TV3 announces Late Lunch Live moving to 7pm from 16 February and renamed The 7 o'clock Show.
Planned magazine show 'Life' to air once a week at 8pm Friday initially for 5 weeks.
Pretty sensible idea - I never understood why TV 3 invested so much in day time in the first place
TV3 invested in daytime because they had a steady stream of popular ITV shows filling up primetime, and most daytime programming is relatively cheap to produce.
Now with most of the ITV shows having moved to UTV Ireland, they now have to reinvest in primetime programming, to try and maintain the ratings, that they used to get from stuff that didn't cost them as much as the new stuff us costing them now.
Ireland AM was started to increase Irish production which the IRTC as it was at the time kept going on about. Because people were already in the studio they expanded programmes during the day because the cost was minimal. It got to the point where almost no programmes went out from the studios after 6pm expect for Vincent Browne. They were convinced that no one else in the Irish Market would buy the ITV rights. If they had paid the market rate for the soaps, UTV Ireland would never have launched.
They now have to go and try and build a new Primetime schedule but they don't appear to have that much cash. At the same time every new show has either underpreformed or flopped. they've lost over 50 percent of their primetime audience. I'm not actually sure how they continue as advertisers are not going to pay 2014 rates for half the audience in 2015.
Ireland AM was started to increase Irish production which the IRTC as it was at the time kept going on about. Because people were already in the studio they expanded programmes during the day because the cost was minimal. It got to the point where almost no programmes went out from the studios after 6pm expect for Vincent Browne. They were convinced that no one else in the Irish Market would buy the ITV rights. If they had paid the market rate for the soaps, UTV Ireland would never have launched.
They now have to go and try and build a new Primetime schedule but they don't appear to have that much cash. At the same time every new show has either underpreformed or flopped. they've lost over 50 percent of their primetime audience. I'm not actually sure how they continue as advertisers are not going to pay 2014 rates for half the audience in 2015.
I agree with you - they still seem to have the support of the advertisers at the moment with a pretty decent brand count. It will be interesting to see how they get on given the apparent lack of cash - the performance of new shows as you say is going to be crucial
They do have the support of Advertisers, but some of the cheap advertisers seem to be returning. The ones that buy up spare advertising that's going cheap. UTV have always seemed to refuse to sell Advertising dirt cheap in the past preferring to run promos instead. That was never the case with TV3, who were selling bizarrely cheap slots at times up to a few years ago.
I'm not entirely convinced that Late Lunch Live/The 7pm Show will work in the timeslot.
It needs to have a primetime feel - maybe a panel show looking at the days news, similar to 'The Project' or '7 Sharp' Down Under, or an updated version of RTE's 'The Panel' (itself based on a Australian concept) which ran for several seasons a few years back.
Initially I'd make it half an hour, with perhaps an hour long edition on Fridays, repeated in VB's late night slot on this day.
This would give 3 a bit of credibility by offering some news content in primetime, albeit much more informal than seen elsewhere; appeal to younger viewers not into soaps; and give them a chance to bring some newsmakers and celebs into the studio as guest panelists.
By using the existing Midday set up (with a change of backdrop to a more urban, night-time feel), it wouldn't cost a fortune to produce.
The One Show works and that doesn't really have a prime time feel. I assume Late Lunch Live is more Loose Women than The Project, so doubt it'll13 be driven by news.
The One Show works and that doesn't really have a prime time feel. I assume Late Lunch Live is more Loose Women than The Project, so doubt it'll13 be driven by news.
Almost nothing TV3 do is driven by News, they have dropped News at every possible occasion. They'd drop all News commitments in the Morning if the BAI allowed them to do so. The irony is that their 5.30 news and Vincent Browne are their two highest rating shows (outside of Red Rock)
Excuse the ignorance - do TV3 and UTV have news quotas to fill then from the BAI ?
TV3 has a quota for News and Current Affairs. However, each and every time they have asked for a reduction the BAI have agreed. They kept saying the Station was in trouble so they were able to say it was purely a financial choice. The News operation now closes up at 6 on a Friday and the next Bulletin isn't on until 7 on Monday Morning.
UTV have promised 90 minutes of News 5 days a week but I don't know if it's concrete. They could probably reduce the news if they had other Irish shows instead. However, UTV have a very different approach as they believe news is a ratings winner in the long term, TV3 do not.
Wouldn't be surprised to see the 10pm bulletin ultimately cut to 30 minutes. Are they taking any reports from ITV News for their international coverage?