So they could do it when we only had two channels in the UK, now we have fifty odd, they can't?

If you don't want it on your tv, can't you put another channel on?

As expected ITV's new Saturday lineup didn't exactly excite the nation. On the positive side Penn and Teller did alright, in line with how it rated for its pilot, but its good performance was countered somewhat by The Marriage Ref's severe underperformance- looks like Kevin O'Sullivan and other critics were right to ridicule ITV for commissioning a UK version of a show that largely flopped in the States. I mustered about a minute of it whilst channel flicking during an advert break- Dermot O'Leary looked so out of place- and the couples' problems were really tedious. This didn't make for entertaining TV, especially as the panel only had about one funny person on it.

BBC One was remarkably consistent in the 4m range all evening- I think it will increase share next week with the return of the hugely popular In It To Win It. Big drop for Camelot on Channel 4, suggesting viewers weren't that keen on what they saw last week. Meanwhile L&O Special Victims Unit on Channel 5 made a small week-on-week gain despite not being in sync with Casualty- next week it is so we might see it creep up a bit further. Saturday nights could be strong for them if its sister show L&O Criminal Intent goes there as well from next month, that would be 1m+ guaranteed across a couple of hours each week. Now considering between July and December last year they aired no new programmes on Saturday nights at all, to mostly sub-1m audiences, it's a big improvement. I just hope they have the sense to not air Big Brother highlights on that night.

It was just the England games and it was a move hated by fans. The Six Nations is unlike any other event in that it reaches out to the entire UK as every nation is competitive in it. Those in England may overlook it in favour of a third rate national football team, but it is very highly regarded in the nations and has more than sufficient appeal in England, is one of the Crown Jewels of sport and from a broadcasting point of view is fairly manageable for the BBC, even with the incoming cuts.


Live sport and live entertainment are very different things. The BBC have to ship Strictly off to Blackpool to make way for Children in Need - when exactly was the last time they had two live shows on the same night? It's been a fair few years since they stopped doing the lottery shows live.

Plus Ealing has never been used for live TV shows to the best of my knowledge - although of course there are alternative studio options, and it isn't necessary The Voice will come from TV Centre anyway. It isn't just about studio space though - it's the staff too.


The live Championship rights have already been forfeited and although not confirmed, I don't think they could justify continuing with the Football League Show considering all the effort required to produce a show that goes out around midnight.

F1 going would be good for BBC Sport which has gone downhill in the last couple of years because of it. Rather than a fairly decent variety of sport week in week out (even in the post-Grandstand days) nowadays they seem to think if F1's on at the weekend, that'll do - whether it airs at 1pm or 6am!

Your point would have substance if it was actually true.

Last weekend aside from F1, BBC also screened MotoGP and Tennis from Queen's; and next weekend aside from F1 they also have MotoGP and Wimbledon.

It depends what they have the rights for, if they don't have the rights for it, then they can't screen it.

With friends like the BBC Trust, who needs enemies?

I still remember a Sunday Times front page headline from early 2004, screaming with joy about how Tony Blair was going to break up the BBC into four separate organisations, for Wales, Scotland, NI and England.

The BBC will keep these contracts, but I can see some of the less watched things like domestic athletics and some snooker moving across to satellite. Also I think their BDO Darts tournament, which attracts second rank players , might go. However, some things are sacred like MOTD and The Olympics and the BBC will never lose these.

I thought they lost it for a few years before?

Yes, twice. 1988/89 season up to and including 1991/92 season, and 2001/02 season up to and including 2003/04 season.

Not quite, when the league was with ITV, MOTD was still shown when the FA Cup was on. However, after ITV's awful Premiership show, it was a blessed relief to the fans when MOTD came back.

I was speaking only from a BBC Sport standpointt. I enjoy Cricket, well one day matches anyway and I know that people enjoy Golf - they rate in the hundreds of 000's on Sky Sports but not in millions - I meant on the main 2 BBC channels, both Golf & Cricket are very long events and struggle to get big ratings - I know the final 2 rounds on US Masters rated ok on BBC2 and that The Open does very well also. In an ideal world there would be a dedicated BBC Sport channel and FTA sports could be broadcast without interruption. I think one reason for Football/Rugby/F1 rating so well is that the events are 80-120 minutes and keep a good audience. I do have an idea for the Six Nations Rugby to be paid for differently - but that is for another time.

I hope ITV never get premer league highlights back after the absolute mess they made of it last time, even though they would probably of learn there lesson by not putting it out at 7pm this time (though thats only because of the X Factor and the thought of being thrashed by Strictly) its just that no doubt it would be Adrian Childs and bloody Townsend and Southgate. I do fear though with the BBC cuts and ITV wanting to give Childs a regular weekly gig (a good excuse for him then to leave Daybreak) that ITV will bid but i only hope that common sense comes into play and people realise that Match of the Day is a national TV institution and that ITV's crappy The Premership just never came close to matching it.

