Coronation Street will not air as usual on Friday night, nor will it be available to stream on ITVX early. The episode has been pulled from the schedule to make way for ITV1's coverage of Spain v England in the Women's World Cup Qualifiers, airing from 7:30pm to 9pm.
The soap, which normally airs in a half-hour slot alongside Emmerdale as part of ITV's 'power hour', will instead be broadcast on Sunday evening at 8:30pm. ITVX, which usually releases episodes at 7am on the day of broadcast, will only make the episode available on Sunday morning.
Fans have taken to social media to express their frustration. One Reddit user wrote: 'Yes I love the football but as a soap opera fan it's gonna piss off a lot of people especially who hate football.' Another suggested: 'The simple solution is they just air the Corrie episodes on streaming regardless if it goes out over the airwaves.'
Some viewers questioned why the football could not be moved to another ITV channel. One fan posted on X: 'Does anyone know why #ITV always takes off #Corrie and #Emmerdale constantly for a football match? Everyone gets ITV2, 3 and 4. Why can't one of them be used for football or to screen the soaps?'
This is not the first time soaps have been disrupted by major sporting events, and with the World Cup approaching, further schedule changes are expected.
