the rating for the TOUR DE FRANCE on itv 4 is very good.how are the ratings for the TOUR on eurosport doing?

From BARB:

04/07 - 65k
05/07 - 59k
06/07 - below 48k
07/07 - 61k (11pm repeat))
08/07 - 60k
09/07 - 60k
10/07 - 77k

Interesting one, what kind of audience does MTV Classics get for its old videos in peak time? I bet a couple of hundred thousand viewers must be attracted to have a home disco on a Saturday night.

So Zezi Ifore becomes the second worst presenter ever on the Big Brother payrole now C5 have made Brian Dowling the main host. The show is ****ed!

And rather annoyed to find out too Grand Designs Australia has been running on More4 on Sunday nights for a couple of weeks. Thankfully still on 4oD, but haven't seen any promos at all for it on C4, E4 or More4. So much new content seems to get lost in amongst the reruns of Come Dine with Me on More4.

It'll probably work the other way. A bit like The Apprentice in BGT week - some viewers will start watching New Tricks at 9pm, stick with it for the hour and not come back.

I think it's more likely to start big and fall back - it's going to have an XF lead-in and more hype than those shows did. So the premiere should be big.

ITV are certainly hoping it does well - particularly because it's an ITVS production. But it's a really difficult area to crack just now. The format doesn't seem to lend itself to being stripped over a week and I think the scheduling is ridiculous as well.

I think it's also one of very few new shows on ITV1 this autumn - most of their schedule will be filled by very strong returning shows. And the entertainment department could really use a hit so this might be one of very few chances they get.

You're hoping.

Until you've seen him in the role how can you possibly comment. You can see the rationale behind it - well liked by the viewers, inside knowledge of what it's like to be in there, decent on screen presence, capable of reading an autocue, etc etc...

I am surprised though. Personally I thought Emma Willis was a shoe-in!

ITV need to be careful not to burn the programme out straight away and limit its audience like Channel 4 did with Million Pound Drop.


Apparently they're both doing it but obviously Brian is the main one to be reported by the press. Both Brian's and Emma's voices are apparently on the advert, and I can't see Emma's voice being on there if shes only doing BBLB. We'll find out for sure at midnight. I'm still holding out that Emma will be the leading host and Brian will be a sidekick.

Is it just one week stripped? I can see the logic behind it. Saturday night will be key; it needs to use The X Factor lead in right in order to sustain itself across the week.

Yes, I think it would be better to have them both involved. I like the idea of two presenters, and there could be an interesting dynamic there between the two of them.

I'm actually too tired to stay up for it... damn midnight embargoes. But it'll be good to have some concrete info on the upcoming series. Some of the fans were getting a wee bit restless, bless them.

Red or Black week is definitely going to be one of the more intriguing weeks of ratings this Autumn. I assume it's going to run Saturday 3rd to Saturday 10th (skipping Tuesday for the football). It seems as though they're splitting the weekend episodes too so I suspect those 2 Saturdays will looks like this:

18:30- High Stakes, 19:30- Red or Black, 20:30- The X Factor, 21:45- Red or Black.

I can't see any other way of doing it as they won't want High Stakes on any earlier than that. Ideally Red or Black would run as one 90 minute show after TXF on the two Saturdays but ITV Media has it down as being split every night. The Sunday will probably have the same schedule as the weekdays.

The scheduling is a bit of a wildcard. On the one hand splitting it could mean it becomes too much of a commitment for viewers, and the 8pm starts could harm it on the Monday and Friday. However if they can get a strong audience over the first weekend then the 8pm starts shouldn't be too problematic.

Overall unlike with BGT I think the scheduling could actually work out rather well though as the 8pm episodes will have Corrie/Emmerdale lead-ins possibly on all 4 weekdays (football on Tuesday) which will give it a nice inheritance. Mainly though with Corrie airing at 9pm and getting 9-10m those 9:30pm Red or Black episodes should do really well, as even if it only gets 5m at 8pm it should get a minimum of 6.5m or so at 9:30pm as it'll have a great lead-in and the other networks will be halfway through their 9pm programmes so there will be less incentive for viewers to turn over. In turn high 9:30pm ratings could boost the 8pm episodes as people sample it and decide to tune in from the start. Also don't forget that ROB will be starting at 8pm not 7:30pm unlike BGT which is a better time and it therefore won't clash with EE on the Thursday.

