Major television schedule changes have disrupted the regular broadcasts of popular British soap operas on ITV1 and BBC One, as live sporting events take precedence.
According to reports from Radio Times and the Liverpool Echo, programming adjustments affected Coronation Street, Emmerdale, and EastEnders, forcing broadcasters to shift time slots and alter episode lengths to accommodate international tournament coverage.
ITV Adjusts for World Cup
Network executives pulled Coronation Street and Emmerdale from their usual weeknight slots on Tuesday, July 7, 2026, to broadcast the FIFA World Cup 2026 round-of-16 match between Switzerland and Colombia at BC Place Vancouver.
ITV1 scheduled its soccer coverage to begin at 8:15 p. m.
, ahead of a 9:00 p. m.
kick-off.
This followed a prior schedule change on Monday, July 6, where both soaps aired in special one-hour blocks to make up for earlier cancellations.
According to ITV scheduling updates, normal service resumes on Wednesday, July 8, 2026, with Emmerdale and Coronation Street returning to their consecutive 30-minute slots starting at 8:00 p.
m.
BBC Moves EastEnders for Wimbledon
Concurrently, BBC One moved its broadcast of EastEnders to BBC Two at 7:30 p. m.
on Tuesday to clear the main channel for day nine singles quarter-finals coverage of the Wimbledon Grand Slam tournament from the All England Club.
