This Morning and Good Morning Britain 'set to face schedule shake-up next year after ITV secures rights to broadcast the Rugby World Cup'

Daytime shows at ITV could face a huge scheduling shake-up next year, after the channel secured the rights to broadcast the Rugby World Cup. 

The tournament will run from October 1 to November 13, 2027 and will take place in Australia, meaning the games will be broadcast between 4am and 10am due to the huge time difference.

This means shows such as This Morning, Loose Women and Good Morning Britain could be pulled off air in order to broadcast games.  

'Getting the rights for the World Cup is great for ITV but it's bad news for everyone at daytime,' a source told The Sun. 

'Ratings are already terrible and morale is low with all the cuts, the last thing they want is being pulled off air to make way for sports. It's happened to the soaps for years and left them in shoddy shape.

'The worry is that even one day of people switching over to BBC Breakfast and Morning Live will mean another viewer switching over permanently. This Morning and Good Morning Britain have lost millions of viewers already – they can't afford to lose any more.'

The Daily Mail has contacted ITV for comment. 

Earlier this year Loose Women became a casualty of ITV cuts, with the afternoon panel show axeing its live studio audience after following the channel from its old studio complex to a significantly smaller base in London's Covent Garden. 

Lorraine, meanwhile, was reduced to just 30-minute episodes with several of her colleagues axed.

Further cutbacks mean that Susanna Reid has lost her own dedicated hairdresser, and no longer gets as much attention from the remaining hair and make-up artists as she once did, as Good Morning Britain staff now have to share their backstage resources with ITV News.

Previously all daytime TV shows were shot at the sizeable Television Centre in White City, and the reduced space is said to be causing issues off-camera.

A source previously told the Daily Mail: 'It's incredibly chaotic behind the scenes. The space for all three shows – Loose Women, This Morning and Lorraine – is downstairs in the basement so three different sets are all crammed into one place.

'Backstage the dressing rooms are limited. There just isn't enough space, especially when there are four women getting ready to be in front of the camera at the same time.

'It's not an ideal situation at all. There have been some meltdowns.'