GRAMMY AWARDS - U.K. VIEWERS TUNE OUT BAFTA AWARDS

U.K. VIEWERS TUNE OUT BAFTA AWARDS

Televised awards ceremonies are doing no better at drawing an audience in Britain than they are in the United States. On the same night that the Grammy awards drew the third-lowest ratings in its history in the U.S., the BAFTA awards, Britain's equivalent of the Oscars, fared even worse. Sunday's awards show, in which Atonement won for best picture, attracted only 3.5 million viewers. By contrast, Dancing on Ice, which aired at the same time on commercial broadcaster ITV, attracted nearly 10 million. The British tabloid The Sun said part of the reason for the low ratings may have been a technical problem at the opening of the awards show that resulted in the host's voice sounding "muffled" for about 10 minutes.

12/02/2008