An average of 800,000 people watched the final Leaders' Debate of the Ireland's Election 2011 on RTÉ's Prime Time last night. It had a peak figure of 887,000 people and a reach figure of just under 1,400,000.

Voting is on Friday with counting & results coverage starting 10am on Saturday. Its going to run very late into Saturday night before the final results are in, due to the PR system used.

Sky have dropped the audio quality on their channels today on Freeview. (Sky News, Sky3 and Sky3+1)

It is being rumoured that a drop in video quality will follow, and that this is part of the reason for the upcoming Sky3 rebrand to Pick TV. Sky, for obvious reasons, did not want their brand to be associated with poor picture. Other channels on the same multiplex such as Dave could also be affected.

Further rumours suggest the freed up space will be used to accommodate a new stream for CNN International, which was removed from the platform in November.

All very interesting stuff as far as DTT is concerned. Furthermore, we still have no idea what recent addition Channel 45, currently "TBA" will be, although speculation points towards this being a new channel from UKTV.

Thanks.


Another example of More4's appalling scheduling. My Kidnapper has been one of the most promoted editions of True Stories I've seen with features in TV mags, newspapers and I think on Breakfast - yet the poor slot puts people off.

Meanwhile Storyville, arguably the BBC's equivalent strand, performs much better for an episode which I don't think was particularly advertised.


I'm sure if More4 gave the more appealing True Stories films a chance in a flagship 9pm slot (perhaps even playing down the True Stories brand so they appear as stand alone films) they'd rate much better. Not as well as Come Dine with Me for the 1700th time granted, but they'd rate well enough and really boost the image of the channel. It's sad to say but whilst most digital channels launched by the terrestrials seem to have grown more and more comfortably into it's niche, More4 is just getting further and further away.



There is no rule change then as broadcasters can already put up to 12 minutes of ads into any film or documentary over an hour as long as they comply with other existing ad rules.

More 4 needs sorting out, probably one of the best digital channels out there but just poorly run,

What I think needs to happen;

Quality US drama- decent time slot 9pm most evenings
Film on in the evenings on the weekend
Curb Your Enthusiasm- (Seasons 6 and 7) which they have the rights to should be shown at 9 or 10, this would do well in the slot- students are now catching on to this programme, (ten years late maybe) but there is a huge following for this.

Drop the Dead Donkey should also be shown on the channel along with other old favourites.

Otherwise everything else is good, its not a bad channel at at all really.

More4 doesn't have the budget to ever become a major player in multichannel. For next month C4 Sales could only identify the following "highlights" for More4:

Brothers and Sisters (started in January)
Jamie's 30 Minute Meals (C4 repeat)
The Big C (showing simultaneously on C4)
The Departed (shown 4 times on C4 and Film4 in the past year)
The Real King's Speech (shown tonight on C4)

Hardly an inspiring lineup. I'll stick to BBC Four, a true thinking man's channel.

More 4 should get The United States of Tara, and pair it with The Big C, I think both are from Showtime.

More4 really has been neglected by Channel 4 compared to E4, the only times it has cracked 1m was the finale of ER and the odd episode of CDWM. The only highlight coming up is Shameless USA in the Spring.

I used to watch 1 programme on More4 (The Daily Show With Jon Stewart).
Once they got rid of that, they got rid of me.

What about if Channel 4 renew Gordon Ramsay's contract, but make his shows More4 exclusive? That would give the channel some much-needed purpose.

I don't know how much The F Word etc cost to make, but they can't be THAT expensive, surely?

I've commented on More4's bad state previously, but I completely agree with this. Get the original exclusive content on at a decent time (The Big C at 11pm? Todd Margaret at 11.20pm on a Sunday is classic (though admittedly it wasn't great)). There must be a decent typical Channel 4 audience that's bored of Come Dine/property/Gok Wan, and More4 should be scheduling effectively to pick these folk up.

dancc - disagree on the Ramsay idea, that kind of lifestyle type show that C4 is full of, and regrettably More4 too, is exactly what they should be distancing themselves from.

Some news from the RTS Television Journalism Awards being held in London tonight...

