ITV drops Coronation Street and Emmerdale for World Cup

Regular episodes of the popular ITV soaps "Coronation Street" and "Emmerdale" were not broadcast on Wednesday, June 24, as the network's schedule was dedicated to live coverage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The usual 8 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. slots were instead filled by the match between Switzerland and Canada.

This disruption is part of ongoing schedule changes due to the tournament, which runs until July 19. The soaps will return with hour-long episodes on Thursday, June 25, with "Emmerdale" airing at 8 p.m. and "Coronation Street" following at 9 p.m. No new episodes are scheduled for Friday, June 26, as ITV will broadcast the Norway versus France match. Regular programming is expected to resume on Tuesday, June 30.

The changes follow a similar pattern earlier in the week, with hour-long episodes airing on Monday, June 22, and standard half-hour episodes on Tuesday, June 23. Despite the daily shifts, ITV has stated that the total weekly output for each soap remains unchanged. Episodes are available to stream from 7 a.m. on the day of broadcast via ITVX.

The schedule adjustments come several months after both shows transitioned to a new "power hour" format, with consecutive 30-minute...