I've given some thought to an ITV1 schedule of my own:
DAYTIME WEEKDAYS -
6.00 AM GMTV
9.25 Regional news magazines
10.00 The Royal Today
10.30 This Morning
12.30 News at Twelve Thirty; Weather
1.00 Regional news magazines
1.30 Dickinson's Real Deal
2.30 Daily Cooks Challenge
3.30 Loose Women
4.30 The Jeremy Kyle Show
5.30 You've Been Framed!
I believe that this would be quite a strong line-up for ITV1; I think it would be good for them to make a greater emphasis upon regional news in their schedule, as essentially this one of the channel's great strength in the old days and there is always an audience for it - if they really invested in reporters and coverage providing really good local news then this would definitely pay-off following digital switchover.
The Royal Today moves to 10.00am all-year-round, hopefully getting around 1 million viewers as a springboard to This Morning; soaps have never been on this early before, but I think a simple medical drama could really do well at this time, better than the 4.00pm slot it was in before.
Loose Women and The Jeremy Kyle Show's move into the afternoon is an attempt at targetting younger, mostly-
female viewers coming home from school at this time - it is an alternative to children's programming and I imagine the 3.30-6.00pm block would get a higher number of 16-34s - something the channel needs. You've Been Framed! at 5.30pm seems like a good filler programme when people are coming home/eating etc. to have on in the background - furthermore ITV1 must have a continuous supply of it and I could see it getting a stable audience.
PRIMETIME -
6.00 PM Country Ways/Disappearing London etc.
6.30 News at Six Thirty; Weather
7.00 Regional news magazines
7.30 Emmerdale (Mon, Wed, Fri) ~ Tonight (Tue & Thur)
8.00 News at Eight; Weather
8.30 Coronation Street
As I stated earlier, ITV1's investment in regional programming is shown by having a weeknightly regional show on at 6.00pm other than news - which moves to 7.00pm allowing. I think this would be good because it allows ITV1 to shore up its early evening schedule with programming it knows it will get a certain audience for. The actual Regional News' move to 7.00pm highlights the greater priority it has in the schedule - this can replace Emmerdale without losing a huge amount of the audience - I am confident it would regularly get 4-6 million as The ONE Show does for BBC ONE.
I have cut Emmerdale down to three times a week in a later slot, meaning that it safeguards Corrie's old territory on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, allowing that to move to every day at 8.30pm. The strength of this is: Emmerdale is clearly in trouble and can rebuild itself by cutting down episodes and ensuring that it gets a higher audience at this time (Around 7-9 million I think possibly?). Meanwhile, as has already been discussed in other people's ideas for ITV1's scheduling revamp, having Corrie on at 8.30pm everyday would be such a boon to the channel. Coronation Street regularly delivers audiences of 9-11 million viewers for ITV1 and I am confident it would continue to do so. In the summer, the damage done to the show would be less as people watch TV later.
I have moved the News at Ten back two hours so it becomes News at Eight - a bold move yet one which I think would still result in higher audiences for ITV1. This would mean that there is a regular schedule for ITV1 in the 8.00-9.00pm hour every weekday. It also means that the channel is free to show films or whatever it wants beyond 9.00pm without the interruption of the News. ITV1 is no longer fighting a losing battle against BBC ONE but is offering a clear alternative with News at Eight - I think the target audience should be 2-4 million, something which News At Ten never regularly achieves so far.
I've left the 9.00pm and 10.00pm slots blank because those would obviously be subject to change throughout the year. However, as I have already mentioned, I think The Bill moving to 9.00pm on Thursdays and Fridays would make sense and guarantee a good audience at the end of the week. Monday nights I see alternating between comedy (Benidorm, Headcases etc.) with special, more populist editions of The South Bank Show. Tuesdays and Wednesdays could be for dramas such as Taggart and The Fixer. The 10.00pm slot would see The South Bank Show on a Friday night with the rest of the week taken up by some USTV acquisitions, repeats of ITV2 programming (Secret Diary of A Call Girl, Jordan and Peter etc.) and possibly a year-round chatshow on Monday nights (Maybe with Piers Morgan but if he cannot commit - Adrian Chiles?)
at OTB, there was me thinking its better than Neighbours is at the mo. Everything else stands as it should, I think the BBC have done really well with The Apprentice and WTD its given them 9pm victories for Mon, Tues, Wed for weeks and weeks.
