“A Sunday night highlight show is more appealing because you also have a better chance of a good slice of the ratings. It’s all about selling advertising these days.”ITV’s attempts to breathe new life into the format failed miserably and programme timings had to be changed to try to stem the loss of viewers.Initially in an early evening slot, The Premiership, with Des Lynam at the helm, left viewers unimpressed with its lengthy and frequent advertising breaks and greater emphasis on statistics and electronic gadgetry that fragmented the action. ITV was forced to move the show to 10.30pm within three months after it was routinely beaten by rival shows on the BBC.By returning to the late Saturday slot, with a Sunday morning repeat and showing more match action, it became less distinguishable from the BBC’s Match of the Day, which it replaced. The BBC may yet be encouraged to try to revive Match of the Day, although for nothing like the £61m a year that ITV is paying. Match of the Day drew an average of four million viewers when it had the rights.That is a worry for Premier League chairmen ahead of negotiations for the millions they have grown to depend on. If ITV pull back it will mean less competition.Although Saturday night highlights have generally been part of the nation’s viewing habits since 1966, it would not be the first time they have been subject to the whims of broadcasters.

Both the BBC and ITV ditched highlights between 1985 and 1992 as the popularity of football hit a new low in the aftermath of the Heysel disaster.Live matches became the norm and it was not until Sky secured exclusive live rights in 1992 that Saturday night highlights, in the form of Match of the Day, were revived.TACTICS THAT FAILEDThe Premiership, hosted by Des Lynam, pictured, will be remembered if only for some of its gimmickry, cast swiftly aside amid the derision of fans. The Prozone ­ a device used by managers to record and replicate players’ movements during a game ­ appeared to baffle pundit and viewer during its brief appearance. The Tactics Truck, which lasted a little longer, involved cramming the pundit Andy Townsend into a broadcast lorry with a player to discuss zonal defending.. Cinema-style classifications should be introduced for television programmes, the broadcasting watchdog has said.

He wants viewers to receive the type of warnings that come with computer games, videos and DVDs, and at cinemas.In an interview with The Independent, Mr Bolt said the classifications would be especially valuable in labelling dramas and documentaries. “Most television dramas are shot as films nowadays,” he said. “I don’t see any particular reasons why they could not be classified in the same way.”A BSC report showed last week that programme-makers ranging from Michael Palin to the BBC’s Crimewatch team had been censured for producing material inappropriate for pre-watershed screening.The proposal could lead to the first on-screen warnings since Channel 4 used a red triangle in the corner of the screen in 1986. The symbol was dropped 12 months later after the Conservative government said it lured viewers who wanted to watch films containing sex and violence.Since the experiment, stations have increased the number of verbal warnings aired before such programmes.. Six years ago the team from London’s Birkbeck College left the University Challenge studios with an unwanted nickname, the “berks from Birkbeck”.