More details on a new BBC One programme this summer - The Great British Weather. http://metofficenews.wordpress.com/2...he-met-office/

Four part series, live each week, presented by Carol Kirkwood, Alexander Armstrong and Chris Hollins.

Yes, because it's great to have Gary Lineker gurning down the camera while Mark Lawrenson, Alan Hansen and Alan Shearer send viewers to sleep. The only reason figures are probably so high is because people doze off before they get the opportunity to switch over.

I speak partly in jest but the difference between Match of the Day and The Premiership wasn't that great in the end. The Premiership had an appalling slot to start off with, and the features didn't pay off which lost viewers before they got full grips on the show. But Match of the Day is not be all and end all and I'd be happy if ITV1 got the rights back as long as they've learnt from their mistakes of before.

For Football to flow you have to have as few breaks as possible ie zero, when MOTD is on I do like the match commentators, but I watch on delay to ffwd Lineker and the pundits. MOTD has very good ratings for the timeslot, if they cut down on the chatter and made it 10 mins shorter I think the ratings would be even higher. on ITV they are trying to get in 18 mins of ads per hour, boring for the viewers especially late on a Saturday night.

Sounds like an interesting programme. I like weather documentaries. Except those awful Channel 4 "oh look, it snowed. oh look, we didn't cope" retrospectives that don't tell us anything.

Schafernaker is now a "specialist reporter" then? I haven't seen him on the forecasts for some time. How long before he joins Countryfile or something... seems like a natural progression.

That's a good point - do sleeping viewers count in the overnight ratings?


Match of the Day has always been hyped up to be much better than it is, both in terms of the live coverage and highlights.

Granted The Premiership wasn't much better - but it's only in hindsight the 7pm move was a total disaster. In the years running up to ITV taking the rights they'd been persistant calls for MOTD to run earlier, and I do think if on BBC2, C4 or C5 they would work well enough in a 7/8pm slot.


It would be interesting to see what happened if the BBC didn't bid competively for it but no other broadcasters showed an interest. There is actually no requirement for free to air Premiership highlights, although I think the Premier League would understand the importance of them.

The BBC have got to keep Match of the Day, they have hardly any football as it is and it belongs on the BBC, I also hope they win back the FA contract. and i dont know how you can say that Linker, Hansen and Shearer are worse than Southgate and Townsend who are pretty much like robots, at least on the BBC there is some good chemistry between everyone.

I've never seen so much interest in dismissing a newspaper story, than this one regarding the F1

Normally they seem to be discussed as if they are 100% true, or at least when people want them to be 100% true


Challenge are repeating this series of Play your Cards Right at the moment. It was the series where they introduced typically early 00s features. An extra 'go home with nothing' game at the start and a fake hard question at the end, obviously Brucie making a dig at the likes of Millionaire and all the other 'all question/no fun' quiz shows which put Brucie's career on hold and which still dominate the quiz show genre.

Things like the Darts, Snooker, Bowls,Athletics,Boat Race Royal Ascot, National etc etc presumably dont break the bank when it comes to the financial side.
I dont know the Maths here, but is it possible the loss of one big contract would allow the majority of the rest to be retained during this austerity period? If so maybe its worth retaining the diversity whilst losing a piece of silver.

Another point and a question. What do people here think the long term consequences of the licence fee freeze will be. If the Beeb loses F1 for instance, will we ever see it back on the BBC again?

EDIT: I actually wonder whether the BDO would survive without its BBC exposure.

Southgate can be painful, I agree, but I don't mind Townsend. And naturally there'd be good chemistry between everyone as they host together for 40+ weeks every year whereas ITV's ounditry only meet up for about half that. Admittedly it doesn't help that they keep switching pundits instead of sticking and letting chemistry develop.

I think the BBC will look at what's popular. I don't ever think they will abandon the Grand National, but some of the lesser contracts might go as well as a biggie. However, I wouldn't be overly upset if F1 goes and they get the FA Cup back.

They can't afford the FA Cup back - that's the point.

Sounds OK I like shows about weather

However, the BBC are safe in the knowledge that a lot of the sports they show like golf and tennis aren't attractive to ITV as they couldn't fit Wimbledon into their schedules. Also would ITV be prepared to infuriate the Corrie mafia for Andy Murray, who probably couldn't care less so long as their soap gets shown. Now nothing gets more infuriated than a Corriehead and ITV know this.