O/T but I agree. 6Music is a brilliant station and the only BBC music station that feels truly relevant to me. It would never work commercially, it's something only the BBC can provide.

I'm willing to bet my house and all its belongings** that JA will replace Watchdog on Thursdays at 8pm opposite the soaps because it didn't do very well in the ratings last year with only 2 of the 6 episodes (including the final) getting above 5m in the officials.

It's 8 episodes this year, so taking a week off for the Children In Need pop concert would put the final on 22nd December. However Sports Personality is on the 22nd so JA could follow the grown-up show and screen on Sunday the 18th - at 7pm just before the Downton 2-hour Christmas special starts on ITV1 at 8pm.

There - all sorted.




**no, I'm not.

Don't forget, that's per day.

That adds up to £625 per year. That's The One Show taken care of.

Seriously, though, it shows how they've already moved some way towards the goal of cutting most new material on daytime BBC Two (except News and live sport [e.g snooker], which will continue).

There are still a few new Weakest Links (currently being shown at a rate of two per week*) to be shown at 2.15pm over the coming months, but there's already no other new material between 1pm and 4.30pm (except sport and other, occasional live events).

* The party conferences may have slightly naused up the number of new Weakest Links over the last few weeks.

Overall, there's nothing in the BBC's proposals to upset me.

ABC:
8pm - The Middle - 9.01m (2.7)
8.30pm - Suburgatory - 9.05m (3.1)
9pm - Modern Family - 13.08m (5.6)
9.30pm - Happy Endings - 6.92m (2.9)
10pm - Revenge - 7.69m (2.5)

CBS:
8pm - Survivor - 10.54m (3.1)
9pm - Criminal Minds - 13.34m (3.8)
10pm - CSI - 11.81m (2.9)

FOX:
8pm - The X Factor - 11.54m (3.9)
9.30pm - Raising Hope - (2.3)

NBC:
8pm - Up All Night - 5.65m (2.2)
8.30pm - Free Agents - 3.28m (1.0)
9pm - Harry's Law - 8.22m (1.2)
10pm - Law & Order: SVU - 7.88m (2.1)

X Factor and Modern Family flat from last week, both likely to be adjusted up in finals. Modern Family really seems to have held the new viewers it got for the season premiere and if Two and a Half Men keeps falling, should take over as the #1 show in A18-49.

X Factor's 8pm hour was up vs last week but it finished at 9.30pm this week. Raising Hope almost halved its lead-in and X Factor's 9.30pm performance last week.

Awful for NBC - SVU finishing 3rd at 10pm is not good at all. Although Revenge did slip again (down 0.2) and needs to level out shortly. Criminal Minds is a really solid performer which probably doesn't get enough recognition for its ratings - it's CBS' second highest rated drama after NCIS.

Survivor was a series low for a regular telecast. Happy Endings held just 52% of its lead-in and fell from last week.

Tvbythenumbers

Wonder if he'll go quietly this time - or if he's finally got a place on Britain's Got Talent.


It's hard to pick apart these cuts when they've been forced upon the BBC by the Murdoch Government. BBC1 losing CBBC in the afternoons I agree with (though IMO it should reinstate the Saturday morning shows - even more now actually). Expanded Daily Politics and GMT on BBC2 is a good move too - though what the schedule will look like beyond that remains to be seen, though hopefully sport will now get a BBC2 outing where possible and not just be on the red button. BBC3 though is not in any way a feeder for BBC1 - indeed it's arguably very much the anti-BBC1 with it's own commissions.

The red button axe is the biggest blow IMO - their answer to all us folk who've complained about the poor service on Freeview is now to have the same poor service on Sky/Cable. I think losing that will cause more of a problem when bidding for Wimbledon and the Olympics than the 15% cut in the sports budget (I think F1 and the Championship rights have gone some way to meet that cut already). Hopefully BBC HD doesn't go before London 2012 because with the plans announced so far for the Olympics that would mean just one HD channel of Olympic coverage.

BBC Parliament should have been axed too and used to ensure at least two interactive streams on all platforms, with an interactive version of Democracy Live to offer live coverage and additional coverage on BBC2 and BBC News.

Hardly! The Beeb bigwigs snatched the Government's hands off when they promised to maintain the licence fee for 8 years at least in return for a freeze. I think they feared substantially worse. It was something of a surprise that the deal was done so quickly and came so much out of the blue.

As for "Murdoch Government", you do realise Blair, Brown and Campbell did far more brown-nosing and cow-towing to the "evil empire" (:yawn than the current administration ever did. As Cameron said over the summer, "I've never seen Rebecca Wade in her pyjamas..."

Nor did the previous administrations have a Business Secretary who "declared war on Murdoch".

Get real...

Whilst BBC Parliament does not attract ratings, it is the strongest example of PSB, and is exactly what the BBC should be doing. To remove it in order to satisfy the desire for more interactive streams would damage the BBC's PSB credibility, and importantly would save very little - £2.3 million spend on 2016/17 (and would probably not be enough to finance additional streams and their content).

