BBC News Channel/BBC World News Merger - Printable Version

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+--- Thread: BBC News Channel/BBC World News Merger (/showthread.php?tid=103)

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RE: BBC News Channel/BBC World News Merger - chrisherald - 01-03-2023

I also wouldn't say news is the only core function (right, "the wider inform, educate, entertain mantra"). But it is a vital capacity not to destroy, given it's ultimately low cost as well. And given the state of the world, there's is some extra weight to be given now than decades back to the importance of ensuring audiences really aren't idiots. The world has problems now as ever, but the information landscape has changed.

I quite like the tweets Richard is doing (and the little music/beat sync he mentions). You can feel a bit of the sadness he's facing with these changes. As staff numbers worldwide drop, broadcasting continues to lose human elements. It makes it difficult to think about the prospects for new generations.

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RE: BBC News Channel/BBC World News Merger - harshy - 01-03-2023

(01-03-2023, 11:27 PM)Moz Wrote:  So, Impact has a new look NEXT WEEK!?

https://twitter.com/murrell_richard/status/1631038039970443266?s=46&t=mfiNv7LHFzRSkMX5ZuaVlQ 

Maybe just plain old bbc news?

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RE: BBC News Channel/BBC World News Merger - Rolling News - 01-03-2023

(01-03-2023, 08:33 PM)ginnyfan Wrote:  The tweet is about her and Annita.

https://twitter.com/MartineBBC/status/1630929383069306884 

I'm assuming Yalda, Lucy, Christian, Matthew and Maryam will be off air for the month of March while they prepare for launch date 3rd April. Which means we'll see much of Martine, Annita, Ben, Shaun etc in the mean time, and then, after that is, well is anyone's guess...

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RE: BBC News Channel/BBC World News Merger - DTV - 01-03-2023

(01-03-2023, 11:37 PM)chrisherald Wrote:  I also wouldn't say news is the only core function (right, "the wider inform, educate, entertain mantra"). But it is a vital capacity not to destroy, given it's ultimately low cost as well.

Unfortunately, the problem is that news is the one public service function that isn't particularly cheap - certainly not if you want to do it properly. I recall somebody saying that, if BBC News was counted as one big department, it'd have a bigger budget than BBC Two.

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RE: BBC News Channel/BBC World News Merger - chrisherald - 01-03-2023

(01-03-2023, 11:45 PM)DTV Wrote:  

(01-03-2023, 11:37 PM)chrisherald Wrote:  I also wouldn't say news is the only core function (right, "the wider inform, educate, entertain mantra"). But it is a vital capacity not to destroy, given it's ultimately low cost as well.

Unfortunately, the problem is that news is the one public service function that isn't particularly cheap - certainly not if you want to do it properly. I recall somebody saying that, if BBC News was counted as one big department, it'd have a bigger budget than BBC Two.

Hmmm, I didn't really think it was that much (wrt the news channel or domestic opt/stream team), considering you maintain many of the same infrastructure resources to produce the network bulletins and packages do get shared across outlets. They're not selling off NBH, studios still sitting there. It just seems like most of the actual large cost driver items will continue to exist, and just be under-utilized. Talking of the domestic/international split, there's hardly a reason the UK feed couldn't just be mostly playlisted from Red Bee with meaningful UK packages most of the time, and alternating front/back half from World or domestic teams during daytime. There no shortage of ways to do this. It's just.. the costs of putting a linear channel out aren't terrible anymore, playout is cheap and they're keeping a "news channel" running anyway in the UK (whatever is on it), staff and studio hours is the only cost item getting reduced, but if they're supposedly sitting around on-standby anyway... Oh dear, none of this is sensible. I can see why people are just eagerly chopping away at things, never mind the politics lol.

I mean, does news cost a million plus per episode? That's probably a stupid question, it probably does. I should just shut up

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RE: BBC News Channel/BBC World News Merger - DTV - 02-03-2023

(01-03-2023, 11:56 PM)chrisherald Wrote:  I mean, does news cost a million plus per episode? That's probably a stupid question, it probably does. I should just shut up

Per hour, news is actually cheap. According to the 2006/07 Annual Report (page 72 of the Executive Report), BBC News 24 cost £5,400 per hour to produce, with network news costing £25,900 per hour (current affairs is at a pricier £100,200 per hour). Obviously the prices will have inflated a bit over time, but it is still low compared to other genres. The problem, though, is that it is on all day, every day and you can't repeat it - so the prices do add up. 

It's also important to remember that a lot of the costs aren't necessarily involved in actually directly producing the programme (i.e., studios, presenters, etc.) but rather in newsgathering - lots of correspondents and support staff again add up. Guest contributor appearance fees are also a big chunk - I believe it's roughly £100 for a standard 3-minute interview, but how many of those are on air per hour, every day?

Ultimately, when you count up network bulletins, current affairs, news channels, local news, radio news, online, World Service, it's a lot!

