[bbfan1991]

Coronation Street will move back permanently to Wednesday evenings from late 2012, ITV has announced.

The move coincides with ITV's new contract with UEFA which sees its Champions League football coverage move to Tuesday nights, freeing up the 7.30pm slot on Wednesdays from autumn next year.

Thursday's 8.30pm episode, which has struggled in the ratings since its inception two years ago, will be dropped, Broadcast reports.

"Reflecting the move of ITV1's live football matches from Wednesday to Tuesday nights next year, Coronation Street will move from Thursday at 8.30pm to Wednesday evenings at 7.30pm from autumn 2012."

Peter Fincham, ITV's director of television, also confirmed that Emmerdale will stay in its extremely popular Thursday 8pm slot, where it will be the launching pad for a roster of new half-hour sitcoms.

Speaking at ITV's Producers' Forum today, Fincham admitted that ITV1 had "lost its nerve a bit" in implementing his previous promises of more pre-watershed comedy, adding that the genre is "underrepresented" and "something we want to do more of".