Itv Schedule Pulls Coronation Street and Emmerdale for Friday 5 June
ITV schedule changes on Friday 5 June pulled Coronation Street and Emmerdale off air for Women's World Cup Qualifier coverage. The soaps were replaced between 7.30pm and 10:20pm as Spain v England kicked off at 8pm from Estadi Municipal de Son Moix, with Seema Jaswal presenting and Karen Carney and Anita Asante on analysis.
Kevin Lygo said ITV believed the reduced soap schedule was the right amount of episodes for viewers to fit into their viewing schedule, and that streaming-friendly 30-minute episodes better matched expectations for pace, pay-off and resolution. That leaves the channel balancing sports commitments with a soap strategy it launched in January.
Friday 5 June on ITV1
Friday's move removed the episodes that would have aired in the channel's usual soap slots and left the night to live football instead. Coronation Street and Emmerdale both resumed on Sunday 7 June between 8pm and 9pm, which kept them in the same evening window but not in the same place in the week.
The scheduling was not a one-off. Both soaps were off air again on Tuesday 9 June because of the Women's European Qualifier between England and Ukraine, before Emmerdale aired at 7pm and Coronation Street at 7.30pm on Wednesday 10 June.
Kevin Lygo's January format
In January, ITV launched a new power hour format and reduced its weekly soaps output from six episodes to five, airing them for 30 minutes each from 8pm on weekdays. Lygo said, "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," and added, "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, pay-off and resolution."
Thursday 11 June brought another full soap blackout because of the opening ceremony, and the previous hour-long format returned on Friday 12 June with Emmerdale at 8pm and Coronation Street at 9pm. For regular viewers, the practical message is simple: ITV is treating soaps as flexible inventory when live sport and event coverage demands space, and the channel is willing to move them several times in the same week to protect its wider schedule.
