Overview
- ITV removed the usual Friday broadcasts of Coronation Street and Emmerdale on Friday 5 June to screen the Spain v England Women's World Cup qualifier and confirmed both episodes will now air on Sunday evening with ITVX making them available on Sunday morning.
- Broadcasters have announced further changes for the coming week: no soaps on Tuesday 9 June for England v Ukraine, earlier Wednesday slots on 10 June, no soaps for the Men's World Cup opening ceremony on 11 June, and an hour-long double bill on Friday 12 June to make up missed episodes.
- The scheduling clash follows ITV’s January switch to a weekday 'soap power hour' of 30-minute episodes aimed at making Coronation Street and Emmerdale more streaming-friendly, a shift ITV executives describe as viewer-led.
- Fans responded with widespread frustration on social platforms, urging ITV to use secondary channels or stream episodes as scheduled so linear viewers who do not follow sport are not repeatedly displaced.
- ITV’s rights to broadcast a large slate of World Cup matches have forced repeated linear changes this year, highlighting a tension between serving live-sport audiences and maintaining consistent broadcast access for soap viewers.