Scheduling

Scheduling

The sections that television scheduling can be broken down into are as follows:

• Breakfast
• Daytime
• Children's TV
• Prime time or Peak time
• Post Watershed

Audiences who watch the TV at certain times;

Breakfast - Depends what channel the viewer is watching

Daytime - The unemployed, Housewives and the Elderly

Children - Children

Prime time or Peak time - Families

Post Watershed - Adults

The most common type of TV watched are:

• Sitcom
• Soap Opera
• Documentaries
• Films
• The News

The target audience of the 5 terrestrial channels and examples of programming are:

• BBC1 - Everybody - The News, Cash in the Attick
• BBC2 - Minority Audience - Postman Pat, Masterchef
• ITV - Adults - Loose women, 60 minute makeover
• Channel 4 - Minority Audience - The Simpsons, Will and Grace
• Five - Everybody - Home and away, Americas toughest prisons

The 'Watershed' is from 9pm onwards usually, however this time is changing and is becoming increasingly closer to 10 o'clock.

Programmes are repeated on BBC1 and ITV only 2-3%, this is because BBC1 is a public broadcasting service and it is cheaper for both channels to buy new programmes than to repeat old ones. However;

BBC2 - Channel 4 - Five all repeat 50%+ of their programmes. This is to fill their schedules.

Inherritance - A programme put on after an established programme, In order to attract the same audience.

Pre-echo - Scheduling a programme before a popular programme. So the audience tune in early they may carry on and watch the whole of it next time.

Hammocking - when a programme is put in between two popular programmes

Audience Fragmentation - Channel loyalty becoming an issue because there is more channels.