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RE: BBC News Channel/BBC World News Merger - chrisherald - 02-03-2023

(02-03-2023, 12:24 AM)DTV Wrote:  

(01-03-2023, 11:56 PM)chrisherald Wrote:  I mean, does news cost a million plus per episode? That's probably a stupid question, it probably does. I should just shut up

Per hour, news is actually cheap. According to the 2006/07 Annual Report (page 72 of the Executive Report), BBC News 24 cost £5,400 per hour to produce, with network news costing £25,900 per hour (current affairs is at a pricier £100,200 per hour). Obviously the prices will have inflated a bit over time, but it is still low compared to other genres. The problem, though, is that it is on all day, every day and you can't repeat it - so the prices do add up. 

It's also important to remember that a lot of the costs aren't necessarily involved in actually directly producing the programme (i.e., studios, presenters, etc.) but rather in newsgathering - lots of correspondents and support staff again add up. Guest contributor appearance fees are also a big chunk - I believe it's roughly £100 for a standard 3-minute interview, but how many of those are on air per hour, every day?

Ultimately, when you count up network bulletins, current affairs, news channels, local news, radio news, online, World Service, it's a lot!

Thank you for that info, I appreciate that more detailed financial info.

So isn't most of the underlying journalistic machine still going to be in operation (mindful of layoffs)? If there's cuts to the underlying news-gathering machine at the BBC, this is just further of my concern of institutional capacity destruction. Otherwise, those costs are shared among outlets.

With changes to presentation format, the bulk of every single hour of "news channel" output doesn't have to be 100% unique, so it perhaps doesn't have to cost £5,400 per hour with a different format/package style.

It is a lot all added up, but really nothing among the whole of the BBC, even if it out budgets BBC Two (it's one of those costs of "this thing, is a thing, it's real, the BBC is going to have news on it"). If it needs cutting, get the most bang for buck, more hours of useful output would be better than pretty looking network output. (That is, I'd rather network output look worse as a simulcast with news channel, than less overall hours of news channel, which matter more during breaking news.) "Choices" as someone here recently said, meh.

I guess I hope more than anything that they innovate with the storytelling format in the future, as that is likely what is needed to make a stronger connection with the audience and drive understanding and social impact in challenging times. Hopefully new formats can be cheap too.

And frankly, with entertainment content production budgets (and sports rights) skyrocketing globally, how long can the BBC reasonably compete with an offering on that front anyhow. Perhaps if News costs as much as BBC Two, then Two is actually the bigger problem going forward. Which channels costs have been growing out of hand? Granted, more public demand for Two I guess, but public service is about what people need not always what they're excited for. PSBs are part of a functional state/society democratic apparatus. Sorry then if we can't have Michael McIntyre's wheel or whatever. Or maybe all news content should somehow become entertainment budgeted; perhaps Have I Got News For You should always be live-to-air and cover breaking stories when they pop-up; forget the news channel opts, just make all entertainment live. (I am slightly joking)

Anyhow, I've about run out of budget things to complain about. So I guess back to normal topics here lol

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RE: BBC News Channel/BBC World News Merger - Radio_man - 02-03-2023

(01-03-2023, 11:43 PM)Rolling News Wrote:  

(01-03-2023, 08:33 PM)ginnyfan Wrote:  The tweet is about her and Annita.

https://twitter.com/MartineBBC/status/1630929383069306884 

I'm assuming Yalda, Lucy, Christian, Matthew and Maryam will be off air for the month of March while they prepare for launch date 3rd April. Which means we'll see much of Martine, Annita, Ben, Shaun etc in the mean time, and then, after that is, well is anyone's guess...

The BBC can't ditch all of the NC presenters who are left. I can't imagine the 5 "chief" presenters doing more than 4 or 5 days a week, so other presenters will be needed for weekends and potentially Fridays as well. 
Also, if Christian Fraser still stays on The Context at 9pm weeknights, then potentially an extra presenter will be needed from somewhere for a daytime shift.

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RE: BBC News Channel/BBC World News Merger - Independent - 02-03-2023

(01-03-2023, 08:35 AM)Moz Wrote:  The thing is, it’s not a world news channel and never will be.

It’s very much NATO zone focussed with little from the rest of the world (from what I’ve seen). Despite being anchored from Singapore for overnight hours they cover very few Asian stories compared to Europe/US, and Africa and South America hardly feature.

In the past WN was much more global. But recent years have been very disappointing. I tuned in for Newsday yesterday and the 2nd story was about expectations over how the US top court would rule on student debt forgiveness. It took at least 15 min into a 30-min bulletin on AJE for a package on the story to appear during US primetime after covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Turkey-Syria quake, TikTok, Nigeria and DR Congo. Much of the US news covered on WN a decade ago had actual international relevance. The reliance on ad revenue is distorting the BBC's coverage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUoeiHEBDQk 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4ChQ5FzCO8 

(01-03-2023, 08:47 AM)chrisherald Wrote:  Ideally it would at least meet the needs of the commonwealth. [...]

I do wish the Singapore hours would be revamped into something more worthwhile [...]

Singapore should've been given that investment instead of DC. SG is a Commonwealth nation and no other int'l channel is producing more than 1 hour of live news from Asia. But maximizing ad revenues is the next priority after savings by moving output to a different time zone but it's understandable under the current circumstances.

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RE: BBC News Channel/BBC World News Merger - JayCasey - 02-03-2023

Quick question to anyone who knows… who is it that’s presenting “Newsday” right now?

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