Coronation Street fans have been left fuming after the soap was pulled from its usual slot on Wednesday (August 11) due to live football coverage on ITV.
Schedule shake-up
The ITV show, which first aired in 1960 and was created by the late Tony Warren, is the world's longest-running soap. Earlier this year, ITV launched its new "power hour" soap schedule, with Coronation Street and Emmerdale moving to a fresh broadcasting pattern. From Monday to Friday, 30-minute Emmerdale episodes air at 8pm, followed by 30-minute Coronation Street episodes at 8.30pm. Both are also available to stream from 7am on ITVX.
However, on Wednesday, both soaps were bumped from their usual slot to make way for live coverage of the Manchester United and Leeds football match. The soaps return on Thursday (August 12), with Coronation Street airing at 8:30pm and Emmerdale at 8pm.
Fan backlash
Confirming the schedule shake-up, Coronation Street wrote on social media: "No episode tonight, but we'll be back tomorrow at 8:30pm on ITV1, or stream from 7am on ITVX & YouTube!"
Fans were quick to express their anger. One person said: "This is a wind-up to put football on a different channel." Another added: "With all the channels we have, surely they could put football on one of those instead of interfering with the soaps. Boils my pee how everything stops for blokes kicking a football about for 90 minutes!!!!!"
Echoing their thoughts, a third chimed in: "Cos it's bloody football AGAIN. Haven't we had enough already?" A fourth wrote: "I'm sick of all this messing around because of football."
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."
He added: "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."
Coronation Street airs Monday to Friday at 8:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
