Telecinco will now air First Dates on Fridays in access prime time. This move pushes De Viernes to a later start and shortens its runtime. The change marks a significant shift in the channel’s Friday night programming.
Telecinco is making a notable change to its Friday night schedule. The network has announced that First Dates, the dating show hosted by Carlos Sobera, will now air in the early evening slot on Fridays. As a result, De Viernes, which previously started earlier, will move to a later time and lose about an hour of airtime.
Previously, First Dates aired from Monday to Wednesday, Supervivientes took Thursdays, and Fridays were reserved for De Viernes. That setup ends on September 18, when First Dates takes over the Friday access slot and De Viernes shifts to a projected 23:00 start. Unless De Viernes runs much later into the night, its runtime will be cut significantly.
El Mundo
This isn’t the only recent change. Mediaset, which owns Telecinco, has made similar adjustments on its other channel, Cuatro, moving Horizonte into the Friday access slot and even extending its length. The company seems to be standardizing its evening schedules across both networks, with access programming leading into the main show, except on Thursdays.
Expanding First Dates to Fridays shows 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, now faces the challenge of holding its audience with a later and shorter slot.
For viewers, this means De Viernes will start later and have less time on air. For Telecinco, the move is a clear attempt 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. This kind of schedule adjustment isn’t limited to TV; as reported earlier, even public transport timetables are being tweaked to match audience habits and major events.
PR Noticias
Telecinco is betting that First Dates can bring in viewers earlier and keep them watching through the night, even if it means cutting back De Viernes. With audiences now more fragmented, these kinds of scheduling changes are less about tradition and more about staying competitive. Whether viewers will stick with the new timetable remains to be seen, but Telecinco’s message is clear: programming will shift if it means better ratings.
