BBC America Moves EE to Saturdays


By Larry Jaffee


BETHESDA, MD—Bowing to pressure from viewers, BBC America has scheduled EastEnders on Saturdays at 1 p.m. (ET), effective Sept. 7, instead of the inconvenient Fridays at 3 p.m. that took effect on Aug. 9.

In July, BBC America announced that it was dropping EastEnders from its weekly Sunday slot at 11 a.m. (ET), in favour of the home improvement shows Changing Rooms and Ground Force, which are among BBC America’s highest-rated shows.

In a statement released Aug. 9, BBC America stated that it has “listened to the many fans who have contacted us and asked for a weekend airing of EastEnders. We cannot reinstate the Sunday airing of EastEnders because the show's ratings have been extremely disappointing.”

While the BBC has given EastEnders fans something of a reprieve, the decision came with a warning:

“Nobody will be more delighted than us if EastEnders proves a success in its new time slot. However, we must make it clear that we will be reviewing the situation next year and if the show fails to perform on Saturdays it will be discontinued.”

In July, BBC America said cancelling EastEnders on Sundays was part of its "overall changes” to the fall schedule. “We want to assure you that we are listening to you, but BBC America has to compete in a commercial environment where ratings and resulting advertising must be a consideration. Without it we could not exist.”

BBC America urged viewers to send it comments about the move, and apparently the letters were read and considered by its head of programming and other senior executives, as the channel had promised. Analysis

When asked by the Walford Gazette whether the Sunday episodes generated higher ratings than those on Friday, a BBC America spokesman declined to provide the actualfigures, other than to say that they were "broadly similar."

He added that EastEnders on Sundays was "losing audience" from the Ground Force lead-in.

“We hope that people use their VCRs to record," he said, “if they're not around to watch Friday afternoons.” I pointed out to him that most ratings-conscious broadcasters are aware that people who tape programmes usually fast forward through the commercials, and broadcasters generally hate such time-shifting because their advertisers are ignored, thus killing the sole source of revenue for commercial television.

(On a personal note, I found myself unable to record EastEnders on Aug. 9 while I was at work because I could not find the remote controls to either of my VCRs, which can only be programmed that way. Had BBC America not come up with the Saturday solution, I would have had to buy another VCR, which otherwise wasn’t needed.)

Audience feedback is among the factors the network uses in making such a programming decision, the BBC America spokesman told me in July. He said it was not necessarily a specific number of complaints from upset fans that would result in a decision reversal.

"We realize EastEnders has a loyal audience… . They all have got to perform," he said, in language not dissimilar to that used by public television stations that have dropped or threatened to drop EastEnders from their programming line-ups because of decreasing financial contributions from viewers.

I suggested to the BBC America spokesman that perhaps EastEnders would have better ratings if it was promoted on-air during other timeslots. His response was that BBC America promotes programmes that show signs that they have the best chances of doing well.

For EastEnders to succeed in its new time slot, I urge BBC America to start promoting it during the commercial breaks of other shows, as it does with its wall-to-wall promo blitzes of Manchild, Ground Force and So Graham Norton. Otherwise, next year we’re going to be in the same situation.

These latest moves come just about a year after BBC America stopped airing EastEnders on a weekday daily basis in favour of the Friday and Sunday blocks as a means to gain larger audience, especially on weekends. At that point, BBC America also cancelled its EastEnders: The Early Years episodes.

Last year's explanation: "We are aware that EastEnders is one of our more watched programmes, which is why, after hearing from a vast number of our viewers that the weekday airing was not convenient for those who work, we decided to rethink our schedule. A weekend airing of all of the episodes allows a larger number of our viewers to tune in or record the entire week’s events and with an extra episode being added later this year, the weekend slot allows for more flexibility."

Purely speculation on my part, but I wonder whether the Sunday cancellation, and the further threat of cancellation if it doesn’t “perform” on Saturdays, are a ruse to get fans to eventually pay for the show.

A November 2001 press release announced a new video-on-demand (VOD) service to be launched in early 2002 by BBC America. Obviously, that has not happened yet. The VOD services would allow U.S. viewers to see EastEnders when the U.K. sees it, instead of two weeks later, as on BBC America.

The BBC America spokesman said the time change and on-demand service are two completely separate matters. The service hadn't been launched yet because the cable operators were not ready for such an advanced digital system, but there’s still a plan to introduce such a service, although no timetable for its launch.

EastEnders was the only BBC programme to be initially selected for testing this new service.

"We know that EastEnders has many avid fans in the U.S. who are keen to watch the show as soon as possible," said Paul Lee, BBC America’s chief operating officer, in the November 2001 announcement.

A question that forever perplexes me is how EastEnders can be the most popular programme in Britain (scheduled four nights a week in prime time, with all four episodes reprised on Sunday afternoons), but get marginalized on this side of the Atlantic.

Despite appreciative audiences in such remote North American outposts as Fargo, North Dakota, as well as major cities like New York, Philadelphia and Miami via public television, EastEnders does not get any kind of priority push from the BBC’s commercial arm.

Maybe I’m naïve, but I think that great television drama, particularly from the U.K., will find an audience if viewers know that it’s on. Let’s hope that some enlightened powers-that-be will figure that out.

Write to Paul Lee, BBC America, 7475 Wisconsin Avenue, 11th floor, Bethesda, MD 20814.




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