For all those people out there who are currently boycotting Radio Times.

Things to look forward to include:

1) A nice hand drawn illustration on the front cover, if previous years are anything to go by.
2) Being available in most areas on Saturday 4 December. Radio Times (which of course has alot more copies to print) isn't available in most areas until 2 or 3 days later.
3) A 40p saving (Total TV Guide expected price £2, Radio Times £2.40 (after this week's price rise))
4) Daytime Listings (including those for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day) will not be tucked away in a silly side panel.

Only 5 weeks and 2 days to go

Indeed.

Last years Total TV Guide had a very festive Santa cover and he was painting a TARDIS! I have got very used to Total TV Guide since April and will most definetely be buying it for Christmas.

They also decorate the programme pages for the main days!

Like RT it is not soap orientated, it has few but intelligent features and its movie guide is basic but very well laid out.

Its programmes are listed clearly, concisely and methodically although it doesn't often include cast lists.

The Radio Coverage is second only to RT. But they are reasonable and acceptably detailed.

I say, Christmas isn't Christmas without Total TV Guide!

(I heard a rumour from a Newsagent publication that the price will be £1.95). Not sure of the certainty but it has been suggested!)

It was £1.99 last year and here's the cover :

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n...asfeature3.png

Great Cover and great news about the main days being decorated.

I can't imagine Radio Times listings pages for the main days are going to look festive at all this year, unless they decorate the infamous daytime panel!

I will concede that the 2 day Choices Page in RT might actually serve a purpose on Christmas Day for once, as there will be enough programmes to fill it.

Last year was the first year ever that I was disappointed with the Xmas RT. There were limited illustrations at the top of the pages but none elsewhere by contrast to previous years.

Total TV Guide will be much easier to follow this year with all the listings in one column for each channel.

Is this also a support group thread for those of us who are steadfastly boycotting the Radio Times but are worried our willpower will fail us when the Christmas RT is pending?

Yes it is!

Then I am in the right place!

My name is chita and I am a recovering Radio Times-a-holic.

I too am a recovering Radio Times-a holic. A terrible thing happened the week before last where I wobbled and had a strong temptation to buy the RT again. I did buy and couldn't overcome. It took the cold turkey treatment to convince me that I didn't need and that I didn't like it anymore. I swiftly bought Total TV Guide and I felt repented.

I am sorry for succumbing to this evil. It was awful but the resistance has made me the strong, clean person I am today.

My flatmate is going to buy the Xmas RT and has promised to just put directly into my collection box without me looking at me. I will buy Total TV Guide......definetely.

Will I lose the resistance and sneakily look at the Xmas RT to convince me that I did the right thing?. Watch this space!

One of my favourite things in the Christmas RT over the last couple of years has been the picture quiz where you have to work out the TV programmes.

Probably be replaced this year with Christmas TV Choices pages!

More than likely it will be replaced with Catch up on iPlayer programmes that you can watch all over Christmas and that these same programmes listed will be listed again in two weeks time because you might have missed the repeats of the repeats or didn't realise iPlayer existed because you have to have a simplified magazine where RT readers MUST have it easy to turn the pages and find Freeview pages due to it not being a well known telephone directory.

Excuse my ignorance, I have not bought the RT since the late 80s, much preferring a mag that covers more Satellite channels.

Why are people boycotting the Radio Times ?.

The main reason people are boycotting Radio Times is due to a re-design of the listings that took place in April.

The choices page has become two pages and the daytimes listings page has gone. Instead daytime listings are squeezed into a side panel on the evening listings double page. The two page of choices looks very cluttered and mixes up terrestrial and sky/virgin choices. Useful for those with sky/virgin TV I guess.

The next two pages (after the evening listings double page) are dedicated to freeview channels and the following two pages to sky/virgin channels. The final two pages are, as before films and sports. You may say “that makes sense separating freeview and sky/virgin channels”, however, somehow these pages are now more difficult to read. New episodes are difficult to identify. Total TV Guide and TV & Satellite Week have the word ‘NEW’ usefully highlighted in red next to new episodes.

