I suspect it hasn't been sold in the US either. I think it was New York Magazine had a piece that said they had been to see networks and a decision would be made shortly. And that was back in September. Judging by X Factor and Got Talent, their strategy is to start with ITV then go to the US and Australia and closely manage the launch of formats in those markets before selling them more widely.

If it doesn't sell internationally, then I'm not even sure that Syco will want to do it again. For now, they and ITV need to maintain the idea that it could return because they're still trying to sell it. But once that passes, I think there will be far less enthusiasm to try again. And perhaps more desire to drop ROB in favour of trying something new.

Of course, ITV Studios might not be cut in on the next one. So they might still want to do ROB just from a UK perspective.

Channel 5 set to drop Sky News and appoint ITN.

Report says will cut costs by 50%. Interesting that this comes soon after the dropping of Europa League football - another cost saving move.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011...channel-5-news

Good news, it's good to see ITV having a very strong returning drama of this sort. I expect it will become a Sunday night staple for years to come.

A 50% budget cut will mean less proper stories and more celebrity trash, Channel 5 news will be taken less seriously than it is already. I expect they would drop 'proper' news altogether if they were allowed.

The budget was pretty small to start off with. Interesting to note that Mr Desmond's bette noir, Mr Dacre, will benefit from this deal, seeing that ITN is 40% owned by The Mail.

It certainly has the makings of becoming another Heartbeat, albeit with slightly higher production values.

Congratulations to Julian Fellowes anyway. I know he must have been sweating a bit over that particular recommission...

Love the spin in the ITV press guff btw. "A nation gripped", "the country is obsessed" etc.

Well, the nation's jam-makers are gripped, and the Daily Mail is obsessed...

you will get arsenic in your jam if you arent careful there.

anyone know whats going on with Pan Am, the Digiguide update has replaced it with "Your Money and How They Spent It"?

Unless its moving to Saturday, which isnt a massive show of faith.

Is Dacre's brother still at ITN?

I believe he is. Wasnt there a guardian interview with Desmond recently which was expletive laden. It was quite an interesting read about the finances of the group, plus his opposition to the PCC because Dacre is involved; Dacre having questioned whether he was a fit person to own a tv station.

Sony and ABC are currently in negotiations for a back 9 order. The BBC may have delayed the start of the series until they know how many episodes they'll have and when they'll be available to air. I assume they were originally working under the impression it wasn't going to get more episodes order (which still seems like a safe bet unless ABC have lost their minds).

I think Pan Am will get a full first series, beyond that is anyones guess.

If the BBC are playing the waiting game I understand that, but they still have episode 1 & 2 on the schedule.

Let's wait and see, shall we? The bulletin's best days were under ITN anyway.

Channel 5 are not the only broadcaster looking to cut costs in this area. If the Sky deal was no longer providing value for money, it made sense to look elsewhere.

I suspect as the on air talent are contracted to C5 anyway and the bulletin's agenda has consisted of a blend of news and entertainment stories for some time now, your average 5 News viewer won't notice the difference when the new ITN programme goes live.

It's pointless 5 trying to replicate what's already out there. The entertainment element of the bulletin gives them a bit of a competitive edge. And with ratings at the 700k mark most weeknights for the 5 o'clock edition, it compares favourably with Channel 4's flagship bulletin which is far superior and presumably significantly more costly.

Can't see Channel 5 News changing much with ITN getting the contract, will be interesting if they recreate the current look at ITN Studios. Wonder if OKTV will be done under ITN or maybe Princess Productions.

I'd like to see Richard Desmond and Paul Dacre on Question Time one night. Would be lively...

Or they could just take the opportunity to put OK! TV out of its misery at the same time and replace it with something people might actually watch at 6:30 on a weeknight. If they are that desperate to get some extra exposure for OK!, maybe the best bet would be a 5 minute OK! branded segment in between programmes, a bit like they do at the moment with Inside Hollywood and 5* Access.

ABC must be surprised themselves with the hits that they have been getting. The new shows that had low expectations (Revenge - even with all that heavy promotions for the premiere, Once Upon a Time) has been doing much better than what they thought they were going to get. Pan Am has been disappointing and wasn't there a point during upfronts where Charlie's Angels had high hopes? I have no idea what Suburbgatory's anticipations were like. ABC is taking the night off next week for the CMA Awards.

