Digital TV News

Christmas TV a leading cause of festive family feuds

Tuesday 22 November, 2011

By Anthony Hill

Relatives row over what to watch and who gets the remote.

The telly is to blame for more Christmas clashes than anything else.

A survey by Freesat revealed that choosing a programme or film to watch is a leading cause of family fall outs when the festive season arrives.

Whether it’s Home Alone versus The Grinch or an action film pitted against classic romance, TV is most likely to cause a spat in two-thirds of UK households. What to watch is the main culprit, with 22% naming channel choice as the number one agitator.

More than 2,000 Brits were surveyed by the subscription-free satellite service, with nearly a quarter of quarrels caused by differing tastes, while who controls the remote is to blame for 19% of rows.

The Queen’s speech may sound like an unlikely cause of Christmas clashes, but her majesty’s annual broadcast has prompted an angry exchange in 8% of living rooms.

Also causing festive friction are family members getting too drunk (21%), who does the washing up (16%), where to spend Christmas Day (16%) and youngsters spending too much time on Facebook. Even when Christmas has been and gone, 12% fight over when to take down their decorations.

The Freesat survey also suggests Brits are a difficult nation to please, with the biggest gripe over the festive period being TV Christmas specials not living up to expectation (30%).

Recent research by media management firm Red Bee Media found that three-quarters of UK telly fans regularly struggle to find programmes they want to watch.

Freesat is a satellite TV product available without subscription. It allows you to record, rewind and pause live TV from more than 150 channels, as well as offering the BBC iPlayer and ITV Player catch-up services.