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 - bbctvtechop - 31-12-2022

Has any more been explained about how UK breaking news opt-outs will be handled?

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RE: BBC News Channel/BBC World News Merger - Worzel - 31-12-2022

(31-12-2022, 11:07 AM)bbctvtechop Wrote:  Has any more been explained about how UK breaking news opt-outs will be handled?

Tim Davie briefly covered this when he was questioned by MPs at the DCMS committee a few months ago.

Skip to 1:07:00 in: https://youtu.be/uneP-A15bZY 

He said, at that stage, they were working on it but there would be a dedicated live team which could go on air if a story broke.

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RE: BBC News Channel/BBC World News Merger - bbctvtechop - 31-12-2022

(31-12-2022, 11:16 AM)Worzel Wrote:  

(31-12-2022, 11:07 AM)bbctvtechop Wrote:  Has any more been explained about how UK breaking news opt-outs will be handled?

Tim Davie briefly covered this when he was questioned by MPs at the DCMS committee a few months ago.

Skip to 1:07:00 in: https://youtu.be/uneP-A15bZY 

He said, at that stage, they were working on it but there would be a dedicated live team which could go on air if a story broke.

Thanks. Worrying he talks about a "small" live team, presumably working largely M-F core hours with little/no coverage in the evenings and at weekends.

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RE: BBC News Channel/BBC World News Merger - Andrew - 31-12-2022

The idea of a team that is just waiting in the wings but may not go on air, sounds like something that wouldn’t last very long

Also what constitutes domestic breaking news? Something massive that may only be a few times a year, or every time the BBC News app fires an alert off?

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RE: BBC News Channel/BBC World News Merger - DTV - 31-12-2022

(31-12-2022, 11:43 AM)Andrew Wrote:  The idea of a team that is just waiting in the wings but may not go on air, sounds like something that wouldn’t last very long

Also what constitutes domestic breaking news? Something massive that may only be a few times a year, or every time the BBC News app fires an alert off?

I mean it's just an odd idea from every angle. If you are paying a team that can go on air at any time, why not just pay them to actually be on air or combine them with existing on air teams (News at One, Westminster) to ensure that you have a full permanent daytime opt. You'd still be able to drop the opt on days of major international news, but have a much better ability to cover UK news during the day.

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RE: BBC News Channel/BBC World News Merger - bbctvtechop - 31-12-2022

(31-12-2022, 12:24 PM)DTV Wrote:  

(31-12-2022, 11:43 AM)Andrew Wrote:  The idea of a team that is just waiting in the wings but may not go on air, sounds like something that wouldn’t last very long

Also what constitutes domestic breaking news? Something massive that may only be a few times a year, or every time the BBC News app fires an alert off?

I mean it's just an odd idea from every angle. If you are paying a team that can go on air at any time, why not just pay them to actually be on air or combine them with existing on air teams (News at One, Westminster) to ensure that you have a full permanent daytime opt. You'd still be able to drop the opt on days of major international news, but have a much better ability to cover UK news during the day.

Precisely my thinking.

And it's not just the presenter sitting around waiting. You'll need a producer to research, maybe a guest producer, a director and studio crew (if in a clip studio, probably just a director), an Autocue operator, a team of people to maintain and fix the studio and gallery, a scheduler to ensure coverage each day, and probably 2 managers to line manage them all (one editorial, one technical, although they won't be managing them exclusively).

If you want true 24/7 ability to opt out for a UK domestic story (Manchester bombing happened at about 10pm, Exeter shootings happened I think on a Saturday morning?) then you can't get away with a "small" team, you need probably 3 teams a day on standby, so that is probably 8 individual teams to give year-round coverage.

There is also the editorial question of who decides to opt out and how long for, plus how to opt cleanly in and out. If a big international story and a big domestic story are happening simultaneously, what gets resource priority? Can the domestic presenter during the opt out cover the international story too?

Basically, if there is true 24/7 ability to opt out, you may as well have that team of people on duty actually making and presenting content.

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RE: BBC News Channel/BBC World News Merger - CF1 - 31-12-2022

Let's face it: there is no team waiting in the wings. As of April, BBC News is the worthless BBC World News with its non-household name presenters, pre-prepared packages and unwatchable filler programmes of no relevance to UK audiences. There will be no domestic news content at all apart from Breakfast, News at 1, 6 and 10.

BBC News is pretty much closing down completely. So much for it being protected at all costs. Well done, Tim Davie for shutting down the BBC.

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RE: BBC News Channel/BBC World News Merger - Keith - 31-12-2022

With the merger in general I think the best hope is for a u-turn on the weekday daytime proposed changes. Ideally allowing for UK opt-outs between 9am and 6pm on weekdays. Currently weekdays 7pm to 6am is almost already a simulcast, and will be more so once The Papers ceases.

I think utilising their international studios overnight makes sense. It means they can save money by only pay those staff normal daytime rates, instead of overnight pay / rest time. Additionally, compared to even a decade ago high speed fibre internet presumably makes it easier to connect and work with international studios.

Hopefully the idea of a simulcast of 5 Live as a UK opt-out has/will be dropped. Doing that for just BBC Two would be better. However, also putting it on the news channel is bad, as if nothing else it means in the UK the same content could be viewed live via two TV channels and one radio station.

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RE: BBC News Channel/BBC World News Merger - DTV - 31-12-2022

(31-12-2022, 01:40 PM)CF1 Wrote:  Let's face it: there is no team waiting in the wings. As of April, BBC News is BBC World News with no domestic news content at all apart from Breakfast, News at 1, 6 and 10.

BBC News is pretty much closing down completely. So much for BBC News being protected at all costs.

I'm curious as to when it was claimed that BBC News would be protected at all costs. The BBC's position has pretty much always been that cuts would be made across the board, including BBC News. (Indeed, proportionally the BBC News channel has seen fewer cuts than all other adult-oriented channels).

Also a) I doubt the new channel will be a rebadged BBC World News, I am definitely expecting something more along the lines of the 10am simulcasts - i.e. an unsatisfactory smudge and b) for god knows what reason there will be more domestic simulcasts than at present.

(31-12-2022, 01:50 PM)Keith Wrote:  With the merger in general I think the best hope is for a u-turn on the weekday daytime proposed changes. Ideally allowing for UK opt-outs between 9am and 6pm on weekdays. Currently weekdays 7pm to 6am is almost already a simulcast, and will be more so once The Papers ceases.

Yep, this has pretty much always been my position and there are several fairly cheap ways you could guarentee such a service, it would be a spectacular shot in the foot if they failed to do any of them.

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RE: BBC News Channel/BBC World News Merger - bbctvtechop - 31-12-2022

(31-12-2022, 01:50 PM)Keith Wrote:  With the merger in general I think the best hope is for a u-turn on the weekday daytime proposed changes. Ideally allowing for UK opt-outs between 9am and 6pm on weekdays. Currently weekdays 7pm to 6am is almost already a simulcast, and will be more so once The Papers ceases.

I think utilising their international studios overnight makes sense. It means they can save money by only pay those staff normal daytime rates, instead of overnight pay / rest time. Additionally, compared to even a decade ago high speed fibre internet presumably makes it easier to connect and work with international studios.

Hopefully the idea of a simulcast of 5 Live as a UK opt-out has/will be dropped. Doing that for just BBC Two would be better. However, also putting it on the news channel is bad, as if nothing else it means in the UK the same content could be viewed live via two TV channels and one radio station.

And if there is a breaking UK news story at 8pm on a Thursday or midday on a Sunday?

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