BBC Considers Splitting Fifth 'Doctor Who' Season

[Bob The Skutter]

It is much more expensive to make than X Factor, is aimed at the same target audience, and is not as popular. If it goes toe to toe with X Factor, it will lose.

First, I am assuming that X Factor is not an adaptation of the Marvel comic book. (Though I am assuming that the producers of said show are paying Marvel for the right to use the name "X Factor.")

Second, I'm not convinced that Doctor Who would lose in a head-to-head. Worst case, both shows would take a ratings hit; neither would ascend to the same heights as before.

Third, Doctor Who has ancillary revenue streams that X Factor presumably does not.

I realize that viewing habits are massively different in the UK than they are in the US, due in no small part to the license fee. (I get the impression that multiple televisions are far from the norm that they are here.) But the truth is, unless you force the audience to make a choice, you don't know why they're watching.

Doctor Who can put a hit out on a show. The question is, do the programmers have the brass balls to do it?

What in the hell are you on about? Multiple televisions? As in 1 in each room? Of course they're the norm. If you're talking multi-channel, as in cable, etc. Then with Freeview it's actually much more popular around 90% of people have at least 30 channels, about half of them have hundreds. DVRs are becoming very popular too.
But the main 4 networks get about 85% of the viewing audience.

X-Factor has pretty much everything merch-wise Doctor Who has, plus the music that comes of it. X-Factor regularly is the number 1 show, with ratings as high if not higher than Doctor Who.

Also where do you get the idea that they have an aversion to putting popular programming up against each other? Robin Hood and Primeval have been up against each other (to some extent) over the last 2 months. The soaps (most watch shows in Britain) regularly go up against each other.

 

[wamdue]

that is not true about the soaps.

6:30pm Hollyoaks, does not compete with any other soaps (expect for First Look Home & Away on Fiver)

7:00pm Emmerdale, 5 days a week but only competes with EastEnders once, when it shows the hour long ep on Tuesday. (does clash with First Look Hollyoaks on E4)

7:30pm - 8:30pm, some combination of Eastenders and Corrie, as there is a long standing agreement that the two shows do not clash.

8pm - 9pm, The Bill again this never clashes with Eastenders

So unless you count First Look on E4 & Fiver, its a rare thing that our soaps compete with each other than the hour long Emmerdale & Eastenders on Tuesday night.

(so this is why I have digiguide)

 

[Bob The Skutter]

that is not true about the soaps.

6:30pm Hollyoaks, does not compete with any other soaps (expect for First Look Home & Away on Fiver)

7:00pm Emmerdale, 5 days a week but only competes with EastEnders once, when it shows the hour long ep on Tuesday. (does clash with First Look Hollyoaks on E4)

7:30pm - 8:30pm, some combination of Eastenders and Corrie, as there is a long standing agreement that the two shows do not clash.

8pm - 9pm, The Bill again this never clashes with Eastenders

So unless you count First Look on E4 & Fiver, its a rare thing that our soaps compete with each other than the hour long Emmerdale & Eastenders on Tuesday night.

(so this is why I have digiguide)

They often have "event" episodes that are an hour long though, so the second half of Emmerdale will clash with Eastenders, or Eastenders with Corrie, etc. I know because my grandma bought a PVR for exactly those occasions.

 

[wamdue]

that might be the case with Eastenders & Emmerdale or Eastenders and the Bill, but the BBC and ITV do have a deal where the EastEnders & Corrie do not compete with each other, at least not officially I think there has been time where one has run long say Corrie ends at 8:02 when it should have ended at 7:59 allowing Eastenders to start at 8:00

 

[HappyDayRiot]

Gotta go with wamdue on this one - Eastenders and Corrie never, ever go out at the same time. Their hour long episodes are always on on a day when the other show isn't on at all.

And yes, Doctor Who would get caned against ITV's reality TV factory. Another reason besides the smaller audience is that BBC1 shows are a LOT easier to see at some other time, ie iplayer or BBC3, whereas ITV shows are practically a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see. This (I imagine) will mean people who like both will watch ITV and catch-up with the Doctor later.

(Yes, I know ITV has an iplayer type device. It's rubbish.)

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Gotta go with wamdue on this one - Eastenders and Corrie never, ever go out at the same time. Their hour long episodes are always on on a day when the other show isn't on at all.

And yes, Doctor Who would get caned against ITV's reality TV factory. Another reason besides the smaller audience is that BBC1 shows are a LOT easier to see at some other time, ie iplayer or BBC3, whereas ITV shows are practically a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see. This (I imagine) will mean people who like both will watch ITV and catch-up with the Doctor later.

(Yes, I know ITV has an iplayer type device. It's rubbish.)

I'll concede the point, I don't watch any soaps. Eastenders and Corrie don't but the others do, otherwise my grandma would have never bought the PVR.

 

[TerriO]

1) It's footie, not soccer, the sooner we Americans get over that, the better.

2) Not being privy to the usual schedule, I wonder if it might be possible to schedule Who for the hour before the match starts? Or are we talking watershed issues here?

 

[danjamesb]

Marvel probably should be receiving a payment for the use of the "X-Factor" name. It's their trademark. And it's causing confusion in the marketplace.

Paramount have trademarked the word "Enterprise", but that doesn't mean they receive payment every time that word is used somewhere else, because it's in common usage referring to non-Star Trek things.

Third, Doctor Who has ancillary revenue streams that X Factor presumably does not.

I'd question that. The X Factor is shown on itv1, an advertising-supported channel, and with its prime-time slot and (inexplicably) enormous viewing figures, there's a massive amount of money to be made from selling ad space. Plus, there's the revenue from the resultant CD sales, and contestants take part in a national arena tour when the series is finished. Doctor Who - for all its books and action figures and TARDIS pyjamas - doesn't have those.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

1) It's footie, not soccer, the sooner we Americans get over that, the better.

