TV Scheduling

The schedule for each day can be broken down into clear segments.

How would you categorise these schedules?

- Breakfast

- Daytime

- Children's Programmes

- Peak Time

- Post Water

Who are the target audience for these segments?

- Breakfast - Differs according to the channel.

- Daytime - Housewives, elderly, unemployed, students.

- Children's Programmes - Children.

- Peak Time - Families, Mass audiences. This is shown between 7-10pm and is the most important time of the day.

- Post Watershed - Adults.

What would you say are the most popular genres on television?

- Soaps are the most popular e.g. Eastenders, Emmerdale, Hollyoaks.

- Sit-coms e.g. Friends, Skins.

- Reality T.V e.g. X-factor, Big Brother, I'm a celebrity get me out of here.

- Game Shows e.g. The Cube, Deal or No Deal.

- Cookery Programmes e.g. Ready Steady Cook, Come dine with me.

- Football - one off's, not sport in general - football matches.

Who is the target audience of each terrestrial channel?

- BBC1 - Everyone - We have to pay the license fee for it so everyone must be catered for at some time in the day.

- BBC2 - Minority Audiences, although, it has become more popular.

- ITV1 - Everyone (but this channel is not as good as BBC1 as it has no specific kids programmes, however, it does have programmes that children can watch).

- FIVE - Everyone

- Channel 4 - Everyone

Roughly, what percentage of each channel's schedule is taken up with repeats? Why do you think this is?

- BBC1 and ITV1 10% - have hardly any repeats, they have large audiences so they can afford to produce more programmes to fill up the schedule rather than repeating previously shown programmes.

- BBC2 - 30-40% - they do not have the money to be able to produce more shows therefore they must use up the schedule with repeats from previously shown programmes.

- FIVE - 40% - they do not have large audiences therefore they don not get the funding they need to make more programmes so they have to take up the schedule with repeats.

- Channel 4- 30% - they do not have a large audience so they do not get enough money in order to produce more programmes so they have to take up the rest of the schedule with repeats.

Which channels have more imported programmes in their schedule?

BBC2, Channel 4 and FIVE all have mainly imported programmes in their schedule as it is cheaper to import new programmes rather than paying to make them whereas BBC1 and ITV1 can afford to make their own programmes so they don’t have to import them.

What do you understand about the term 'The Watershed' and where does this occur in the schedule?

The term 'The Watershed' is a term used to describe programmes that will be starting from 9 o'clock onwards that are intended for adults only.