4.8m
Villareal v Man Utd: 4.4m

2009:
Man Utd v Wolfsburg: 5.4m
Man Utd v Besiktas: 4.9m

So the Man Utd match didn't rate as badly as I first thought, when comparing it to figures from the last three years.

The Wolfsburg match last year was an anomaly, probably due to the very exciting nature of the match (Man Utd were losing iirc) and BBC1 had a show against it which only got c. 2m.

What I mean to say is - there's no professionalism, it's like a tabloid magazine, it's all about Wayne and Coleen Rooney - it's so sensational! Noone trusts News at Ten's reputation, something it was trying to build up, and had done successfully between '08 and Nov '09 - then it all went wrong.

2.6m with a 5.8m lead-in on a Monday is bad. Previously it was getting 3-3.5m.

A clear example of BSkyB trying to snatch FTA content. Normally the line that gets wheeled out by the pro-Sky contingent of the forum (i.e. Sky customers) is that Sky don't poach shows as a rule, instead they move in when FTA broadcasters choose not to renew (i.e. Five/House) as if it's out of the goodness of their hearts to keep such shows going in the UK. Well quite clearly here that is not the case, they are outbidding the BBC for the rights. I can only hope the facts don't get twisted down the road but I suspect they will.

No benefit to Mad Men fans if it goes to Sky. It's already in HD on the BBC, and no ads either. Sad news for its viewers with Freeview, but I suspect they'll go for the box sets if Sky win the rights as they are quite reasonably priced.

What teams get high ratings? Liverpool is one and I think Chelsea.

Will be interesting how Man City v Juventus does for Five tonight, while I don't see it getting Liverpool numbers, I reckon it will perform very well. The Europa League has done much better numbers for Five than the UEFA Cup although I suspect having Liverpool has played a part in that.

Thanks - Puts things into perspective! Just after the Rangers match, I was expecting a bigger audience - 5-5.5mish

And Whitechapel clashed with snow.

Some other overnights from Snow Day 2009

Corrie (7.30pm): 11m
The One Show: 6.6m
Watchdog : 5.9m

Further examples of how ratings can vary.

I stand by my predictions.

BSI strikes again: http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pro...shtml#sat_rhgn


Why have they moved Good News to a Saturday?

Imagine putting ads into a show about advertising

*head hits desk whilst saying 'Stupid BBC'*

Five made a wise pick. The Liverpool game was a dull goalless affair.

The Europa League rated well last season but this season has got off to a brilliant start. I really wasn't expecting that first game with Liverpool to get nearly 3m! Last season it was much much later, I think March/April before we saw games rating that high.

I would say in order, ratings-wise it's:

Man Utd
Liverpool
Chelsea
Arsenal

And the next band of 4 clubs (not necessarily in that order):

Tottenham
Man City
Everton
Aston Villa

The Man City-Juventus match should rate well, maybe 2m-ish.

While Mad Men doesn't attract a huge audience, it seems to be part of Sky's plan to acquire the highest quality US drama and have it all in one place. Certainly the case if they're chasing Showtime as well. As ever, not many people are going to rush out and get Sky just because Mad Men moved. But it all adds up.

Don't want to start any speculation about BB's future, but on Monday 11th October at 10pm Channel 5 are airing Josie & John James: What Happened Next?

For anyone who doesn't know, Josie & John James were a couple on Big Brother 11. Seems weird that C5 would be showing this!

That seems to be the plan, get as much US TV behind the paywall as possible, like what they've done with sport. Taking Virgin out of the equation has made life a lot easier for them as well to get a monopoly on the genre.

Trouble is, the hit rate with US shows is quite low over here and quite a lot of them are not very good. Already this season Sky have found an absolute dud in Lonestar. I think fans of US TV could save themselves a fortune by cutting out Murdoch and spending their hard earned money on a select few boxsets instead - by FAR the best way to watch. No having to wait around for weeks on end for the next episode, for a start.

No doubt some Sky customers will be positively salivating at the idea of all this U.S. content they will be getting. I wonder if they'll be as pleased when the letter comes through the door advising of a subs increase to pay for it all...

You ain't seen nothing yet. Bob Righter follows a week later, then Davina McCaw.

On a serious note, there were reports a while ago that there were multiple broadcasters trying to sign the pair for a show. Looks like Channel Five were successful. It doesn't sound too far removed from the Where Did It All Go Right? series they have been running for a while. However they are definitely aiming at the lower end of the celebrity spectrum with those two, probably Desmond's influence.

I am particularly intrigued to see if the new shows end up on Sky 1 or if Sky have other ideas, they have yet to give any clear indication. I know some of the papers claimed 'Boardwalk Empire' would be shown on Sky 1 in January but Sky have yet to confirm where and when any of the HBO shows will be shown. I wonder might some be shown on Sky Movies Premier (like The Pacific) or if they launch a new entertainment channel.

Probably. If there is more money to be made (like The Pacific) they will pursue that option.

I doubt they will launch Boardwalk Empire in January. It will be a busy month for them because they are winding down Bravo/Channel One very quickly and ex-Virgin content will have to be redistributed.

Will be intresting to see what New Tricks gets with the change of day and L&O.

Also on the X Factor 2.5 hour show on Oct 9th. it being reported by Metro/DS that it invloves a "special treat."

Being speculated that the longer show could be down to the "wildcard's" that was reported to be happening a while back.

So you could have say 4 - one from each catagory and then the audience votes as normal. Then on the Sunday results the highest "wildcard" stays. With the 1st finalist leaving as normal.

These example aren't very good as the programmes aired around many different circumstances which have been previously mentioned. And just to be accurate Corrie had 11.1m on Snow Day.

I expect close to 7m for the first episode of Whitechapel. It will be higher than the 5.7m that watched DCI Banks on Monday night and will dent Spooks further.