Personally it is not the changes themselves that have turned me away from Radio Times (after not missing an issue for 10 years). It is the attitude of its latest editor (Ben Preston). His initial response to e-mails in April was a suggestion to ‘give the new design a chance’. I have done this for 6 months and still don’t like it. At no point during those 6 months has one letter been published criticising (or in fact praising) the changes. In September readers were invited to complete a survey, which included a section on reader’s opinions on the listings pages. These results have not been published. I e-mailed 3 weeks ago to ask when they would be published, but have not had a reply.

The price has now increased from £1.10 to £1.20 due to ‘increased paper costs’. The editor’s response to the increase was a promise to bring even more articles and the best tv critics etc.. I realise a lot of people will be happy to hear this, but I only really bought Radio Times for the listings. I now buy Total TV Guide as I find their listings a lot easier to navigate and they have radio listings almost as good as Radio Times.

Yeh, basically we are all annoyed with the new editor's flippant replies to our emails and his pig-headedness regarding the changes.

I don't think it's a huge revolution or anything, though - just a bunch of us here.

I wonder how many have switched? There is no denying there are more Radio Times left on the shelves now right up until the following Monday. I remember the days when the shelves were empty by Saturday.

Of course that might just be a general decline in people buying TV Listings magazine and no doubt what the editor would put it down to.

What would be really interesting is if the sales figures of Total TV Guide actually reversed the overall market decline and actually increased. That would prove people are actually switching.

Maybe we should start a Facebook campaign??

Go for it! I'd join in!

so less than 5 weeks to go before Christmas issue then now.
I better start Christmas shopping soon.

I was at a friends the other day and they still brought Radio times , I had a peak and felt justified in not buying it as the TV listings are still rubbish.
I think that just about made my mind up I will not be buying the Christmas Radio Times this year the first time since .....well ever i suppose.

Well done.
Now you need to offer your friends support and encourage them to boycott it too.

Only 18 days to go

Next week's issue (on sale Tue 23 Nov) will feature a Christmas TV Sneak Preview!

I expect on sale dates after next week's issue will follow those of Radio Times:
Wk 49: Sat 27 Nov
Wk 50: Thu 2 Dec
Wk 51/52: Sat 4 Dec

On Sale Dates confirmed:

Week 48: Saturday 27 November
Week 49: Thursday 2 December
Week 51/52 (Christmas Issue): Tuesday 7 December *
Week 1: Friday 24 December

* Although it says the Christmas Issue is out on Tuesday 7 December, I am sure it will be available from Saturday 4 December in most places.

Do any of you ever step back occasionally to contemplate the fact that you are arguing over the layout of a TV listings magazine? Just wondered...

I'm another one who has been buying Total TV Guide since the changes to Radio Times and will definitely be buying the Christmas edition. I thought it was really good this week how the listings guide made a real point of letting readers know when the Christmas edition would be available as well as the pre Christmas editions, also they said the first Total TV Guide of 2011 would be available on Christmas Eve.

For us as a Sky household, we find that the listings for both terrestrial and digital programming really good in the Total TV Guide and use it alongside our on screen guide, I also enjoy the features and the radio guide at the back of the daily programming and my husband enjoys the weekly synopsis of the Archers that is on the radio page on Mondays.. mind you he also enjoyed seeing next weeks cover with Keeley Hawes on it!!

I also like the film pages and the sports coverage at the beginning of the weeks listings as I can check what football I want to watch clearly and easily. I also like that the guide is not laden with soap gossip as I do watch soaps (Emmerdale and Doctors), if I want soap gossip, I look here.

The fact is that many people on here have been purchasing RT for 30 years or at least several. The attitude of the new editor has made these same people feel alienated and when you pay £1.20 per week for a premium guide but get far from premium listings, it is unsurprising that loyal readers are disappointed. You don't have to join in the discussion but if you do want to contribute please keep it on topic....that is the forthcoming release of the Christmas Total TV Guide or the reasons for switching to Total TV Guide from RT or indeed any other listings magazine.

Hear, hear

Totally agree. Why does someone always come along and make a stupid comment. Nobody is arguing, just making a point. If you dont like something then you change as posters have done on here.
I am not happy with the way RT has gone but i am getting it only because i subscribed to 12 issues for £1 including the double issue. I will be using it alongside TTVG as i have also liked the way it is laid out.
I was happy with the TV mag in The Sun rather than RT, then they went and changed it to the awful Buzz and aimed it as a womens mag so they have also lost a reader for that reason alone.