OK, so marginally up on last year with +1 included, but not sure how save the normal BB will be for another run.

Too early to say. At this level I suspect it will be back but there's more weeks to run.

They really should bring back the live feed if they want to generate more publicity for the show.

It was 1998 as well. And 1990 and 1986, come to that.


ITV aren't bothered about the later stages of the competition, they want all the big games first up so they can plug them for weeks in advance and get guaranteed advertising revenue, so they'd go for another group game any day of the week. I don't know what you mean by half the games in each round, ITV had more group stage games than the BBC anyway. ITV gain nothing from simulcasting (hence why, in 2006, had England got the semi-finals, both would have shown the England semi and ITV would have the other one exclusively because everyone would have watched the England one on the Beeb) and the Beeb would never ever give up live coverage of the final and nor should they. And ITV agreed to all this, they weren't choosing at gunpoint.

The BBC have stated that they want to retain the biggest sporting events, the ones that "bring the nation together". They probably consider the cost of their share of the Euro/World Cup games (£2m each is what someone reported on DS) as affordable, as each match fills roughly 150-180 mins of airtime (so £667m-800m per hour + production/talent costs, comparable to a drama but rating generally better).


Well ITV1 didn't even bother to simulcast the final in 2008, not that the replacements did them much good:



It's certainly seemed to take an age to correct! Wonder if it was Sky's fault or ITV's.

If the BBC want to go it alone they would need to pony up 100% of the cost and that would mean dropping something else - Wimbledon or 6 Nations probably. So the BBC do not hold all the cards. If they only want to pay 50% of the cost to the competition, they have to work with their partner on agreed terms.

I'd say that the current rights allocation in on its last legs and wont survive much longer. The quasi gentlemans agreement has survived to now because of restrictions on who can broadcast the tournament, the cost and the lack of a 2nd channel with adequate coverage in ITVs case.

1.42m is not bad at all for BB.

Last week's levels were more palatable, shame it couldn't settle there. There needs to be a schedule change on Sunday else a series low is an absolute certainty.

Channel 5 are set to air "Worlds Ugliest Dog Contest" according to Radio Times.

Agreed, they NEED to move BB to 10pm to avoid the second half of the England VS Italy match.

Why did the BBC's coverage tonight start half an hour later than billed at 7:30pm, there was no One Show listed in the 'Football' schedule for tonight.

Gary, Alan & co still in Salford tonight, quite helpful that ITV have got the next two nights to give them time to head to the stadium by Sunday!

Emmerdale by the way was too seperate episodes with credits/opening titles at 7:00 and 7:30.

Is Katie Price entering?

Euro 2012 - Semi Finals
Portugal vs Spain OR France - Wednesday 27th June, BBC One
Germany OR Greece vs England OR Italy - Thursday 28th June, BBC One

I agree, it's equally important for the BBC that ITV have a package they agree with because it's well within ITV's rights to be more aggressive with their picks if they think the Beeb is messing them about. But they're not, both seem perfectly happy with what they've got, ITV have the big games at the start and the Beeb have the big games at the end, how they like it.

Still don't think ITV (or the Beeb) would want to show it all, though, even if ITV4 was in every home in Britain you have the logistics of covering all the matches live, and the current system works well enough, I can't see another solution that pleases broadcasters, fans and, of course, non-fans alike.

DALLAS

Wednesday's episode was down from 6.86 million viewers with a 1.5 demo to 4.76 million viewers with a 1.3 demo



Quite a large drop but it should level off around 4.35 mill in my guess

I don't think it would do either channel any favours to go it alone - it would wind up costing significantly more on a per-match basis. Budget cuts or not, I'd be very surprised if ITV simply said "We'll pay 100%" and the BBC just said, "Fine, have it. We can't afford it." Even if they had to raid the reserve piggy bank and tell the sports budget cap to go to hell, they'd at least compete.

To be honest, I think with the deal the two struck this time around, things have become slightly more bearable. There might have been a case to answer in the past about the BBC simply bullying ITV out of the best picks in the later stages by threatening more simulcasts. But that's not the case now. The picks system is scrupulously fair, and the disparity just demonstrates their different, and perfectly legitimate, priorities.

I don't think ITV would be suckered into prioritising Ireland matches again like they have this time. In retrospect (and with the benefit of hindsight) that was a real mis-step. But with first pick next time round, and the WC having an extra knockout phase, ITV should land either:

(a.) Every England group game exclusively.
(b.) Two England group games, plus a last 16, QF or SF first pick.

In both instances, it more than holds their own. And it's the BBC, whose strategy for the last 14 years has been to never miss an England knockout game, that concedes ground.

Still large numbers for cable (next highest was 3.87m). Held up well in the demo too.

4th most watched show on all US television last night. Number one on cable by a clear million.

Overall audiences were down on last Wednesday across the board.

I'm not sure ITV getting first pick for WC2014 will massively change the outcome because they will still want the certainty of guarantee England group matches rather than speculative punts. I doubt the BBC will be so rash with their first few picks as to let ITV nab all 3 group games. I guess the match schedules and England's group (assuming we qualify at all) will have a bearing - don't forget the time difference to Brazil could mean some late night games, but also presumably no afternoon UK time ones.

And whether RoI qualify and Roy Keane pulls strings at ITV HQ...

The hype that was lacking around the England team at the start of the tournament really starting to pick up now, the match should easily peak over 20m on Sunday I think.

Sky having an Autumn schedule launch for their entertainment channels in the morning - should be some info regarding their first batch of U.S acquisitions.

Fitting - the weather launched its autumn schedule on us over the Jubilee weekend...

Ah the female cast of EE will get a big mention then

So roughly a third weren't interested in the series just rubber necking the launch.

Scaled down to a UK size just under a million.

Will C4 be hoping '8 out of 10 cats' sees a boost in ratings tonight due to the comedy of errors by Jimmy Carr?

These are the World Cup 2014 kick off times (all UK time):

Group stages: 5pm, 9pm, 11pm (plus one game at 2am - four games in one day).
Round of 16 and Quarter-Finals: 5pm and 9pm.
Semi-Finals and Final: 8pm.

So very much suited to European TV. Soaps won't be affected so much, but News at Ten will be.