Also a nail in the coffin of the Grand National.

Been rumoured for a while, not sure if there is any more in this than what was reported before. Would seriously affect the popularity of the event going to C4, and I reckon the bookies wouldn't be best pleased.

They wouldn't be the first sports rights holders to put TV revenue ahead of prestige, platform and popularity. Would mean the Derby goes too I believe. I guess the BBC could live with it, and Barbara Slater will have more beans to count (more important to her than airing sport....)

in what respect? Better coverage, still FTA. Unless BBC News are going to deliberately ignore it now perhaps?

Cheltenham seems to do ok on Ch4.

If you mean non-betting people who have no interest in the sport will no longer watch, then does that really matter?

We'll see. C4 has a strong reputation for their high quality coverage of horce racing. Viewers really are petty if they are going to miss out on one of the sporting events of the year just because it's not on their beloved BBC.

This news has been well timed with the start of the Cheltenham festival this afternoon.

With an official rating of 606,000 viewers, Geordie Shore on Tuesday 28th February was the most watched show ever on MTV UK (or so they're claiming).

"This news"?

What "news"?

Channel 4 have submitted a bid. Nothing has been announced, they were submitting a bid for the F1 too...

It just won't pull in the the mass audience that it currently gets on BBC1. That may seem to defy logic, as it's exactly the same event, but that is the way of the world when it comes to sports viewing.

It matters because something like three quarters of the people who take a punt on the Grand National are non-betting people for the rest of the year. Lose them as viewers, and the bookies will lose them as punters. The reduced amount of money generated will affect the quality of the event.

This may be a good deal for the organisers in the short term, but they're going to regret it in years to come.

It's an excellent rating. Some people are just being deliberately awkward...

I dont think they will lose as much as you seem to think. The betting revenue from Auntie Doris 50p stake probably doesnt amount to a lot and the majority of casual betting seems to be office sweeps type stuff which generates no income for the betting industry,

As I said Cheltenham is booming as a festival and its on Ch4.

A low 6 million would be a great rating for it - the 7 million/high 6 (minus +1) is a fantastic rating.
Fact is ITV Monday's are and look to continue to be getting the best ratings of the week (ignoring BBC's Sunday destruction at the start of the year)

I always thought S/B on a Monday would be a good mix (if it had gone out Sunday I don't think it would have done so well without BGT) - its a big hit for ITV and thats a big rating for an overnight drama.


How this is in anyway a negative I have no idea. I mean S&B ain't for me, I just find it a bit rubbish whenever I caught some of it, but thats not the point of the thread.

It's not just the grand national, it's ALL horse racing the BBC are losing - Royal Ascot and the Derby too.

The Beeb might be allowed to counterbid.

Just because the FA snatched ITV's inflated England/FA Cup overbid without giving the BBC chance to respond some years ago doesn't mean the gee-gee lot will...

People put bets on before the TV coverage starts, why would they stop watching if it's on another FTA channel?

Great rating, Geordie Shore has been the highest rated show on MTV ever and that is so far a series high, which means it is in fact the highest ever for a MTV show in history in the UK.

I would predict the officials for the latest episode would probably top that as people wanted to find out what happened the morning after.

Ratings for the Grand National are dropping year on year, putting it on C4 will mean a further drop, who knows by how much, maybe 10% or 20%? I worked in a Bookies last Grand National Day and it was jam packed all morning and afternoon, I am thinking all those people went home to watch the race, but C4 would pick up less casual viewers.

According to The Sun the judges on Superstar (ITVs Andrew LLoyd Weber search for Jesus) will include Mel C and Jason Donovan. More middle of the road than The Voice by some way.

If it goes on BBC2 its ratings will be even lower - and substantially lower.

If the BBC wants to survive, it cannot go down that route.

If BBC1 comes to look more and more like ITV1 - ie a 100% general entertainment channel (+ news + crown jewel sports) then the BBC will be playing a very, very dangerous game.

