[Firewire]

The X Factor has fired a new shot in its ratings war with Strictly Come Dancing.

The ITV singing competition will air on Friday, September 26 as well as on Saturday, September 27 and Sunday, September 28.

This is the first time that The X Factor has aired on a Friday, and means that it will clash directly with the first Strictly Come Dancing live show.

The new battle in the shows' ratings war comes after Strictly Come Dancing beat The X Factor this past weekend, with Simon Cowell tweeting: "Round one to them".

Cowell had previously bemoaned the ratings war between the two shows, suggesting that the only losers were viewers.

However, BBC One defended its decision to air the Strictly launch opposite The X Factor, explaining that it was to avoid Coronation Street - which had unusually moved to Sunday because of football.

The X Factor will air on Fridays for two weeks, with the first long weekend dedicated to the Boot Camp stage and the following week to the Judges' Houses round of the competition.

A BBC insider told Digital Spy: "It's very odd as they claim they are doing everything they can to avoid clashes but are playing X Factor on a Friday night for the first time ever when Strictly's first live show has been on Fridays for years.

"We were genuinely surprised at the scheduling because Simon Cowell spent the week saying he thinks it's best to avoid Strictly and X Factor clashing but ITV obviously hadn't told him that they were planning to create a clash for the Friday."

ITV sources have defended the move, suggesting that it was always planned because they are unable to fit in a long enough episode of The X Factor on Sunday nights; the schedule also includes the return of Downton Abbey and episodes of Sunday Night at the London Palladium.

[Jack_]

Friday as well plz

[LukeB]

that will be wierd to watch it on a friday or monday

[Firewire]

[Firewire]

My suspicious is that it'll be competition with the Strictly launch on the 26 September

[Jack_]

ITV sources saying it's due to the lack of schedule space on Sundays for the longer shows

[Firewire]

Originally Posted by Jack_

ITV sources saying it's due to the lack of schedule space on Sundays for the longer shows

Makes sense

7-8 for the next six weeks is Sunday Night at the Palladium

9-10.30 for next eight weeks is Downton Abbey

so only leaves one hour

[Glenn.]

3 nights a week is a bit much.

[Brother Leon]

Ergh. Saturday and Sunday is fine as it is.

[Fetch The Bolt Cutters]

messy

[Marsh.]

Get back to one a week with a straight to the point/get it over with results show.

[Samm]

I don't mind, there's not much to watch anyway

Does this mean straight after there will be the live shows

[Locke.]

Does it mean we get to the live shows faster that way?

If so then it is a welcomed move

[Jamesy]

Makes sense. But ew, how messy, overkill. Ratings will no doubt stay consistent either way.

[Firewire]

Think it's a one off on the 26th September, updated OP.

[Pete.]

Messy nonetheless

[Cal.]

So they're rushing every stage then? Does this mean in 2 weeks time we'll be getting live shows? So the final is going to be at the end of November instead of beginning of December?

EDIT: Nevermind, forgot that we have arenas this week!

[Jamesy]

Series ends 13th December according to Wikipedia.

It does seem really rushed this year. Two weekends of auditions seems really short.

Working it out I think we'll see two weekends of audience auditions, one weekend of bootcamp, one weekend of judges houses, then straight to the live shows (just a guess so I could be way off).

[Firewire]

Originally Posted by Who Is She?

So they're rushing every stage then? Does this mean in 2 weeks time we'll be getting live shows? So the final is going to be at the end of November instead of beginning of December?

EDIT: Nevermind, forgot that we have arenas this week!

Instead of airing a two-hour show on Sunday they're airing one hour on Friday and one hour on Sunday, shouldn't change the series' length.

[Marc]

More days the better tbh. What is Strictly

[Jack_]

This doesn't affect the series schedule for those asking, it's two weekends of arenas then one weekend of Bootcamp and one weekend of Judges Houses as usual

Last year we had four weeks of auditions also (but Saturday was rooms, Sunday arenas - I prefer it this year) which is way less than the six or seven weeks we used to get but personally I prefer that cause I get bored of auditions really quickly