[Spike]

Originally posted by Matthew

With the Digital Switchover not far away, many people could have got a Freeview, Sky or Virgin Media box this Christmas or have recently bought one so this could mean an increase in viewers. Also, BB fans may have switched to digital especially to watch BB:CH.

80% of UK homes recieve digital telivision so E4 could get some big ratings from BBCH

[Captain.Remy]

E4 will get a great success with BB CH for sure !

[Tom]

Originally posted by Spike

80% of UK homes recieve digital telivision so E4 could get some big ratings from BBCH

Only in theory. Don't hold your breath for ratings to go above 1.5m although for BBCH to get 600,000+ is still a big achievement for E4. In theory, BBCH should get 80% of the ratings that Channel 4 gets, and for this purpose lets say BB on C4 averages at 4m. That means that BBCH should average at 3.2m, but that is highly unlikely.

As many people that watch Big Brother on C4 just don't watch E4 whether 80% of homes have E4 or not. Its the same as BBC1 and BBC2. BBC1 is the most watched channel in the UK but BBC2 is only marginally more popular than C4, and neither channel are *that* popular. Some people only watch network main channels- BBC1, ITV1, C4, five, Sky One etc and there is no reason to why it is.

It would be ironic if E4 beat C4 when BBCH is on.

On another note, not everyone who has Sky has E4 because it is part of a subscription package on Sky and is not free. Some people (like me) only have Sky for sports or films or whatever.

[Matt08]

Originally posted by Tom_

Only in theory. Don't hold your breath for ratings to go above 1.5m although for BBCH to get 600,000+ is still a big achievement for E4. In theory, BBCH should get 80% of the ratings that Channel 4 gets, and for this purpose lets say BB on C4 averages at 4m. That means that BBCH should average at 3.2m, but that is highly unlikely.

As many people that watch Big Brother on C4 just don't watch E4 whether 80% of homes have E4 or not. Its the same as BBC1 and BBC2. BBC1 is the most watched channel in the UK but BBC2 is only marginally more popular than C4, and neither channel are *that* popular. Some people only watch network main channels- BBC1, ITV1, C4, five, Sky One etc and there is no reason to why it is.

It would be ironic if E4 beat C4 when BBCH is on.

On another note, not everyone who has Sky has E4 because it is part of a subscription package on Sky and is not free. Some people (like me) only have Sky for sports or films or whatever.

I'd have thought that Sky would make E4 free now that Freeview can offer it for free. Sky's useless really, they rip off their customers and provide a poor service. They wanted £65 for a callout charge last week and my parents have payed for Sky for about 10 years! Shame there's no Virgin Media in my area.

[Matt]

Originally posted by Matthew

I'd have thought that Sky would make E4 free now that Freeview can offer it for free. Sky's useless really, they rip off their customers and provide a poor service. They wanted £65 for a callout charge last week and my parents have payed for Sky for about 10 years! Shame there's no Virgin Media in my area.

"Freesat from Sky offers a larger number of channels than Freeview, but some channels broadcast on Freeview are subscription-only on Sky, most notably Channel 4 offshoots E4 and More4. This appears to be due to a contract which does not expire until 2008 and which has caused much confusion and resentment amongst viewers [1]. However, Channel 4 appears to be committed to eventually making all of its channels free-to-air with Film4 being available on Freeview since July 2006 [2]."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freesat_from_Sky

Another article of intrest:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertain...io/4332664.stm

[Tom]

Its just not free because of a contract but will be free from next year.