Well, well. Big news regarding the Champions League rights. This could potentially be a big point in ITV's history as it gives them the chance to completely reshedule their soaps into better timeslots. Hope we don't see a return of the weekly hour-long Emmerdale on Tuesday's but putting Corrie back onto Wednesdays has got to be a dead cert though. That would mean the Beeb having to put Waterloo Road back to its 8pm timeslot too I guess.

It's way more than I thought. When first announced, I thought 2. at most. After a really impressive marketing campaign by NBC, I thought high 3's but they'll be delighted with a 5.1. And a really young skew as well (57% A18-49, Idol is down in the low 40's these days).

For FOX and X Factor, it's bad news (yes, it shows interest in new talent shows, but it's basically the same show!). If this show sticks at a 4.0 average, NBC will probably put it on Tuesdays/Wednesdays in the fall. And in that scenario, the internet is awash with commentators noting how terrible a decision it was to leave it so long with X Factor and let a competitor get in ahead.

I imagine this means The Biggest Loser will be cut down to one airing per season rather than two. I would think The Voice should air in the autumn and Loser from January.

Glee was hit, the decision to make the episode 90 minutes backfired.

Speaking of The X Factor, Mel B has been announced as a judge on the Australian version, Natalie Bassingwaite is also a judge but this hasn't been confirmed yet.

I think Mel B is a good choice, wasn't she considered for a judge for The X Factor over here before they picked Sharon Osbourne,

It's hilarious isn't it?

It's the best situation for ITV. That half solves the Tuesday night dilemma and reopens the door for Corrie to move back to Wednesday nights.

I agree with others that they should move the Friday 8.30pm episode to Wednesday night. The Thursday soap block has worked better than expected (even if it hasn't been a roaring success for Corrie) and they can't dismantle it now because there's nothing to replace it with. It would also mean one less Corrie double which is a plus point for the show.

I can see why people think Wednesday nights may suffer more as a result and in hindsight it's a shame The Bill was axed the way it was, but I still think it'll a much better situation for them from a scheduling point of view than it has been over the last couple of years.

Move the Coronation St Friday 8.30 episode back to the uber traditional 7.30 Wednesday slot and then ITV1 can at least have a guaranteed Wednesday hit that might act as a lead in for awards ceremonies and factual programmes. I'm not a fan of these two episodes a night schedules anyway as it smacks of overkill and on Fridays doesn't seem to work.

Interesting blog from Roger Mosey, primarily about London 2012, but also talking about the 'exaggerated' viewing figures for big events, worth a read: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/rogermose..._question.html

Also, if people say for instance see a peak of, I don't know, say 15 million for Friday - you need to see this peak in context. I suspect we'll have quite a few different figures flying around on Saturday morning given we have things like Twitter, ITV will make their figures look good(!), Sky will do the same and so will BBC, all three may report different peaks.

The real peak though will be the highest 5-minute segment for the channels below combined. When I say combined, I don't mean add up all their peaks, I mean bundle all the 10:55 figures together, all the 11:00 figures, all the 11:05 figures etc to get a total for each 5-minute slot. The channels that are showing the service (which is where the peak I imagine will occur, unless something unplanned occurs) are*:

- BBC One (including HD)
- ITV1 (including HD and +1)
- Sky Living (including HD and +1)
- E!
- Sky News (including HD)
- BBC News
- CNN

That's XX raw channels, so it is inevitable we will see a wide variety of peaks, averages and the such like reported. Just because BBC had a peak of 16.32m (68.1%) at 11:35, it does not mean that most people were watching at that time.

Also, as DS does not have access to the 5-minute data, they will more than likely report smaller peaks than others; plus they may not have data for all the channels listed above.

In other words, don't see X user post on here at Saturday morning saying 'it' peaked at 15.8m, it means nothing unless the value is in context with channel name and peak value (5 min/15 min). BBC could have 15.8m, but that means nothing if the other channels had 10m watching combined. The peak is only when you take into considering all the channels showing it... in my opinion, anyway.

Thought I'd post that, as this thread I imagine will get probably one of its busiest periods on Saturday morning.

* note: I've compiled those channels via UK TV Guide using the 'United Kingdom, Sky Digital HD provider and Central (Midlands)' option, it is possible there are more that are not available via Sky!

Cat Deeley and Richard Quest are anchoring the CNN International coverage. What a combination!

Shame we never get ratings data for CNNi. I wonder why Time Warner haven't added it to BARB? Their other UK owned channels like TCM are on there.

