A certain Doctor Who forum is in meltdown over this at the moment - the amount of paranoia on display is staggering.
I suspect they are simply switching to a US-style autumn/winter season with a Christmas break, so we will get 6 or 7 eps in autumn 2012, a break, a Christmas special, then the remaining 6 or 7 in the winter months at the start of 2013.
That then leaves them free to love-bomb autumn/winter 2013 and into 2014 ... 23 November 2013 being absolutely key, because that's the 50th anniversary. And in 2013 it's also a Saturday.
