The problem this service answers
The autumn grid is being locked and nobody can say with certainty what the two competing channels are putting opposite the flagship slot, or which of their returning titles has quietly not been renewed.
Scheduling is a decision taken against incomplete information about other people's scheduling. Announcements arrive irregularly, some titles are trailed months in advance while others appear in a listing three weeks before transmission, and a cancellation is almost never announced at all. The result is that competitive grids are often reconstructed too late to influence anything.
The same gap affects producers and distributors. Knowing that a broadcaster has just commissioned two returning formats in a given genre tells you a great deal about what it will and will not buy in the coming months, and that knowledge is far more actionable before a pitch than after a refusal.
What the assignment covers
This service tracks new programmes across the channels and platforms in your perimeter: commissions, developments made public, pilots, acquisitions, premiere dates, slot allocations, renewals and cancellations. Each entry is recorded with its genre, its producer or distributor where known, its slot, its origin and the title it replaces or competes with.
The scheduling context is part of the deliverable. A new title placed in a protected slot after a long-running programme ends carries a different meaning from the same title dropped into a burn-off position. We record where a programme sits in the grid, not only that it exists, because placement is where broadcaster intent becomes visible.
Cancellations and quiet non-renewals receive the same attention as launches. They are harder to detect, since they usually appear as an absence in a schedule rather than as an announcement, and they are often the earliest reliable indicator that a genre is losing its position in a given channel's strategy.
How we work on it
- We define the channels, platforms, genres and territories to be followed, and the level of detail required per title.
- We establish a baseline of current programmes and slots so that changes can be measured against a known state.
- Schedules, listings, catalogue updates and official announcements are monitored continuously within that perimeter.
- Each new title is qualified: genre, format type, origin, producer, slot, and the title it succeeds or faces.
- Absences are checked deliberately, since non-renewals rarely generate any public communication.
- Findings are delivered as alerts for significant launches and as a recurring consolidated view of the perimeter.
Where the information comes from
Sources are selected with you at the start of the assignment and reviewed as the subject evolves.
- Published schedules, electronic programme guide data and platform catalogue updates.
- Broadcaster and platform announcements, press kits, upfront and screening presentations.
- Producer and distributor communication, including production and delivery announcements.
- Trade press covering commissioning and scheduling in the territories concerned.
- Public rating and classification registers where they document upcoming titles.
Possible deliverables
The format is chosen with you. A single assignment can combine several of them.
- Alerts on significant commissions, premieres, renewals and cancellations in your perimeter.
- A maintained tracking table of new titles with genre, origin, slot and competitive position.
- A recurring bulletin summarising grid movements across the channels followed.
- Seasonal syntheses covering the composition of the new schedules and what changed.
- Genre-level readings showing where volume is being added and where it is being withdrawn.
Who this service is designed for
What this service does not promise
We report programmes that are publicly documented in schedules, catalogues or official communication. Projects still in confidential development are outside this scope, and we do not estimate the performance a title will achieve.
How to start
Tell us which channels, platforms and genres to follow, and when your grid decisions are taken. We will propose a perimeter and a delivery rhythm aligned with that calendar.