It’s Euros Over EastEnders for British Broadcasters

Are you a British fan of EastEnders?

Too bad for you. On June 12, your show will be jettisoned for Austria v Poland.

Despite the fact that the England team won’t be making the journey to SwissAustria, viewers in the UK will have access to the games. And these games will be happening during primetime, preempting the soaps and other shows.

“Thanks to the legislation under which major international football tournaments are reserved for broadcast on free-to-air television, they must all be shown live and in full on the main channels of the rights holders. Only when they are scheduled to show two matches at the same time can they move one to a digital channel.

Between June 7, when the tournament kicks off with joint hosts Switzerland playing Czech Republic, and the final on June 29, the two channels will show 27 live games on BBC1 or ITV1, plus a further four on the digital channels BBC3 and ITV4. Of those, 23 will kick off at 7.45pm in the middle of prime time, necessitating the rescheduling of soaps and other shows.”

British broadcasters are hoping that UK viewers will catch the Euro 08 spirit once things kick off, especially with so many of Europe’s top players playing in the EPL.

“There won’t be the swell of optimism that there has been at previous tournaments, which is a shame. It’s a big blow that England aren’t there. But there is enough quality there for a very exciting football tournament,” said BBC pundit Alan Shearer.

“It just goes to show how lucky we are to have the likes of Torres, Fàbregas and Ronaldo in the Premier League and be able to watch them every week.”

But even with the likes of Cesc and the pretty Ronaldo, Steve McClaren’s inability to figure out how to get to Swissaustria means Euro 2008 viewing figures will be down in England this summer.

EastEnders lovers? They’re counting on you to make up the difference.

And seriously? Compare the photos. Which would you really rather watch?

I thought so.