ITV is rescheduling `The Premiership` from 7pm to 1030pm -
David Liddiment, ITV's director of programmes, said scheduling the programme in Saturday peak had been bold , But he said pressure on the overall performance of the ITV schedule and advertising revenues was such that the network simply could not sustain the current position.
Aha, victory! Not sure who exactly for, it seams to be for everyone, does this mean that they have cut down to just the one show? And how will it affect the BBC news showing the goals?
It's a quite nice thought that if Des does leave, when the contract runs out (3 years?) and if what they paid doesn't outweigh their revenue from having Premiership football, they'd be far more likely to let the Beeb win the new contract!
BBC Sport must be happy at the U-turn having stuck with their decision not to move it to primetime just because Des said so (which resulted in him leaving) but BBC One bosses might not be happy as ITV's rating pullers will be all fired up in primetime once again!
but BBC One bosses might not be happy as ITV's rating pullers will be all fired up in primetime once again!
True but don't spoil the moment for the Beeb, as you say I think they'll be pretty happy that it failed in primetime, the only way that was going to suceed was with a goals and results show, just for people who want to see the goals possibly while the lottery was on and then a proper show later on, but thats far too good a idea for ITV! I think this will probably put them off making programme specific break bumpers! Anyone else see that correlation?!?
Well it is widely acknowledged that The Premiership is a better show than Match of the Day was. It was a bold move by ITV, but they need to dominate that slot on Saturday nights to keep the advertisers happy. Sadly, this has proven that there isn't a big enough prime-time audience for a football highlights show (live matches are different). Not everyone is a football fan, and ITV need to get back on board the family audience which it has divided on Saturday nights. Women in particular were going away from ITV1 at 7pm and not coming back for the rest of the evening.
ITV need to get back to it's showbizzy, entertainment Saturday night schedule, which is what they do best. They will once again dominate the Saturday night primetime slots, and also beat the BBC in the 10:30pm slot when the Premiership goes out. Bad news for the Beeb I'd say.
GE
geordster
i actually think that ITV has moved a month too quickly. With winter drawing in the audience would have went up. The problem with the show was it was too long. The main show should have cut one of the matches and concentrated on the 'match of the day' and the goals with a programme at 11 showing other matches. It hasn't helped with successive pundits running off and cheating on their wives either....
Well it is widely acknowledged that The Premiership is a better show than Match of the Day was.
Are we watching the same programme? MOTD was IMO much better - no ads, no sponsorship bumpers, no website plugs '..in association with a certain soft drink's company...', no Pro-Zone, no Tactics Truck... just great football, goal of the month and analysis. Oh, and a great theme tune. :
...Just Hanson, Larenson and Lineker talking about the footy. I don't mind McCoist but Venables and Townsend do nothing for analysis IMO.
Cheers, Asa
DJ
DJ Jase
ITV1 are useless. It was quite obvious from the start that The Premiership wasn't going to work at 7pm. Not everyone enjoys sports, especially on a Saturday evening. I'm now worried about what they will replace it with... LOL
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