Repeating repeats, repeatedly

Seen it <click> seen it, too <click> and that <click> and that one <click> Oh, that's new .... no it isn't <click>

Some channels (Dave, GOLD) you expect to have repeats - after all, that's what they say they show - and nothing else. Other channels you start off with enthusiasm when the announcer says "and now, a brand new episode of ... " only to realise that what they actually meant was an old, old episode that this particular channel hasn't shown before. Now, some programmes bear a re-watch. There are classic episodes of most things that, no matter how many times you've seen them (well, within reason) are still interesting or funny or entertaining or bring back memories. But do they really need to be repeated so frequently?

When I first got cable TV from Com-Tel, which became Telecential, which became NTL before I switched to Sky Satellite (and the cable channel got sold again - this time to Virgin Media), it was because they were showing a lot of series of american imports that I wanted to watch Star Trek TNG,New Yankee Workshop and Spin City to name but three. And for some years that's exactly what I got, although I was developing a feeling that some of the lesser channels (e.g what was to become Discovery Home and Leisure home of a woodworking series I particularly liked) were showing the same stuff over and over a gain. That feeling developed into a certainty and then into resentment. The channels seemed to have about 6 months worth of material. After it had gone through the works, it would be re-jigged, repackaged and re-marketed and be shown again in a different order: with various shows being associated into "features" or theme days/weeks. And then, a few months later it would all reappear again with a different spin to the same old regurgitated stuff.

For some months I have been running scripts on my PC that look at the TV schedules of various channels, primarily so I can get a view of what promising new programmes they have, that I might like to watch. A side effect of this is that I get details of the 1600-odd programmes a day that the freeview and satellite networks schedule - and from that, a view about what is repeated: when and how often. Scarey reading.

I've already bemoaned the realisation that only a small percentage (I made it just over 6%) of programming on the channels I've ever watched are new, original material - with the rest being repeats from earlier in the day, the day before,earlier in the week, or months ago who's turn to fill the schedules has now come back to the top of the pile. And that most channels that do screen new stuff (apart from the "primes": the old terrestrial channels) have maybe one or two new episodes of something - anything - on any given day. What I hadn't realised, until I started looking in detail was just how little new material the satellite channels have. The chart below summarises the state of the "best" of them and compares them with terrestrial channels.


As you can see, there's a stark difference between the amount of original content (the percentage is of time during the whole week) on any of the terrestrials compared to any of the satellite channels. While the two 24-hour BBC channels showed 65% and 55% (BBC1 and 2, respectively) of repeats, even the best of the satellite channels only managed to show 17% of new material - while Comedy Central only managed two new programmes (nominally 30 minutes and 1 hour - although much less actual programme when ad-breaks are included) during the whole 7 days. 5 out of 7 days had no new content whatsoever. In fact, when you add up ALL the new material on all of these satellite channels it comes to 58 hours and 10 minutes during the week. Slightly more than BBC1 managed, but less between them than any of the other terrestrial channels.

One of the hardest parts of this work was selecting a representative time period. Since Sky had recently launched a new channel: Sky Atlantic (which as we can see, really only shows more repeats) I didn't want to pick a week when they were screening an unrepresentative amount of promotional material. Also, April 2011 had an abnormal number of holidays (bank holidays, royal wedding, easter) which skewed the data. However, as an illustration here's the same week's results for April 2011. Just to give an idea of how things vary. The satellite channels appear to be showing roughly the same paltry amount of new stuff (slightly less: 51 hours 10 minutes) but the snooker on BBC2 means it had a lot more hours of original (if not more diverse) programming than the week in May.

So, that's the answer. The major channels on the Sky's basic package gives approximately 1 additional channel's worth of material - at normal, terrestrial rates of repetition. Although I haven't considered the quality of the shows as that would be a matter of taste, or the extra advertising time that satellite channels are allowed (about 18 minutes, compared with 12 - used to be 7 - on ITV etc.). Of course, for a lot of people the fact that a programme is repeated doesn't make any difference - they watch TV because they like a particular character or actor or familiar situation. So even if it's the fifteenth time they've seen that episode of Dad's Army or the 44th time in the past year they've watched series 4, episode 10 of Two and a Half Men (yes, really, it's been on that many times and there's still 3 more months until the year's up!), it doesn't matter - they'll continue to watch because they like it, not because they want new and original content.