Most of us don’t only use broadcast tellies anymore ― but even the most streaming-heavy household likely has fights over the remote.
Channels like BBC1 and Channel 4 are embedded into a lot of our binge-watching brains (shout-out to everyone who used to watch CBBC change into BBC3, just in time for Doctor Who).
But how come the channels get assigned their numbers in the first place? Well, luckily for us, journalist Marina Hyde was asked just that on the behind-the-scenes showbiz podcast The Rest Is Entertainment.
“I’ve always wondered how the channel numbers get decided,” a fan asked. “How competitive is it to get higher up the channel list, and does it make much of a difference nowadays?”
Spoiler alert: it does
“It makes slightly less [of a] difference than it used to, but it’s still hugely important,” Marina explained.
“There are whole companies that will sell slots on the EPG ― that’s the electronic programming guide. It’s called slot trading... [a slot] can go for £20 million,” she revealed.
The company Expert Media Partners, for instance, says, “In the last twelve months the team at EMP has managed EPG deals worth more than £50M for clients including the BBC, RTE, ITV, Virgin Media, Viacom, Turner, [and] QVC...”
Ofcom’s site adds that EPGs should “give appropriate prominence for public service channels, to provide the features and information needed to enable EPGs to be used by people with disabilities and to secure fair and effective competition.”
Why does it matter so much?
“Most people have a sort of hierarchy in the way they navigate their TV, and still, most people will turn their TV on and see what is on, and then they will look at the linear EPG, then they’ll look if they’ve got any recordings... and THEN they might browse On Demand,” Marina said.
HD channels’ lower place in the EPG listings means “only 15%” of people watch them, Marina added. “People prize laziness far more than they prize picture quality.”
Such is the power of the channel number that broadcasters make deals with TV manufacturers to ensure they still have numbers on them rather than just buttons for streaming sites, the journalist shared. “The reason they insist it is because where you are on those slots is still important.”
As with the placement of products on supermarket shelves, it seems there’s a secret hidden war for channel numbers, too.