Panorama scheduling is terrible, says Dimbleby

Here is a key situation whereby there is a direct conflict between "BBC the public service broadcaster" and "BBC the broadcaster that wants to grab as many viewers as possible in order to justify its existence". Unlike ITV, the BBC effectively has no excuse for moving Panorama away from its weekday slot apart from the simple notion of ratings, though the issue of declining interest in serious current affairs has been used as an excuse in the past.

It might be arguable however that the deregulation of commercial television has had an effect on BBC scheduling. Apart from the "regional slot opposite EastEnders" ITV is now effectively free to schedule 'populist trash' throughout the 7 to 9pm period, whereas in the past the ITV schedule had to be more balanced in order to satisfy the IBA or ITA.

In turn this could be used as an argument that anything serious between 7 and 9pm would be at the mercy of Coronation Street or Pop-X-Idol-Hell's-Factor-Kitchen, but direct reference to the BBC One schedule often reveals bland filler material such as "Cash in the Attic", "Animal Hospital: The Big Story" and repeats of Only Fools and Horses.

Supporters of a post-watershed Panorama might also say that a late slot enables more 'explicit' footage to be used therefore in some sense it becomes 'more realistic' in order to match 'modern expectations'. However pre-watershed news bulletins still manage a successful balancing act in this area but they usually lack in-depth coverage.

Despite the BBC's objectives in trying to sustain high ratings (and high public relevancy) for its flagship television channel, there comes a time when something will have to be sacrificed in order to justify a true public service remit. BBC Four and BBC News 24 are still 'minority' channels by comparison therefore they do not as yet provide a 'true' mass market service.

Occasionally scheduling serious current affairs on a major channel in order to balance the lightweight 'infotainment' normally offered would provide a real alternative and a true public service, and it's about time that a small sacrifice was made against the commercial competition in order to provide such an alternative.