Itv could put 60 minutes of Daybreak before a Cowell Vehicle and get 4.5m+.

I agree with you there. I can't imagine anyone wanting to watch a full length re-run

The highlights will by that point, have been shown numerous times in the afternoon coverage and on all the extended news bulletins.

The thing is I can understand the logic behind using Doctor Who as a boost for So You Think You Can Dance? but it's just too early. Besides, So You Think You Can Dance doesn't perform well against filler and I think it may be beaten by Sing If You Can (even if it is because the last five minutes are boosted by people tuning in for Briatin's Got Talent).

I think they should've given So You Think You Can Dance? up as a bad job in this case and given Doctor Who the plum slot:

5.30 Don't Scare the Hare
6.00 So You Think You Can Dance?
7.15 Doctor Who
8.00 National Lottery
8.50 So You Think You Can Dance? Results
9.20 Casualty

As for ITV...not a bad schedule for them. With Keith Lemon hosting I do think the show would suit post watershed more so he could appeal to more of his audience. Push March of the Dinosaurs an hour later (it might work with the crossover with SYTYCD?):

5.15 ITV News and Weather
5.30 You've Been Framed
6.00 March of the Dinosaurs
8.00 Britain's Got Talent
9.00 Sing If You Can
10.00 Piers Morgan's Life Stories

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I can't see Britain's Got Talent dipping below 10m for the first auditions show. The following programmes could be an issue depending how the lauch is received.

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Mrs Brown's Boys not a hit - are you kidding me?! It's probably the sleeper (due to the timeslot) hit of the year so far!

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Reasonable for both Waking the Dead and Lewis last night. The weekly pre 9pm BBC1 schedule is as consistent as ever. Shame they're not more inventive with the slots though. The Cube struggled a bit, and I'd like to see it given a slightly easier slot as I quite enjoy it and feel it could be another reasonable success. Even 7pm in the winter would give it a better chance, despite the lack of reality show on Saturday night.

The golf performed brilliantly for BBC2, as did the Formula One for BBC1. The Walking Dead held up well in the late slot and should improve next week with a shorter episode.

maybe that is the answer to the Daybreak problem, have Simon Cowell present it

Really? The Whole 19 Yards couldn't even hit 3.5m in that slot last year...

I masy have over-estimated Doctor Who in the above post. The Hungry Earth only drew 4.4m in an early slot last year; though that's different to the launch.

Interesting changes at Sky News today. The appointment-to-view schedule comprising of strands such as Afternoon Live and Live at Five (a brand used on air for 22 years) has been dropped.

Sunrise excluded, it's all reverted to generic programme names in the EPG and on air as the channel switches the focus back on rolling news. In addition to this all of the output bar Sunrise now comes from the main news desk, with the island presenting area dropped.

From a ratings point-of-view I don't see how they can benefit from this. One of the advantages of Sky News compared to BBC News was the fluidity of the presentation and the fact that it varied through the day, making full use of the massive studio and its resources such as the well utilised newswall. Now there is little to separate it from the BBC, except that opts for double-headed presentation for most of the day whilst Sky opts for single-headed. Not much of an edge in the competitive world of 24 hours news!

Although I assume this is not a ratings related decision and instead to do with cost cutting. We saw it last year when the weather department was cut down to almost nothing and some presenters & reporters were dropped.

It's sad what's happened to Sky News. Sky are prepared to invest a lot of money in areas like sport and entertainment but they want to run a cheap as chips news service. If the HD upgrades were too costly they should never have made the switch in the first place, the quality of the output is more important.

Well the appointment to view route hasn't helped them has it ? They are still second to BBC News, so figure they've decided to opt for the old adage, 'if you can't beat them, join them'

The BBC really do have a screw loose when it comes to Doctor Who. It will probs do OK, but a 7.15pm slot would do so much better. The show really shouldn't be propping up rubbish like SYTYCD?

Come on, I was just having a bit of fun...the shouting was just in your imagination...incidentally, do you agree with the omission of the great 'Five' brand? I think it's a travesty.

Because you have more interest in Channel 5, you're bound to be biased even if you don't need to be.

You didn't address my comments about So You Think You Can Dance, nor my comments about the under-predicting. Where did it go on? I've not noticed it...so basically I'm accusing you of making false claims, that's all.

Because Robbie was quoting me, and I didn't under-predict, he misunderstood what I was saying. Correct me if I'm wrong by the way.

Pretty sure that the first series of Outnumbered only got around 2m. Cerainly didnt grow during that series too.


Firstly. I think your estimates of 20m+ are way too high but that remains to be seen, Secondly, I dont think you would have been happy unless the BBC scheduled the Wedding into 15 minute or even better, 5 minutes chunks to proclaim a massive average.


IMO you look after youe number one show like Doctor Who and dont harm it at the expense of a failing dance show. Figures show that lower overnights will mean lower total reach. Also, Over The Rainbow's boost from getting a DW lead-in was minimal.


