Blue Peter

But shouldnt BBC1 be a showcase of the very cream of the corporations mainstream programming? If the BBC set up a comedy channel for instance, would you expect them to remove all comedy programmes from the main channel.

I really dont get why the BBC would have it in for BP. Its established, still popular, has plenty of merchandising and spin off possibilities and fairly cheap to make. What's the agenda?

Blue Peter is probably the backbone rather than the cream. They could make weekend slots available for bigger budget childrens drama - The Sarah Jane Adventures would have fitted in to an early evening slot on either Saturday or Sunday quite comfortable, and again being nostalgic I know when I was a kid the BBC often ran kids dramas late on Sunday afternoons (not that I can remember any of them now!).

I do think though with kids shows the BBC need to be reacting to the habits of kids - not playing politics or satisfying our nostalgic demands, but ending the weekend slot on BBC1 is definitely the right decision - but they need to ensure quality is maintained on CBBC in the 4-7pm slots and new original programming remains at the heart of that. That's one reason actually I think scaling down Blue Peter has been a mistake in recent years as surely it's a cheaper to fill a slot with an extra episode rather than having a separate series completely.

Blue Peter looked stuffy and out of touch when I was growng up in the 90's so I can't imagine what it looks like to todays kids.

The problem Blue Peter has is that it doesn't fit in with the current CBBC strategy of "fewer, bigger, better" - in that it's quite a topical show so you can repeat it once at the weekend and that's about all you can do, compared to something like MI High or Sarah Jane that can be played on a loop for years. I think similar reasons have been giving for the scaling down of the Saturday morning slot.

Also, I don't think anyone disagrees with the principle of scrapping the BBC1 block. There could be an issue though in that the afternoon slot is a like shop window for the rest of CBBC and not having any outlet at all on 1 could diminish CBBC's profile quite a bit. Although the figures show the kids are going straight to CBBC I imagine there's still a fair few programmes being "discovered" first off on 1 which wouldn't get the same exposure if stuck in the kids' bit of the EPG. (there's also the issue of quite what BBC2 in particular will fill the hours and hours of vacated scheduled with but that's another matter entirely)

Agree completely, it's been ages now since they've had an early morning childrens show on BBC1. I remember liking Smile, what sort of ratings did that use to get?

So the two million people who enjoy Breakfast and Saturday Kitchen should go off somewhere else for the benefit of giving CBBC its historic Saturday morning show back... even though most of the target audience would not know there was once a three hour live show on BBC1 on Saturday mornings!

It's very important not to assume that what was right for children in the 70s, 80s and 90s - when the BBC had to think about how to cater for children with a choice of 3 or 4 mixed-genre channels - is the same as what's right for children who have only ever known dedicated children's channels and who think of the CBBC Channel and it rivals as the places for them.

I agree completely though that it would be a shame if the best CBBC output - Sarah Jane Adventures Sean the Sheep and so on - could not still have a place within the schedule on 1 or 2. But that's because they are excellent programmes with the potential to appeal to family audiences. Just as some programmes from BBC3 merit a screening on one of the big channels as their appeal extends beyond 3's demographics.

As for whether individual shows automatically benefit from a slot on 1 or 2 well, if BP can only get 0.5m on 1 on a good day I'm not going to launch a campaign to save its slot.

Yes - a three hour block isn't too much to ask for. Breakfast would still be on till 9am with news continuing on the News Channel. Saturday Kitchen could either return to BBC2 or be reformated into a weekday format - but it's one of the poorest excuses for television around, and replicated with Something for the Weekend on Sunday. (I see T4 are trying "Sunday Brunch" today - bet that's an idea of Jay Hunt!)

The BBC Trust have said BBC1 should reinstate the Saturday shows - and they're important not just for us nostalgic folk, but for TV as a whole. It would give a window for some CBBC shows (both airing the shows and having guests from them), but more importantly be a breeding ground for new presenting talent which is desperately needed. Kids TV is where most of today's top primetime presenters began - but the opportunities just aren't there anymore.

It's also a great platform for guests - better than Saturday Kitchen, better than the idea of resurrecting Top of the Pops. And Saturday morning shows have never been just for kids - their audience reach is well beyond that.

I'm not aware of the BBC Trust saying traditional Saturday morning shows should be reinstated - far less that they should be on 1 or 2.

While the BBC Trust would rightly hold a view on how good the service provided to children by the BBC is - especially those programmes which encourage citizenship like Blue Peter and Newsround - I cannot imagine for one moment that they would suggest getting rid of a news programme and a popular programme for adults on their flagship channel to replace it with pop videos, games and gunge!!! Source?

When Saturday mornings swapped round in 2006, the deal was that initially the swap was an experiment (6 months?) which would be reversed if it led to a fall in the audience amongst children. The swap in itself did not so the swap became permanent. The bigger concern the Trust had was the loss of the audience to flagship shows because of the loss of the 5pm slot on 1.

http://www.tvforum.co.uk/tvhome/cbbc-shows-suffering-scheduling-29146/

The BBC Trust link is now dead!!

But the concern of the Trust was prinicipally over BP and Newsround and it asked management to come up with an action plan to try to reverse this. It did not result in any scheduling changes on 1, as you know, and is not going to either.

The BBC's Delivering Quality First strategy, announced in October, makes it absolutely clear that the removal of CBBC blocks from 1 and 2 will be considered once digital switchover is complete.

I would bet my house on the removal of the blocks by summer 2013 and am fairly certain it will happen sooner. Although NI won't have switched by next summer, it might be possible that a good morning schedule over the summer on 2 would be enough to stop the removal of the afternoon block becoming an issue.

Certainly I'm sure the blocks won't go the week of switchover. More likely to come with an autumn or New Year shake-up of the daytime schedule or just before sport starts to dominate one summer.

You may not like the idea, in your heart or your head, but it's coming unless something dramatic happens to put current plans off-course.

By the way, I can't believe that this week's schedule is not a feasibility study in one way or the other.

The CBBC block on 1 has been replaced for the week by the normal BBC2 afternoon programmes - not special events, sport or some "special" holiday programmes like a family film.

I bet they'll be watching very carefully on the sixth floor.... or wherever it is these days!