ITV’s This Morning and Good Morning Britain set for ‘autumn of misery’ as shows face being pulled off air and ditched

THIS Morning and Good Morning Britain have been dealt a huge blow after ITV secured the rights to broadcast the entire Rugby World Cup in 2027. All 37 matches of the hotly-anticipated sporting event will air on the channel airing between Fridays and Mondays. Good Morning Britain could face a grim autumn next year Credit: Rex This Morning could also face a shakeup in scheduling Credit: Shutterstock Editorial The tournament will run between October 1 and November 13 2027. It is being played in Australia and the time difference means that matches will have broadcast start times between 4am and 10am. Sign up for the TV newsletter Thank you! That’s bad news for the embattled ITV daytime schedule with GMB, This Morning and even Loose Women facing being pulled off air. A source told The Sun: “Getting the rights for the World Cup is great for ITV but it’s bad news for everyone at daytime. A source opened up to us about the impact ITV’s rugby deal could have on its Daytime shows Credit: Shutterstock Editorial All 37 matches of the Rugby World Cup will air on the channel airing between Fridays and Mondays next year Credit: AFP “Ratings are already terrible and morale is low with all the cuts, the last thing they want is being pulled off air to make way for sports. “It’s happened to the soaps for years and left them in shoddy shape. “The worry is that even one day of people switching over to BBC Breakfast and Morning Live will mean another viewer switching over permanently. “This Morning and Good Morning Britain have lost millions of viewers already – they can’t afford to lose any more.” Most read in TV Last year, ITV brutally restructured its daytime shows and left celebs furious and fearful of mass sackings. Lorraine and Loose Women were the biggest victims of the schedule changes. Loose Women and Lorraine now each air “seasonally” amid cuts across ITV. Both shows are only on TV 30 weeks of the year, losing more than 100 of their episodes. Other changes include episodes having a run time of just 30 minutes and no live studio audience. In May 2025, Kevin Lygo, managing director of ITV’s Media and Entertainment Division, said: “Daytime is a really important part of what we do, and these scheduling and production changes will enable us to continue to deliver a schedule providing viewers with the news, debate and discussion they love from the presenters they know and trust. “As well as generating savings which will allow us to reinvest across the programme budget in other genres.” At the time, he added: “Daytime has been a core element of ITV’s schedule for over 40 years and these changes will set ITV up to continue to bring viewers award-winning news, views and discussion as we enter our eighth decade.” Comment now