Channel 4 Bets On Drama For Spring Schedule
Channel 4 unveiled its Spring schedule this morning, revealing new programmes in every genre and continuing its striped scheduling with new shows in every time slot across the week.
The broadcaster has also allocated its highest ever programme budget to the Spring line-up, with a predicted £485 million being spent on programming compared to £470 million in 2004.
Amongst the high profile offerings being prepared by Channel 4 are the returns of popular formatted documentaries Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares and Supernanny, both of which will enjoy extended runs in 2005.
Channel 4 has already notched up its best January performance for five years, with an audience share of 10.3%, and director of television Kevin Lygo believes that the new line up will continue the channel’s success story (see Channel 4 Sees Best January In Years After Audience Boost).
He said: “It’s the best start to the year whichever way you look at it… and we’re confident we can continue this run of form into the Spring. We’ve got the most diverse and ambitious programme line-up anywhere on British TV, which, allied to a clear and consistent new scheduling policy, has helped the channel defy the decline in audiences suffered by other terrestrial broadcasters.”
The broadcaster will also continue its strategy of striped scheduling, with set time slots for current affairs, documentary, drama and comedy programming, amongst others. Lygo explained: “It’s more of the same – we’ve a clarity about the schedule and its purpose. As a viewer you should know what is on Channel 4 and when.”
One of the areas the broadcaster is most optimistic about is its drama programming, with an additional £13.5 million being channeled to the genre next year. Explaining the decision to commission more drama programmes, and Channel 4’s continued success with the medium, Lygo stated: “Where other stations struggle we make them work. Drama is a non-commercial activity and the funding is coming from the loss of Cricket coverage. We plan to have a one-off drama every month from Autumn – an ambitious target but we will not commission just anything, we still have a rigorous filter process.”
Extolling the virtues of recent drama programmes such as Hamburg Cell and Shameless, Lygo stated: “These are almost as good as TV drama can be, so we will continue that.”
Channel 4’s comedy content will also expand on its current screenings of home-grown programmes such as The Friday Night Project and Nathan Barley, with a new weekly topical panel show entitled 8 Out Of 10 Cats, hosted by comedian Jimmy Carr and based on opinion polls designed to “root out the nation’s views on the unusual”. Fellow comedian Johnny Vegas will also settle in to a regular slot on Channel 4, with his news series, Johnny Vegas: 18 Stone Of Idiot.
Lygo also revealed that Channel 4 was seeking capacity to launch a number of new digital channels in the future, above and beyond the launch of More4 later this year. The TV boss explained that More4 would be carried on all digital TV platforms and that the broadcaster has the capacity for up to four channels on digital terrestrial, meaning that even with Channel 4 and More4 available to Freeview Homes there is the potential to take E4 free-to-view and still create a new, fourth channel.
Channel 4 recently announced a boost of £20 million to the programming budget of E4, echoing a move to increase Channel 4’s budget by the same amount last year. The cash injection allowed the broadcaster’s main channel to bring forward the screenings of many programmes originally reserved for 2005, a precedent which could see E4 securing increasingly strong audience figures over the next 12 months (see E4 Shake-Up Paves Way For £20 Million Budget Boost).
Channel Four: 020 7396 4444 www.channel4.com
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