Telecinco is changing its Friday night schedule: First Dates, the dating show hosted by Carlos Sobera, will move to the early-evening access slot on Fridays starting the week of September 18, 2026. De Viernes is then expected to start at 23:00 and lose about an hour of airtime.
Before the change, First Dates aired from Monday to Wednesday, while De Viernes remained on Fridays; Supervivientes occupied the Thursday slot. El Mundo reports that the new schedule begins on September 18. Unless De Viernes runs much later into the night, its runtime will be cut significantly.
Mediaset, which owns Telecinco, has made similar adjustments on its other channel, Cuatro, moving Horizonte into the Friday access slot and extending its length. The company appears to be aligning evening schedules across both networks, with access programming leading into the basic show, except on Thursdays.
Expanding First Dates to Fridays reflects the network’s confidence in the show’s steady audience. After ten years on air, it continues to draw strong ratings and remains a reliable option for early-evening viewers. Meanwhile, De Viernes, hosted by Santi Acosta and Beatriz Archidona, faces the challenge of holding its audience in a later, shorter slot.
For viewers, De Viernes will start later and have less time on air. Telecinco’s move is intended to boost ratings and create a more unified programming structure. The network’s approach follows a broader trend in Spanish television, where channels are experimenting with access slots to improve prime-time performance. Schedule changes are not limited to TV: as reported earlier, public transport timetables are also being adjusted to match audience habits and major events.
PR Noticias and other industry sources report that Horizonte and First Dates have recently achieved strong audience figures, prompting Mediaset to reinforce these brands in prime-time slots. The group has also promoted First Dates as a stable, successful format in official communications and on social media, highlighting its strategic importance for Telecinco’s lineup.
Telecinco is betting that First Dates can bring in viewers earlier and keep them watching through the night, even as De Viernes loses airtime. With audiences more fragmented, these scheduling changes aim to keep the network competitive. Its message is clear: programming will shift if that means better ratings.