Now that ABC has Wednesday night sorted, perhaps they can try to make other nights work and not only have to rely on Grey's Anatomy. I read a tweet from Any Brenneman, the star of Private Practice, replying to a fan question about why PP is only promoted by a voiceover with Grey's promo.

Amy's response (http://twitter.com/#!/TheAmyBrennema...066725867520):


I'm not sure if same can be said for either Body of Proof or Happy Endings. Just saying that they are after DWTS or Modern Family is not really promoting the show enough. How well is Castle promoted on ABC?

A typically good night for CBS and it looks like the "music video" episode of ANTM didn't really pay off, despite "leaking" in blogs and celebrity news sites. Then again, people have been criticizing this cycle for being gimmicky and a let-down. Oh dear at NBC. Up All Night is sinking and Harry's Law is virtually unwatched. Tonight, people are wondering whether NBC's Prime Suspect or USA's Burn Notice will rate higher. http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/201...r-poll/109438/). USA is owned by NBC Universal.

As you know, I think getting rid of OKTV and 7pm News and replacing it with factual would do a lot better. think news updates from 6.30pm would work better and extend lunchtime to 15 minutes to make up for it.

I think the share would go up if 6.30-8pm is sorted out. Highland Emergency proved that people will watch at 7.30pm, BBC Two do 6.30-7pm well so maybe a similar approach would work for Channel 5.

Just seen that Channel 5+1 is to launch in December. Wonder they got the capacity from. but it will be a good addition alongside Channel 5 HD, still think a Milkshake Channel would do well and they could do it by starting 5* from 6pm and have Milkshake 6am-6pm.

Good night for BBC1, the 6:30pm regional news is ticking up now that the clocks have changed, Waterloo Road hit a high for the current run and wow at that Frozen Planet rating. 7.9m for a nature doc is incredible in this day and age.

Neighbours on C5 at 17:30 did well last night with 1.38m (8.1%) tape checked - its highest rating since February. Good news for Channel 5 about launching their new +1 service next month, looks like it will be available on Freeview too.

Nothing really stands out there, but at least C4 now seem to throw a few Christmas specials into the schedules over the fortnight. Hopefully This is England '88 performs well.


However, a real shame that More4 is being rebranded (complete with hideous new logo) into basically a lifestyle repeats channel and becomes exactly the channel it was supposed to be the opposite of when it first launched. True Stories is getting moved to C4 and Film4.

http://www.channel4.com/info/press/n...e4-is-evolving


It says alot when you're too downmarket for the Murdoch's to do business with. And in news more relevent to us folk here, Channel 5 are launching C5+1 (including on Freeview) - because people are always complaining they're missing shows on C5, aren't they!

This year's Top 20 is here: http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showp...postcount=2659

And no, I'm not posting that randomly, I'm posting it because last week's Frozen Planet when the officials come out on Monday will enter in 18th place, with a mammoth 8.815m (30.1%)!

The Royal Bodyguard begins on Wedn.....

Oh, wait. There's a documentary called That's Britain on at 8pm on Wednesday 23rd November, we can rule Bodyguard out then. To The Manor Reborn is on BBC1 on Thursday 24th at 9pm, with WILTY returning on Friday 25th at 8:30pm.

EDIT - DigiGuide's website has been changed so you now need to pay to see the 30-day schedules... Bring back UK-TV-Guide.com... although £3 a year is very cheap.

Presumably they're reclaiming their capacity from Top Up TV, which seems to be winding down its 'Favourites' service at the moment.

Good news anyway, it's been a long time coming. I can think of a few examples at the moment where having a +1 would really benefit Channel 5, i.e. Wednesday nights with Paul Merton's Adventures.

That is an awful logo and it's a shame that More4 is moving away from its premise but TBH it's not a surprise, wonder if the drama will remain on the channel.

I forgot about Channel 5's stake in TopUp TV, think a plus one channel will be good for the main channel. While 5USA does well, 5* still has this identity crisis, the fact it has changed it name three times says it all,

It does look Desmond is investing beyond just buying Big Brother.