Well I'll keep CNN on the list above, but I don't think that would make a substantial difference to the peak figures!

I think ITV will be tempted to squeeze six episodes a week from Coronation St. They're already doing it with Emmerdale, and it would enable them to return it to Wednesdays at 7.30pm without giving up the Thursday episode or either of the Friday ones.

Never mind the quality, feel the width.

Unless ITV are careful, they're just going to screw over Wednesday nights instead of Tuesday's nights. I think they should use this to revamp mthe szoap schedule again, not just make minor changes which'll still hurt Coronation Street and filler programming. Take a risk and see how it pays off.

Monday as now
Tuesday as now
Wednesday: 8pm Coronation Street; 8.30pm Emmerdale
Thursday: 8pm Coronation Street; 8.30pm Emmerdale
Friday: 7-8pm Emmerdale; 8.30pm Coronation Street

The current cannon fodder that airs at 8pm Tuesday's can move to either 7pm Tuesday or Wednesday. Coronation Street gives the night a leg up on both nights, and provides a lead in for Emmerdale which should result in ratings not being affected by the time change. The hour long for Emmerdale on Friday is neater than the scrappy Thursday night scheduling we currently have. Tuesday night can have the current Wednesday night schedule when there's no football to air.

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Awful for ITV as usual yesterday; that new deal cannot come quick enough for Tuesday's. Masterchef took advantage of the weaker oppsoition to record a good attendance and I expect it to do the same tonight.

If I were ITV I'd give some midweek entertainment formats a try - although perhaps the likes of Lewis will find themselves in the more traditional Wednesday slot for such dramas than on Sundays.


As with recent schedule changes all that happens is ITV solve one problem and create another - and it seems to require at least a year or so to actually get it right.

Personanlly I'd love to see Corrie stripped at 7.30pm (with displaced football episodes on Monday at 8.30pm as "special" double bills) and then a proper, varied, primetime schedule from 8-10pm - but unless ITV finds a Saudi Prince wanting to buy them out, that's not going to happen.

I dont think ITV should be too radical in moving programmes around. Viewers dont like shows moving too much. Emmerdale nighly at 7pm is working better than it has for a long time (its up at 35% share versus TOS on 20-22% - it isnt broke, so leave well alone). That leaves 1 Emmerdale to play with - its doing fine at 8pm on Thursdays so again - leave well alone.

So the game is really about where to play the 5 Coronation Street's. Mondays double bill does really well and Monday is traditionally soap night - so again, leave well alone.

So that leaves 3 CS episodes. Friday at 7.30 seems obvious and has a 25 year history. Same with Wednesday at 7.30.

So 1 left - do you keep it on Thursday at 8.30 or use on Friday at 8.30. On balance I think it works better on Thursdays.

I was going to suggest that - tongue-in-cheek - but only partly.

With advanced noticed they could start planning for it now. To start the week after BGT ends, with a big plot. I believe the murder of Tracy Barlow would go down well with a lot of the Corrie fans in the soap forum.

Maybe they could turn Downton Abbey into a year round drama for Wednesdays at 8

It may be working for Emmerdale but Coronation Street is being effected by being away from a junction - every other episode of Coronation Street (and admittedly Emmerdale) is at a BBC1 junction so viewers channel hop.

If you switch the two shows around then the bigger show grabs people for the episode and consequntly more people'd hang around for Emmerdale than vice versa.


I agree - though I remember the day when the 8.30pm Coronation Street was used for a major episode or to replace the Wednesday 7.30pm episode only.


The Bill had a 25 year (plus) history - it was still axed. Same with the Wednesday 7.30pm episode.


So not only will ITV be handing over every other Tuesday to BBC1, they'll lay out the red carpet post 8pm on a Friday as well? I guess it opens up a slot for films (the Friday news can always be moved later, bizarrely) if need be.

The thing is, I think times have changed. Soaps are now an integral part of the schedule for ITV, not just introducers to the evening. So, for me, they need to put them at the heart of the schedule, not on the edge of primetime.

Even if they just moved Tuesday's factual to Wednesday's it'd perform better than it does now.

Due to the Coronation Street lead in, rather than an EastEnders not-lead in, and due to not being opposite Holby City.

Clearing Fridays 8.30 gives ITV options to extend the entertainment programmes, or they could move them to Wednesdays, running drama on Fridays instead. There are a lot more options on the table than the current situation.

Great news for ITV period I think. Wednesday has always been traditionally strong for ITV, and traditionally weak for the BBC, so it'll be an opportunity to provide some pre-watershed sitcoms at 8pm, and some interesting new midweek reality shows at 9pm?

