Why do TV companies punish those who cant go on holiday in the summer by only broadcasting repeats?

[IwantToRetire]

Not everybody can go "on holiday" in the summer.

And even if those who can only go for a week or 2, not 8.

But tv companies just churn out repeats, and old films until August.

I wouldn't mind if I got a summer reduction on my subscription / tv licence.

Why cant we make summer in the UK even better with decent tv scheduling.

Thanks - feel better now by saying this.

Every year it gets me down.

I sympathise but I think the problem is people do go away so lower audience. Also people won’t start a series if they will only see two of 4 episodes before going on holiday. It would have to be pretty good for them to pick up on catch up.

I wonder if the weather also plays a part. People who aren’t holiday may be at the park or in the garden. That hasn’t caught with people watching online.

Maybe but many people still record shows (partly to whizz through ads) so nobody needs to miss out.

Even if there are lower audience numbers, it certainly isn't everybody at the same time for the entire 8 weeks.

Because more people are out and about / sitting in the garden / doing other things on the light evenings, not staying in watching tv.

I genuinely don’t know anyone who records programmes and more.

There’s so much to stream nowadays on free platforms I think it’s a bit disingenuous to say there’s nothing on that you haven’t seen before. And summer schedules were always like this - even back in the day when there was no possibility of recording, let alone streaming.

Well anyone who watches C4 or ITV or C5 does.

Paying for the TV licence is one thing. Paying extra to ITV etc to get ad free is senseless.

You no knowing anyone who records just reflects who they are, not who everyone in the UK is!

I realise that. But summer tv has always been quiet, and itv Has ads all year round so I’m not sure what your argument is.

Are you telling me you’ve watched everything on iPlayer, itv.com and more4? All of those are free to watch (I know there’s a tv licence but ykwim) and theres Literally 10s of thousands of hours of content. I’m sure that could tide you over 8 weeks.

Or just go outside, or listen to the radio, or read or whatever. Either way you are not being “punished”.

In the age of on demand TV, even if you only get free channels, are the release dates of new programmes that relevant?

There are buckets of dramas etc on iplayer, itvX and so on that have been added recently vs production dates of 10-20 years ago.

For the same reason they show loads of war/violent films on Mother’s Day.

Not being on holiday doesn't mean people are sat inside watching TV, weather in the UK is usually pretty warm in the summer so I assume viewing figures aren't worth releasing new shows.

Eh??

I still record so I can ff thru adverts… I’m not paying extra for ITVX and ch4 &5 to remove the adverts