News Programme of the Year: ITV News at Ten
Presenter of the Year: Jon Snow
News Coverage International: Haiti Earthquake - ITV News
Home Award: Student Protests - Sky News
Current Affairs - Home: Panorama - Kids in Care
Innovation Award: CNN World Cup Twitter Buzz - CNN

Nice idea but I can't see Ramsay agreeing to it somehow! I do think it's time for Ramsay to move channels though as his old C4 shows have become stale and ratings have tumbled and C4 seem unable to come up with a new show for him (Best Restaurant was dire). His shows are still doing very well in the US and notice how they're still using 'shouty-sweary' Ramsay to the maximum, whereas C4 have toned him down and are trying to use him in factual formats. Looking at the ratings, it's clear what works best and I think it's time for him to jump ship. Providing the price is right, I think Channel 5, ITV and Sky would all make better use of him than C4 have in the last year or two.

Ten
6:30pm - Ten Evening News - 0.34m

ELEVEN
6:30pm - Neighbours - 0.29m

Neighbours slipped quite a bit yesterday in Australia, especially after the 0.38m on Monday. Hopefully only a temporary blip. Ten News therefore took the lead last night.

Seven
18:00 Seven News 1.24m
18:30 Today Tonight 1.19m
19:00 Home and Away 0.94m
19:30 My Kitchen Rules 1.38m
21:00 Criminal Minds 1.00m

Nine
18:00 Nine News 1.03m
19:00 A Current Affair 0.79m
19:30 The Big Bang Theory 0.85m
20:00 Mike & Molly 0.68m
20:30 The Farmer Wants a Wife 0.79m

Ten
17:00 Ten News at Five 0.72m
18:00 6pm with George Negus 0.37m
18:30 Ten Evening News 0.34m
19:00 7pm Project 0.64m
19:30 The Biggest Loser: Families 0.95m
21:00 Blue Bloods 0.47m

ABC1
20:30 Adam Hills in Gordon St Tonight 0.67m

Eleven
18:30 Neighbours 0.29m

Some really low figures on Nine and Ten, especially Blue Bloods and Mike & Molly.

Seven's lineup performed quite well. Extended MKR was very dominant in its slot.

Are you sure it wasn't the British Comedy Awards?


Typical ITV, picking the Man United game first again...

Well, they could launch the series on the back of the Christmas Day special with its 12m audience.

I thought with a year off recently, they might have aligned the production schedule with a January-March transmission run. That way it airs during the darkest and coldest months of the year, when ITV seemingly has little to offer on Saturday nights. It could probably get 9-10m a week at this time of year; instead it airs in spring/summer to 6-7m.

And yes, I accept "it always launches at Easter", but usually Easter is in March or early April. This year Easter is as late as it can be, and no-one can say that any of the revived Dr Who series have started as late as 22nd April before.

I reckon Ramsay will sign a non exclusive contract for Channel 4, I'm sure ITV would like him for Hell's Kitchen as would Channel 5 for Kitchen Nightmares.

Won't Home and Away get a bit 'lost' at 1315. It's not a junction with any othe main channel and I guess most people watching TV will be half through the News or Loose Women


Good performance for a difficult slot there


Fingers crossed

You're probably right. The only Ramsay programme I am really enjoying lately is Hell's Kitchen USA on ITV2. It would be nice to see him back doing a UK version on any of the broadcasters you mention.

They don't do themselves any favours. It doesn't even have to be exclusive content - narrative repeats of C4 dramas such as The Promise and Pillars of the Earth would boost the channel immensely. Narrative repeats of factual content too would be good for the channel, and it can be popular factual like My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding too.


Though to be fair ratings wise at least I'm amazed it lasted 5 years.


In a way Come Dine with Me has been the death of More4 - just easy repeat ratings, and even having the repeats has lost value now C4 also show Come Dine with Me marathons on a weekly basis. An evening repeat and a weekend omnibus of the C4 episodes is fine - but it should be kept out of the post-9pm slot completely.