Because if the 2015 GE result goes the wrong way for the BBC (remember that's just before Charter renewal + the next LF settlement) then IF the BBC has gone 100% down the "general entertainment" route (even only on BBC1) then it is going to be much, much easier for the Conservatives to justify a serious reduction in the LF.

And that's won't mean "DQF Mickey Mouse" cuts (ie less F1 + savings in less visible areas + some efficiencies) - it will mean serious cuts.

The BBC absolutely has to keep the likes of Panorama, and indeed Empire, on BBC1.

I can see why Jason is there but Mel C is a bizare choice for this sort of show.

I reckon this will flop on its arse.

That's only for the callbacks, they're having a different panel for the live shows for some reason.

The Grand National is no longer the ratings juggernaut it once was, nor has the FA Cup Final been since it left the BBC thanks to the greed of the FA. And, as has been mentioned, it is only a rumoured bid. C4 have been ''bidding'' for Wimbledon for years but nothing has ever come of it.

Just read Neighbours was under 1million yesterday at teatime. Whats happening, whys it so low?

US Ratings Monday March 12

NBC's 'Super Monday' picked up another comfortable Monday night victory but The Voice was down more than an entire point on last week and dropped down to a season low. Daylight Savings or the belated curse of the battle rounds? Only time will tell. At 10PM Smash was down three tenths from last week but unlike The Voice had a noticeable increase in competition from a show that likely has more than a little demographic overlap (The Bachelor special).

Over on ABC The Bachelor was up 16% vs. last but down a rather staggering 36% last years finale and posted its lowest ever finale rating. I'd assume that's the effect of The Voice and it might just be giving ABC some sleepless nights with a weakened Dancing on the Stars just around the corner. At 10PM the After The Final Rose special was down 30% from last season where it averaged a 4.7.

The only other original of the night, Fox's Alcatraz, kept on falling hitting a series low out of a repeat of House. Fans of the show should make their piece with the fact that Fox aren't bringing it back next year.

ABC
8PM: The Bachelor – 2.9 [9.10]
10PM: The Bachelor: After The Final Rose – 3.3 [9.82]

CBS
8PM: How I Met Your Mother [r] – 1.8 [5.74]
8:30PM: 2 Broke Girls [r] – 2.0 [6.48]
9PM: Two and a Half Men [r] – 2.1 [7.57]
9:30PM: Mike & Molly [r] – 1.9 [7.29]
10PM: Hawaii Five-0 [r] – 1.6 [7.76]

Fox
8PM: House [r] – 1.2 [3.65]
9PM: Alcatraz – 1.6 [4.99]

NBC
8PM: The Voice – 5.1 [14.32]
10PM: Smash – 2.4 [7.14]

The CW
8PM: America's Next Top Model [r] – 0.3 [0.92]
9PM: Hart of Dixie [r] – 0.1 [0.48]

In other US ratings news The Walking Dead continues to dominate Sunday nights.

The Walking Dead - 3.6 [6.89]

That 3.6 puts it eight tenths ahead of the biggest broadcast competition on Sunday and was three times as large as its nearest cable competition - a special edition of Operah's Next Chapter special in which Winfrey interviewed the family of Whitney Huston. Its 1.2 was not only a series high but a network high for the struggling OWN network.

A Walking Dead repeat at 11PM pulled an addition 1.0 in the demo and 1.88 million viewers.

Also on Saturday night HBO's Game Change became the networks most watched original film premier in 8 years. 2.1 million watched it live with a total of 3.6 million over the course of the weekend. That's the best performance for an HBO film since 2004's Something The Lord Made and more than doubles the total of Recount the previous political film from the team behind Game Change.

It's a tired format in any case and I don't know why ITV thinks it's onto a winner ...

Wasn't Mel C in Blood Brothers a while back? Possibly a touring version of it so its not as completely bizarre as it first seems...

But as others have mentioned the show has bigger problems than the choice of judges.