I was quite surprised to read on Chortle this week that the viewing figures for Channel 4 sitcom The IT Crowd rose by one million due to it being sandwiched between Big Brother shows. This after John reported that Heroes lost 900,000 viewers for its second episode, with many only having watched the show’s debut due to its being scheduled after a Top Gear special. And so I ask you Scoopers – why do people have a hard time reaching for the remote?

Industry bods pay a lot of attention to scheduling (especially in the States) as the specific slotting of a show can help make or break it. This is evidenced again by the promoting of programmes from BBC2 (arty, populist) to BBC1 (mainstream, popular). Comedies like Little Britain and The Office are often upgraded from the marginal audiences of the Beeb’s secondary channel to the warm, welcome embrace of ratings success over on One, a change that always results in increased audiences.

By why is this? Are people too lazy to change the channel? When digital TV is expanding rapidly there seems to be a station for every hobby, every mood, everybody. From the God Channel to Horse and Country TV, from Overseas Property TV to Wedding TV – audiences now have a choice like they’ve never known before. Is this eclectic spectrum of options confusing people? Are they so scared of ending up on Zone Reality Extra that they hide their remote control or do people prefer the safety, familiarity and regularity of their established favourites?

With this wide choice, I would have expected audiences to become fickle, viewers flicking impatiently from channel to channel in search of immediate gratification. Instead they are sticking with tried and tested oldies. Is this a symptom of our aging population – with older viewers less keen to adopt the new technologies and entertainment packages now available? Is it retaliation against the hyped digital revolution or do people want to flick to one channel and stay there until they switch off? As always, please leave a comment and let us know what you think.