I think itv should be applauded for not messing around with the scheduling here just to pull in more ratings.

How many times have we seen commercial channels such as ch4 and ch5 come under scrutiny for moving under performing imported shows to graveyard slots? Itv made a decision to air The Americans where it did and stuck with it.

Yes. But you will only know this if you actually watch it.

Firstly, the BBC no longer has a monopoly on national radio, even on analogue there are three commercial networks and on DAB I have 20 alternatives to the BBC. However, apart from Strictly, what else does the BBC have in LE that's worth a discussion or rates well, so I agree with you on your second point.

If you exclude digital radio which has not yet taken off, they do have the monopoly. (Unless you know something I don't). More bbc radio is consumed across this country than all commercial radio combined.

My main point is, the SamuelW can hardly claim that the bbc are in a worse position to promote their programming than itv.

On analogue there is Classic FM, Absolute & talkSPORT. The BBC''s national radio monopoly ended in 1992.

The digital share of total listening is now 36% (it rose by 2 percentage points in the last quarter) so I wouldn't say it hasn't taken off.

Ouch for the Americans, what an absolute humiliation that has been for ITV who wanted their own Homeland. Nowhere near as popular as that show is on the fourth ( or fifth) network, and beaten head to head by a very niche and disappointingly dull foreign drama for metropolitan Guardian readers on BBC2.

Potter boosted by its extraordinary run time, very unlikely 4m stayed tuned throughout, it's something people dip in and out of after this many airings. Skews things a little.


Although they always ran "a new look for the new season" Saturday trailers for the opening September weekend, even if the big hitters were a month away and the main highlight was a third airing of Back to the Future, ET or Short Circuit.

The bbc may not have a monopoly on the few dab radios sold across the uk, but with 59 stations, and no need to pay to promote their programmes to millions of listeners nationwide, they are IMO in a very privileged position when it comes to mass promotion.

I may have understated how much digital radio is consumed, but the majority of radio listening is supplied by the bbc.

Glad you agree with my second post at least.

If you've heard CFM Radio, which is just an advert for TXF in the autumn and plays Robbie Williams and Madonna non stop, you can see why BBC Radio is still popular.
I know this is really about television, but I notice Radio 2 now has 15.4 million listeners. This must be its highest rating since the seventies.

Not wanting to get into long arguments about this, but where can I tune into Absolute Radio in Hampshire on analogue? I don't think I can. Is it on MW?

Potter films grow considerably throughout broadcast, probably went from 3m to 5m.

15.4 million listeners to cross promote your programmes to for free. Like I say, the bbc are in a privileged position there.

I agree about the state of commercial radio as a whole, it is quite repetitive.

Ridiculous really that despite being its sixth primetime ITV screening since 2010, Order of The Phoenix still averaged 4.7m. Very solid rating. Elsewhere, That Puppet Gameshow is a disaster. I Love My Country isn't at disaster levels but it isn't doing well either. Solid enough for Break The Safe.

It's the highest since RAJAR changed their methodology in 2007, but Global Radio's stations recorded their highest ever total weekly reach in the last quarter as well so radio as a whole is doing well.

CFM has a 42% weekly reach (the highest since 2011) so it isn't doing too badly.

They have nothing as everyone has said. Back in May after Eurovision the press were asking similar questions of light entertainment such as http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/...or-eurovision/ though the focus is on eurovision the same applies across the BBC. People in suits without any comprehension of what people like.

Radio 2 is now the place to be. Its never been as cool as it is now and its displaced Radio 1 which has deliberately confined itself to youth.

How much life is left in Strictly Come Dancing, do you think? It's been on since 2004. I'm not sure if Bruce would manage another series after this. (No idea if anyone's in the frame to replace him).
Has there been any announcement yet as to who is on it? (Other than the usual - someone who was in Eastenders, the token fattie to laugh at, and the camp guy).

Not sure why Stepping Out is considered such an outrageous rip-off of Strictly when ITV have been running Dancing On Ice for seven years which is surely even more a rip-off of Strictly, I know they're skating and not dancing but apart from that it's exactly the same format. That's done alright for itself and the Beeb haven't sued anyone over it.

