Series 6: Same Day Broadcast in US and UK. Will Canada follow?
We only received the first word that the BBC were going to air the new season of Doctor Who starting Easter Saturday (April 23) based on early reports of what was said in the latest issue of DWM when BBC America’s blog didn’t so much ramp up their publicity as launch like a rocket the news that they too would be starting to air the new season also on April 23.
They also have this really nifty little poster:
So what we hoped for at Christmas has come true. Doctor Who being broadcast on on two continents mere hours apart from each other.
No word from Space as to whether they will also be able to air in lockstep with the UK and US, or if they’ll air a day later as with A Christmas Carol. Hopefully they’ll be allowed to join in the fun.
Posted by Graeme on Wednesday, March 9 at 1:38 pm
15 Comments...
Even if we get it on Sunday, that’s still a LOT better than what we had before when we had to wait months for the CBC to catch up. I can’t imagine Space, considering all the goodwill it has generated since it took the show over from the CBC, will want to tick off the fans by not following suit. Or, as I say, within a day. I guess it really depends on what Space’s attitude towards Saturday and Sunday are. If they’re considered dead nights (like Saturday is with mainstream networks in the US) they may decide to air it during the week. Hopefully they won’t keep us in suspense too long.
Posted by Alex on 03/09 at 04:31 PM
And it might depend on their contract too - there could be one of those clauses where they can’t broadcast it within 24hrs of the US or something. But I have a good feeling about this - even if it’s Sunday, I have no doubt we won’t be waiting much longer than that.
I agree with Alex that they will want to air it as soon as they are able.
Looks promising!
Posted by Julie on 03/10 at 07:17 AM
Space has to think of all the pros about being able to air episodes relatively quickly (a la The End of Time). Viewers are surely more likely to wait the 24 hours to find out what happens as opposed to finding the episodes to download online. Therefore more viewers will watch the Space broadcast. Knowing how quickly we could see the episodes would be a huge draw for Space.
Yes, watching last year’s episodes on the whole two weeks later was the best we’d had for a entire series since the CBC aired the first series 10 days later. The later Space leaves their own airing, the more fans that they’ll likely alienate, although I think they realise how much of a good thing they’ve got going. They’ve shown that they’re committed to the show - they’re still airing repeats of series 1-4 ten months after they started originally!
A few weeks back I caught the Brit Awards on television, aired on sister station Much Music. Live in the UK, they were actually on my screen within 36 hours. If this is what their sister station can obtain, surely Space can get Doctor Who on Canadian screens within a short turn around of the BBC?
Obviously we’re really unlikely to ever have a simulcast with the BBC (can’t see Space airing the show on a Saturday afternoon, and what about commercials? The BBC airs uninterrupted), so to have an episode within hours would be the best we could hope for.
Posted by Rachel on 03/10 at 09:57 AM
Julie is actually quite right. Generally speaking, when Space airs is pegged to BBC America’s airdate. They couldn’t broadcast earlier than BBC America. The best they could do was simulcast with them. I don’t think either BBC America or Space were thrilled with having a delay, and you can see that in the arrangement for the Christmas Special and Series 6 for US Broadcast.
(It’s true Space were briefly off for an extra week from BBC America when they didn’t broadcast during the Victoria Day weekend last year, but then BBC America didn’t show Who during Memorial Day weekend a week or so later—in the end both sides still ended up being delayed by the same amount).
In the case of A Christmas Carol, my understanding (third-hand I point out) was they simply couldn’t get the assets for broadcast on Christmas Day due to the holiday. Hopefully this won’t be a problem, but BBC America may have exclusivity agreements that prevent broadcast the same night from happen.
Trust me though, Space would ideally like to air it the same night as the show is broadcast on the BBC. But these things are the result of complex negotiations between BBC, BBC America and Space.
Posted by Graeme on 03/10 at 10:08 AM
I thought I read somewhere that some international version of BBC iplayer was going to be available to subscribe to. If SPACE was to delay another week or more they would risk having some viewers watch on-line through either the BBC iplayer or…some other site. Personally I wouldn’t care if I had to wait a week or two but not much more as it gets difficult to avoid spoilers. Otherwise if the U.S can do it the same day I really can’t understand why Canada could not. I’m not sure how to put it into perspective but out of the fans of the show that would download the new episode on the internet, some would still watch the episode when it airs on SPACE. However there’s gotta be some of those same fans that then wouldn’t bother tuning into Space and that must put a dent of some sort in an otherwise ratings success.
Posted by Doug Grandy on 03/10 at 11:46 AM
Making matters more complicated come rumours out of the UK that the BBC might air part 2 of the season premiere on the very next day, April 24. So if BBC America and Space don’t want to do that we could find ourselves falling out of synch almost immediately.
