According to this site Good Morning Britain will be coming to UTV Ireland from Monday 2nd Feb

http://www.locatetv.com/uk/listings/...ir#02-Feb-2015

This means that UTV Ireland is the same as ITV from 6am - 1.30pm.

Dont know what they will do when ITV have regional news they will either show UTV NI news, Do there own news or show the weather and an ad.

Another option is that they show a pic of the GMB logo like itv do on their website stream

Not a hope of them going for them for a number of reasons. It's a package that suits setanta and their sports pack. It's the least attractive available package in terms of the premier league. It's the worst possible time slot. It would peak and trough the Saturday schedule. It would not generate the audience, the expenditure would require. This package now includes max picks for teams, whereas before it didn't. This would massively impact audiences. It didn't deliver enough viewers to RTE2 last time they had it, for them to even bid for the rights again. UTV have no pedigree in sports broadcasting. Last time they did anything was their awful GAA coverage in the mid 90's up north. They can't afford it right now.

It's not going to happen.

I watched this morning on it on Friday. During the news they showed the weather and extended break/promo. Assume they'll do the same, unless they can throw a Quick news bulletin together.

Well latest figures tell us the most watched Irish Programme Not shown on RTE1 last week...was A Rare Breed on UTV Ireland with 138,000 Adults over 15.

People may say UTV have gotten a lot wrong but they were 100 percent correct about the Soaps. Coronation Street is hitting 400,000 Adults over 15 which are some of it's best figures in years. Generally the soaps have been gaining week after week,

A Rare Breed and James Nesbitt's Ireland both benefit big time from being in between the two episodes of Coronation Street. James Nesbitt's Ireland (which is a repeat) also beats all TV3 Irish produced programmes. However, most people in the industry knew this would happen. Most of the Time the same thing happened with TV3, whatever show that was in that slot when they had the soaps was usually had very high ratings, it doesn't mean the show is popular. Nothing to Declare would be the example here.

Red Rock has hit new lows with only 130,000 tuning in on Wednesday and 112,000 tuning in on Thursday. At this rate Judge Judy will overtake it next week,

TV3's ratings are at their lowest level since 1999, They would need to make changes fast. Red Rock needs to be moved somewhere else as it can't compete midweek.

Outside of the soaps, and the 2 shows which are sandwiched inbetween Corrie, all the other shows are under 102,000, with only 3 shows between 102,000 - 63,000 (Doc Martin, Off The Beaten Track and Midsommer Murders)

The soap figures would always do well. Even if it was on TG4 - the audience will still be there for it. In January last year, TV3 were getting an average of 380,000 and UTV were getting 73,000, so there still is a drop. It also depends whether the storyline is good at the time - so ratings can vary wildly.

The issue UTVI have is the programmes surrounding it. There is a huge a drop from 318,000 for a Friday 8.30 Corrie episode to 63,000 at 9 for Cilla. Only one programme from the weekend is there, and it is Outnumbered which got 49,000 viewers.

As for TV3, that J Curve still seems to have not hit that arc yet for Red Rock. It feels like it should be an one hour show - I enjoy it, but feel like the storyline moves slower when split in two.
Apart from the The Restaurant, the other programmes haven't made an impact at all. Donal McIntyre, Broadchurch, Amanda Brunker, Wentworth, Renovation Nation, The Lie all not performing. Changes of switching the Lie with Nothing To Declare, removing Celebrity Squares, moving The Algorithm earlier, delaying Jason Byrne has now occurred, and with those latest set of figures - I'm sure a lot more changes will happen.

There is a Drop overall for Coronation Street if you combine the two, but that was always to be expected. In fact the soaps have been growing every week since UTV Ireland Started. There will always be some movement up and down, but it's still 400,000 viewers that TV3 don't have any more. All the showings of Red Rock put together now don't equal one showing of Coronation street.

It was always to be expected that Red Rock figures would drop but not to this extent. They really need to move it elsewhere even for a few months. It's fairly Obvious that UTV Ireland Don't plan to compete at all on Saturdays in 2015 So perhaps a Saturday Slot would bring better figures, Especially with RTE1 shooting itself in the foot with their new Lottery Gameshow.

The big problem TV3 have is that if you add up all the first Run Coronation Street and add up TV3's top 20 programmes there's only a difference of a few thousand viewers. UTV Ireland expect to lose 4 million Euro in 2015. TV3 would probably close if it lost half that amount, It's Advertising Revenue is likely to be hit hard with those sort of figures. You can't charge the same price when you've lost over half your audience.