Midsomer Murders should be back on Sunday nights, and I don't think (apart from a few winter specials), Coronation Street's Wednesday lead-in should be wasted on these kind of dramas, because there's a huge family audience about. Perhaps in the summer, there could be a roster of older-skewing Wednesday night two-hour dramas, but I'm not sure that should spread to autumn/winter/spring.

You're right about The Bill, a shame it was ever moved to post-watershed and they definitely shouldn't bring it back - but the new 8pm slots could provide an opportunity for ITV to revive some pre-watershed drama which they are usually quite good at.

Wild at Heart, Heartbeat, The Bill and Where the Heart Is were, in their heyday, big shows. The decision to remove emphasis on pre-watershed drama is one I think they've lived to regret.


Not too sure you're right there - whenever Coronation Street airs on Wednesday at 7.30pm, it gets really good figures, despite the fact it isn't advertised.

On balance, I don't think it'd be suicide for ITV and Coronation Street's long term prosperity to cut back to four episodes per week:-

7.30pm, 8.30pm - Monday
7.30pm - Wednesday
7.30pm - Friday
And if there's a special storyline which permits an extra showing, an hour-long Wednesday night episode would suffice well I think.

In fact, I think this plan would be - in the longer term - a brilliant move for Corrie. Creatively, the show would go from strength to strength, and the strain on the actors would be less.

As for Emmerdale, Monday-Friday at 7pm is fine, with occasional special episodes at 8pm on Thursdays?

This would give ITV a blank canvas to play with between 8pm and 10pm on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday - which I think would be exciting, and far from worrying.

Wednesday could be where, potentially, things could go really night - where a 'family' night could be drafted out with a sitcom at 8pm, and who knows, a midweek music show? It would be a blank canvas...

Biggest worry would be Thursday, having to face strong BBC One 9pm dramas and strong multichannel opposition too.

Easiest to sort out would be Friday - just stick in two-hour classic drama repeats for most of the year, with the open possibility of some boxing, FA Cup and rugby too. This would compliment BBC One's 'family' night.

Sometimes this thread reminds me of when I played Sim City with all the micro management going on here lol.

A good post from D.M.N. about the Royal Wedding.

Saturday is going to be bewildering. We'll be getting averages, 15 minute peaks, 5 minute peaks and probably reaches too - some just BBC One, some plus ITV1 and some adding everything together.

Hopefully we'll get some breakdowns at least for BBC One and ITV1 which will get us about as close as we're likely to get in terms of judging the audiences. I wouldn't have thought that all other channels added together will get much more than 1-2m tops.

I dont think ITV knows the meaning of cut back.

I wouldnt be surprised at all if they used this as an excuse to simply air another episode on Wednesdays. Emmerdale is doing ok airing 6 episodes a week, so why not Corrie?

Re Coronation Street and talk of moving 8.30pm episodes. Isn't the risk here that some awkward 30 minute gaps appear. Take Fridays - the options are either start a 60 or 120 minute show at 8pm opposite Eastenders - probably not a good idea except for crime repeats. Or have a 90 minute block from 8.30pm. Aside from a few weeks of BGT/I'm a Celebrity what could ITV put in that slot? 60 Minute programming would leave an awkward 30 minute slot before the News (and I don't think moving the News at Ten back on a regular basis is a good idea for ITV again - News at When anyone?). Either that or some new 90 minute programmes would have to be found


I wonder if it is the same reasons that the business channels use - not accurately measuring workplace viewing? They use a pan-European survey of high earners IIRC instead - which is probably more relevant for them since this is the market they (sadly IMO) focus on. Also being honest any CNN UK ratings would be tiny and I'm sure at some point they would be used by a journalist or competitior to embarass them


Fox News
Al Jazeera English (I think)

http://www.deadline.com/2011/04/tv-t...-jersey-shore/

make it stop

Apparently the BBC had "talks" with UEFA. The weather? Kates dress?
Cant imagine it was much about football rights.

Is this deal(and the move to Wednesday) for the season after next? If so, the where do we schedule Coronation Street issue might need a thread of its own.

Hmmm so the new CL deal is quite interesting scheduling wise and surely it should all be about getting Corrie back on track. But, I don't think anyone has mentioned this yet, what if ITV don't change the soaps at all?! I wouldn't put it past them, but I do think the Wednesday episode has to come back. Personally, I always liked the Sun, Mon x2, Wed, Fri format, but I can't see that returning!