The rights are sewn up until 2014. And there are only 5 England games out of 25 in total. Ratings for Italy vs France or Ireland vs Italy are 2-3m so at a cost of £1.6m per match thats not cheap.

Yesterday's soap figures from DS:

BBC One
13:45- Doctors:1.88m (22.8%)

ITV1 (inc. HD)
19:00- Emmerdale 7.55m (34.4%)
19:30- Coronation Street: 9.01m (36.6%)
20:30- Coronation Street: 7.68m (30.1%)
* 20:30-20:55

Channel 4
18:30- Hollyoaks: 1.14m (5.3%)

Channel 5
13:45- Neighbours: 824k (9.9%)
14:15- Home and Away: 405k (5.0%)
17:30- Neighbours: 1.40m (7.9%)
18:00- Home and Away: 948k (4.7%)

E4
19:00- Hollyoaks: 350k (1.6%)

Fiver
18:30- Home and Away: 573k (2.7%)

Other ratings here: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...postcount=2695

I think it is its best ever if +1 is more than 100,000 - previous high was 2.71m including +1.

Thanks for posting the ratings.

Emmerdale looks slightly healthier but Coronation Street must've been hurt by the rugby becaause neither figure is out of this world. The time checked figure shows the final five minutes really dented the rating, though.

Ah yes, there are always mitigating circumstances for BBC1 getting better ratings for something than ITV...

Wouldn't the BBC's "multimedia resources" still report on the 6 Nations if ITV had the rights, like they do for other events that the BBC doesn't have the rights to - like football, The X Factor and I'm a Celeb - all of which the BBC endlessly promotes across all its outlets, to the detriment of its own output?

Separately, I thought the verdict of The Times today on Outcasts was interesting:

"Not since Bonekickers has the BBC broadcast such an irredeemably awful series .... This is dire"

Sounds like fun.

Explains why they are burning it off quickly.

ITV's approach to buying the football was more focused on stopping the BBC getting superb ratings then helping themselves...well that's what it appears like now anyway looking at the FA Cup and, to a lesser extent, international ratings!

In all seriousness, the majority of the Six Nations matches are in day time, and would drag in more viewers (and of the 'right' demo) than the current dross they air. As for evening matches...ITV are not exactly setting the world on fire with their Saturday night schedule so I can't see Six Nations denting it that much, if at all. With the random Friday match popping up they could always move the soap marathon to prop up Tuesday. I cannot deny there would be a serious dip though, and they'd have to get rid of the football first. In ITV's dreamworld they'd keep the Internationals and lose the FA Cup but the FA know this, hence selling the two as a package.

I think there are some people who have an irrational dislike of ITV and might not tune in. Sound familiar yet??

I don't know why you're so annoyed about what I said because it's true that the BBC can promote live sporting events across TV/radio/online better than ITV can. That's just the way it is - it's partly ITV's own fault for offering poor online services and the fact that the BBC has other services such as radio which ITV doesn't. Of course the BBC would still report on the 6 Nations even if ITV had the rights but I doubt it would be as much as if they had the rights themselves, and also at the moment they say "you can watch it on BBC1 at 7:30pm etc" whereas I doubt they'd say "you can watch it on ITV1 at 7:30pm etc".

It's like the FA Cup - coverage and promotion of it on the BBC website and radio doesn't seem to be as much as there was previously when the BBC held the rights. Now, I'm not criticising the BBC for this but I'm simply explaining one of the reasons why ITV's ratings for sports tend to be lower than when the BBC show the exact same thing.

Though to be fair with the overuse of soaps, reality TV and a dreadful period where everything with celebrity in it got commissioned (to the point where even 2DTV, an ITV1 programme, took the mick out of the channel) it's no surprise that ITV1 has lost the faith of so many members of the public...especially those who remember it in the 'good old days'.

also the BBC "weather" seems to be used mainly to promote BBC Sports rights. I doubt they would promote ITV events. To name but one example.

They do promote the channel broadcasting the match (and even the radio station) on their website:


http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...em/9384148.stm

But I agree, they don't actually announce it on radio/TV...would be bizarre of they did.

Excellent numbers for the Six Nations coverage last night. The BBC will be delighted with that. Wales v England is always one of the biggest ties and it was a great match to start off the tournament. And I don't suppose ITV will be too annoyed to see 7m people demonstrating an interest in rugby already - they've the World Cup to come later this year.


