Yeh, its a shame, but another way to look at it is that it has been this way in many other countries around the world for years.

Britain has fought off multi-channel and been able to keep programming that is not uber-popular with young people for a long time.

In America nothing that is not popular with young people survives on mainstream TV. And it will end up that way here too - that is where we are heading.

The only way to have avoided it would have been to ban Pay TV. But it would have happened eventually - everywhere in the world has it and it just seperates the audience.

Sunday 26th April 2009
BBC One
08:30 - London Marathon 2009 - 3.1m (40.7%)
- peak: 3.5m (41.4%) @ 11:45 to 12:00
12:10 - Formula 1: The Bahrain Grand Prix - 4.3m (40.3%)
- peak: 5.2m (44.5%) @ 14:15 to 14:30
20:00 - BAFTAs - 4.3m (18%)
- 20:00 to 21:00 - 4m (16.7%)
- 21:00 to 22:00 - 4.6m (19%)
- last year: 5.6m (21.6%)
22:30 - Match of the Day 2 - 2.2m (15%)

BBC Two
12:00 - London Marathon - 1.5m (15%)
20:00 - Top Gear - 1.91m (8.1%)
21:00 - Best: His Mother's Son - 2.74m (11.9%)
- peak: 3m (15.3%) @ 22:15 to 22:30

ITV1
12:45 - FILM: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie - 600,000
18:45 - Beat the Star - 4.1m (20%)
20:00 - Heartbeat - 5.67m (24%)
21:00 - Hell's Kitchen - 3.56m (14.7%)
22:15 - The South Bank Show - 900,000 (6%)

Channel 4
19:00 - Child Genius - 1.09m [inc +1]
20:00 - Come Dine With Me - 2.69m (11.4%) [+1: 220,000]
21:00 - The Secret Millionaire - 2.45m (10.2%) [+1: 218,000]

five
18:30 - FILM: The Man In The Iron Mask - 1.1m (5.1%)
21:00 - FILM: Blade - 1.43m (7.2%)

ITV2
21:00 - Supernatural - 709,000 (3.2%)

E4 [inc +1]
21:00 - Desperate Housewives - 236,300 (1%)
22:00 - Desperate Housewives - 744,900

Film4 [inc +1]
18:45 - FILM: In Good Company - 156,600
21:00 - FILM: The Devil Wears Prada - 538,400

More4 [inc +1]
21:00 - Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares USA - 248,500
22:00 - Britain's Conjoined Twins: Hope... - 134,700

Sky1
21:00 - Lost: Story Of The Oceanic Six - 309,000 (1.4%)
22:00 - Fringe - 473,000 (3%)

Primetime Shares
BBC One - 19.3% (last week: 18.2%)
ITV1 - 17% (22.1%)
BBC Two - 9.8% (8.8%)
Channel 4 - 8.6% (8.4%)
five - 6.1% (6.8%)
Multichannel - 39.2% (35.7%)

All-Day Shares
BBC One - 23.1% (last week: 19.2%)
ITV1 - 12.9% (21%) *second worst all-day share this year?
BBC Two - 9.3% (7.7%)
Channel 4* - 7.4% (7.2%)
five - 5.1% (4.9%)
Multichannel - 42.2% (40%)

Source: Channel 4 Sales, DS, Broadcast, MG

ITV suffering from BBC Sport productions getting 40% share from 08:30 to approx. 15:00. I suspect they will be looking at 12/13% shares for most of this year on Sundays.

The average age of viewers to Fox - CBS varies from about 48 to 60 so I'm not sure where you come from with that.

TV is an old persons medium desperately chasing young people.

I said "nothing that is not popular with young people survives". Not "nothing that is popular with older people survives".

The average age of viewers of X Factor is probably in the 50s, but its the popularity with young people that gets it the £7m sponsorship deal.

And when I say young people I mean 18-44, as it is defined in America, so an average age of 48 is quite young, considering TV is an old persons medium as you say.

For some shows - American Idol, for example - everything is about the 18-44 demo. That is the only figure that matters as that is what they sell the airtime for.

Indeed. You don't have to be popular with young people, just have some kind of spread of an audience. Not just 60 year olds.

For all the stories about 16-34's not having such entrenched brand loyalty or having more disposable income, the main reason they are so sought after and valuable is because they are hard to reach. And so it becomes an issue of supply and demand.

Yes, for shows such as Idol, the demo is vitally important. Unfortunately for it, it has seen a steep decline this year.

Also, I remember Broadcast quoting the average age of X Factor viewers to be about 38/39 for one episode iirc.

Yes, and I don't think channels should bother too much, or as much as they're doing at the moment.

Good for Heartbeat, and good ratings for the live sport.

I wonder how Last of the Summer Wine fared with no FA Cup extra-time to contend with this week!

Well, it was. At least right up until it was beaten to a BAFTA by the notoriously slapdash ITV1 F1. Still can't quite figure that one out considering the sheer wealth and quality of the BBC's Olympics coverage which exceeded anything I'd ever seen before as far as UK TV sport is concerned in terms of scale. I think Gary Lineker spoke for us all upon opening the envelope and reacting first-hand to this injustice..."Oh my goodness me."

Quite.

I think ITV Sports coverage suffers a lot from the adverts, which are a necessity unfortunately. I thought their Formula One coverage was superb, and forced BBC1 to improve when they retrieved the rights back again. Sorry, that's my pro-ITV rant out of the way for now.

Heartbeat looks so out of place in a schedule aimed at a predominantly young audience. It did well to achieve 5.7m, and though there's logic behind it being 'rested' it seems very ironic that the best rated show of yesterday is unlikely to return.

