TenDoc finale 75 minutes - and uncut US airings

[Lonemagpie]

RTD has confirmed that the final special is one hour and 15 minutes, and BBC America have confirmed that from now on the premiere airings of episodes will be uncut.

http://scifiwire.com/2009/07/bbc-america-to-air-who-un.php

 

[wamdue]

some interesting text in that article

Though the show fills an hour in the U.K., it have to be cut by at least 15 minutes to accommodate commercials here.

um, no its on the specials which do that.

but good to hear its been extended.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Awesome news!

I have I mentioned that I want this NOW?

 

[23skidoo]

RTD has confirmed that the final special is one hour and 15 minutes, and BBC America have confirmed that from now on the premiere airings of episodes will be uncut.

http://scifiwire.com/2009/07/bbc-america-to-air-who-un.php

Up here in Canada the Space channel has also clearly heeded the lessons learned the hard way by past broadcasters and is showing the specials more-or-less uncut, too (sans things like trailers). In this age of downloads, and DVD releases, why any broadcaster would alienate its key demographic (i.e. in the case of Doctor Who that means people who are likely to download and/or buy DVDs) by cutting episodes is beyond me. What the CBC did to Journey's End is unforgivable and while there are those who say "well they need to show ads" my reply is "I don't care". If the show's too long, give it an extra timeslot and preempt something.

Fortunately it seems BBC America and Space seem to have their heads screwed on right at the moment. We still have to sit through commercials but at least we aren't losing story.

Now all they have to do is close the gap between UK and North American broadcasts. Children of Earth was only delayed a couple of weeks, which was OK. Planet of the Dead was delayed a little too long, and The Next Doctor was supposed to be seen at Christmas, not in March or later. If they want to maximize their viewership for the remaining three specials, frankly they should be making plans now to air them the same night as the UK. There really is no reason why they can't, except for the BBC's silly policy of not finalizing a broadcast date until a week or so before airing. If they want to keep it a secret (so as to prevent a big Corry reunion special or something scheduled opposite or whatever) they could at least share the "secret" with affiliates like Space and BBC America so they can coordinate.

Cheers!

Alex

 

[timelord1010]

I noticed this last month when BBC America was airing Torchwood COE and each episode was at least an hour 15 minutes. Now if only they could limit the number of commercial breaks...