Coronation Street and Emmerdale have been pulled from their regular Tuesday evening slots, with ITV airing live coverage of the EFL Carabao Cup fixture between Nottingham Forest and Leeds United instead.
Soaps replaced by football
Earlier this year, ITV introduced its new "power hour" soap schedule, with Coronation Street and Emmerdale shifting to a different broadcasting pattern. From Monday to Friday, 30-minute Emmerdale episodes broadcast at 8pm, followed by 30-minute Coronation Street episodes at 8.30pm.
Both programmes are also available to stream from 7am on ITVX. However, on Tuesday (August 25) both soaps have been removed from their regular slot due to the football coverage.
Return date confirmed
The soaps return to television on Wednesday (August 26), when Emmerdale broadcasts as usual at 8pm followed by Coronation at 8.30pm. Both soaps are also broadcasting on Sunday (August 30), reports the Daily Star.
Responding to the soap reshuffle, one viewer fumed on Facebook: "Why don't football just stick to sports channels!". Someone else added: "What, again?" A third chimed in: "So much for the "Golden Hour", Monday to Friday. How many times has it been changed?"
Echoing their thoughts, another fan wrote: "Why can't football move over to one of the 4 itv or 4 BBC channels? The soaps always have to go." However, a fifth mused: "But there's an extra episode on Sunday, so it's not the end of the world is it."
ITV defends new pattern
Speaking previously about the new "power hour" of soaps, Kevin Lygo, director of television at ITV, said: "The new commissioning pattern is viewer-led. We already give more choice than ever to viewers on how they watch us through ITVX and we want to present their favourite soap to them in the most digestible way.
"In a world where there is so much competition for viewers' time and attention, and viewing habits continue to change, we believe this is the right amount of episodes that fans can fit into their viewing schedule to keep up to date with the shows."
"Research insights also show us that soap viewers are increasingly looking to the soaps for their pacey storytelling. Streaming-friendly, 30-minute episodes better provide the opportunity to meet viewer expectations for storyline pace, payoff and resolution."
"Whilst viewing is growing on ITVX, we know a significant proportion of our soaps' audience still watch us via the schedule. This new pattern is in the DNA of the soap genre - nobody else does 30 minute drama this successfully."
He added: "It creates a soap power hour that's consistent, and easy to find in the linear schedule, for the UK's biggest soaps."
"This new commissioning pattern will mean five hours of soaps a week, rather than the current six. We are conscious this will have an impact for the people who work on the soaps team. We will support our colleagues in ITV Studios as they work through these changes, and will do what we can to mitigate the impact on our people."
"These changes are motivated by doing what we believe is best for the continuing success of these important programmes in the long term."
"They also create headroom in the overall programme budget for investment in programming that can help ITV grow reach in a very very competitive market."
Coronation Street airs Monday to Friday at 8:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
