Originally Posted by NeilVW:
“It often goes high on the news channel at the weekend if BBC One aren't showing it.”
Yes, indeed the Sunday 8am hour is, I'm pretty sure, usually the BBC News channel's hightes rated hour of the week, because Breakfast isn't on BBC1 as well.
Originally Posted by sn_22:
“The BBC were paying something like £40m a year for F1, of which they saved slightly more than half with the new deal. The FA Cup rights are rumoured to be coming to £25-30m a season, I think. So yes - all the F1 money and perhaps a little on top.
To be fair, though, I don't think the direct swap was ever really planned that way. There was a pretty substantial overhaul in the BBC's management in the intervening period - I personally couldn't envisage Mark Thompson sanctioning the FA Cup bid, and I rather suspect Tony Hall would have been more reluctant to sacrifice half the F1. When you think about it, the F1 deal was classic Thompson salami-slicing. Hall's proven himself to be much more decisive.”
Yes, and I think it's totally naive to suggest that Sky have only got involved because the BBC let them in, they were sniffing around it for ages, because it provides extensive content over a long period and has a huge upmarket audience, many of whom don't watch any other sport. People go, oh, C4 wanted it, but there was never going to be a situation where Sky just sat back and watched C4 pick it up, there would have been a proper bidding process and Sky would have won it, and got it all, much like the MotoGP now on BT Sport. (And it should never have been on C4, it is totally at odds with their remit.)
It's not so much a case that the Beeb just want to grab stuff from ITV, but because they didn't have any live football at all and for the BBC to have no significant live coverage of the national sport is for many people unacceptable, you only have to look elsewhere on DigitalSpy, and on the internet, for people complaining about that. Now they have live football (and it's clearly a contract that was ITV's lowest priority to hold on to) and also they can give F1 decent coverage with half the races live and extensive highlights of the rest. Indeed the mix of live and highlights is exactly the same as the FA Cup and means they can cover two events for the price of one. Yeah, it means the Beeb don't show some interesting races live but similarly they might not show some interesting FA Cup matches, nobody knows which ones are going to be good.
Originally Posted by johnnymc:
“Its not fundemental for a channels profile to be raised by non returnable drama. Executives still look for a water cooler moment in their schedules. "Brideshead Revisited" from Granada Television and "Jewel in The Crown" though not returnable did as much for the channels reputation and quality as "Cracker" and "Prime Suspect" so as BBC TWO has seen recently and Channel 4 drama can really stand out in a schedule that may not have had been punching above its weight previously and restore its crediabilty in programme making.”
Yes, and of course it's a totally illogical argument that ITV are trying to save money by only doing non-returnable drama because you still have the same start-up costs for making any programme. If ITV were trying to slash the drama budget they'd be demanding all dramas were potential returning series which would obviously work out cheaper in the long run.
Originally Posted by yorkie100:
“Good on them for getting that rating although I thought it was nothing special. But if BBC continue with their Monday strategy of giving up at 9pm then they will get what they deserve.”
What strategy is this? For the last six weeks on Mondays at 9pm they've been showing Silk, a popular drama. No, it didn't rate massively this time but it's certainly an acceptable series. Are we going to get some kind of inquest every time BBC1 dares to show a factual programme at 9pm? Last night's wasn't that special but you can't have new drama seven days a week and they've always had factual at nine, as have all channels.
Originally Posted by cylon6:
“Is that all? Channel 4 just can't get a break in that timeslot since CBBC/CITV ended.”
Well, you say that but CITV ended in 2006 and for the first few years after that ITV were in dire straits and they were being thrashed by ITV, there was that Radio Times cover in 2006 which had Countdown, Deal or No Deal, Paul O'Grady and Richard and Judy on it, and they were consistently a big draw for a couple of years after that, even after ITV had started showing adult programmes there. It wasn't until Golden Balls started in 2007 that they had anything like a hit and even then teatimes on ITV were wildly inconsistent, they tried all kinds of things there like the Richard Hammond, Antony Cotton and Sharon Osbourne shows. It's certainly not a given that C4 will always trail behind BBC1 and ITV, they certainly don't at other times.
Originally Posted by Dancc:
“No that it's failing, because I've read a lot of negative feedback. But I'm shocked it fell by that much yes.
I don't really see how it's any slower than say Pointless. Plenty of aimless banter with the contestants on that.”
But the difference between Pointless is that we actually get to know the contestants and Xander and Richard are actually very amusing with them. On Fifteen to One we don't get to know all the contestants - obviously, since there are fifteen of them - which means on Saturday two of the contestants in the final were people we knew nothing about because they hadn't been spoken to, so what's the point? And all Sandi asks them is "where are you from", "what do you do" or "do you think you will win", and Sandi does nothing with the answers. Who cares? The other bloke in the final on Saturday, we knew he ran a pub and did pub quizzes. That's it.
Also as well the whole USP of Fifteen to One the first time round is that it was just relentless quizzing with no chance to pause for breath or relax. That was a huge part of the appeal, no messing around. Surely now that's an even bigger USP. On Pointless there's the chance to go off on flights of whimsy and there's the opportunity to chat about the questions. Not so here, you either know them or you don't.
Incidentally, while Pointless was billed as being repeats this week in the TV guides, they're actually new. The Chase is billed as repeats too, dunno if they're new.
Originally Posted by SamuelW:
“Talking of game shows, why's there been no on screen promotion for Amazing Greys which is in such a good slot?”
There's been loads, even I've seen it. Plus of course it'll doubtless appear in every ad break in Britain's Got Talent and it's not like it needs any kind of buzz. It certainly got trailed, I think, twice in the ad breaks in Takeaway on Saturday.
i was rather pleased to be away from the thread over this weekend, but I will say how absolutely enormous Takeaway's budget appears to be, logistically it must an incredible amount of money, they even had a plane taking off live during the show, and there's all the celebrity cameos as well. I wouldn't be surprised if it had a bigger budget than The Voice, so it's hardly as if it's some massive underdog. A very entertaining show, of course, but just as important for ITV as The Voice is for the Beeb.
Originally Posted by ftv:
“Unfortunately ITV will still have to show the meaningless England ''friendly'' games”
The friendly games that sell out Wembley, you mean? The friendly games like the one against the USA on BBC1 before Euro 2008 that they hadn't qualified for opposite Britin's Got Talent and an hour long Corrie that got 7.5 million viewers, you mean? The friendly games that fill the entire sports section of the following day's papers, you mean?
People say England are rubbish, they'd be even worse if they went into the World Cup having played no matches together at all.
Originally Posted by Pizzatheaction:
“It simply isn't possible for UK television sports rights to be the distributed the way the Ratings Thread would like: ITV having the rights they want without any competition for them, and the BBC, BT, C5, BSkyB and C4 having to fight one another for everything else.”
Of course it's all swings and roundabouts, at various points in the past few decades ITV have been in the ascendancy, a couple of years ago everyone was writing off BBC Sport when ITV nabbed England the FA Cup, similiar at the end of the nineties when they lost the FA Cup, England rugby, F1 and test cricket in quick succession. Now it looks like the Beeb are the main player, but in five years' time it might be different again.
”
Huge rating for Undeniable. Did not see that coming. 