Ofcom has completed it's change of control review.
As part of the changes Viacom offered to increase the quota of original programming and news in peak.
Ofcom has therefore increased the minimum quotas in the Channel 5 licence for original production in peak-time from 40% to 45%; news in total from 260 hours per year to 280 hours per year; and news in peak-time from 100 hours per year to 120 hours per year.
I wonder where those extra hours of news will come from? I'd take a guess that they'll have longer/more bulletins at the weekend.
I still think it's daft that Ofcom expect them to produce so many hours of news when it's clear that their simply is no audience for their 6:30 programme.
Good that there's an increase in the amount of original production.
I still think it's daft that Ofcom expect them to produce so many hours of news when it's clear that their simply is no audience for their 6:30 programme.
Is that surprising when its up against the national news of their more established commercial competitor and the hugely popular BBC regional news ? That's a consequence of their scheduling. Perhaps they'd find a bigger audience in a less competitive news slot.
Yeah, 5.30pm would work better - 7pm would clash with Channel 4 News. The problem is if the news and Neighbours swapped timeslots, Neighbours would clash with Hollyoaks, causing the exact same problem, the audience being split.
Yeah, 5.30pm would work better - 7pm would clash with Channel 4 News. The problem is if the news and Neighbours swapped timeslots, Neighbours would clash with Hollyoaks, causing the exact same problem, the audience being split.
They will never move Neighbours from the 5:30 slot, its far too established in this timeslot, moving Neighbours to 6:30/7:00 I dare say would be the death of the show. (It rates really well just as it is at 5:30, so no need to mess with something that aint broke)
The 6:30pm news slot on 5 clearly does not work, maybe they might try the following, The Aussie soaps 5:30-6:30, something from MTV at 6:30 (catfish/Teenmom/Jersey shore etc), then maybe the 5news at 7 or 7:30pm?
Viacom is in it for long-term and for the money - They have even stated that one of their first aims is to get ahead of Channel 4 in the ratings and if that means going in direct competition with evening soaps and new then so be it.
For me, I think it's all about how heavily they invest in these programmes, 5 News as we all know decides to go down a different News route and is dissimilar to all the other big news programmes. If Viacom was to give C5 a "serious" take on the news, because they do already have the showbiz type ones on VIVA and MTV, maybe it would stand a good chance against the likes of C4 News.
In terms of Neighbours, I don't know if putting it up against Hollyoaks would be such a bad choice, they both tend to go for different markets and personally I view Hollyoaks as a much younger based show. I understand that won't reflect everyone but think most of Hollyoaks viewers will fall into the 16-24 bracket whilst Neighbours attracts some of that but mainly 24+?
I actually would like C5 to launch a 5pm chat show or game show either could be hosted by someone who they could try and brand as "the face of the channel" (possibly) and then bump H&A and Neighbours to 6&6:30 followed by the 5 News (if it were to take a more serious approach) at 7 going against C4. This would allow them to completely tackle C4, as they have said they want to take over.
What I will say is this: Channel 5 may struggle with the news at 7, not because of C4, but if they were to follow my plan those viewers who enjoy the C5 soaps would be likely to shift to ITV for the rest of the soaps and therefore C5 would be creating a possible anomaly.
Ofcom has therefore increased the minimum quotas in the Channel 5 licence for original production in peak-time from 40% to 45%; news in total from 260 hours per year to 280 hours per year; and news in peak-time from 100 hours per year to 120 hours per year.
Presumably the 20 hours of extra news a year will just come from reinstating some of the update bulletins - it's only 23 minutes across a week so just 3-4 minutes a day.
Great news about more original production. As for the News I agree with gottago in where is the demand for extra programming on Channel 5? I just don't see how it's going to compete against such established News programming by the other PSB's...
...unless one of the News programmes moves to 9 o'clock, meaning Channel 5 can screen high profile programming while the BBC/ITV screen their News programming. The thing is though, how is that any different to now?