TOTP: embattled brand that remains a music institution: Beeb remains bullish as relaunched flagship music show struqqles to regain millions of viewers.(Analysis)

Because of its longevity and importance to the industry, it is impossible to consider BBC TV's music output without singling out Top Of The Pops. The institution once considered a beacon for the music industry turned 40 this year, and how it moves forward remains to be seen.

But it has hardly been the ratings smash that producers were aiming for when they relaunched the show last November. Along with a new presenter--who is now on his way back to MTV--Andi Peters introduced new elements, such as album chart slots and a policy of playing more tracks ahead of official release.

The revamp was intended to revitalise an ageing format and the show's commitment to breaking new music is something the industry expects from a public service broadcaster.

Nevertheless, although 5.5m viewers tuned in to the hour-long relaunch special edition and it retained 4.3m the following week, six months later the figures have slipped to an average of little more than 2m, wall below even the pre-relaunch figure. True, this compares a summer period with the traditionally busy fourth quarter, but it is hardly encouraging, particularly compared to the 13m to 14m audiences of its late-Seventies heyday and 8m as recently as the mid-Nineties.

So what is the problem? Some say it is a declining interest in the singles market. But there is another explanation--and it is one that the BBC could address without too much effort if it chose to--namely the simple folk of Weatherfield.

In its 7:30pm Friday-night slot, TOTP goes head to head with Coronation Street, the country's most popular soap opera, and it suffers as a result. "We were lobbying like and to get TOTP moved back to the Thursday slot," says Universal Music TV managing director Brian Berg, who has a wealth of experience dealing with the BBC, courtesy of a compilation album deal which it ran with the Corporation for a number of years. "They moved it to Friday and put it against Coronation Street, which has lost it millions of viewers. When it relaunched last year, it had an hour long show that started at 7pm and got the biggest viewing figures since it moved to Friday. But it was obvious it would get the same lull once it moved to a 7:30pm transmission."

This, argues Berg, calls into question the importance the BBC attaches to its premier pop music television vehicle. "They don't seem to have any respect for it," he says. "It gets shunted around and put on BBC2 every time there's a big sporting event, which is troubling because it's been the flagship for the industry for 40 years."