Beat the Star did ok, but would do better on Saturday's as others have stated. I expect it to keep above 4m for it's run. Hell's Kitchen seemed low, maybe hurt by the BAFTAs.

Saying that the BAFTAs struggled, down on last year against not the greatest of opposition. I think the BBC need a decent family entertainer who isn't annoying - at the moment their presenters either bug the hell out of you or can't use their material before 9pm.

Formula One did excellently, and the coverage is getting the rating's it deserves. Match of the Day 2 also did well, though it's sad to see South Bank Show go below 1m.

Best did well on BBC2, and I really think this should've been held back for a Bank Holiday BBC1 slot. Top Gear did ok as a repeat, but I wish the BBC (and ITV1) would stop with sticking confusing repeats in the prime time schedule, wrapped around new episodes of the show.

Come Dine with Me and Secret Millionnaire are really doing well for Channel 4 on Sunday's...now to fix the rest of the week when Gok Wan and Gordon Ramsey aren't about.

Sunday 27th April
USA Overnight Ratings

Programmes By 18-49 Rating:
1. Desperate Housewives (ABC) - 4.7/12
2. Family Guy (FOX) - 3.4/9
3. Brothers and Sisters (ABC) - 3.2/8
4. The Amazing Race (CBS) - 3.1/9
5. Celebrity Apprentice (NBC) - 3.0/8

Networks By 18-49 Rating:
1. ABC - 3.2/9
2. FOX - 2.2/6
3. CBS - 2.2/6
4. NBC - 2.1/6

Programmes By Total Viewers:
1. Desperate Housewives (ABC) - 13.51m
2. Cold Case (CBS) - 10.49m
3. The Amazing Race (CBS) - 10.29m
4. 60 Minutes (CBS) - 10.38m
5. Brothers and Sisters (ABC) - 9.40m

Networks By Total Viewers:
1. CBS - 10.01m
2. ABC - 9.80m
3. NBC - 6.65m
4. FOX - 4.52m

With Heartbeat being popular with older audiences then the only network it could survive on would be the BBC.

So could the BBC not pay ITV to produce it and then air it on BBC1 on a Sunday Night? Provided the BBC pay more money for the programme than it costs ITV to make it what would be the problem?

Surely one of the best ways for ITV to make money in the future would to be a producer of drama rather than a broadcaster of it, then sell productions on to the BBC, Sky or abroad. When it does come to broadcasting concentrate on Soaps and Entertainment formats.

Desperate Housewives and B&S do very well in ratings and the 18-49 demo as does Family Guy. While CBS did well ratings wise, both Cold Case and The Unit skew old and I think it may be time to axe one or both of them so that CBS has the opportunity to rebuild the night with new shows.

Australian Overnights
Sunday 26th April

Seven:
News 1.8m
Sunday Night 1.17m
Border Security USA 1.26m
The Force 1.42m
Bones 1.13m

Nine:
News 1.54m
Second Chance 0.9m
60 Minutes 1.38m
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation 1.07m
CSI: Miami 0.9m

Ten:
News 0.6m
The Biggest Loser: Final 1.49m
So You Think You Can Dance: Finale 1.34m
So You Think You Can Dance: Result 1.43m
Rove 1.07m

Ten wins Sunday with 30.1% share.

Finale nights tend to do well. I wonder what kind of share Britain's Got Talent's Final week will get?

That, I have to say surprised myself! I was waiting for him to say "Olympics 2008" so when I heard "ITV F1" I thought WOW. I'll tell you something, I will be absolutely shocked if "BBC F1" does not win next year.


Agreed, a sports event with breaks, no matter if it is boring at times, is "wrong". BBC so far, without turning this into an F1 thread, is streets ahead of ITV in my view in terms of pre-race and post-race coverage with 4 hours of coverage of raceday, once they get commentary sorted, it'll be top notch.

Linekar sounds as poor at handing out awards as he is presenting golf. Unless he forgot to bring his scriptwriter along to give him spontaneous quips. I dont suppose he will be going to ITV no then which is good as I much prefer a proper tv presenter such as Jim Rosental or Steve Ryder.

And the winner is...ITV's FA Cup Football Coverage.

Anyone see it happening?

Depends if there's any big drama or if a Brit emerges victorious. Remember the ITV1 award was specifically for the Brazilian Grand Prix rather than their coverage generally. And that was an exciting end to the F1 season I suppose with Hamilton leaving it late to secure his win.

It is judged on the tape that the broadcaster submits isnt it? So if the BBC submit a poor tape and dont win, but ITV pick their best output to submit, then of course ITV should win.

From what I understand the Formula 1 would have been judged on pre-race and post-race coverage, not the actual race as that isn't produced by ITV Sport, its produced by Formula One Management. Same with BBC and the Olympics.

I dont think anyone doubts that ITV's coverage of F1 (apart from the adverts) moved the bar to another level.
However everyone was surprised at the win, Gary Lineker was as taken aback as if someone had swiped his crisps. The winners were caught offguard and actually commented they thought the Olympics would win.
The Olympics are a once in four year event and, good as ITV's coverage was, I get the feeling there was at least a touch of favouritism amongst the BAFTA panelists.

I imagine Ashes to Ashes will drop a few in numbers tonight. However it doesnt deserve to, it had everything and is starting to approach Life On Mars quality (miles better than series 1 of a2a).
Cant wait for next week.

Looks like FOX aren't showing the Obama speech:

http://http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/04/27/fox-rejects-obamas-request-for-broadcast-airtime-on-april-29/17479#comment-78321

I knew it would happen eventually but I didn't think they would do it this week. I guess FOX were tired of the premptions of Lie to Me.

Will be interesting to see how it rates. As an alternative it could do quite well?