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 - DTV - 02-02-2023

(02-02-2023, 12:56 PM)bbctvtechop Wrote:  On that basis barely anything the BBC does would exist. PSB should be about providing for audiences, not paying for itself.

I do agree with all this, particularly about the obvious conundrum from the perspective of a PSB, but it's really just a reflection of the terrible financial state the BBC is in (which is, of course, not really of its making). The problem that the NC has is that its budget has seemingly been cut down to the 'all-or-nothing' level which has left a big £60m box sat there - an easy target.

God knows why, but I do continue to hope they will actually pull off a decent channel for both audiences and I hope that the merging of the channels means they will drop the slightly silly 'usage fees' situation (which should push up World's profits and reduce the UK's budget). Ultimately, we are left with a weird paradox where the more world-focussed the core of the channel is, the more profitable the channel is and therefore the more money they have to play with to provide a better UK-opt.

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RE: BBC News Channel/BBC World News Merger - London Lite - 02-02-2023

Noticed no mention yet of Sally Bundock and Victoria Valentine who job share the 0500-0700 + 0745 WBN shift yet.

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

(02-02-2023, 12:09 PM)Chud Wrote:  

(02-02-2023, 11:58 AM)DTV Wrote:  My expectation is that London will probably be 05:00 to about 21:00 - with an 'overnight' schedule of Washington-Singapore-Washington. It'd be odd to lose the current Singapore shift, as Newsday has had a lot of success in that slot and neither Washington or Singapore would really fit the 05:00-08:00 slot as it is past midnight in Washington and middle of the day in Singapore (so neither Breakfast or Evening Peak).

Yes I did think that 5-8am slot might still get someone like sally bundock as a presenter reporter shift. 

Also, the BBC One presenter might be the person that becomes the UK breaking news presenter.

Will Sally Bundock really want to be 'downgraded' to a presenter/reporter role, and continue to present the 5am shift for a pay cut, after being with World News for over 20 years?
If we assume that evenings after 7pm will be Outside Source with Ros Atkins or a presenter/reporter, and then Washington takes over from 9pm or 10pm, that leaves 5am to 7pm split into 5 shifts for the chief presenter roles. Or we could see the 'dead' World shift of 8 to 11am covered by a presenter/reporter or freelance presenter, with evenings still including a chief presenter shift.

Either way, even though she's not been publicly mentioned in the departures, I can't see Sally Bundock staying on for a pay cut and a downgraded role.

And surely Jane Hill and Ben Brown are nailed on for the BBC 1 network 1pm and Weekend teams? That would leave Sophie on the Six, Huw on the Ten, and Clive, Reeta, Jane and Ben sharing cover, the One, and Weekends between them, with Mishal doing occasional Sundays.

And all this business of the UK feed of the new channel still taking Breakfast and Nicky Campbell, what's the point? I don't see how the BBC can get away with claiming they are giving UK channel viewers domestic only content that's just being simulcast from BBC 1/2 or 5 Live. If viewers want to see Breakfast or Nicky Campbell they won't be tuning into the News Channel to see it.
Just give UK viewers actual choice and just broadcast the full channel 24/7 in the UK and be done with it.

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

(02-02-2023, 12:59 PM)Kojak Wrote:  That’s really interesting. I never knew there was a danger of World being closed. Any idea where I could find out more about that?

I know the World shifts were long (about 5 hours a piece and longer at weekends, were they not?) but it was very rigidly news at x:00 and programmes at :30, so I’d imagine the format was much less demanding on the presenter than the rolling style we have now?

I'm not sure how definite the threats of closure were, but there are a few discussions from that period back on the blue place that make clear that the loss-making status of the channel back then was obviously not sustainable - there was a lot of pressure for World to break into the highly profitable US market (I believe originally that it only had limited distribution around certain cities, as well as some PBS carriage). There was also a kerfuffle at one point about the 'fair' usage fees that BBC UK and BBC World paid each other to use the other's programmes - I believe some in govt were of the view that World were underpaying and News 24 were overpaying and thus the licence fee was unfairly subsidising the channel. This is also why you had things like BBC Four News produced by World and the 09:30 World News bulletin on News 24 - so UK could legitimately shift money to World.