Don't know where Boards get their figures from, but the latest TV3 Top 10:

1. Jack Reacher 145
2. The Cube 143
3. Family Fortunes 131
4. Red Rock 130
5. The Restaurant 129
6. National TV Awards 124
7. Vincent Browne 116
8. Red Rock 112
9. Saturday Night Takeaway 107
10. Judge Judy 103

Just as well the Champions League's nearly back!

The very last place to get facts is Boars.ie

The bizarre thing about those figures is that they don't have to be that bad. It's poor use of the few good shows they do have. Red Rock would have been Cancelled or moved to midnight with that audience share in the UK or indeed most other commercial Markets.

Red Rock is actually a lot better than Fair City, but it's never going to get a chance where it is. If they put the first run episodes out on Saturday or Sunday they might have more success. To make back the 6 million TV3 put into it (the rest came from the licence fee) they'd have to be pulling in 300,000 and more an ep (over 15 adults) No Doubt TV3 will continue to Blame RTE as they have started to do.

Agree that it is poorly scheduled. It's decent enough show but is being totally hampered by its scheduling. Putting it against Operation Transformation was always going to be a bad move. OT has always been one of RTE's biggest hits and it targets a similar audience to Soaps. The problem is the soap market is very crowded, even more so in Ireland than Britain, with Fair City added to the mix along with the big three and all have loyal and established audiences. Maybe a Saturday night one hour episode could work out.

That's been TV3 managements problem for a very long time at this stage. They don't seem to have a basic understanding of how TV works. VIncent Browne was put on at 11 out of the way and they canceled the News and Sports. It would have made more sense at the time to have Vincent on at 10 and News and Sports Tonight following. It would have meant slightly lower figures (still much higher than now) but they would be actual viewers the advertisers want. (ABC1's)

Instead they seem to be still competing for exactly the same audience they had 12 months ago but they've all followed the soaps (which anyone with any cop on would realize) TV3 said they couldn't make a profit on the soaps but even if that was the case it built an audience for the rest of the evening.

Now the Soaps have gone the rest of the schedule has no backup what so ever. the ratings have collapsed. Many of their home grown shows are terrible and the good one's then get dragged down with them. I tuned in early tonight and couldn't quite work out what I was watching. It was Ireland's Oyster Clan, which I presumed was a doc series about A family Business, instead we were in house looking for ghosts??? It appears to be going for the Made in Chelsea/essex format but without the decent acting!!! Anyone switching over from Fair City during the commercial wouldn't know what they had tuned into.

Article about Good Morning Britain coming to UTV Ireland

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/m...lpXArY.twitter

And to be fair, it must be admitted that RTE Two continues to struggle in the ratings war, with the Irish Times analysing its malaise:

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/m...ment-1.2082587

Nicky Byrne's Million Euro Challenge has slumped to 290,000, but rather depressingly, even that would top the ratings in any other channel, bar UTV.

Source please; and what exactly are the maximum quotas?

Broadcasters who (solely) hold 3pm rights are not restricted in any way.

Setanta are a unique case. They have undoubtedly been forced to apply restrictions because of their hook-up with BT Sport - however these are not maximum restrictions (how many times have Sunderland been on compared to other teams for example?).

So for obvious reasons pick restrictions would not apply to UTV Ireland.

Four Manchester United Saturday 3pms in January and February alone would be hugely attractive to any Irish broadcaster; however I agree that UTV Ireland won't go for it.

I think the Premier League has enforced quotas on Setanta because of their new found relationship with BT... a few match selections in recent times would most certainly back up this train of thought.

Tomorrow Setanta will show Sunderland v Burnley. At the same time there is Manchester United v Leicester City and Liverpool v West Ham. If there were no restrictions there would be no chance Sunderland v Burnley would be shown.

Interesting move announced this evening by TV3. They are moving Late Lunch Live into a primetime slot. It will be shown Mon -Fri at 7pm and is being renamed The 7'o clock show. Martin King and Lucy Kennedy will remain lead as its lead presenter.

If done well this could work out ok for TV3. They will need to put more money into it,for it to grow into primetime. It has done exceptionally well since they moved it into its current time slot. But they would require viewing figures to grow by about a further 25% on its current ratings, for it to be considered a success. It could do well, even against Emmerdale. The One Show on BBC One rates extremely well and would be a similar type of show.

