TV Scheduling

What is TV scheduling?

Broadcast programming or TV scheduling is the placement and organisation of different Television shows and films to enhance the show’s audience potential. Certain more popular or higher budget works are put in what is called a ‘prime time slot’ of 7-9pm where the highest audience numbers are recorded.  There are 3 main concepts to TV scheduling; inheritance, pre-echo and hammocking.

Inheritance is the idea that a new programme follows after a popular programme and subsequently inherits some of its audience.  An example of this may be Our Girl on at 9pm on BBC One, which followed the extensively popular Great British Bake Off which is on at 8. Viewers may have just finished watching GBBO and with the swiftly following, engaging titles of Our Girl their attention is not diverted enough to change channels. This also means the reasonably new series of Our Girl, which is only on its second season, gains an audience which may usually be out of their targeted bracket.

 

Pre-echo follows a similar system to inheritance, where the programme is scheduled before a popular programme, so that any viewers tuning in early may catch the end and tweak the audience’s interest either to catch up or tune in next week. An example being new game show ‘Meet the Parents’ before ‘X factor’ on prime time Saturday ITV. This is a good way for new shows to attract audiences as the more popular shows have guaranteed audiences which boosts the ratings.

The third concept is called Hammocking, where a show is scheduled in between 2 popular shows so it gains both the advantages of pre-echo and inheritance scheduling.

Target audiences also determine the type of scheduling, and the times of day in which they are shown, this includes:

Early morning: people who work early, children

Day time: students, unemployed, house wives, shift workers

Prime time: everyone, families

Late night: unemployed, students, shift workers

The ‘Watershed’ is a system in place to put any programmes with explicit language, scenes of an explicit nature and programmes where the content is viewed unsuitable for children. This is another way to target the audience as it suggests that the children have gone to bed and therefore the content is aimed at adults/parents.

Weekly News 31

'This Years I'm a Celebrity....Get Me Out Of Here! has been revealed, and there is lots of potential for the famous Jungle shower'

This story comes from the Sun and is written by Andy Halls, TV editor in Queensland Australia.

I was interested by this article as I watch I'm a Celeb every year, and I also thought it could link in with the 'reality TV' show case studies for the exam.

The title of this article is quite misogynistic, picking out the famous 'jungle shower' shot of one of the female celebrities in a bikini in the shower as the most pivotal and important part of the show. Following the initial famous shower shot of Myleene Klass in 2006, viewers have come to expect a beautiful young girl amongst the campmates.

The title suggests that the shower scene is the only reason the women are in this years season, despite many of the women such as Scarlett Moffat and Carol Vorderman being household names in their own respect.

The article then goes on to give a brief description of each of the 'celebrities' and suggest s what the campmate is most likely to do i.e Carol is 'most likely to tell people what she thinks of them'.

Weekly News 30

Outrage as Great Ormond Street hospital worker stuns BBC Question Time viewers by wishing illness on Brexiteers' children

This story comes from the Daily Mail and is written by Martin Robinson, the UK Chief reporter.

The story surrounds a speech and language therapist from Great Ormond Street, Nicola Gorb, saying

'I want people who are leaving to one day unfortunately have a child who needs that treatment but it's not there because collaboration's not been there'.

on BBC's Question Time when talking about the recent Brexit vote and the impacts of that decision.

This story interested me as I personally would have preferred to stay in Europe, and therefore disagree with the Brexit vote, I also agree with what Gorb was attempting to say that the funding of research for Great Ormond street should not be cut or affected by the Brexit vote however I disagree with the manner in which she displayed her beliefs.

Her statement caused such outrage as a medical professional, with a responsibility to the care and treatment of children, it is not acceptable for Gorb to suggest that the suffering of some children is just based on the acts/beliefs of their parents.

There are calls for Gorb to be removed from her position at Great Ormond Street. The statement shows negative representation of the 48% of the country, showing them to be bitter about the loss and cruel in their intentions for the 'leavers'. This Brexit vote is likely to be supported by the readers of the Daily Mail and therefore this story is presented to show Nicola as a villain and intended to show those in the remain campaign more negatively.

GBBO Prezi

Weekly News 29

MUSLIM SCHOOL CLOSED 

Islamic school that taught pupils ‘gay men should be killed’ shut down ‘after pupil exposed its extremist beliefs’

This story comes from the Sun by Lauren Fruen in October 2016.The story catches the readers attention with the headline of 'MUSLIM SCHOOL CLOSED' immediately this links the story with the media phase of Islamophobia.

The story goes on to suggest how the fee paying independent school, was teaching the young girls 'extremist Islamic beliefs' such as that it is acceptable for a husband to beat his wife and that the death penalty is appropriate for gay men. The additional information that this is a 'fee paying' school also represents the girls parents negatively as it implies they want their children to go through this extremist schooling.  

These accusations come from a former student who was expelled in 2011 reportedly, for owning a disposable camera, and also claims three other girls were expelled after being accused of being lesbians.

Despite the accusations against this school being serious as the spread of extremism is significant issue in today's society, the way this story has been constructed seems to label the entire religion of Islam as extremist. It is evident that if this story was reporting about a Christian or Catholic school, the reporting would be very different, I assume the target would be on the individual priests or nuns who taught the extreme views, rather than the entire religion.

Furthermore, the article then goes on to list other schools that have been required to close under a similar pretext of the spread of extremism, which not only takes away from the sensationalist perspective of this story but also suggests that perhaps Muslim schools are being targeted as a way for the government to be seen as combating extremism. 

Weekly News 28

I'm not a hypocrite, claims Corbyn ally Shami Chakrabarti who opposes grammar schools despite paying for her son to attend a selective school

 

Shami Chakrabarti, Corbyn's new shadow attorney general, is against the proposal for more grammar schools claiming they cause 'segregation'  and that she has met many people who 'carry the scar' of failing the 11 plus. This standpoint of Chakrabarti has come into such conflict as her own son attends the £18,000-a-year Dulwich college in South London, and claims she does so because she is 'trying to do what's best for her child'.

Charabarti goes on to say how she lived a 'nice and privileged life' and seems to believe that her acceptance of this fact makes it more okay to exploit the benefits of it whilst simultaneously trying to prevent the same benefits for others. 
However what also makes this story interesting is that these 'Katie Hopkins' style comments are coming from a member of the Labour Party, who's campaign often champions the working and middle classes, but in this instance seems to infer that only the wealthy should have the wide amount of choice for their children's educations.

Despite not attending a grammar or private school, I am for the proposition for new grammar school's in London, as again I think it broadens the choice for parents, I also think if a child is gifted in certain areas, such as academically, then they should be given the best enrichment possible to help them to succeed. 

Weekly News 27

Alton Towers Smiler ride crashed 'with the force of a 90mph car accident': Court hears shocking details of horror smash as victims who lost their legs wait to see what punishment theme park will get

This story comes from the Daily Mail's Martin Robinson on the 26th September 2016



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This story interested my especially as I have just terminated my employment at Chessington which is under the same management of Merlin as Alton Towers.

The theme park owners are being sued for a multi million pound fine after multiple health and safety breaches and the company is being accused of putting profits over customers safety. The crash in June 2015 occurred after a test car was sent around the £18 million ride but failed.

This story is understandably on the side of the victims in this situation, which is aided by the fact the multi million pound company has already pleaded guilty to the health and safety violations. Robinson uses a variety of quotes, facts and statistics to emphasis the extent of the tragedy which is at the fault of Merlin for their negligence. The 'Smiler' ride has since been reopened in March and has met criticism that it should be destroyed.

The owners are expected to receive a very large fine.