I recall that the longest World shift they had was a seven-hour one at weekends, but that actually persisted long after the channel became profitable. But in the April 2000 - August 2001 period you had just four presenters across the day (06:00-01:00) in the week - including an afternoon six-hour shift. As you say, this was largely with half-an-hour on, half-an-hour off, but the afternoon shift still included doing the main edition of Asia Today.

The goal was always to get back to the focussed/stranded programmes (The World Today in the 90s; World News Today in the late-00s; GMT, Impact, etc. in 10s) for both editorial and financial reasons (as premium programmes, you can charge a higher advertising rate). Arguably, however, these programmes have shifted in recent years to being formatted a bit like a UK-news channel hour (more lives and interviews) - so perhaps the News channel can claim a victory there?

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RE: BBC News Channel/BBC World News Merger - Rolling News - 02-02-2023

(02-02-2023, 01:00 PM)Newsroom Wrote:  

(02-02-2023, 12:54 PM)Rolling News Wrote:  Terrible news for these experienced anchors who have lost out. Although I can see Jane and Martine moving to BBC One, with the rest applying for the “reporter-presenter” roles that are being reported on. If they want to, of course.

I can't recall seeing Martine on BBC One since she was temporarily taken off air so can't see them accommodating her unfortunately.  Agreed on Jane, she's been appearing more frequently on the Ten of late and is more or less a semi-regular network presenter - fingers crossed at least!

That’s true. Ben Brown I can see moving to network, he seems to be on a similar (though less frequent) level pegging to Jane: regular on the One, weekends and occasional Six/Ten cover.

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

(02-02-2023, 01:47 PM)Rolling News Wrote:  That’s true. Ben Brown I can see moving to network, he seems to be on a similar (though less frequent) level pegging to Jane: regular on the One, weekends and occasional Six/Ten cover.

Yeah, I really see Ben and Jane as network presenters who also still do the News channel these days - in that it's not really a surprise if they turn up on the Six or Ten. And, of course, Jane (possibly Ben too?) have been appearing on weekday network bulletins since at least the mid-2000s.

Would be a shame for either to go - plus, as a little bit of trivia, Ben (along with George Alagiah) was one of the reporters featured on the first ever BBC WSTV News bulletin back in 1991.

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RE: BBC News Channel/BBC World News Merger - Chud - 02-02-2023

If we assume Ben Brown and Jane Hill go to network, that leaves still quite a lot of people to go for the 8 roles available.
Lukwesa Burak
Ben Boulos (might go to Breakfast)
Sally Bundock
Victoria Valentine
Lewis Vaughn Jones
Samantha Simmons
Rebecca Jones (freelance?)
Shaun Ley
Martine Croxall
Kasia Madeira 
Geeta Guru Murphy 
Annita McVeigh
James Reynolds (not seen him for a while)
Rich Preston
Luxmy Gopal (return to regions?)
Nancy Kacungira 
Karin Giannone

There’s probably a few people I’ve missed, but when you look at that list and the brilliant talent they have to say goodbye to, is going to be very hard to pick.

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RE: BBC News Channel/BBC World News Merger - London Lite - 02-02-2023

Samantha Simmonds still has her weekly Politics London gig which is pre-recorded on Friday afternoons.

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RE: BBC News Channel/BBC World News Merger - Kojak - 02-02-2023

And she does a lot of other BBC London shifts, too. I expect she'll just continue with them (or maybe Sky News can hire her back? One can dream...).

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RE: BBC News Channel/BBC World News Merger - steve - 02-02-2023

I know this is what we 'do' on this forum, but without knowing the ins and outs of a particular person's contract (which we absolutely have no right to know), you can't assume what different people are contracted to do now and what they will be in the future.

Clearly, those announced today are going to be the faces of the 'new' channel, but I think that is all you can surmise from the announcement - and certainly not that every other presenter not listed is leaving (they won't be).

Some will leave. Some won't leave. Some will have different roles.

Of course, speculation is inevitable but perhaps we should calm the ott reactions for the moment.

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