They're not mitigating circumstances. It's an entirely reasonable assessment of one of the reasons the BBC sometimes enjoys higher ratings for its sports coverage than does ITV. Particularly when a sport is battling for media attention with others (as the Six Nations is) being top of the priorities list at the BBC is a big deal in terms of additional TV, radio and online coverage.


Ouch, ouch, ouch. Thats a stinger. The only review I'd seen thus far was moderately positive. But then again, that was 'Den of Geek' who tend to be into this sort of thing...

The BBC Sport website has been pointing readers towards ITV and Sky Sports etc for some time - see for example this in relation to the England game on Wednesday:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/9388124.stm

And like I say, the BBC promotes plenty of ITV1 stuff across all its outlets.

The real reason fewer people watch football on ITV is because the coverage is crap and the presenters, pundits and commentators are (generally) much weaker than the BBC's (mostly) class-leading team. Fewer casual viewers, plus a few hardened football fans who will refuse to watch on principle.

(The Football League Show excepted. Which is rubbish.)

I should be more like you. Have an irrational dislike of another broadcaster, but nevertheless still watch their programmes...

Actually I'd argue the BBC tends to 'promote' shows that have a fanbase already - such as X Factor, I'm A Celebrity..., Coronation Street. They do not turn around and promote new shows or shows that are struggling for ratings. There's no reason why they should but let's not say the BBC promotes 'plenty of ITV1 stuff' when it's actually very niche.

If you want more....




And for the second episode:


That said, David Chater in The Times has particular tastes. He slags off The Apprentice every week, for example.

I can't for this now. The Bonekickers thread on here was hilarious. I just hope Outcasts manages to be so bad that it's entertaining

To most people though, they won't refuse to watch a match simply because the coverage is "crap" - especially the actual match when you're just watching the action (with commentary). Sure, there'll be some people who might do that but there's also other reasons as to why sports events on ITV tend to get lower ratings than the equivalent events on BBC1. You'd be naiive to think it's only due to the reason you've stated.

but it IS only ever ITV programmes you seem to watch............

Great night for BBC1 with the rugby performing excellently against the competition. On the other hand BBC2 seems quite low apart from Mastermind. They don't seem to have many solid 2m+ hits atm, as Channel 4 seems to be gaining viewers.

Another steady figure for Emmerdale and the first Corrie performed OK, but the 2nd one completely lost momentum. I really don't understand why ITV don't just merge the two Corrie's together when there's event TV on BBC1-every time the second one falls. It gives Children's Hospital a small boost, but I would say it would manage around 4m at 8.30pm, and Comedy Rocks can't do any worse without the Corrie lead in!

OK night for Ch5. Most slots ate hitting 1m, which is their target, but they only seem to have CSI:NY capable of hitting 2m atm.

The BBC just do sport better - or at least, that's what most people think. And the culture is so ingrained that no amount of multimedia promotion is going to deliver to ITV the non sports viewer who will watch on BBC just because it is 'an event'. That's just a fact of British TV life.


I am trying to like it but the more I see....

I don't understand the scheduling tactic, though. Why tie up two prime time slots that have inherited big audiences from Silent Witness?

If the BBC know it's bad why are they not hiding it away in a less prominent slot? Friday after Hustle was said to be the original intention and would have been much more low key. Or Tuesdays at 9pm which is where other series have been sent to die.

A few demos from yesterday: http://i53.tinypic.com/20l1r9e.jpg

Six Nations had the most ABC1 viewers in primetime. It almost beat Corrie (19:30) among 16-34s, I suspect it beat the 20:30 edition.

Lord NO, Please don't let ITV bid for the Six Nations, it is BAD enough that they ruin the Rugby World Cup with their awful commentary and analysis, but at least that's only every 4 years, couldn't deal with them killing the six nations too.

Not surprised by last nights rating, it was a cracking game, great start to the series.

corrie could also be hurt by EE fans not having turned there TVs on that night

Not liking the reports on Outcasts, seems to have a great cast, not sure where its gone wrong.

Lol, if its that bad they should burn it off very quickly by showing all the episodes overnight! I dont know why the Beeb goes for post watershed stuff with elements of sci-fi or futuristic storylines. Survivors was laughable in the end and all you create with shows like that, Paradox and The Deep are cult audiences. To make good sci-fi imo(and I know its not shared by all) you need a decent budget and Dr Who aside there isnt enough money floating around.