Coronation Street and Emmerdale fans are hoping that ITV will make episodes available to stream early on ITVX following schedule changes due to the 2026 World Cup.
Schedule Shake-Up for ITV Soaps
Earlier this year, Coronation Street and Emmerdale joined forces for the first ever time as Corriedale aired to celebrate the start of ITV's new "soap power hour." Instead of the old format which saw Corrie on Monday, Wednesday and Friday for one hour, and Emmerdale on for 30 minutes every weeknight apart from an hour installment on Thursday, both soaps shifted to 30-minute episodes each weeknight.
For the 2026 World Cup, ITV are set to air 51 premium live matches, including the first two matches of the tournament, two England peak-time group matches and three of the top picks for the Quarter-Finals.
Neither soap will air on Thursday (June 11) due to the World Cup opening ceremony, which will feature Katy Perry and Michael Buble. The opening match of the tournament will see Mexico taking on South Africa.
The biggest change arrives on Friday, June 12, when Emmerdale will have an hour slot at 8pm. In a throwback to how the soaps used to run, Corrie will also have an hour of its own at 9pm. This means another major schedule shake-up for ITV soap fans who will have to adjust to a new schedule each week, depending on when football matches are being shown on ITV.
While many viewers have often issued the same plea to move football over to another ITV channel, the broadcaster has a deal to air the games on their main channel.
BBC's EastEnders Solution
Over on BBC, EastEnders have the same problem with scheduling but from June 29 onwards fans will be able to watch an entire week’s episodes at once on BBC iPlayer every Monday while the tournament continues. There is no confirmation that ITV will release whole weeks in advance as well, and instead episodes will continue to arrive on ITVX and YouTube as they are broadcast.
Fans have noted that during the last World Cup in 2022, ITV made the same move as BBC where ITVX uploaded a week's worth of episodes on their streaming service so viewers didn't miss out. At the time, they said: "Heads up, our schedules are a little different whilst the World Cup is on. As an extra treat, all episodes are ready to binge as a box set each Monday morning. But remember, no spoilers."
On X (formerly known as Twitter), @FYLDEGUY wrote: "Last World Cup @ITV had a proven plan to upload a full week of #Emmerdale on the Monday to the Hub (@ITVX) to reduce the impact of the event for all viewers. Have you got a plan in place this time to get through this period until normal service is resumed. Thanks"
Another viewer, @brookland1st added: "@itvcorrie so why can't viewers watch Corrie and Emmerdale on ITVX as usual when the World Cup is on???"
