Potentially some very exciting news – you may have heard new BSkyB acquisitions Bravo and Channel One are getting the axe. Well, apparently the Channel One spot on Freeview will be taken up by Challenge.
Will this mean they’re going to put a bit of effort into their programming now, which they haven’t done for a while? Exciting times.
Getting axed from Freeview or getting the axe completely?
Closing completely, Sky are going to put the funds into Living and Challenge.
Apparently Bravo serves a similar demographioc to Sky 1, but doesn’t have the reach or prestige.
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/broadcasting/news/a277046/sky-to-shut-down-bravo-channel-one.html
I’m surprised Bravo had the axe, I thought it would be the other way around.
I agree with the other comments, I suspect Sky will use their Sky Bet series and run a service on the channel. Probably 11pm/12am-6am and use that time to air Sky Poker or something. As for the programming, I think Sky could cop out and use some of the shows they’re repeating now and move them to the channel. Namely Smarter Than a 10 Year Old, Don’t Forget the Lyrics! UK & US editions, Sell Me the Answer, Gladiators etc…
I think this sounds like a good call.
You can add The Biggest Loser US & Aus as well to that list. One thing is for definite, there won’t be any old game shows being brought back to the channel.
USBB was officially picked up for Season 13 in Summer 2011 today- not a shock, because the ratings have been up about 5% from last year, which is very rare for a series as old as this…
Let’s play Questions That Are Too Esoteric for Only Connect.
For 5 points: Hamburger.
BZZZLAANGG.
Is it all food are foodstuffs named after German towns/cities/areas.
The rest being Frankfurters, Black Forest Gateux and the fourth one point one?..
By the way David, is Chris Stewart off of the credits of OC, the Chris Stewart, of ex-BBC Radio Wales and ex-Radio Two fame?
Just wonderin…
Hmm. Next.
3 points: Banana
Ah. This isn’t a round one question, it’s a round two question. The sequence concerns what Lady Gaga wears in her videos and the fourth item in the sequence is… well, it looks like chain mail made from Polo mints.
No, it’s a connection.
2 points: Electric guitar
I have an inkling it’s a music video thing but I can’t put my finger on what it is.
1 point: Jukebox
Things off George Michael’s video for Faith?
Nope, nothing to do with music. I’ll feel deflated if no-one gets this, it’s a good one.
The Twitterers have beaten you to it. They were the inflatable bonus items on Supermarket Sweep.
Oh dear 🙁
I resign from being an International Gameshow Analyst forthwith.
It is a good question though.
Hi Mart,
Yes he is. His knowledge of the Radio 2 playlist comes in very handy for the music questions!
You can see his profile here:
http://www.ukgameshows.com/ukgs/Chris_Stuart
Are they all obscure universities?
Wow, this is a complete reversal of what I thought would happen with regards to Challenge. I thought Bravo and Living were doing better than Challenge so it would get the chop.
I wonder what this will mean for Challenge, maybe some shows that people have asked for but they didn’t have the budget for, who knows?
You would have to think it unlikely the lottery stuff will hang around.
By the way, more iPad things at the weekend DEFINITELY.
The question of where their shows go now is one that should be answered, they have a lot of US imports and sports stuff that deserves a solid home.
the thing with challenge is it does serve a job. No other channel shows purely gameshows, and when you look at the number of channels there are, it makes sense that one should be! id suggest its casual ratings are quite high for people tuning in. Also, as bad as it will sound to us, a channel just showing old repeats is cheap, and i think on challenge repeats will get as many views as originals.
I think maybe it is time to accept that challenge’s remit is only to show classic shows rather than to create new ones.
It’s especially interesting when you look at the ratings – Bravos top shows were getting in excess of 250,000 viewers (Edit: Actually maybe a bit harsh, one show has over 350k, the rest of the top ten are in the 70-130k range. Early weeks suggest Spartacus Blood and Sand gets almost 1m), Challenge’s top show (Millionaire) managed 81,000 in the last BARBs (although that’s a bit down on previous weeks). Although Ninja Warrior and Unbeatable Banzuke does good numbers on C+1 (about 40-50k)
I don’t think anyone is suggesting they should stop showing old stuff, I just wish they’d change what they have up occasionally.
Unbeatable Banzuke’s finally getting acceptable ratings? Bit too late, sadly.
I think this is only a good thing for Challenge, not only is it a unique channel but it is serving a gap on Freeview that nothing else fills even for a few hours so i expect that ratings to treble at least.
With the jump in ratings new content from the Sky archive (Blockbusters please)and maybe even a programming budget now, things can only look up on what we have.
In other news, Strictly Come Dancing this year is a test of physical, mental, skill and a Mistry. Bottom two couples will battle for survival by collecting gold tokens blowing about in a dome in an exciting new unexpected element.
“I see what you’ve done there,” commented a Strictly spokesperson.
Took me three reads to get it! I like it
It seemed funny and clever at three in the morning.