Exactly. The BBC seem to have made Doctor Who the poster boy show for overall reach and watching through iPlayer or timeshift. The main point is you dont put a show like Doctor Who on at 6pm, practically daytime, on a hot day in good weather, it just shouldnt be done.

Completely agree with this (you're comparing Sky with the BBC, so nice to see some balance from you)...as much as people bash Sky News, your point about different parts of the day being specific to different things (i.e. current affairs heavy, human interest-heavy) is a really good one.

Live at Five was I always thought their flagship brand, so I'm really surprised.

No I think you've missed my point slightly - I know it's a consistent thing...

Plus, the BBC wouldn't be 'ratings obsessed' by putting Doctor Who in a later slot where most of the viewers were, it'd be the natural thing to do. You put your most popular shows in biggest slot, that's natural common sense, whether you're a commercial broadcaster or publicly funded.

Being 'ratings obsessed' is when ITV1 pull scheduling tricks in an attempt to foil BBC One, or vice versa, which has happened a lot in the past - or when big talent shows are extended to three hours, general overkill.

Exactly, it's not just about ratings, the show's crap and I was to sad to see it getting mediocre figures last year, enough to justify a second run. It's unoriginal and the BBC shouldn't be importing this second-rate tosh.

By the BBC's standards on the whole, it's rubbish. By the entertainment department of the BBC on the whole, it's normal.

The thing is we do argue that schedulers should use their big shows to boost others, but So You Think you Can Dance? is not the kind of show that should be preferred to Doctor Who - especially as it's not been pulling up trees against filler.

That's the point I'm trying to make...although I do think that even if there was a big show launching, it should be launched with a Strictly lead-in in the autumn. Strictly's a show which suits early evening.

If you look at a breakdown of episodes shown before 6:30pm, there is a big rise during the episodes which indicates the start is too early for a lot of viewers.


The thing is there is no point putting Doctor Who on that early to boost a show because the overnight for DW will be that low that it cant give a boost to the next show anyway. Twice last year DW got 4.5m and 4.6m in the overnights. Those numbers just arent big enough to give a meaningul boost to the next show.

Waking the Dead and The Wakling Dead - that's almost as confusing as the old Countryfile and Countrywise debate. I thought you were being rather optimistic with your 7m there!


I think Corrie has been on Easter Sunday since it moved from it's regular Sunday slot.


I suspect the BBC see the iPlayer as being as important as BBC1 now. It is a show fans will follow around the schedule though, so they'll play it whereever they like. Notice too they're replacing one Nick Knowles quiz with another.


And in some E4 news, surprisingly Skins has had it's next series extended from 8 to 10 episodes, but they'll be new characters joining the existing cast.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/s89/s...haracters.html

However I think Misfits might be doomed - Robert Sheenan has left, and Misfits without Nathan is just pretty much unimaginable really. He very much carried the first couple of series - and in their wisdom E4 are going to write him out in an online prequel rather than the series premiere (though how do you kill off an imortal?)
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/s145/...o-misfits.html

If something is scheduled to be boosted by the Strictly lead in they'll have to choose what it is carefully, as it'll be against The X Factor. Family drama would do well; as Merlin has shown, but light entertainment might get swallowed up.

The best time to launch shows on Saturday night for BBC1 is straight after Christmas - ITV have nothing on as they place Dancing on Ice all on Sunday so they could really push on with something new.

I agree - the 6pm slot is ridiculous for the show. I understand why they want to place filler in the 8pm slot against Britain's Got Talent but they're sacrificing the wrong show in the early slot.

Merlin and Doctor Who would have a much more comfortable ride if the BBC moved them to Sundays.

Also, C5 expecting to bring in £25m this year in relation to Big Brother. Didn't they pay £35-£40m though?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011...ther-channel-5

I believe that it's costing them £40million per year and they have the option to extend it from 2 years to 5 years if it performs well. And I think you'll find that it's £25million in PROFIT from the adverts. Which would mean that they are expecting a total of around £65million worth of advertising sales.....

Your negativity towards Channel 5 is becoming VERY transparent. Might I suggest an "umbrella" mood towards a few channels to try and hide it?

True, but they were both purposefully commissioned with the idea of resolving issues in the BBC's Saturday night schedule.

Sunday evenings are already performing more than adequately, so what would be the point?

I'm going to attract the wrath of Dancc and co here but...I think that Channel 5 has not progressed as much as it could have. The seeming lack of desire to try out British programming, instead relying after import after import, is not a way a terrestrial channel should be run IMO. Hopefully, the purchase of Big Brother will kickstart their attempt at boosting British programming - especially British drama.

What I'm worried about as well is that the Five brand was quite male, and I think that did it favours.

Channel 5 is more female, there'll be lots of 'OK! TV'-type affairs in primetime before we know it surrounding Big Brother.

Let's hope though that instead Big Brother acts as a springboard for other shows (of the original scripted variety perhaps) in the 9pm slot.