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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chris - chris - 14-02-2023

(14-02-2023, 08:12 PM)NickyBoy Wrote:  

(13-02-2023, 06:12 PM)Radio_man Wrote:  Meaning what? It doesn't matter how many viewers the UK news channel loses now - it's not going to be saved. World News is all that matters to the BBC now as it generates the revenue. 

We are 'lucky' that World News will be broadcast in the UK. The BBC could easily have just applied to close the UK News Channel completely and not broadcast a linear TV news channel in the UK.

From my point of view they would have been better doing that, considering what they are doing with the channel anyway. I doubt I'll be heading to the channel for any UK based breaking news story in the future, I'll head to Sky or online for updates.

How is providing no service better than providing an international news channel?

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RE: chris - NickyBoy - 14-02-2023

(14-02-2023, 08:19 PM)chris Wrote:  

(14-02-2023, 08:12 PM)NickyBoy Wrote:  From my point of view they would have been better doing that, considering what they are doing with the channel anyway. I doubt I'll be heading to the channel for any UK based breaking news story in the future, I'll head to Sky or online for updates.

How is providing no service better than providing an international news channel?

Obviously we don't know what the service is going to be like until it launches, and how they will handle breaking UK news, but from the general opinion on here and in the media, domestic coverage is going to play very little part of the new channel, so it will be of very little interest to those, like me, looking for the latest on UK related stories predominantly. It was suggested earlier in the thread that viewing figures have collapsed for the late evening now that they have dropped the Papers, so if the general outcome of this is that no-one watches, and goes elsewhere for their news, then what's the point of it being there. 

As others have said, it's not a merger, they are replacing the UK News Channel with BBC World News.

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RE: chris - DTV - 14-02-2023

(14-02-2023, 08:36 PM)NickyBoy Wrote:  Obviously we don't know what the service is going to be like until it launches, and how they will handle breaking UK news, but from the general opinion on here and in the media, domestic coverage is going to play very little part of the new channel, so it will be of very little interest to those, like me, looking for the latest on UK related stories predominantly. It was suggested earlier in the thread that viewing figures have collapsed for the late evening now that they have dropped the Papers, so if the general outcome of this is that no-one watches, and goes elsewhere for their news, then what's the point of it being there. 

As others have said, it's not a merger, they are replacing the UK News Channel with BBC World News.

The idea that viewing figures for the channel are going to collapse significantly is one of the those 'inside the bubble' attitudes that is unlikely to be reflected in reality. Viewing figures for the former The Papers slots have fallen because they were one of the few appointment-to-view programmes on the channel (with direct competition) and have been replaced with typical back-half filler. Cutting The Papers was probably a mistake, but it shouldn't be taken as representative of the channel. As far as I'm aware, the simulcasts in the evening since 2015 have not negatively impacted viewership.

Is the merged channel ideal? No. Could the BBC be reasonably be doing more in terms of separate output? Yes. But will it be such a massive change as to it be reasonable for the BBC to have no news channel in the UK? No.

Fundamentally, all the major 'switch on the News channel' events are still going to be covered on the new channel. And in terms of the general hour, I'm more expecting a World/UK balance somewhere in the region of the current 10:00 hour. I could be wrong, but quite frankly I really don't think the BBC has the balls to do anything more radical (from the perspective of the UK viewer). Turness' recent comments about wanting more UK news on the channel have only solidified my expectation that the crappy compromise hour is the future.

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RE: BBC News Channel/BBC World News Merger - TheJarv - 14-02-2023

I've already started watching more SKY News lately

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RE: BBC News Channel/BBC World News Merger - DTV - 14-02-2023

(14-02-2023, 09:00 PM)TheJarv Wrote:  I've already started watching more SKY News lately

Surely SKY News is a few decades out of date?

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RE: BBC News Channel/BBC World News Merger - ViridianFan - 14-02-2023

I used to have the news channel on most of the day whilst sat at my computer, but I have to admit I am not putting it on as much. 

Like many others have said on here, listening to the odd bits of details which are coming out it does feel very much that the news channel is closing and being replaced by BBC world news. We won’t even see any of the presenters who are so familiar to us. 

I know we can’t judge until the channel launches and I am trying hard not to be negative but I don’t feel hopefully going by output currently.  There have been times when it has felt like a UK stories is literally a filler whilst world is on taking adverts. There have also been days where it’s felt disjointed with saying hello to world, by to world or the news channel. I worry it’s not going to meet the expectations of either audience. 

Finally as a UK viewer i have noticed a big reduction in the coverage of stories from across the UK which is why I have been a regular back in the days of News24 when I was a teenager. Currently there are some times it’s felt more like BBC World News America due to the amount stories coming out from America. 

I understand why it’s happening but it’s the first time I have felt as a viewer and supporter of the BBC that my needs as a consumer have been “dropped” in favour of trying to get another audience. Never liked changed, but that’s one of the joys of Asperger’s!

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RE: chris - Kojak - 15-02-2023

(14-02-2023, 09:00 PM)DTV Wrote:  

(14-02-2023, 08:36 PM)NickyBoy Wrote:  Obviously we don't know what the service is going to be like until it launches, and how they will handle breaking UK news, but from the general opinion on here and in the media, domestic coverage is going to play very little part of the new channel, so it will be of very little interest to those, like me, looking for the latest on UK related stories predominantly. It was suggested earlier in the thread that viewing figures have collapsed for the late evening now that they have dropped the Papers, so if the general outcome of this is that no-one watches, and goes elsewhere for their news, then what's the point of it being there. 

As others have said, it's not a merger, they are replacing the UK News Channel with BBC World News.