Another aspect of Space’s broadcasts we need to remember is its habit of airing themed marathons on holiday weekends. They may not be able to show the premiere Easter weekend if they’re doing “3 days of Star Wars” or something like that. Of course if they have anyone over there who is thinking they’d have known since last fall that Easter was the likely premiere date and would have scheduled a Doctor Who marathon - maybe like showing all of Season 5 in one go - and then cap it off with the Season 6 premiere. They could do that.
However there’s also the Victoria Day weekend in there, and the same thing applies: if they decide to air nothing but zombie movies that weekend they’ll end up falling behind.
Posted by Alex on 03/10 at 02:24 PM
Let’s hope Space are allowed and are willing to show the new series as quickly as possible. I doubt we will see a long delay.
@Doug: The international iplayer is indeed coming. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/mar/02/bbc-global-iplayer-app?INTCMP=SRCH)
but I think it likely that some content will be delayed to facilitate sales and to respect existing sales agreements. The linked article also mentions certain “time-windows” for the roll-out of new programs across different platforms.
Posted by Andrew B on 03/11 at 07:29 AM
@Andrew B. I’m willing to stand corrected, but my understanding is the iPlayer isn’t intended for current programming of the Doctor Who variety. If it were—even though there’s a fee involved which will naturally limit the number of people accessing it—BBC America, Space, PBS and any other network that airs first-run BBC programming would be up in arms by now. I’m not even expecting to see it feature any of the original video content from the BBC’s Doctor Who website that we can’t (officially) access. It’ll be a venue for those who want to see, say, The Seeds of Doom without having to buy the DVD. And I could perhaps see them doing some iPlayer exclusive programming, maybe even with Doctor Who. But I’ll be very surprised if we’re allowed to log in on, say, April 24 and watch Episode 1 of Season 6. I just don’t see it happening.
Posted by Alex on 03/11 at 09:24 AM
As I understand it, the iPlayer will include all programming including Doctor Who, it will be a paid service but it won’t necessarily deliver its content the same date as broadcast, ie. it may be delayed.
I like they’re including Doctor Who. I don’t mind paying for it. I think any delay, while probably to assuage foreign broadcasters, renders it utterly pointless for me. The value of iPlayer for me is to be able to watch Doctor Who live from Britain.
Posted by Graeme on 03/11 at 09:29 AM
@Alex.
Oh I agree!
The article I linked to describes the Iplayer’s use for recent and archive material and mentions a monthly fee of < $10.
But I think you are probably right that Doctor Who Series 6 will not be appearing on the Iplayer until some time has passed.
The show is a big source of income for the BBC who will want the widest sales possible for the series before putting online at a bargain price
Posted by Andrew B on 03/11 at 09:37 AM
The big question will be whether enough people are willing to pay. Especially here in Canada where we’re still in limbo as to whether that CRTC decision that allows cable providers to charge extra for over-plan downloading survives the various challenges. Will people be willing to pay $10 and then have to pay $1 or $2/Gb on top of that?
I’m personally not that interested. If the iPlayer features material that’s not commercially available, I might consider it (say, for example, the first three episodes of The Tenth Planet and the reconstruction of the 4th that they put out on VHS years ago). But I have a 50-some-inch plasma and I’d much rather watch Doctor Who on DVD or Blu-ray than on my computer screen, even if it means waiting a few days for the new episodes, or a few months for DVD releases. I might also be interested in it for some of its archival material that’s not Doctor Who related, if they start posting, say, vintage Top of the Pops performances from the 60s, or things like their A for Andromeda productions (1960s and recent), or stuff like Carole Ann Ford’s appearance on Z Cars (I think that was a BBC show).
Posted by Alex on 03/11 at 10:10 AM
I would use it in a heartbeat for Doctor Who and any number of other British programs that we don’t get here, plus the prospect of EastEnders without waiting a year and a half.
What would make it more palatable a proposition in terms of opting for it would be to watch Doctor Who when it’s broadcast.
Posted by Graeme on 03/11 at 10:12 AM
I just (selfishly) hope that the introduction of an international iPlayer won’t mean the end of free international access to BBC radio.
Posted by Andrew B on 03/11 at 11:05 AM
@Andrew B. I think it’s supposed to be just TV, but again I stand to be corrected. BBC Radio’s always worked differently than TV.
Posted by Alex on 03/11 at 11:35 AM
@ Alex: I’m not expecting that BBC radio will become a pay-to-listen service for the non-UK-based. I have not heard or read anything to that effect.
However I’d just note that the present iPlayer system does indeed distribute both TV AND radio. (As can be verified here http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/radio).
Furthermore, I don’t believe that the BBC’s charter stipulates that the it must provide the world with its entire UK radio programming (indeed, certain channels and programs are not presently available internationally due to rights issues). The BBC is facing increasing financial difficulties and so it is not impossible that it will reconsider what services it offers to non-licence payers.
Nevertheless, my fingers are crossed!
Posted by Andrew B on 03/11 at 12:18 PM
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