Not good news re Sherlock, it will probably air in high summer 2013 knowing the Beeb....

I misread the second link on the right on Ariel. "Pedalo pair" it says, I thought TV had sunk to new depths!

I had to look twice.

Indeed.

Of course another way of looking at it is that to match C4 (offering £5m per year), the BBC only needs to find an extra £2.5m per year.

Which is similarly loose change in the overall scheme of things.

I wouldn't put it past the BBC to fight this one. Not only does the Grand National get excellent figures (see above) but I'm surprised there's not been much comment about Royal Ascot.

In a normal year (ie non-Jubilee), the Royal Family get as much coverage at Royal Ascot (which is 5 days) as they get anywhere.

And the BBC is "very Royal Family".

I think they'll be reluctant to lose these rights.

ITV seem to be intent on doing as much damage to The Voice as possible, even at the expense of BGT.

Hope BBC put a decent lead in to The Voice, a Shrek or Toy Story movie is probably the most sensible option, doubt there's much else. Having said that Pointless Celebrities has been doing okay.

Re the racing rights - hope the BBC do put up a good fight, I'm surprised at the tiny amount they've been paying for some very big events which pull in big audiences. Sadly horse racing doesn't seem to be any sort of priority for the BBC.

Are the Grand National, Royal Ascot and The Derby all negotiated as one rights package now? I know The Derby was definitely separate in the past because it was on ITV and subsequently, C4.

According to DigiGuide there's a Winter Wipeout Celebrity Special beforehand at 6pm.

Last nights Panorama - I'm sure there were very good reasons why it couldn't air any earlier, but the story of Homs has already been told, or at least people may think it has. There is less attention on Homs specifically now than there was when Marie Colvin died for example. I wonder if the perception could have been 'old news'? I wasn't aware through any promotion of any new details in the show, just a longer version of a story that has already been told on the news

There was also no promotion (that I saw at least) for Panorama last night. Whereas some weeks it gets OTT promotion. It was also a last minute change of edition, something else that may not have helped the ratings

Pointless is an under rated format, its that nice old fashioned daytime TV quiz show you dont get anymore, not since The Weakest Link and more recently Deal or No Deal.

Updating Digiguide, I bring the news that The Voice UK has Winter Wipeout as its lead in, why is the BBC so dreadful at that time of day on Saturday?

They've got two of those in the can.

looks like Dancc beat me to it.

Hmm thanks. Looks like this has been held back for The Voice, as it could of been shown a few weeks ago with the rest of the series but showed Pointless Celebrities instead. Not sure if it would be worth it.

I'm not sure - but The Guardian article says the BBC is paying £2.5m per year for the lot.

I guess it's up to the horse racing authorities how they package it all up.

Further to my post above, remember The Queen (formally) appoints the Chairman of the BBC.

I wonder how HM is going to feel about her carriage procession for 5 afternoons every summer being live and exclusive on C4?

Somehow doesn't feel quite right does it?

Seriously I wouldn't be a bit surprised if discussions are taking place right now at very high levels and the BBC ends up keeping it.

what, what has the Queen got to do with this? is the gambling industry around and within horse racing, so powerful, that even our dear Queen is spending her (our) money on a punt on a horse?

I dont recall the BBC ever making a connect between horse racing and the Queen making an appearance.

God forbid the BBC now carry the Queens promotion of the degenerate gambling industry.

As for Sherlock, I am just pleased to hear that its filming, given that both actors are busy people.

Well, I'd hope they'd want to try and keep the rights. It'd be quite a big thing for an entire sport to vanish from the their TV rights portfolio.

Presumably ITV will push BGT back. If they genuinely wanted to flatten The Voice at birth (regardless of damage to their own show) they'd have pulled BGT right forward to 7.00 or 7.15 to go totally head-to-head - the careful nudging suggests they're not really intending to go for a big clash. Experience says their show will perform better starting at 8pm and that surely is the priority.


I'm sure they'd hold it for September. And even if it did air summer, it would be absolutely fine. New Tricks performs better in the summer than it did in the one year it was held back...

A long wait - but it's hardly a surprise considering the extensive movie commitments of the two leads. I suspect we'll have to get used to this. Sherlock will be one of those "once-in-a-while" treats when the BBC can get the team together - rather like Prime Suspect or something - rather than a regular fixture.

Looking at the schedules for March 24 its starting to look like both the BBC and ITV have temporarily gone mad...

Britain's Got Talent at 7:30? Winter Wipeout still being used as a lead-in for the BBC's big new entertainment show on increasingly competitive night? This scheduling is all a bit ridiculous. I suppose the big save will be switching Take Me Out to 7:30 (or 7) and running Britain's Got Talent from 8:30 (or 8). That would make some sense of this mess. The BBC need to rethink their lead-in for The Voice though I think

ITV must be mad looking at their BGT scheduling. On the one hand I can see that they want TV Burp to start at the same time as The Voice rather than letting TV get in ahead of it, but really 7:30pm for BGT starting midway through TV is ludicrous. I hope they swap it with TMO, or at least push BGT back to 8pm, as ITV have massively dropped a bollock if things stay as they are.

On another note, terrific start for Scott and Bailey.

That is one reason racing fans welcome the BBC losing the rights to Royal Ascot - their coverage is less and less about the racing every year.

£5m a year is hardly loose change too nowadays when every penny counts - it's a third of their revised F1 budget, and the money will be better invested into securing that Olympic contract. If the BBC forced up the price now of the racing contract they'd only be pricing themselves out of it three years down the line.


Really don't get why the BBC didn't air the two episodes of Winter Wipeout instead of the first two editions of Pointless Celebrities, which is now off air for three weeks.

7 million is really good for Scott and Bailey. Stop being bitter Robbie.

Surely ITV1 are just trying to unnerve BBC One with their provisional schedule? As has already been said, it'd make far more sense to switch it around so Take Me Out takes the 7.30pm slot (personally I'd air it head to head with The Voice with TV Burp airing at 8pm, in a Take Me Out/Britain's Got Talent sandwich).

As for the BBC...surely they have something a bit special to give The Voice a boost? Really The Voice looks isolated in what is otherwise a usual BBC One schedule...at least in the winter Strictly Come Dancing is paired with Merlin to give the line up an extra spark. It's a shame Doctor Who isn't airing this spring as that would be a decent companion (no pun intended) to The Voice and would've possibly frightened ITV1 into not playing silly beggars with the schedule.

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As for last night; ITV1 had a very strong night with Scott and Bailey rounding off primetime with an excellent 7m, albeit against weak opposition. The soaps also did well on the commercial broadcaster with Coronation Street a million ahead of EastEnders even including the first repeats. EastEnders itself saved BBC One from having something of a flop zone with Panaorama and Empire both recording low figures. Ultimate Police Interceptors and Revolver performed adequately for Channel 5 though the teatime soaps appear to be struggling. University Challenge did well again for BBC Two while Embarrassing Bodies picked up a good figure for Channel 4.

The BBC won't forget this you know. I can see them making sure SCD clashes every single week with X Factor in the Autumn as revenge.

I doubt ITV will notice the difference; they did that last autumn.

What?? Strictly Beat XF many times and the final dropped about 30% from 2010!!

I'm talking about Strictly clashing with The X Factor; not the relative ratings.

Sorry misunderstood, thought you meant they wouldnt notice the difference... I get what you mean now...