As for C4 content which could become More4 exclusive - the best example I can think of is Bremner, Bird and Fortune. It seems to get a worse slot every time it returns, and it would surely be more of an asset having it on More4 at 9pm during the week than just on C4 at 7pm on a Sunday. Indeed C4 can keep it in that slot too - but let More4 get some value out of it by premiering it on the Thursday for example.



It would be best for both C4 and Ramsey if they parted company - though C4 has a history of holding on that little bit too long. His best format was Kitchen Nightmares, but unfortunately the recession and problems with his own restaurants kind of killed that off.


Talking of C4 two new 9pm shows next week - Jamie's Dream School onWednesday could do quite well, though I doubt Love Thy Neighbour - a contest in which villagers decide which outsider wins a house in their village - will perform as well on Thursday. C4 seems to have struggled much more in the Thursday night slot than on Tuesdays and Wednesdays in recent years.

Hell's Kitchen USA is great and highly addictive. A UK version of that format would be really good and could rate well. ITV would be the most likely channel as they own the Hell's Kitchen format but if they didn't want it I'm sure Channel 5 would take it, along with Nightmares if Ramsay is willing to do it. After a string of flops such as the most recent series of The F Word, Ramsay's Best Restaurant, Christmas with Gordon and Kitchen Nightmares USA along with average ratings for Great Escape and Shark Bait I can't see C4 being too keen to give him another exclusive deal so he could return to Hell's Kitchen.


Nightmares was really good but the press killed it off in the UK more than anyone else due to the way they latched on to the dip in fortunes experienced by his own restaurants and some of the less successful episodes of the show. Still, I guess it could return now, as it's been a few years since the last UK run. I agree that C4 have held on to him for too long and it's not the first time they've done that and it won't be the last.


I think Dream School will do very well and be Jamie's highest rating show for a while, which is ironic as it has nothing to do with cooking as far as I can tell. Love Thy Neighbour looks crap and will bomb. C4 have had some real drinkers on Thursdays in recent years and nothing seems to do well there - it's almost like their answer to ITV's Tuesday flopzone!

But this time it's only 7 episodes, so will be practically over by the end of May anyway. Indeed I suspect it's the late Easter which is the reason for the split, rather than the official line of the mid-season cliffhanger.

As valid as your point is for launching it off the back of the Christmas special, the Six Nations is the problem with a series starting in January - the BBC are better off having shorter series they seem to be able to schedule around it rather than longer ones which could be interrupted, especially with Lets Dance now a firm fixture in Feb/Mar. Although with all that said I think there is a case for moving these Saturday night dramas to the less packed Sunday night, around 7.15pm, where they'd certainly get a more regular slot, and arguably get a bigger audience too.

Hell's Kitchen USA's format is much better than the UK format, I never got why ITV1 went with celebrities rather than the general public.

I don't get that either, but ITV (and UK TV in general really) seems to have this weird obsession with celebrities whereas in most cases (such as this one) the shows work better with the general public.

What NEW ZEALAND Watched

Wed Feb 23 2011

TV ONE
0200-0530 BBC News 33,220
0530-1200 Breakfast News 273,510
1200-2300 One News 481,350
2300 Hotel Babylon 87,610
0010 & Proud 28,560

TV2
1530 Penguins of Madagascar 95,010
1600 Spongebob 128,300
1630 Neds Declassified 147,930
1900 Shortland Street 410,340
1935 2 & A Half Men 429,050
2000 Scrubs 357,910
2030 Big Bang Theory 432,010
2100 Cougar Town 328,220

TV3
1200 3 News 157,730
1630 3 News 273,250
1900 Campbell 390,780
2005 60 Minutes 422,120
2030 Hawaii 5-0 256,800
2130 Sons of Anarchy 234,170

FOUR
1535 Hey Arnold 38,580
1605 Wild Thornberries 50,580
1830 That 70's Show 37,710
1900 Simpsons 41,900
1930 Biggest Loser 35,140

PRIME
1700 News 52,310
1800 Deal or no Deal 28,860
2000 River Cottage 48,920
2030 Australias Got Talent 88,250
2130 Wife Swap 62,990

****
Interesting the kids zone on TV2 had nearly triple its usual audience