I don't understand cars. And I don't understand those who drool over them. They are a means of transport. The end. I have a vague idea of how they work. By this I mean, they need petrol, which flows into the engine and… blah blah blah. I'm boring myself here. So here's a question: why does Top Gear do so well?
God bless sport! We are entrenched in that horrible sporting downtime between the end of the football season/Wimbledon and the start of the new football season. For sporting wives and girlfriends, it's a six-week period of almost unbroken serenity... until golf goes and spoils it all with the Open Championship. Brilliant!
As digital switchover becomes a reality for a growing percentage of the population, it is clear that the old terrestrial powerhouses have got their digital strategies absolutely spot on.
It was a week when the television schedules celebrated being part of Europe, as first the Champions League final, then the Eurovision Song Contest overwhelmed the usual domestic offerings. Or, more accurately, it was a Russian week as the Manchester United vs Chelsea final offered exceptional drama from Moscow, followed by Dima Bilan's winning Eurovision song, also from Russia.
Imagine that BBC3 did not exist - where would the Eurovision Song Contest semi-final coverage find a home? Fortunately the dilemma is hypothetical - but it's difficult to imagine where these shows would turn up otherwise.
Sky One pulled out all the stops to support the new Gladiators, which opened with 1.5 million/12% share in multichannel homes on Sunday thanks to a relentless barrage of publicity. These figureshelped ensure Gladiators was the top multichannel show of the week.
