Ms Reid, I'd put money on it. Think this confirms ITV aren't optimistic about winning back the Prem highlights package!

I think the writing has been on the wall for a time for both of them. ITV needs to reduce costs, they didn't deliver. AC was also on Would I lie to you recently and actually looked happy and relaxed, that's unusal for him. The replacement Mark from FiveLive gives me the feeling that they will not go for premiership highlights he is far too low key, getting a Gary understudy like Mark Chapman would indicate a serious bid, the timing seems all wrong, if ITV were to make a serious bid, why change now? Unless AC had one of his "strops" as he did before leaving TOS. CB is damaged goods I can't see her getting anything on the BBC but she was on It takes two a while back. Suzzanah Reid is my favourite to hop back to BBC News by April following her appearance on Andrew Marr.

Strong on BBC1 poor on ITV, Bangkok airport dos well on BBC3

Wow that's pretty poor for BOAF.

There will be very little football on ITV for anyone to present over the next two years.Another triumph for boss Peter Fincham who took credit for bringing Chiles to ITV.

I think the problem is more basic than that (and it mirrors the struggle ITV have had with her) - even if she weren't 'damaged goods' what would she do? She isn't a big shiny floor entertainment host so what is anyone going to give her to do? Short of Alex Jones deciding to leave The One Show or as stringer presenter for some of their daytime property stuff I'm not sure what role it is Bleakley would fill...

Plus presumably she'll be jetting off to the US with her other half this year?

Does screw them over for their major tournaments a bit though. Wonder if they'll end up 'borrowing' the Sky team like they used to their commentators for the Rugby World Cup.

Birds got less against EE last night (in volume and share) than Richard Wilson's doc did on Monday.

Though Richard Wilson was crammed between the bus crash Coronation Street's whereas Birds of a Feather had Bring Back the Viewers... sorry, Borstal... with a lower rating Emmerdale as it's lead in.

Last week away from EastEnders it pulled in over 4m. Considering ITV's current performances I'd say that's fine for renewal.

I don't know what they expect - it's only Leslie Josepeh's scenes that are at least bit funny. No wonder they make her soo prominent in the shows now.

The rest of the cast is pi** poor.

Good for both EE and DIP continuing on but BOAF is pretty poor. I wonder if it would have continued around 5m if it had not been for the clashes - it does seem interest has quickly waned, maybe a warning to SOAH as well.

That's a dreadful figure for Birds. It had 6.5m on the same night last year, an extraordinary decline.

ITV rally are struggling outside of the soaps at the moment.

I didn't realise how well Pointless was doing, 4 million at that time is great.

They have regularly fallen to 3rd in its slot and sometimes even 4th! Apart from the NTAs, there has been very little to be happy about over at ITV, especially regarding primetime.

I said it in the BOAF thread, its poor ratings are down to ITV's stupid placement of it in the schedules. It's been up against massive programmes since it began, but lets remember - last week it got over 4 million, so the audience IS there, but it just drops when its up against big programmes.

ITV don't have many comedies as it is so I hope they don't axe it.

Surprised at Cucumber doing so badly as well, I myself did watch it but found it a bit awkward. Don't think it deserves all the hype its getting really. I'll continue to watch just to see character development but I'm not 100% on it yet.

I think SOAH is going to be fine. It's ratings have held up over the 5 episodes, whereas BOAF was slipping slightly each week. SOAH has a nice comfy slippers feel about it and a Sunday night slot as well. It doesn't have to rely on crude humour like a few of the sitcoms these days, and can be watched by the family. I think we can safely say that SOAH will be one of the Christmas sitcoms on the big day for 2015 - in the Miranda slot of 2014.

If you think that the ratings are bad for BOAF, just imagine what they are going to be like for Vicious when that returns. Out of the two, I enjoyed Vicious more and it did improve as the episodes rolled on.

Its difficult to know what is going on-there is talk of BT subletting ECL and EL games to ITV.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/foo...gue-games.html

Apologies if this has been posted before on this thread-but it will be interesting to see where this goes.

The Chiles stuation looks a little strange - how can they just sack him?

One is tempted to sat what was the point in BT buying the rights in the first place?

As the article notes as part of the deal BT committed to making a certain number of games (and specific games) FTA. It appears that what BT are attempting to do is package those games that they're contractually obligated to air FTA (and possibly a couple of others) and sell them to ITV which is actually quite clever really.

One example would be if he had breached any of the conditions in his contract

Another would be if they had parted by mutual consent (which technically wouldn't be a sacking)

Perhaps ITV have finally discovered that buying-in people from the BBC doesn't bring the audience with them and doesn't mean success

.............looks like its by mutual agreement. I guess Chiles has done a World Cup which is the pinnacle in Football broadcasting terms and maybe its time to cut and run given his ITV projects have not gone well. He has always seemed a BBC man and I think he will gradually rebuild back there.

...........and ITV already have the highlights package so it fits quite well.

Maybe the issue of Tuesdays will revert to type

Quite the opposite, like Steve Ryder they're terminating his contract early with a big pay off no doubt. His new contract only started in August according to various reports.
Like Ryder he is leaving immediately.

Or perhaps ITV are clearing out some ITV football presenters to make way for new ones and looking to make bids? I wouldn't rule it out but the timing is so odd I think it's a long shot.