Home from UKTV

Home, once upon a time UKTV Style, best known for repeat showings of Ground Force, DIY SOS, Escape to the Country and the odd bit of Masterchef appears to be trying something completely different this weekend: the channel is to show back to back episodes of Death in Paradise all weekend.

Which given the channel's overall presentation appears to be a big move as it has a very strong identity as a lifestyle channel. Admittedly, UKTV have over the years made some puzzling decisions over "off-brand" programmes shown on its channels, despite having gone out of the way to design channel brands associated with very distinct types of programming.

Given that Drama would normally be the home of er... drama, is this a sign that after 19 months on Freeview, is this the start of something a little different for Home..?

UKTV have put the quiz show Pointless on Yesterday, how in the name of God is a quiz show part of a history channel? Plus Yesterday are showing Wild Canada, a nature programme. Does UKTV not know what each of their channels stands for? What next, repeats of Strictly Come Dancing on Good Food?

Yep. It's just to boost Home's ratings.

Yesterday is a very broad term though so can basically show anything they want.

People also need to realise channels aren’t under any obligation to show programmes that relate to their branding if they think something is going to do well.

I’m not sure Pointless should a presence on three completely different channels all available free to air though.

Sitcoms on Yesterday have been the strangest scheduling on a UKTV channel. It doesn't surprise me that Home is now going through a similar pattern since it joined Freeview to increase share with populist programming which have a tenuous connection to the channel branding.

I suppose if Eden acquired a Freeview slot, Wild at Heart or something inane would be scheduled on the basis it has some wildlife in it.

While channels aren't under an obligation to retain genre specific content (except in the event the changes are major and go against EPG listing rules), hence History-less History Channel and music-less MTV, those that have changed have seen their presentation and idents changed to reflect their new direction, featuring less or even nothing about their original genre and becoming more generic.

So if Home are going to start doing this a bit more, will we see its presentation start to evolve in the coming months? And given there seems to be already overlap with Really, which direction can Home take? It'll be interesting to see.

And it's alright saying people have to realise that channels don't have to show content based on the branding... but if you've spent years associating a channel in viewer's minds with a certain type of programme (important for the smaller channels), they are going to be surprised when something different is on. If not handled carefully, viewers may become confused about what the channel stands for or what to expect ( which is then a perfect excuse to put in a press release when the inevitable rebrand/relaunch comes)

Basically, no. There's very little money thrown at it. Continuity on Good Food, Eden and Home is bare bones as it is, there's no menus or ECPs in use anymore (or a rare occasion). Just generic voiceovers and IPPs.

I think UKTV stopped caring about showing programmes specific to their channel's names a long time ago.

Note that the random scheduling only seems to affect certain channels already on Freeview. Gold, W, Good Food, Alibi and Eden appear to have been left alone as they're behind the paywall.

Dave seems to be the exception of the FTA channels, which has a broad male skew.

In one way it's good that UKTV from time to time tries something different on its Freeview audiences and I think some of the apparently odd scheduling decisions has helped UKTV test the water before launching new services on Freeview, but on the other hand there's a risk of people getting fed up of loads of channels going after the same audiences with the same programmes, be it with shows like Pointless or the omnipresent Judge Judy.

Then I can understand why UKTV might want to do something with Home to boost ratings. Otherwise, it's paying a lot for Freeview carriage and not getting much back for it.

Remember if the Scripps and Discovery deals goes though you have to wonder what cuts could be made? Good Food and Food Channel could be good place to start, The big quest has to be what do you do with Home? what does it's really do? Mind you, look at Tru tv and that just sits on Freeview doing nothing.