I don't think there's that much in them to upset anybody, to be honest. I expected a complete explosion in the Broadcasting forum today, but its really rather tame by usual standards. They seem to have gone down the 'minimum controversy' route of just pruning everything back, without really getting dramatic on any one network or station. Myself, I think I'd have been a bit more dramatic in some areas - but we'll have to see whether the BBC can manage things this way without emasculating certain channels by way of salami slicing.

In terms of ratings implications, I expect BBC Two's share will continue to fall quite dramatically following these changes - especially in all hours (though daytime hardly rates very well as it is). BBC One might well suffer in some areas too but it'll get a little bit of an all hours boost by the time it sheds children's programming and might benefit too from the 'feeder' channel. Not really sure where this leaves BBC Three and Four, to be honest. Much like they are at the moment, I suppose, with little prospect for future advancement.


Mixed night for ABC - Modern Family has performed excellently and Suburgatory did brilliantly again to increase from the lead-in. That one won't be far away from a back order, I don't think. On the other hand, Revenge is still bleeding and it needs to stop soon before it enters troubled territory. Not sure yet what to make of Happy Endings.

Fox will at least be able to act delighted with TXF given that it's winning them Wednesday and Thursday nights - though in reality that was the very minimum asked of it. I'm sure they'll still have fingers crossed for a boost in the live stages. CBS was very solid, especially the under appreciated Criminal Minds, but Survivor is finally starting to fade.

NBC will at least be satisfied Up All Night looks like a solid performer (by their standards). The rest of the night is a bit of a mess and bringing down an old stalwart in SVU.

And they were being threatened with having to take on the funding for TV Licences for the over-75's (an increasing demograph, and one where the annual projected costs would be uncertain, and a measure that has nothing to do with broadcasting, and everything to do with Government social welfare policy). A very cynical ploy by the Government.

Reports that NBC have canceled Free Agents. No word yet on what will be replacing it. 30 Rock still seems like the obvious contender but I remain unclear on what their production schedule is right now. On the plus side for NBC I think all things considered Up All Night could be considered the success story of the season to date.


Firstly it continues to amaze me that F1 fans continue to cling to this notion that the BBC could have kept the F1 rights and that they’ve opted to sacrifice F1 in order to save x, y or z. In reality that’s probably not the case. The simple truth is that if the BBC had opted to keep F1 it would have involved getting into a bidding war with Sky and ultimately that’s not a bidding war the BBC can win especially not a time when they’re making 20% cuts to the corporation’s budget. How utterly absurd would they have looked trying to outbid Sky for F1 and then announcing that they were cutting 2,000+ jobs and whatever other services would have to have gone in order to pay for F1. Remember that there have been reports that Sky are paying a similar licensing fee for exclusive rights to half of the races (and even then it may just be exclusive first run rights) as the BBC was paying for the entire season. How high do people think they would have gone for exclusive rights to the whole thing?

The issue here isn’t that the BBC sacrificed F1 for The Asian Network or 1Xtra but that at the best of times the BBC can’t beat Sky in a bidding war and this isn’t the best of times.

Secondly this notion that the BBC shouldn’t be protecting things like the Asian Network or 1Xtra irritates me. That they appeal to a nice audience doesn’t render them meaningless. British Asians and the young urban community of the UK are expected to pay the license fee so why on earth shouldn’t services be provided for them? BBC3 and BBC4 are both niche audience channels but there’s no serious suggestion that either of those channels should go. What about CBBC or BBC Parliament? Again both fairly niche channels with narrow audiences but again no one is suggesting we get rid of them. The BBC is supposed to provide services and content for all of the country and like them or not things like the Asian Network and 1Xtra contribute to that. Personally I wouldn’t shed a tear for either service but that doesn’t mean I ignore their value or believe their audience is unimportant.


If the European Court's decision is upheld you may not have to subscribe to Sky to see all of the races.


Or in reality did they think that perhaps the money saved by not trying to outbid Sky for F1 rights could be better spent elsewhere? The deal the BBC negotiated for F1 ensures that the sport stays on FTA television in some way shape or form for the foreseeable future. F1 fans should be thankful for that but instead they're bitching because the BBC didn't spend even more money on trying to secure exclusive rights for years to come.

What do you all think that the first X Factor live show will get?

I'm going for 12million and Sunday's Show making 13million.

Strike Back has been picked up for a second season by Cinemax which presumably confirms Sky will another season next year as well.

Very sad to see CBBC go from BBC One IMO. It's been the staple of childrens tv.

Focus on drama and comedy? Good, as long as the drama and comedy they make is actually good. I'd rather it went to the digital channels, who have a good record with new shows.

Less low impact = good.

Less daytime rubbish = good.

Annoyed at the rebranding of BBC HD. Where will the BBC3/4 output go?

Less sport - disappointing for many I know, but it's not the biggest loss for me. More shares (hopefully with terrestrial broadcaster) would be better than just shoving it to Sky.

