Until ten years ago nearly everyone had dial up internet. This would make watching an episode of CS extremely time consuming due to the buffering. Watching television online didn't really take off until the late noughties when broadband largely replaced dial up and I Players and the like saw a boom in demand.
I'm sure the switch to on demand services has made such features as soap omnibuses redundant as they are no longer needed, as the BBC thinks with EE and ITV have relegated the CS and EE omnibuses to ITV 2 in little watched morning slots.

There's no doubt X Factor is still a popular show and very profitable, but the ratings aren't as high as ITV and Cowell wants.

It's suffered by the lack of really entertaining or quality constestants in the last few years. There's been no real stand-outs since the One Direction year. Nobody has been that exciting plus nobody has done anything after the show either, which hurts X Factor's credability. It's not a bad show, but it's gotten a little stale. We've seen just about everything on it.

I have read a couple of things where the writers were indicating it was a pre-watershed show to air around 7pm but what that was based on I dont know. I thought the trailers looked liked it was a bit darker than that but who knows? If its going to start with SCD and Dr Who already well into their respective series it could have a problem wherever it lands - unless its very good.

I think it would work either Saturday or Sunday at 7 or 8

ITV may well be running a touch behind schedule for the rest of the night...

Has the rugby gone over

Yes unbelievable match!!! Incredible drama .

If those old ratings are JICTAR then possibly City Of Death's rating should be higher?

Just flicked over was a really close score

And a humongous shock result .

Tonight they won't mind too much, but major problems if the 16:45 kick off's overrun tomorrow and especially on Wednesday....

They'd probably scrap the regional news.

Yeah well done to the winners.

Dont want to spoil it for anyone

The only day that will be a big problem will be wednesday. I suppose they could scrap Emmerdale

I think I might have done that already

Maybe the 16:45 kick off on Wednesday can overrun by about 90 minutes so Coronation Street starts at 9pm. I'm sure that would please a few people.

It won't happen sadly.
The last few years the episodes were intended to air as double bills and not an hour long episode but they were forced to air as an hour otherwise cause a soap clash.
I think the BBC should just say F*ck it and air EastEnders at 6pm with Dr who,Strictly and whatever else in between and then go out with episode 2 at 9pm/9:30 followed by Mrs Browns Boys.
ITV could have 6:30-8:30 for their soaps then and start Downton at 8:30 or 9.


It's been hyped loads. Social media and the press have been buzzing about it.

I know plenty of people looking forward to it. Funny enough I know people that has stopped watching the X Factor have been avid fans since the start.
Myself a couple of episodes right at the start was more than enough.

Strictly is light hearted and fun. Feel good Saturday night entertainment.

Local News trashed - straight into ITV News.

End of the coverage scrapped as well

If they were airing France v Italy on ITV like I think they should have done it wouldn't really matter. As it is...

Fantastic figure for the rugby last night. Gogglebox and An Extra Slice held up well considering and EastEnders didn't disgrace itself either. For a seemingly well received series, Celebrity Big Brother has never really taken off.

They're still pushing The X Factor as an 8pm start time. I'm not sure how they're going to manage that - cut ads out of Keep It In The Family???

Was a really quick weather forecast and was finished by 7.01. KIITF has just started with only a trailer in between

The peak rating for the Japan vs South Africa game could be massive.

Not sure about higher. In fact that City of Death figure must be an error as the highest figure I have seen quoted is 16.1 million. Im pretty sure the figures are JICTAR though as I am old enough to remember them first time around appearing in the weekly press. Obviously they stood out due to their size and that some of them hugely increased on what they would normally be for BBC shows. I think its a good example that many people back then just had to sit in front of a tv screen(far fewer distractions)-that Star Trek episode for instance would have had multiple screenings before as the BBC had them on churn.

Well it's the same rating that was printed in The Stage in 1979 where I got the information from. As I said yesterday, 70s ratings are very peculiar. Who knows, it may have been an error. We'll never know.

Not to bash DW fans but shouldn't they be happy that 19m watched back in 1979?