They could always do a "sneak peak" episode a couple of weeks in advance. Is a tight squeeze - they could I guess revert to the categories being split from the Boot Camp stage with judges each staging their own boot camp and drop the Judges Home stage, so at the end of boot camp each judge has their final three. That would save a week, but also remove one of the things which differentiates it from Idol.

Losing one live show shouldn't be a problem either - they can throw in a double elimination somewhere.



I have a bad feeling more in the way I had a bad feeling about Sing if you Can. I think it might do rather well, relatively speaking.

BBC One
6.10pm Land Girls 2.97m (15.5%)
7.00pm Countryfile Compilation 5.94m (26.7%)
8.00pm Pirates of the Caribbean: the Curse of the Black Pearl 6.96m (27.9%)

ITV1
7.00pm The Cube 4.12m (18.5%) and 222,000 (0.9%) on ITV1+1.
8.00pm Vera 5.46m (21.8%) and 169,000 (0.7%) on ITV1+1.
10.15pm Perspectives 0.95m (5.7%)

BBC Two
8.00pm Britain's Secret Seas 1.67m (6.7%)
9.00pm Operation Crossbow 1.90m (7.5%)
10.00pm MotD2 3.31m (18.5%)

Channel 4
7.00pm Come Dine With Me 1.62m (7.3%) and 331,000 (1.3%) on C4+1.
8.00pm The Hotel 1.63m (6.6%) and 204,000 (0.8%) on C4+1.
9.00pm Die Hard 4.0 1.44m (6.9%) and 307,000 (2.3%) on C4+1.

Channel 5
6.05pm Zathura: a Space Adventure 1.1m (5.2%)
8.10pm Practical Magic 792,000 (3.2%)
10.00pm The Walking Dead 1.06m (5.4%)

Taken from:

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/news/...rtains-1m.html

...where shares and multichannel ratings can be found, too.

I hate typing!

Irish Eurovision ratings: 1,174,300
*peak 1,456,360

Most watched Eurovision in Ireland for 15 years. Had a 71% share for 15-24 year olds. http://www.rte.ie/ten/2011/0516/eurovision.html

2003 - 843,000
2004 - 629,000
2005 - 347,000
2006 - 652,000
2007 - 676,000
2008 - 331,000
2009 - 396,000
2010 - 718,000

BBC One showing this weekend that this TV lark is really an easy business.

You just put on a feed of Eurovision one night, an 8 year old film the next night, and watch the ratings pile in ! Brilliant ratings for POTC.

I expect ITV will look at those Eurovision figures and fancy getting hold of it, like they did with the Royal Variety. It would fit in with their other light entertainent credentials.

How locked in to the BBC is Eurovision ?

The BBC automatically get the rights to be the British broadcaster that participates in the contest.

This is what I've been wondering. It seems odd we never hear about the rights to Eurovision, it's just automatically assumed it will always be on the BBC - yet ITV is also a member of the EBU, and in fact broadcast the Junior contest for a few years before the UK withdrew (due to poor viewing figures IIRC )

Which might just happen, if we ever win the bl@@dy thing - hosting it the following year might just cripple a commercial broadcaster

K

Can't see that happening anytime soon. I just wish the BBC weren't so inconsistent in their approach to choosing our entry.

The Eurovision Song Contest was the surprise winner this weekend. It proves that the contest still has a massive following.

But why ? Surely that goes against some sort of anti-competition European law

ITV have EBU membership don't they ?

Jedward seem really popular in their own country then. Who would have thought they were such ratings pullers, generating massive increases (at least in part) across two countries!

RTE and the BBC will be agreement that they both will want them to take part again next year, assuming there is no rule about multiple appearances

I'm sure the EBU would really trust ITV after the debacle with the Junior Eurovision.

http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/27...f167057b628e3d

would you all judge me, if I made the reply to that I really want to?

To my knowledge, in each country the broadcaster that took part in the contest the previous year is automatically invited to participate the following year.

I don't think the BBC will be worrying about who represents Ireland next year, but the BBC might be keen to find another well known UK act for their own entry.

Wouldn't surprise me if RTE goes down the solo singer with a ballad route for its shortlist next year.

Indeed, I was searching (in vain) to find some historic Eurovision ratings on the net yesterday, and noticed that on the Eurovision website, it says "BBC, ITV" under UK broadcaster.

Perhaps ITV have the right to simulcast the show, but decline because they would be whupped 3 or 4 to 1 by the BBC, like every other time they simulcast something? (And they can get better ratings with dancing dogs and Drears Morgan?)

Considering that Hugh Laurie's contract ends after Season 8 and they've only renewed the contracts of the other actors for one more season, i'm guessing that it'll be the final season of House whether Terra Nova is a success or not.

I see the BREAKING NEWS banner is back - at least on my pc.

Has she quit again? :yawn:

I didn't think it merited a banner first time round....

nothing for me

Interesting figures-so it seems that for other countries this years contest wasn't a particular draw and has rated fairly averagely or even on the low side compared to previous years. Spain's figures make for particularly interesting reading it seems as though the country falls in and out of love with Eurovision on a yearly basis and the jump between 2007 and 2008 is staggering!

Despite the predictable responses from Robbie etc, I'd still be interested in the technicalities of the Eurovision rights.

Surely if ITV were able to simulcast it,it would have been done at least once at some point, or at least suggested in a tabloid, like the debates surrounding football rights. The point here is that it is never even suggested ever.

According to the EBU website, the members in the UK are the BBC, ITV (including STV, UTV & Channel) and Channel 4. But no mention of Channel 5 or indeed Sky.

That Irish Eurovision rating is massive, considering Ireland's population is 4m. The Danish and Swedish ratings are also very decent for the populations of their countries. It would be interesting to see some Eastern European ratings as well.

On the surface they look average but you have to take into account the population of the country. For example, 9m people live in Sweden, so nearly a third of the population watched the contest. That's like a TV show in the UK getting 20m viewers.

Iirc at the time the BBC declined the oppertunity to be part of it, so it passed to ITV. Who could forget the dream team of Tara Palmer Tompkinson and Mark Durden-Smith in Wogans shoes

I don't even want to remember the Eurovision Dance contest

To be fair, ITV is different today compared to but I'd fully understand why the EBU would be very wary about allowing them to pick up the contest ahead of the BBC.

Anyway, what a stunning rating for Pirates of the Carribbean! I didn't expect that and, reading the thread, no one else did either. Vera held up extremely well though and The Cube is finding a bit of an audience thanks Countrywise being filler. Can't BBC1 bring themselves to drop the show for a couple of weeks or something?