Neighbours: Timeslot Speculation is Out of The Blue

The Daily Telegraph are today reporting that Channel 10 have signed on to screen the new Australian drama Out Of The Blue.

Out of The Blue, a five night-a-week soap series, is being produced by Southern Star Productions for the UK market, providing the BBC with a replacement series for Neighbours (to which they lost the rights last year).

The purchase of the series raises a few interesting questions regarding its schedule assignment in relation to 10′s flagship series Neighbours. 10 have revealed that they plan to commence screening the series mid-year. An early evening timeslot would be inevitable for such a series, but how do they schedule it alongside an already very similar program?

The easy and somewhat dull programing decision would be to schedule it at 6pm, or 7pm in the timeslots bookending Neighbours, however this is wrought with problems. A 7pm timeslot would put the series head to head with Home and Away. As an untested developing series, establishing a loyal audience against the long-running series would likely lead to ratings suicide.

Neighbours, for the past couple of years, has been losing its audience share. While still popular in the UK, local viewership has been shaky to the point of speculation that 10 may cease screening it. With the recent acquisition of Out of The Blue, a change in timeslot for Neighbours seems very likely.

The risky move involves moving Neighbours to the new HD multi-channel. Serving as a flagship series for the new service, Neighbours can provide a sense of legitimacy to the HD channel, serving as a bold statement as to the level of commitment they have to their digital service.

That said, as bold and as commendable as that may be, it is balls-out crazy.

The smart move to make is to move Neighbours half an hour earlier to the 6pm timeslot. They’ll retain much of their loyal fan base and provide a strong alternative to the news for their youth demographic. The 6:30 timeslot for Out of The Blue would not only re-invigorate Tens schedule, but also demonstrate the faith they have in the quality of this new series.

Now, it’s possible that I am underestimating the audience for series of this nature, but may I propose this question: If Ten broadcast Neighbours and Out of The Blue between 6 and 7pm, will the audience be willing to watch a third similar series at 7pm, Home & Away? Now, I’m not saying the hour of Ten soaps would kill interest in H&A, but surely it’d have to put a bit of a dent in its armour? A clever programming move at 7pm (is Friends enough?) could seriously weaken the strength of H&A.

As long as Channel 10 haven’t just bought themselves a 2008 equivalent of Headland, this could possibly be the smartest purchase of the year.