Yes but other than as a trophy acquisition it has no value to ITV. The ad revenue is limited, the costs are reasonably high for the "big 5" hence why Italy dumped it for a decade.

ITV handed back other trophy rights recently - Boat Race anyone? They will stick with proper franchises that they can make money out of fro here on in.

But hypothetically, if the BBC dropped it for cost reasons.......

im not forcing anyone to reply to my post, or even read them.

They're not high at all (well, unless you're unlucky enough to host it ). The Eurovision fee that the BBC paid the EBU last year was only £283,190. This year it's slightly higher (reported to be about £300k), and taking production costs into account, it probably costs them about £500,000 for over 3 hours of BBC1 peak-time entertainment and 4 hours on BBC3. That is very cheap for any BBC1 primetime entertainment show, let alone one which is capable of 7m+!

It'd be like DanceX against Baby Ballroom all over again!

Given that Sing If You Can is now over 1 million ahead of Dance, and the mauling the former received when it began, it'd take quite an epic stinker to lose to it. Maybe if ITV poached Don't Scare The Hare...actually let's not go there!

not even I think ITV would do that.

I thought it was higher. If its that low, it makes little sense to give the big 5 automatic qualification to the final.

AIRC Pop Idol and Popstars the Rivals were seen more as teatime shows than peak time big hitters. They did have good ratings but certainly nothing like TXF achieved after 2007. This possibly explains why ITV have never considered reviving them.

TXF once wasn't as big as TXF...


Well it looks like TXF 2009 served as a selection process for Eurovision 2011, at least for Ireland's entry. Having just Googled to find the name of the TXF 2009 winner, someone called Joe McElderry, and established that he vanished without trace, it seems the only lasting legacy of TXF 2009 is that it found Ireland's 2011 Eurosong entrant.

Now that this particular rubicon has been crossed, and Cowell's show has proved its worth as a Eurosong selection contest, I think there could be a long-term role for it.

Granted, as a format, it's not as good as Wogan's old Sunday afternoon A Song for Europe searches, but it's the best we've got.




So when do the FA Cup rights get handed back?

Given how massively they overpaid compared to the ratings delivered, surely they are losing money every time a ball is kicked?

PS: I wonder how low The Street That Cut Everything will take BBC1 tonight?

After last Monday's Wootton Bassett mega-flop, I can see a 2m figure tonight.

I think 1999 drama flop Jack of Hearts holds the BBC1 post 9pm record low with a 1.9m overnight. Could it have been "beaten" tonight?

EDIT: here are some of BBC1's worst ever overnight primetime ratings, taken from a 2004 MediaGuardian piece:

- Jack of Hearts - September 1999 - 1.9m [clashed with crucial England Euro2000 qualifer on Ch5 and Millionaire on ITV1]

- One NIght in Bhopal - December 2004 - 2.2m [drama documentary about the notorious Indian chemical factory explosion]

- The Protectors - May 2004 - 2.0m [documentary about paeodophiles]

* The Amazing Race Australia suffers lacklustre debut for Seven after much hype, is it this year's X Factor?;
* British imports produce the goods down under with Nine's Come Fly With Me the surprise hit of the night;
* And One's transition from sports programming to general entertainment continues to pay off with An Idiot Abroad launching to big numbers.

Seven
18:00 Seven News 1.39m
18:30 Today Tonight 1.29m
19:00 Home & Away 1.09m
19:30 No Ordinary Family 0.81m
20:30 New Series: The Amazing Race Australia 1.26m
22:00 Brothers & Sisters 0.56m

Nine
18:00 Nine News 1.16m
18:30 A Current Affair 1.05m
19:00 The Big Bang Theory (R) 0.93m
19:30 The Big Bang Theory 1.25m
20:05 New Series: Come Fly With Me 1.49m
20:40 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation 0.75m
21:40 CSI: Miami 0.57m

Ten
17:00 Ten News at Five 0.66m
18:30 6:30 with George Negus 0.48m
19:00 7pm Project 0.88m
19:30 MasterChef Australia 1.57m
20:30 Series Premiere: Offspring 0.93m
21:30 Offspring 0.76m

Eleven
18:30 Neighbours 0.39m
20:30 Supernatural 0.21m

One
20:30 New Series: An Idiot Abroad 0.28m

Come Fly With Me seems popular - it certaily appears to have dented The Amazing Race.

Excellent numbers for Come Fly With Me. To build that much on its lead-in when Seven and Ten were halfway through programmes is fantastic, and it was second in all the key demographics which is also a great result. They really needed something to cheer about and this could be it, depending on how well it retains those viewers over the coming weeks.

The Amazing Race has kind of burst Seven's bubble - their new pre-winter lineup had been coming together nicely for them up to now - but I think they would have had higher hopes for this one, even with the 10pm finish. The competition wasn't great either with Offspring kinda tanking along with CSI, which ceased to be a ratings hit in Australia some time ago. With No Ordinary Family performing poorly for them as well, Monday nights could well be their weak spot this season.

How popular was Little Britain? It must have been heavily edited as it aired at 8pm. I think Dowton Abbey will be a hit for Seven when it debuts.

