After last week’s rather sycophantic summary of ITV’s peaktime weekend schedule, I thought I would try and line up a cushy job with News International by raving about BSkyB.
Sky’s decision to nab the rights to broadcast American imports Friends and ER before Channel 4 has had mixed results. Friends is by far the more popular of the two, with the second episode of the fifth series attracting 2 million viewers. While ER on the other hand is proving to be about as successful as a comedy moment on Eastenders, with only 720,000 people watching this week’s episode.
The top ten list for Sky branded channels are dominated by Sky One programmes, which make up 70% of the list. The most watched programme not shown on Sky One was the match between Newcastle and Charlton, with 1.2 million seeing the 2-2 draw. This helped viewing of Sky branded channels in satellite only homes attain an average weekly viewing of three hours and thirty-nine minutes.
Meanwhile back on terrestrial telly Sunday’s edition of Coronation Street ushered in the end of an era as Jack and Vera Duckworth said goodbye to the Rovers Return, after being demoted by new owner Natalie Barnes; 16.77 million people saw the episode in which Vera said: “I’ve never trusted that woman. Who goes to so much trouble to pretend they’re blonde. It’s not natural.” It’s not everyday you get classic lines like that so I thought I would include it in this week’s summary.
Reviewer: Simon Wright
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