2) Not being privy to the usual schedule, I wonder if it might be possible to schedule Who for the hour before the match starts? Or are we talking watershed issues here?

Nah, not a watershed issue, it's more about "the gateway to Saturday Night." as they like to call it.
The Beeb like to have Doctor Who on at the start of Saturday evening, sometime between 6:20 and 7ish, so if they put it earlier than some matches it'll be starting sometime around 4 or after 8 if they go later to not clash with the match, which is too early or too late for it to really fit the schedule.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Marvel probably should be receiving a payment for the use of the "X-Factor" name. It's their trademark. And it's causing confusion in the marketplace.

Paramount have trademarked the word "Enterprise", but that doesn't mean they receive payment every time that word is used somewhere else, because it's in common usage referring to non-Star Trek things.

Third, Doctor Who has ancillary revenue streams that X Factor presumably does not.

I'd question that. The X Factor is shown on itv1, an advertising-supported channel, and with its prime-time slot and (inexplicably) enormous viewing figures, there's a massive amount of money to be made from selling ad space. Plus, there's the revenue from the resultant CD sales, and contestants take part in a national arena tour when the series is finished. Doctor Who - for all its books and action figures and TARDIS pyjamas - doesn't have those.

Plus there's X-Factor everything, from Pencil cases, to branded clothing I believe.

 

[Jax]

Doctor Who cannot compete against a live TV Show in X Factor, which is more popular then its former self Pop Idol. Also with BGT being huge this year am surehe X Factor will see a bump in ratings too especially in next years BGT is just as popular.

The only saving grace is when DOC WHO 1st runs are down the re run ratings are high but even that doesn't account for all the lost viewers. BBC would be much smarter to air Doctor Who in March to end before the World Cup begins. The BBC can keep its dancing show to compete against X Factor, which it does very well.

 

[Starkers]

1) It's footie, not soccer, the sooner we Americans get over that, the better.

2) Not being privy to the usual schedule, I wonder if it might be possible to schedule Who for the hour before the match starts? Or are we talking watershed issues here?

Nah, not a watershed issue, it's more about "the gateway to Saturday Night." as they like to call it.
The Beeb like to have Doctor Who on at the start of Saturday evening, sometime between 6:20 and 7ish, so if they put it earlier than some matches it'll be starting sometime around 4 or after 8 if they go later to not clash with the match, which is too early or too late for it to really fit the schedule.

Also mucking around with the eps seemed to impact the ratings in season 4 (I could be wrong about that!)

I kinda regret making my it's football not soccer jibe now

It's funny hearing Americans say football seems slow when I have the same perception of American football and baseball. In particular American football seems very stop start. Of the two I think baseball is the more interesting.

At the end of the day football can be dull, but it can also be skillfull and exciting and a joy to watch- as for the scoring element, well I've seen 0-0s that were the most exciting games ever, whilst I once watched Derby county (my team) thrash Tranmere 5-0 (or 5-1) and it was a really dull game

 

[Bob The Skutter]

1) It's footie, not soccer, the sooner we Americans get over that, the better.

2) Not being privy to the usual schedule, I wonder if it might be possible to schedule Who for the hour before the match starts? Or are we talking watershed issues here?

Nah, not a watershed issue, it's more about "the gateway to Saturday Night." as they like to call it.
The Beeb like to have Doctor Who on at the start of Saturday evening, sometime between 6:20 and 7ish, so if they put it earlier than some matches it'll be starting sometime around 4 or after 8 if they go later to not clash with the match, which is too early or too late for it to really fit the schedule.

Also mucking around with the eps seemed to impact the ratings in season 4 (I could be wrong about that!)

You're right, it did bring the ratings down, but the repeat ratings went up a lot. But RTD seemed pissed off about it all, if I remember correctly.

 

[Starkers]

Thanks, I was ready to be proven wrong!

 

[Tomalak]

What would be the point in going head to head with an ITV talent show? Lots of people want to watch both, and it's not as if the BBC rely on ratings for advertising revenue. Even in this multichannel world of PVRs, constant repeats on BBC3, iPlayer and DVD, people still like to watch things live.

There's also a quasi-political issue here - the BBC tends not to compete directly with ITV's cash cow, as with falling ad revenues, there is a lot of debate about the fairness of the licence fee. If the Beeb put Doctor Who opposite X-Factor, they would probably reduce ITV's ratings. Perhaps not by a great deal, but it would have an impact, and there would be more pressure to allow commercial channels to have a slice of the licence fee. That's why they tend not to go head to head with soaps.

 

[wamdue]

And yes, Doctor Who would get caned against ITV's reality TV factory. Another reason besides the smaller audience is that BBC1 shows are a LOT easier to see at some other time, ie iplayer or BBC3, whereas ITV shows are practically a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see. This (I imagine) will mean people who like both will watch ITV and catch-up with the Doctor later.

well the ITV Reality shows do repeats on ITV 2, but given that they are live, watching the repeat is kinda pointless.

If there is one thing I regret its watching the BBC 4 live episode of Quatermass as a repeat and not live.

 

[Tomalak]

If that's your only regret, you've done quite well in life.

 

[wamdue]

If that's your only regret, you've done quite well in life.

I got a couple more.

 

[Starkers]

If that's your only regret, you've done quite well in life.

I got a couple more.

Let me guess, that you didn't talk to the TennantLesbian?

 

[wamdue]

If that's your only regret, you've done quite well in life.

I got a couple more.

Let me guess, that you didn't talk to the TennantLesbian?

minor correction: that ive not talked to TennantLesbian yet, I still might.

not that ive seen her recently, the NHS most be keeping her busy.

im such a stalker

*looks for NHS job application*