<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"Simon Cowell and ITV have shifted Britain&amp;#039;s Got Talent to an hour earlier in the schedules this year, meaning that the show will go head-to-head with BBC One&amp;#039;s The Voice UK. Britain&amp;#039;s Got Talent returns on Saturday, April 13 and it will air at a new earlier time of 7pm.  In response, the BBC has shifted its singing competition to 15 minutes earlier in the schedules, meaning that The Voice UK will start on April 13 at 6.45pm. The two shows will overlap for a total of 75 minutes between 7pm and 8.15pm. Doctor Who has moved to 6pm to accommodate The Voice&amp;#039;s earlier timeslot. Last year, the two shows overlapped slightly, but managed to avoid heavy clashes in the schedules.  Cowell accused the BBC of playing &amp;quot;silly games&amp;quot; with the scheduling last year, and has previously always insisted that he would prefer it if shows such as Strictly and X Factor and The Voice and Britain&amp;#039;s Got Talent didn&amp;#039;t overlap. Commenting in 2012 on the Voice, Got Talent ratings battle, Cowell said: &amp;quot;I just hope they don&amp;#039;t play these silly games where [the shows] overlap each other. Because that is a ratings game and we&amp;#039;ve got to be responsible for stopping that.&amp;quot; When the shows clashed last year, The Voice usually won during the time period that the shows overlapped. However, the BBC series had a ratings slide during its live shows and launched to a smaller audience last weekend, losing out in a head-to-head with Ant &amp;amp; Dec&amp;#039;s Saturday Night Takeaway. Watch The Voice coaches Jessie J, Danny O&amp;#039;Donoghue discuss last year&amp;#039;s winner Leanne Mitchell with Digital Spy below:  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/britains-got-talent/news/a470290/simon-cowell-itv-shift-got-talent-earlier-for-voice-clash/>