The World Cup 2006

For Canada - be entirely grateful you're getting the international feed. The last Canadian/American commentary I heard for the Celtic/Porto game was pitiful.

As for the poor figures for the England game - that'll be down to a) the ridiculously warm weather outside - I'd be interested in Doctor Who's figures as well and b) the fact it was against poor opposition - lots of people down south would have assumed they would steamroller Paraguay. It doesn't bode well for ITV's figures if they've given away the knockout stages to get the two qualification games - although that says something to me about how far ITV think they'll get.

If you get into the quarters or semis, or God forbid even the final, watch those viewing figures soar.

Do these ratings indicate how many people watch in pubs etc? That would surely increase them.

Yes i guess they would increase if pub figures were included...for some reason i was expecting between 14 - 18million for som reason

No. It's simply viewers at home.

According to the survey's late last week they were expecting around 3 million to watch in pubs across the land.

Also don't forget that the 8.8 figure is an average across the whole length of the broadcast (i.e. Pre-game & Post Game analysis), the peak was 12+ million (85%)

Still quite disappointing for them though I think. They got 5.5 for the friendly against Jamica. Whereas the Tuesday evening game got nearly 9 million. Think ITV will be quietly pleased that they've got the next two games. And if the ITV curse strikes again (most pathetic England excuse ever) then the BBC may not get another England game in the tournament!

Just as a minor point - what exactly is the logic in UKTV G2 showing the exact same games as BBC/ITV? I could almost see the point in Eurosport showing pan-European coverage, but this channel showing the exact same thing seems pointless. It may come in handy for when two games are being shown at once, but that's rare.

Who is it at the Beeb, that thinks Holland and the Netherlands are the same place ? They'll be calling the UK, "England" next.

But on the other hand, if England win against Trinidad and Tobago, which they should, then the Sweden match will be irrelevent, which may mean people won't watch it

Never. England against Sweden is a huge mtch, regardless of whether we have qualified or not. Plus, as it's our national team, fans will watch in preparation for the knockout stages. It is also very likely that England and Sweden will be competing for 1st and 2nd, which will determine whether we get a harder (Germany) or a seemingly easier (Poland/Ecuador) fixture. Hugely significant.

I think they already think that.

They're only showing the BBC games, but I think their objective for the tournament is that they're trying to be different, taking a bit of a relaxed role to the whole thing, as they have one football pundit and usually a celebrity who has an intrest in the game, yesterday for the England game they appropriately had Ricky Tomlinson giving his views of the game.

I can't see the ratings being great for G2, but it's a good idea and very different than Lineker and Motson at the BBC. Plus I think Ron Atkinson is providing commentary for G2, though correct me if I'm wrong.

Anyone seen World Cuppa on ITV4 ? (after ITV evening games). Is it in the former London Tonight studio ? It has a large panoramic window behind the set.