Err, em - didn't I already say that?




They are definitely being restricted because of their tie-in with BT - that is a given.

The reasons why the restrictions have been imposed is obvious. Their biggest draw, Manchester United, were always - without fail - picked by Setanta when available (no matter who the opposition).

Applying this season's figures to it, by the end of March Manchester United will have played at Saturday 3pm eight times.

Add that to BT Sports seven times and you can see that between the two broadcasters the Setanta Sports Pack left unrestricted would come very close to the number of times Sky Sports can show Manchester United and, in the one season when they were unrestricted, they certainly hyped that up in their promotions.

The question that remains unanswered is what way are the restrictions actually working.

They are not applied solely to the 3pms - for two reasons:-

In practical terms you simply cannot impose restrictions on a selection of games/teams that are variable and are subject to other broadcasters making picks.

And in actuality, I cannot say how many times Sunderland have been on but it is close to being every time they were available

So why haven't they done that with Manchester United and Liverpool - their two huge draws in Ireland not only with domestic subscribers but publicans too.

The quotas are tied in in some way with BT Sports' picks, which is why Setanta's picks have been strange to the point of jaw-droppingly woeful.

You quoted me but you didn't actually read my post, did you?


There are restrictions imposed, that much is clear.

What is unclear is how the restrictions are being applied. You have stated that:


I am asking what is your source for saying this?

It is quite clear maximum picks are not being applied,certainly not solely to the 3pm pack in isolation.

Otherwise the match they picked tomorrow would be the last on their list not the first (that is when you analyse the picks they have already made - ie Sunderland every other week).

There are no restrictions on broadcasters who hold the rights to Saturday 3pms in isolation. As I said, Setanta are being treated differently because of their tie-in with BT. Quite patently, if another broadcaster in Ireland were to secure the rights to show the 3pms the restrictions would no longer apply.

You say it's done exceptionally well since it moved, can we have actual figures? I am presuming it will be pre-recorded like the Morning Show used to be. I'd agree that it would have a chance to do well if money was put into it, but will that happen?

Plus where has Life gone to? That was supposed to be the shining new hope for the station. Now if you had Xpose, The Seven O Clock Show and Life all in a row you might have some sort of audience built up but only if they aren't done cheaply.

I will say that it probably won't work. That audience will be sticking with the One Show which will almost always have better guests or Emmerdale. Plus does this not leave a hole in their Daytime late afternoon Line-up? (the only part of the schedule that currently working)

TV3 would be much better off putting out the News at 7 when there is no other Irish Current Affairs on,

Alright man - no offence intended!

I guess the best thing one can say is that between The Lie and Nothing To Declare, the audience is effectively zero anyway, so the experiment can't help but win at that level. As you say, hard to see Emmerdale or Nationwide viewers fitting into the target demographic, but if the alternative is bringing Bondi Rescue over from 3e, it's always better to go the home-grown route.

I'd agree that anything would be an improvement on current ratings, and it is Irish Content, but it actually has to be good which the jury is out on. For some reason I got it into my head that it was going to be half an hour, but it's actually going to be on from 7-8. That's going to be very tough to be honest. Their Audience will almost entirely be watching Emmerdale/One Show and Coronation Street/Eastenders. It's almost as if TV3 are setting themselves up to fail.

That's not a comment on the Programme However. They could do an actual good show and it still wouldn't have a chance at that time. I'd counter Schedule at this stage. Put all this stuff on after 9pm and move Vincent and the News to between 7 and 9. Red Rock might work at 9 as it's got no other soap on at the time plus the Red Rock audience are probably not the RTE1 News audience.

In it's initial slot late lunch was getting between 25,000 and 40,000 viewers, depending on the day. It's weekly average was around 30,000, this was dragged down by the Friday edition. I've not seen January figures in its current slot, but I know it was doing well in November and December. It was hitting upwards of 65,000 on some days and I've seen a few days where it was topping 70,000. I'd imagine they'd be looking to grow the figures to above 100,000 viewers. But as you say it depends how much they invest in it. As it stands it's cheap daytime filler. They will need to differentiate between it and the one show, although having big name guests isn't a particular issue, you just have to look at the Saturday night shows ratings to see that. I wonder how long they will give it.