[interestednovice]

As somebody who doesn’t watch soaps myself, I view it as the BBC attempt to cover Christmas Day as something for everyone throughout the day, as much as possible: they have a children’s animation, usually a big film, comedies such as Mrs Brown’s Boys and popular programmes throughout the day on BBC One. They provide the alternative of classics such as Dad’s Army on BBC Two, mainly to suit older people.

ITV, on the other hand, I view as king of soaps. They have specials of their various soaps and special editions of their ITV daytime programmes. So for people who enjoy ITV 1 programming generally, it provides a solid lineup. But it won’t appeal to anybody who isn’t already a fan of ITV 1 programming, so it isn’t exactly an audience “draw”. It does, however, have its place.

Channel 4 wheel out the films and other content, to provide a proper commercial alternative to ITV 1, which isn’t so soap heavy.

Channel 5 major on their “easy watch” talking heads documentaries.

All the major digital channels try to schedule good quality programmes too, so anybody channel flicking who isn’t drawn in by the main channels has alternatives to watch.

So overall I feel it’s a bit of a Christmas Truce in the general ratings war and more about providing genuine alternatives from different channels, not really looking to “poach” audience share.