BBC News Channel/BBC World News Merger - Printable Version

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

(15-02-2023, 06:13 PM)bakamann Wrote:  Had it already been decided which would be the main studio of the new "BBC News" channel, specifically Studio C or Studio E?

There's speculation that they might be refurbishing studio A at the moment. It's not been used by Newswatch the past couple weeks. Additionally, it's apparently the same size as C.

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Newshound47 - Newshound47 - 15-02-2023

(15-02-2023, 12:21 PM)Radiodog Wrote:  You have to remember that Radio 5 Live does cover breaking news so if the channel is going to be be carrying his radio show ( with pictures !) you would expect them still to cover this story and the press conference. I am guessing this might give radio journalists more exposure during these hours.

Through not 24/7. It would have to be a massive story for Five Life to cut away from live sport for rolling coverage. And if it’s massive story it will be likely be world news worthy.

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

(15-02-2023, 09:35 PM)Keith Wrote:  

(15-02-2023, 06:13 PM)bakamann Wrote:  Had it already been decided which would be the main studio of the new "BBC News" channel, specifically Studio C or Studio E?

There's speculation that they might be refurbishing studio A at the moment. It's not been used by Newswatch the past couple weeks. Additionally, it's apparently the same size as C.

Physically, A is an exact mirror image of C, though they are obviously kitted out very differently. But given we haven't seen A on air for only a few weeks and the launch is pencilled in for April, it seems unlikely (given the 8 months Studio B's reconstruction took) that they are decommissioning A's VR set-up and installing a new physical set in that time. Aside from its disappearance being unrelated technical work, I can think of three plausible explanations for what is going on with A:

- It is being used for pilotting the new channel.
- It is being prepped to be used for the UK breaking news team on the new channel.
- It is being prepped for being used as a temporary set while the new channel's main studio is refurbished.

If it is either of the latter two, I sincerely hope that A's VR engine is being upgraded. Having seen that temporary VR set that BBC Sport used for about a week, I will be fuming if we are subjected to another VR set of the same quality as we've had since 2012.

In terms of what will be the new channel's main studio, we don't know yet. My preference would certainly be E, purely because you'd be crazy to give up that backdrop. But the monoliths/towers have been such a focal point of the new set style and they'll be a little bit limited in E.

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RE: BBC News Channel/BBC World News Merger - qwerty123 - 15-02-2023

(15-02-2023, 10:20 PM)DTV Wrote:  

(15-02-2023, 09:35 PM)Keith Wrote:  There's speculation that they might be refurbishing studio A at the moment. It's not been used by Newswatch the past couple weeks. Additionally, it's apparently the same size as C.

Physically, A is an exact mirror image of C, though they are obviously kitted out very differently. But given we haven't seen A on air for only a few weeks and the launch is pencilled in for April, it seems unlikely (given the 8 months Studio B's reconstruction took) that they are decommissioning A's VR set-up and installing a new physical set in that time. Aside from its disappearance being unrelated technical work, I can think of three plausible explanations for what is going on with A:

- It is being used for pilotting the new channel.
- It is being prepped to be used for the UK breaking news team on the new channel.
- It is being prepped for being used as a temporary set while the new channel's main studio is refurbished.

If it is either of the latter two, I sincerely hope that A's VR engine is being upgraded. Having seen that temporary VR set that BBC Sport used for about a week, I will be fuming if we are subjected to another VR set of the same quality as we've had since 2012.

In terms of what will be the new channel's main studio, we don't know yet. My preference would certainly be E, purely because you'd be crazy to give up that backdrop. But the monoliths/towers have been such a focal point of the new set style and they'll be a little bit limited in E.

I don’t think it’s realistic that they would spend the levels of money that would be required to be spent on the levels of work that would involve the studio being out of bounds for several weeks on a studio that will be mothballed in the next couple of months so I expect that it’s either that A features in the plans for the new channel or that it has already been retired as part of the cutbacks prior to the merger.
Obviously that doesn’t mean that the long term plan is for A to be the main studio, as you point out it could also be the case that A is used for UK opts or as a temporary set whilst either C or E is refurbished- in fact in many ways it would suit that latter role rather well being as though the VR could be updated to be on brand with the current look much cheaper than a physical temporary set could be produced allowing the channel to look visibly different immediately at launch whilst allowing them to use E in the longer term if the physical newsroom view is the preferred option.

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RE: BBC News Channel/BBC World News Merger - itsrobert - 16-02-2023

(15-02-2023, 11:56 AM)DTV Wrote:  

(15-02-2023, 11:34 AM)ginnyfan Wrote:  I think some here don't quite understand how World works. UK news, including politics, was always important and big news on BBC World

I'm not sure this is particularly true. They have always had some UK news programmes on weekends and had a lot of UK originated pre-records during the early days, but for a long time were always particularly keen to avoid being parochial in general news programming, though of course this depended to a degree on time slots. Where UK news did appear on an average day, it was generally in terms of 'and finally' pieces, business (owing to London's status as a global financial centre) and sport (particularly things like the Premier League). For a long time, a hard news UK story had to be genuinely internationally relevant to get on the running order. UK politics has only creeped in more since 2015 - particularly in Euro Evening and US early evening programmes like Outside Source and 100 Days.

Actually, ginnyfan is correct. I had a satellite dish installed in 2002 and was a regular viewer of BBC World back then. They would pretty regularly cover British politics and economics and not just internationally relevant stories. I seem to recall Gary O'Donoghue was BBC World's dedicated UK political correspondent around that time and would quite regularly feature on the channel. I remember them covering the Hutton Inquiry quite heavily. BBC World was quite a strange beast that definitely catered, at least to some degree, to British expats as well as foreign viewers. It was only later on that British news seemed to be relegated in favour of news stories from other countries.