I think they've got a real shot at having a big hit with this. I think if it can get 6m or so watching over the weekend then so long as it's a good show they should have an even bigger audience by the end of the run as the scheduling is built to help it. The half hour overlaps with EE on the Monday and Friday will dent it a bit but a strong recovery against 8:30pm filler should boost the overall average for the episodes.

They'll probably be disappointed if the series averages less than 6m, and might even be looking for closer to 7m as they've put a lot of money into it. 5-5.5m is probably the recommission level as even though that'd be below what they're probably expecting it'd be enough to encourage them to bring it back and hope for growth.

From the world of Facebook....
Big Brother On Digital Spy
Be sure to check www.digitalspy.co.uk/headlines just after midnight for some very exciting Big Brother news!

(Friday's Daily Star has BB2 winner Brian Dowling on the front page).

I don't think Brian is that bad a choice. He's got loads of live TV experience - he came through Saturday morning TV like Ant and Dec, Cat Deely, Vernon Kay, Tess Daly, etc.

He's also responsible for one of my fav tv moments in the last few years, which is always worth another viewing...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2pdM...eature=related

Are they actually having 8pm episodes? I thought they were going to schedule it exactly the same as Britain's Got Talent week:

7.00 Emmerdale
7.30 Red or Black
9.00 Coronation Street
9.30 Red or Black

I'm a bit concerfned regarding the Big Brother news in that Brian is a throwback to the Channel 4 era; I would've preferred it if they'd given the show a whole new look. I don't rate Emma as a presenter, either, but that's all down to personal opinion - she seems to be a very nice person.

I think to a certain extent whoever they chose someone was going to be unhappy. It's just the nature of the beast with Big Brother. Virtually all the prime candidates had people for and against, there wasn't really a clear favourite among the fans. Josie for example was quite popular on one of the polls- but also had some very vocal people against- now in my mind she would have been a terrible choice as she has no real presenting experience to speak of and I'm far from convinced she'd be able to pull off such a big role, not that I have anything against the girl. So overall I'm happy with the choices. And apparently Marcus is moving over to 5 with the show, which is great news.

Edit: It's nearly midnight, might as well stay up for the release now.

It is like that but the earlier episodes are only 60 minutes not 90 like BGT so it'll be:

19:00 Emmerdale
19:30 Emmerdale/Corrie/filler
20:00 Red or Black
21:00 Coronation Street
21:30 Red or Black

Thanks. At least On Monday and Friday it'll have a Coronation Street lead in to help it against EastEnders. It's going to be left out on a limb on Tuesday considering how weak the schedule usually is that night.

It won't be on the Tuesday at all as ITV have England v Wales in primetime that night. A lucky escape really. Not sure whether it'll run Saturday to Saturday or Sunday to Sunday (the former would be better) but either way the first weekend will be really important for it in terms of establishing a loyal audience before the EE clash on Monday.

http://www.imediamonkey.com/news/big...e-up-revealed/

So annoying that Emma Willis is involved and only presenting the spin-off - Big Brother's Bit on the Side. No news yet where that'll be scheduled.

http://www.bbspy.co.uk/news/0722/emm...it-on-the-side

I assume they've already 'dropped' an episode for the football, rather than having to fit it around everything else?

Big Brother's Bit on the Side! What an awful title for a programme!

Brian Dowling is a decent choice though. Emma Willis is very bland and average, at least Dowling has a bit of personality and will be able to bring something different to it.

I'm sure they'll just miss a night rather than try to squeeze it in. When it was announced they made a big deal about the '7 nights' thing but it seems it's actually going to be 7 nights over an 8 night period which feels a bit clumsy. Then again, it does get it out of airing on a Tuesday which is a bonus...

What times did Torchwood start/finish tonight? The episode was only 54 minutes again.

I think they only ordered 7 episodes so that'd mean Saturday-Saturday (missing Tuesday) or Sunday-Sunday (missing Tuesday).

It all seems like a bit of a risk to expect viewers to give up so much time. Whoever heard of a results show for a gameshow?! And I don't think I'd ever suggest that sticking a new show against Eastenders would be a good idea (even with a soap lead-in, many of those soap viewers will move to Eastenders anyway). Plus, if ROB is 8pm-9pm, what's going to happen at 7.30pm on Monday and Friday? Are there going to be 7 episodes of Corrie in one week?

Maybe I'll be wrong, but it almost seems like they're trying to replicate something which hasn't been successful for BGT rather than replicating its first year scheduling which was successful.