The BBC owned Saturday nights during the 70s and early 80s because they had the best shows and better schedule. Bill Cotton said in an interview BBC1 would own Saturday and ITV would own Sunday. Michael Grade said that when he scheduled Christmas he tried to schedule the strongest Christmas Day he could and not bother too much about the competition.

Most weeks BBC/ITV avoid each other but weekends are different. They have been a battleground for decades like with Noel's House Party v Blind Date. The Generation Game used to dominate until ITV put Game For A Laugh against it. It's more difficult to miss programmes now.

We never had +1, same day/next day repeats or catch up services back then. It's easier to see a programme than miss it. Sometimes programmes will clash, usually for a few minutes these days. But a channel needs to do what is best for the channel and boosting ratings for the whole night.

I'm reluctant to reveal my sources, but Fred and Betsy next door told me this info.

I can recall a BBC Saturday line up that had such massive hits as Doctor Who, The Generation Game, Some Mothers Do Ave Em, Mike Yarwood, MOTD and Parkinson, all excellent and varied programmes that would guarantee BBC 1 at least 16 million viewers. ITV tended to cop out with imports and poor quality LE. Indeed it wasn't until 1982 that ITV overtook BBC1 on Saturdays as the BBC moved DW to weekday nights, Mike Yarwood and Michael Parkinson moved to ITV, and the Generation Game was cancelled. The BBC did fight back in the mid eighties, but the easy wins they had over ITV never happened on Saturdays again.
From the late seventies, BBC 2 provided the most interesdting alternative to Brucie and ITV by showing rock concerts with the sound broadcast through Radio 1 in stereo. I'd imagine a concert by Camel not getting many viewers, though.

You stayed on a channel because there was one great programme after another. Now a schedule on a night isn't completely strong so people flick between the channels. One big reason why Strictly and X Factor clash is because they are so bloody long. And if they are long both need to be in primetime to get a decent rating. Strictly's ratings have held up because it started closer to 6.30pm. If it started at 6pm now I think ratings would be lower as less viewers are around.

Neither X Factor or Strictly want a pre 6pm start now so these clashes will happen.

An improved "Strictly Come Dancing" to tonight, should be reflected in high figures for its audience.

How can you tell after just 15mins?

By the way, do the judges normally come out dancing when introduced or is that a new thing this year? The show is so much more feel good compared to the nasty vibe that XF exudes. Let's hope it hits the BBC's 8m target for tonight.

It will hit the target, its less conservative, Claudia has relaxed, its like last night was a dress rehearsal, and Strictly should never air without a professional dancers routine its one of the key elements of its success. This one will get a bounce. The dancing judges is all brand new!

The only way X Factor, Strictly and Doctor Who were to avoid each other, was if you did....

OPTION 1 - Strictly > Doctor Who > X Factor
BBC One
17:40 - BBC News
18:00 - BBC Regional News
18:05 - Strictly Come Dancing
19:35 - Doctor Who
20:20 - Pointless Celebrities
21:15 - Casualty
22:05 - Lottery Live
22:15 - BBC News
22:30 - Match of the Day

ITV
17:50 - ITV Regional News
18:05 - ITV News
18:20 - You've Been Framed!
19:20 - The Chase: Celebrity Special
20:20 - The X Factor
21:40 - Through the Keyhole
22:40 - ITV News

OPTION 2 - X Factor > Doctor Who > Strictly
BBC One
17:40 - BBC News
18:00 - BBC Regional News
18:05 - Pointless Celebrities
19:00 - Casualty
19:50 - Doctor Who
20:35 - Strictly Come Dancing
22:05 - Lottery Live
22:15 - BBC News
22:30 - Match of the Day

ITV
18:00 - ITV Regional News
18:15 - ITV News
18:30 - The X Factor
19:50 - The Chase: Celebrity Special
20:55 - Through the Keyhole
22:00 - ITV News

OPTION 3 - Doctor Who > X Factor > Strictly
BBC One
17:45 - BBC News
18:05 - BBC Regional News
18:10 - Doctor Who
18:55 - Pointless Celebrities
19:45 - Casualty
20:35 - Strictly Come Dancing
22:05 - Lottery Live
22:15 - BBC News
22:30 - Match of the Day

ITV
17:45 - ITV Regional News
18:00 - ITV News
18:15 - You've Been Framed!
19:15 - The X Factor
20:35 - The Chase: Celebrity Special
21:35 - Through the Keyhole
22:35 - ITV News

Didn't expect Strictly to be hit that much last night, I kind of saw XF coming, but I did expect a few hundred thousand up on what it actually got it.

The only winner of the night was Gogglebox.

That's the first this year it seems. But I agree with the above poster it has been a good show tonight.

The only one to benefit from that is Xfactor. That's way to early and to late for Strictly.

The X Factor is so much better tonight already. Mel B much better than Cheryl at the 6 chair challenge. Just getting on with it.

Strictly was much better tonight. Had much more of an atmosphere than last night. The Friday shows are always a bit lacklustre imo.

Just tuned into X Factor and so far it seems good. Didn't watch last night's episode so I can't comment on atmosphere, etc.

Looking forward to TMO in the new year. Paddy McGuiness is a great host. If ITV revived blind date he would be my first choice to front the show

A trailer for the Apprentice just aired after Stricty. Do we no when this is back?

LOL Watching the X Factor and it seems the audience want every single contestant to go through, but dont want anyone swapped etc

They aired a trailer for The Apprentice but I swear it was the same trailer as the one they had last year where he points at people?! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjD3pggCKjg

Couldnt they afford to make a new promo

SCD all the way for me. No chance of watching XF. But that would change if SC wasnt involved in any way then maybe i would give XF/BGT a chance. IMHO

Yes it was the same as last year I don't mind though it's pretty funny epecially the Nick part lol

The snow came towards the back end of Strictly and X Factor in 2010. Captive audience a meant ratings went up. It was why an edition at 6pm got 13m and became the highest rated edition ever until that record was broken by the final a few weeks later. The snow was still around in early December. I know this as it affected a Christmas party I went to that year which was cancelled.

Why couldnt the bbc afford to do a new trailer? Looks a bit cheap airing the same trailer two years in a row.

I'm the only person who thought Strictly was flat tonight then. I preferred last night's show though it was good to start with a professional routine this evening.

The X Factor is much improved - I think they've turned the audience down on the edit which helps!

The X Factor is so much better tonight. I expect it will hit the 7m target ITV has for it tonight.

Agreed - however it is the next Bbc show I'm looking forward to! Stupid though, it's bound not to pull a huge overnight.

I see what you did there.

I'm about 20 minutes in on Sky+ delay. It's better tonight though of course she's filled her seats up now with a few people you just know she knows she's going to swap out.