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RE: BBC News Channel/BBC World News Merger - DTV - 16-02-2023

(16-02-2023, 07:42 PM)itsrobert Wrote:  They would pretty regularly cover British politics and economics and not just internationally relevant stories. I seem to recall Gary O'Donoghue was BBC World's dedicated UK political correspondent around that time and would quite regularly feature on the channel. I remember them covering the Hutton Inquiry quite heavily. BBC World was quite a strange beast that definitely catered, at least to some degree, to British expats as well as foreign viewers.

I feel we're talking at cross purposes with regards to what is regular on a news channel. I don't disagree that BBC World would cover UK politics stories and to a greater degree than other international broadcasters, but I would not view UK politics as a feature of the average bulletin from that era. I also would not recall it being as common or as granular as it is today in programmes like Outside Source, though, of course, there was always a slight variance in terms of timeslots back then as well. I'm also not sure I'd classify the Hutton Inquiry as being particularly UK-only, especially not considering the huge amount of coverage that the channel devoted to the Iraq War.

(16-02-2023, 07:42 PM)itsrobert Wrote:  It was only later on that British news seemed to be relegated in favour of news stories from other countries.

I don't think it's entirely a coincidence that this is when the channel became successful.

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RE: BBC News Channel/BBC World News Merger - Worzel - 16-02-2023

Since everyone's playing studio guessing games...

I reckon the new channel will launch in A, with a VR set that will mirror what they eventually do in (likely) studio E.

Then when the channel moves to E, following its upgrades, A becomes the UK opt-out studio. A VR studio must be cheaper to run as you only have the presenter desk as the main physical part of the set. There's no other objects like catwalk screens etc and would surely be quicker to put on the air?

I'm sure someone on here or elsewhere said that A's gallery had been recently updated at some point?

Anyway, for what it's worth, that's what I'd do.

If they do go with studio A, even for launch, I hope as others have said, it's VR is on a par with what BBC Sport have or Sky News Arabia... https://youtu.be/ExBR1cbMm-s 

Here's a virtual tour of studio A...

https://youtu.be/QHCm-bY5L8g 

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harshy - harshy - 16-02-2023

(16-02-2023, 07:42 PM)itsrobert Wrote:  

(15-02-2023, 11:56 AM)DTV Wrote:  I'm not sure this is particularly true. They have always had some UK news programmes on weekends and had a lot of UK originated pre-records during the early days, but for a long time were always particularly keen to avoid being parochial in general news programming, though of course this depended to a degree on time slots. Where UK news did appear on an average day, it was generally in terms of 'and finally' pieces, business (owing to London's status as a global financial centre) and sport (particularly things like the Premier League). For a long time, a hard news UK story had to be genuinely internationally relevant to get on the running order. UK politics has only creeped in more since 2015 - particularly in Euro Evening and US early evening programmes like Outside Source and 100 Days.

Actually, ginnyfan is correct. I had a satellite dish installed in 2002 and was a regular viewer of BBC World back then. They would pretty regularly cover British politics and economics and not just internationally relevant stories. I seem to recall Gary O'Donoghue was BBC World's dedicated UK political correspondent around that time and would quite regularly feature on the channel. I remember them covering the Hutton Inquiry quite heavily. BBC World was quite a strange beast that definitely catered, at least to some degree, to British expats as well as foreign viewers. It was only later on that British news seemed to be relegated in favour of news stories from other countries.

I think I installed mine as early as 2000 bbc world did cover Uk political stuff but well down the pecking order and it was always unusual to see the British prime minister captioned as well which was Tony Blair at the time, it was strange it felt very arms length back then and were allowed to do it’s own thing and had better presentation then news 24 at the time.

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RE: BBC News Channel/BBC World News Merger - Kojak - 16-02-2023

(16-02-2023, 07:42 PM)itsrobert Wrote:  It was only later on that British news seemed to be relegated in favour of news stories from other countries.

Would that have been around 2006/7? I believe the official launch in the USA led (somewhat gradually?) to a move away from British stories, almost as if they were trying to hide the fact it was a British channel.

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RE: BBC News Channel/BBC World News Merger - DTV - 16-02-2023

(16-02-2023, 09:07 PM)Kojak Wrote:  Would that have been around 2006/7? I believe the official launch in the USA led (somewhat gradually?) to a move away from British stories, almost as if they were trying to hide the fact it was a British channel.

I believe BBC World was available in parts of the US from the late-90s - IIRC, it had a place on local cable in certain urban areas and various PBS stations simulcast BBC World at certain times of the day. But 2006 was when the channel gained full-time nationwide cable coverage for the first time, with the original Alagiah (12:00 UKT) edition of WNT being launched in July 2006 as a US Breakfast programme.

The influx of US advertising revenues did have a huge impact on the channel - not least turning it profitable for the first time and allowing extra investment in news programming. Extra US-targetted programming was launched in late-2007 with World News America (then at 00:00) serving as an evening newscast for the East Coast and the overnight edition of WNT (at 03:00 and double-headed with Philippa Thomas in Washington) serving as an evening programming for West Coast and late-night programme for East Coast.

I don't think the BBC have ever tried to hide the fact they are a British channel, particularly not with regard to the American audience - World News America's lead presenter has always been British. I think it was more of a case of having your output suit your audience. While there has always been a case for covering certain British stories, fundamentally BBC World News' two key audiences are a) general news source for English-speaking Commonwealth and b) high-end news channel for English-speaking professionals and you have to focus on what is relevant to them - hence why you do get a shifting news agenda throughout the day as the 'prime' times in different regions come and go.

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