Some US news but Seth MacFarlane, Warner Bros and Fox are planning to revive The Flintstones for a 2013 airdate. Considering that The Flintstones aired in primetime back in the 60s, it sort of returning home. I doubt it will have the same humour as Family Guy or American Dad but I imagine it will be more adult oriented which the original was but got watered down with the various spin-offs.

It'll never dip as low as that. It's up against Strangeways, not Downton Abbey.

From what I can remember, fairly popular, but it suffered from a few channel jumps along the way. Nine scheduled an unedited showing of Come Fly With Me on GO! at 10pm (picking up an additional 106k) but the author of TVTonight claims editing was only minimal for the Nine broadcast anyway:


Which begs the question, why are GO! even bothering with an uncut showing in the first place? But good for the "purists" I suppose who want to see it in its fullest form.

A couple of Nine's regional affiliates got cold feet and pulled the plug at the last minute, worrying it may offend even with the PG rating, with another episode of The Big Bang Theory airing in its place. They must feel slightly silly now, although we don't know how many complained yet!

Didnt Modern Masters get 1.4m?

I see no problem in scheulding an uncut repeat on your 2nd channel.

It give viewers the confidence they want, that they are seeing the show uncut, that is worth something to I alot of people, and its not like Go! wasnt going to repeat it at some stage anyways. (I would guess)

The Voice on the BBC?

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...n-the-BBC.html

This being the Sun, what do we think, any truth to it?

I'm not sure how, but you forgotten about High Street Dreams and Modern Masters.


I would say No, but they need something to boost their Light Entertainment department, right?

According to Twitter, ITV have ordered more scripts for Vera so its likely for recommission.

Channel 5 technical problems this morning.

The Wright Stuff has been delayed until 0945. House Doctor currently filling in.

EDIT: Not technical problems, but the Whiteleys shopping centre where the programme is filmed has been evacuated after a bomb threat.

Its not technical, i explained what it is in the Wright Stuff thread. Apparently there was a bomb scare at the shopping centre they film at in Queensway

Not sure - the Beeb could be eyeing it up as a replacement for SYTYCD to fill that spring/summer talent show slot; if so, I could see it being a modest hit.

It is possible, the BBC will as has already been said want to replace SYTYCD, and the Voice was created to be a singing show with a differnce.

Bad luck for The Wright Stuff, without wishing to sound judgemental, as this almost never happens, why film in a shopping centre and not a proper TV studio, then again look what happened to The One Show.

Monday 16th May 2011
BBC1
06:00 - Breakfast: 1.6m (36.3%)
18:00 - BBC News at Six: 4.4m (25.5%)
18:30 - Regional News and Weather: 5.6m (29.6%)
19:00 - The One Show: 4.2m (20.7%)
19:30 - Saints and Scroungers: 3.6m (16.2%)
20:00 - EastEnders: 8.8m (38.1%)
20:30 - Panorama: 2.7m (11.5%)
21:00 - The Street That Cut Everything: 3.0m (12.7%)
22:00 - BBC News at Ten: 4.9m (24.7%)
22:35 - The Street That Cut Everything: 3.1m (21.2%)
23:10 - The Graham Norton Show: 1.3m (14.0%)

BBC2
18:00 - Eggheads: 1.9m (10.9%)
18:30 - Great British Menu: 2.2m (11.6%)
19:00 - The Story of Ireland: 1.3m (6.3%)
20:00 - Business Nightmares with Evan Davis: 1.8m (7.5%)
21:00 - Children's Craniofacial Surgery: 1.5m (6.3%)
22:00 - Never Mind the Buzzcocks: 1.2m (5.9%)
22:30 - Newsnight: 0.8m (5.5%)

ITV (inc ITV+1)
06:00 - Daybreak: 0.8m (18.4%)
08:30 - Lorraine: 1.0m (19.2%)
18:30 - ITV News & Weather: 3.6m (18.8%)
19:00 - Emmerdale: 7.2m (35.1%)
19:30 - Coronation Street: 8.8m (39.9%)
20:00 - The Dales: 4.0m (17.0%)
20:30 - Coronation Street: 8.5m (35.6%)
21:00 - Strangeways: 5.6m (22.0%)
22:00 - ITV News at Ten & Weather: 2.7m (13.6%)
22:35 - FILM: A Perfect Murder: 0.9m (9.2%)

C4 (inc C4+1)
18:30 - Hollyoaks: 1.2m (5.8%)
19:00 - Channel 4 News: 0.6m (2.8%)
20:00 - Dispatches: 0.9m (3.5%)
21:00 - Gordon's Great Escape: 1.4m (4.6%)
22:00 - FILM: The Sixth Sense: 0.9m (5.8%)

C5
17:00 - 5 News at 5: 0.7m (5.6%)
17:30 - Neighbours: 1.2m (8.2%)
18:00 - Home and Away: 0.8m (4.6%)
18:30 - OK! TV: 0.3m (1.7%)
19:00 - 5 News at 7: 0.2m (1.2%)
19:30 - How Do They Do It?: 0.6m (2.8%)
20:00 - The Gadget Show: 0.9m (4.0%)
21:00 - The Hotel Inspector: 1.7m (7.1%)

All include HD.