EastEnders
"EastEnders" is broadcast around the world in many English-speaking countries. New Zealand became the first to broadcast "EastEnders" overseas, the first episode being shown on 27 September 1985. This was followed by the Netherlands on 8 December 1986, Australia on 5 January 1987, Norway on 27 April, and Barcelona on 30 June (dubbed into Catalan). On 9 July 1987, it was announced that the show would be aired in the United States on PBS. BBC Worldwide licensed 200 hours of "EastEnders" for broadcast in Serbia on RTS (dubbed into Serbian); it began airing the first episode in December 1997. The series was broadcast in the United States until BBC America ceased broadcasts of the serial in 2003, amidst fan protests. In June 2004, the satellite television provider Dish Network picked up "EastEnders", broadcasting episodes starting at the point where BBC America had ceased broadcasting them, offering the series as a pay-per-view item. Episodes air two months behind the UK schedule. Episodes from prior years are still shown on various PBS stations in the US. Since 7 March 2017, "EastEnders" has been available in the United States on demand, 24 hours after it has aired in the United Kingdom via BritBox, a joint venture between BBC and ITV.
EastEnders
Since 1985, "EastEnders" has remained at the centre of BBC One's primetime schedule. Since 2001, it has been broadcast at 7:30pm on Tuesday and Thursday, and 8pm on Monday and Friday. "EastEnders" was originally broadcast twice weekly at 7:00pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 19 February 1985. However, in September 1985 the two episodes were moved to 7:30pm as Michael Grade did not want the soap running in direct competition with "Emmerdale Farm", and this remained the same until 7 April 1994. The BBC had originally planned to take advantage of the 'summer break' that "Emmerdale Farm" usually took to capitalise on ratings, but ITV1 added extra episodes and repeats so that "Emmerdale Farm" was not taken off the air over the summer. Realising the futility of the situation, Grade decided to move the show to the later 7:30pm slot, but to avoid tabloid speculation that it was a "panic move" on the BBC's behalf, they had to "dress up the presentation of that move in such a way as to protect the show" giving "all kinds of reasons" for the move.