HOTTES NEWS TODAY!!! Coronation Street and Emmerdale facing long-term schedule chaos

Fans of Coronation Street and Emmerdale might want to prepare for a rocky few months, because this summer isn’t looking great for those of us who rely on a steady soap schedule.

The big disruption? The 2026 World Cup. With the tournament kicking off in June and matches being held across Canada, Mexico and the United States, ITV is expected to prioritise live football coverage, and that’s set to throw its regular programming into complete disarray.

For soap viewers, that likely means constant changes to when (and even if) their favourite shows air. And behind the scenes, it sounds like things are already getting complicated. Insiders say the situation is proving to be a real challenge, especially as audiences have only just got used to the schedule shake-up introduced earlier this year when ITV introduced the ‘soap power hour’.

Now, with even more changes on the horizon, there’s growing concern that viewers could start to drift away altogether. Consistency is key for soaps, and when people can’t keep track of when episodes are on, it’s easy for them to lose the habit of watching.

One of the biggest sticking points seems to be the idea of moving episodes to Sundays. While it might seem like a simple solution on paper, it hasn’t exactly gone down well with fans. Many feel that Sunday evenings just don’t have the same appeal, and it disrupts the routine that weekday episodes usually provide.

With World Cup matches expected to dominate prime-time slots, though, ITV may not have much choice. Reports suggest that ongoing discussions are taking place as bosses try to minimise the impact, but there’s no clear solution that keeps everyone happy.

This isn’t a new problem, either. In recent months, sporting events have already caused repeated disruptions. Episodes have been pulled from their usual slots, delayed, or combined into longer broadcasts at less convenient times. Earlier this week was a perfect example, with both soaps removed from their weekday schedule and instead aired as a single one-hour block on Sunday.

ITV has also experimented with releasing episodes early on its streaming platform, ITVX, in an attempt to give viewers more flexibility. But that approach has had mixed results. While some fans appreciate being able to watch ahead, others have been left confused about when episodes are actually available or what counts as the ‘main’ broadcast.

Despite all the scheduling chaos, there is a surprising upside. According to ITV, digital viewing figures are on the rise. Streaming for both Coronation Street and Emmerdale has jumped by 48% compared to last year, suggesting that more people are turning to on-demand viewing rather than traditional TV slots.

In fact, January 2026 was a record-breaking month, with the two soaps pulling in a combined 65 million streams, around 10 million more than any previous high. Coronation Street alone reached an audience of 5.9 million across both TV and streaming platforms, showing that the appetite for the soaps is still very much there.

Still, strong viewing figures haven’t stopped fans from voicing their frustration. Earlier this week, many were left annoyed yet again when the usual ‘soap power hour’ was scrapped on the 14th of April to make way for a Women’s European Qualifier match, featuring England’s Lionesses against Spain.

Normally, Emmerdale airs at 8pm, followed by Coronation Street at 8:30pm, Monday to Friday on ITV. But lately, that routine has been anything but reliable.

EMMERDALE and Coronation Street have been cancelled tonight in a major schedule shake-up.

The ITV soaps have been pulled from the schedules to make way for sport instead.

Viewers hoping to watch the latest instalments from the village and the cobbles will instead have to wait until tomorrow.

Emmerdale usually airs its 30 minute episode at 8pm, with Coronation Street following at 8.30pm.

Instead an international football match between England and Japan will air between 7pm and 10.05pm.

The soaps will air in their usual time slot for the rest of the week, and will make up for Tuesday’s missing episodes by again airing on Sunday evening.

At 7pm Emmerdale will air an episode with Corrie following at 7.30pm before a two-hour episode of detective drama Grace.

They will then return to their usual Monday to Friday slots until the next interruption.

In January ITV launched the so-called soap power hour by moving the two sister shows to air each weeknight from 8pm.

Previously Emmerdale had aired Monday to Fridays with a double episode on Thursday nights, while Corrie had aired Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings with hour-long episodes.

The decision to cut each soap’s output by an episode each week was done to save money and sure up the soaps’ futures.

However The Sun recently revealed that due to the output reduction, cast contracts are being cut by 17% – leaving some of the actors worried about paying their bills.

An insider revealed that the cast are even considering striking over the salary reductions and cuts across the board on the shows.