The idea that viewing figures for the channel are going to collapse significantly is one of the those 'inside the bubble' attitudes that is unlikely to be reflected in reality. Viewing figures for the former The Papers slots have fallen because they were one of the few appointment-to-view programmes on the channel (with direct competition) and have been replaced with typical back-half filler. Cutting The Papers was probably a mistake, but it shouldn't be taken as representative of the channel. As far as I'm aware, the simulcasts in the evening since 2015 have not negatively impacted viewership.

Is the merged channel ideal? No. Could the BBC be reasonably be doing more in terms of separate output? Yes. But will it be such a massive change as to it be reasonable for the BBC to have no news channel in the UK? No.

Fundamentally, all the major 'switch on the News channel' events are still going to be covered on the new channel. And in terms of the general hour, I'm more expecting a World/UK balance somewhere in the region of the current 10:00 hour. I could be wrong, but quite frankly I really don't think the BBC has the balls to do anything more radical (from the perspective of the UK viewer). Turness' recent comments about wanting more UK news on the channel have only solidified my expectation that the crappy compromise hour is the future.

Nail. On. Head. As for my views. Do I WANT this to be happening? God, no. It’s an absolute travesty that it’s even come to this. But we are we are. Dozens of millions of pounds worth of cuts have led to this. If a news channel absolutely MUST be cut, it should probably be 24. After all, we have the bulletins, Breakfast, Radio 4/5 Live and so forth. The rest of the world doesn’t have any of that - just BBC World. 

Though, that being the case, I do think we ought to get the full-fat World feed, rather than crappy halfway houses or constant opt outs just to shove a camera in the Five Live studio or repeat Newsnight. (Though - perhaps counterintuitively - I do think 1/6/10 should be simulcast WITH SIGN LANGUAGE, an important public service I’d argue is somewhat neglected by the Beeb). 

So - keep World (or News, as it will be known) for international coverage, and the network bulletins/radio/website for UK events. I think that’s about as good a compromise as we’d get.

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(14-02-2023, 09:05 PM)DTV Wrote:  

(14-02-2023, 09:00 PM)TheJarv Wrote:  I've already started watching more SKY News lately

Surely SKY News is a few decades out of date?

All the cool kids call it $ky News now. Or if you’re dead hip, Sly News. 

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RE: chris - Worzel - 15-02-2023

(15-02-2023, 12:33 AM)Kojak Wrote:  

(14-02-2023, 09:00 PM)DTV Wrote:  The idea that viewing figures for the channel are going to collapse significantly is one of the those 'inside the bubble' attitudes that is unlikely to be reflected in reality. Viewing figures for the former The Papers slots have fallen because they were one of the few appointment-to-view programmes on the channel (with direct competition) and have been replaced with typical back-half filler. Cutting The Papers was probably a mistake, but it shouldn't be taken as representative of the channel. As far as I'm aware, the simulcasts in the evening since 2015 have not negatively impacted viewership.

Is the merged channel ideal? No. Could the BBC be reasonably be doing more in terms of separate output? Yes. But will it be such a massive change as to it be reasonable for the BBC to have no news channel in the UK? No.

Fundamentally, all the major 'switch on the News channel' events are still going to be covered on the new channel. And in terms of the general hour, I'm more expecting a World/UK balance somewhere in the region of the current 10:00 hour. I could be wrong, but quite frankly I really don't think the BBC has the balls to do anything more radical (from the perspective of the UK viewer). Turness' recent comments about wanting more UK news on the channel have only solidified my expectation that the crappy compromise hour is the future.

Nail. On. Head. As for my views. Do I WANT this to be happening? God, no. It’s an absolute travesty that it’s even come to this. But we are we are. Dozens of millions of pounds worth of cuts have led to this. If a news channel absolutely MUST be cut, it should probably be 24. After all, we have the bulletins, Breakfast, Radio 4/5 Live and so forth. The rest of the world doesn’t have any of that - just BBC World. 

Though, that being the case, I do think we ought to get the full-fat World feed, rather than crappy halfway houses or constant opt outs just to shove a camera in the Five Live studio or repeat Newsnight. (Though - perhaps counterintuitively - I do think 1/6/10 should be simulcast WITH SIGN LANGUAGE, an important public service I’d argue is somewhat neglected by the Beeb). 

So - keep World (or News, as it will be known) for international coverage, and the network bulletins/radio/website for UK events. I think that’s about as good a compromise as we’d get.

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(14-02-2023, 09:05 PM)DTV Wrote:  Surely SKY News is a few decades out of date?

All the cool kids call it $ky News now. Or if you’re dead hip, Sly News. 

Not 'Old Sky Snooze' then...

Virgin viewers will remember that one!

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RE: BBC News Channel/BBC World News Merger - Radio_man - 15-02-2023

There's absolutely no reason for simulcasts on the new channel of anything other than the 1/6/10, other than for the BBC to be able to claim it's providing UK relevant content on the new channel.

No one will be tuning into this channel to watch Laura K, Newsnight, Politics Live, Breakfast, or whatever other BBC 1/2 politics or current affairs programs get simulcast or repeated on there. To watch something live they'll go to BBC 1 or 2, to watch later they'll go to iPlayer. I agree - just give us World News 24/7 and let domestic news coverage on BBC 1/2  and radio.

The idea to stick cameras in Nicky Campbell's radio studio, and claim that is 2 hours of UK only content every day, is just mad.

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RE: BBC News Channel/BBC World News Merger - London Lite - 15-02-2023

I don't think any of us who care about presentation wants this to happen, but if reducing UK specific content on the NC means we still have full network domestic bulletins and regional bulletins across the nations and regions, it's sadly the sacrifice the BBC have had to make to protect those most watched bulletins.

We're fortunate that Sky News will be able to fill the void left by the NC, but it gives viewers in the UK a choice between a largely international focused rolling news channel or a domestic news channel provided by the commercial sector.

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