Less red button - understandable, it will be the least watched, but sad to go all the same.

Keeping radio stations - good as long as their market is being catered for.

--

Anything about BBC Parliament?

It's an example though of "Public Service Broadcasting" where it may tick a few boxes but it is so unvalued by the public it's hardly a public service. Extra court coverage of Wimbledon and extra streams for the Olympics are IMO stronger examples of PSB and get significantly more viewers than BBC Parliament ever does.

And even so it's the coverage of Parliament, not the channel, which ticks the PSB box, and axing BBC Parliament in favour of an "interactive" service would see little live parliamentary coverage dropped, and see the downtime hours of BBC Parliament (weekends, summer, some evenings) put to better use.

Maybe BBC News and BBC Parliament should have been merged.

you may be the Ken Clarke of the Tory party, but at least you are still a tory

I am sure the number crunchers here can work out tv viewing during the daytime. BBC1 does post a healthy share, I am not so sure about BBC2.

Most viewing is between 6pm-10.30pm and that is where most money ought be aimed at. Keeping BBC2 daytime for repeats is an excellent idea, especially if it includes BBC3/BBC4 shows that may be shown in the midnight hours normally.

You seem to be confusing "providing a broadcasting service to teh public" with "public service braodcasting"


And PSB is not about ratings.

Maybe you are not a fan of politics and constitutional matters. It certainly looks like it's a case of "I don't really liek or value it, so it can go".


You are wrong in my opinion, I can recall few commercial programmes that have explored the constitutional history the customs & procedures of our constitution, debates in the House of lords, the various Westminster Hall debates, Select Committee hearings, coverage of European matters, coverage of the London Mayoral Assembly, the Welsh Assembly, Stormont, the Scottish Parliament (muchof which take place when Parliament has risen, something that you would be aware of if you actually watched the channel's output).

All for a projected licence fee spend of £2.3 million (2016/17). I wonder just how far that money would go if it had to cover interactive coverage as you suggest, and allow some for Wimbledon etc.

BBC1 wins from 6am to 3pm and at 5:15pm. Between 3pm and 5:15pm it has a ~5% share.

Primeval returns to BBC America on Saturday 12th November, I wonder if this means it will be back on ITV1 on the same day? If it did start then, it would finish on 17th December.

So what the BBC are doing is very clever. Any BBC Two declines in daytime due to running a bargain basement lineup will be offset by a huge increase for BBC One.

Is CBBC leaving BBC One/Two altogether or just in the afternoons? And is this the end of the road for Blue Peter?

I still think there's a place for kids programmes on the main channels. I know we're in the digital era now and there are dedicated channels, but nobody would propose ditching BBC News at Six just because there are 24/7 news channels and this isn't any different in my view.

I agree CBBC shouldn't leave BBC1/2 completely. IMO the BBC should finally implement what the BBC Trust recommends over a year ago and reinstate a Saturday morning show to compensate for the loss of afternoons on BBC1, but I do think BBC2 should keep an hour or so in the afternoons, but readily drop it for sport etc. and perhaps move it to the mornings in the summer holidays.


BBC4 factual shows generally speaking could air in daytime, but not much from BBC3 could really - though I guess post-Newsnight and 10.35pm onwards on BBC1 is the likely slot.

Revenge is slipping, but it is not at the danger territory yet. After all, this is probably the best Wednesday result that ABC must have seen since a few years ago. Happy Endings proves to be not much of a downer as The Whole Truth did last year. Hopefully ABC will not f**k up with Revenge. Some people recollected how Dirty Sexy Money and Pushing Daisies got screwed over - showing good sampling but started to fade away slowly (especially in their second season). That being said, the second season of both shows was right after the Writers Strike. Modern Family is above 5 for the 3rd consecutive week, which is impressive.

Criminal Minds has overtaken Modern Family in total viewers. This is reminiscent of when Lost and Criminal Minds were head-to-head (but with greater numbers) and CM eventually caught up AND did better showing than Lost. Since 18-49 demo is taking the centre stage, it won't matter as much, but I am still keeping eye on total viewers between these two shows. Happy Endings retention is really ghastly. That being said, 2.9 is something ABC won't cry over just yet.

Free Agents, as all of you know, is canceled. Whatever happened to Bob Greenblatt saying they are giving NBC freshman shows a chance to grow? So, 2 weeks is premature but 3 weeks is grown enough? I guess, they were waiting to renew something (Up All Night, Whitney), so they can get rid of something. I guess Prime Suspect will be given until episode 6 before something happens.

It seems to have remained almost totally under the radar but the content cuts announced today are actually very small indeed - just £205m which is 6% of the licence fee.

The BBC has also announced:

- £400m of productivity savings

- £65m of additional income / other savings

- £30m further savings from efficiencies previously announced

The big news is how small the content cuts are. A massive £700m is being saved in total but content is only being cut by £205m.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15165926