A lot of light entertainment on all channels has been variations on existing formats. 3-2-1 began because ITV wanted their own equivalent of The Generation Game, Big Break was simply a spin on Bullseye, there are loads of examples.


No, there was loads of coverage on BBC1 of the Manchester games, there were some nights when there'd only be 'stEnders interrupting it. As Brekkie mentions the athletics and swimming take place at the same time and there were several days during those games when there was athletics on primetime BBC1 and swimming on primetime BBC2. Think the same will be the case here, too, it'd be a waste to put most of it on BBC2 as during the Games there won't be much else BBC1 can show that'll rate much better.


Most of the papers today seem to agree that Man U was the main story yesterday.


There's a danger that Soccer Saturday is considered the best football show like Paris is the capital of France but nobody's telling me that watching Paul Merson talking rubbish is any better than Final Score, even when Garth Crooks is on it. As for Soccer AM, its complete inability to come up with any new ideas over the past decade is unbelievable.


Thought this was OK, but I didn't laugh much. What's staggered me is that the trailers have already begun for Bad Education and I know they're on different BBC channels but it seems bizarre they're running both shows at the same time as they do seem very similar. But then earlier this year Room 101 and The Matt Lucas Awards were shown right next to each other when they're the same format.


Yeah, but they've always seemed to struggle with finding half hour shows to fill the gap between Casualty and Match of the Day, hence the million repeats of The Vicar of Dibley there in the past. It's funny how people seem happy enough to watch them over and over again, given how much everyone used to slag off the summer repeats in the eighties, and in those days they were never shown this often.

Saturday Sportsday is just a simulcast of the News 24 sports bulletin, presumably so they can also simulcast the one o'clock bulletin, though I don't know why they've moved Football Focus from 12.15 to twelve in any case. Just looks a bit weird.


I don't know why he would, where else could he go? ITV aren't spending any money on post-10.30 slots so if he was to go he couldn't go in his regular slot, and they've already got Jonathan Ross. And he seems to have a briliant relationship with the Beeb, they give him a load of support and let him do things like Eurovision and the radio, which he coudn't do on ITV, and in return he's always come across as a company man, happily taking a paycut and joining in all the promtional business. Why would he possibly leave?

Even if ITV Studios own So, that doesn't mean anything. ITV are buying these companies to get greater exposure on other platforms and in other countries, if they were to just use them to strengthen ITV the channel and annoy the companies' existing clients the other broadcasters would just stop commissioning them. If ITV buying So meant the Beeb stopped showing all of So's programmes in fear of them all defecting to ITV, that's of no value. They may as well have just spent the money in-house.


Yes it is. And there are loads of quasi-national brands like Capital, Heart and Galaxy who can be heard all over the UK and simulcast loads of stuff.

Names that have come up the most

Female

Fiona Fullerton- Bond Actress
Vanessa Feltz- Broadcaster
Sophie Ellis Bextor- Pop Singer
Abbey Clancy- Model

Male

Dave Myers- Hairy Biker
Julien MacDonald- Fashion Designer
Ben Cohen- Rugby Player/ Activist

erm yeah

CFM is lucky in that it doesn't have any other ILR competition. Locally it's still quite popular, but I do notice Radio Cumbria is giving it a good run for its money.

Three more series.

I thought you might have some recommendations for me

If you remind me on Friday I'll have the consolidated ratings if that helps?

Well the last three series have been a tremendous success so its still very much live and kicking. As for how long its got, no doubt it will start to be questioned when the Beeb has two or three other entertainment series capable of pulling in anything between 8 and 13 million viewers.

So it will have to run forever.

Well the original Come Dancing ran for over 40 years. Also ratings of 10 million, a well loved host and attractive female dancers( my reason for watching) and a classy level of production mean SCD could run for years. It's far nicer to watch than the bearpit that TXF has become.

That Puppet Game Show is so bad that the Sunday Express manages an analytical (largely cutting) article about it today and succeeds on all FIVE occasions of wrongly calling it That Puppet Quiz Show. The title of the article by Clare Heal tells you all you need to know about its tone: - 'What a load of muppets'.

Though the philosophical analysis of whether we are meant to consider these 'characters' as puppets or muppets and hence treat them as real or not is on a par with the show itself.