[all new phil]

they are taking the Mickey and masquerading the simulcasts as high quality Uk content.

They are doing the best they can with the diminished budget they’ve got.

[Radio_man]

Whilst there are 3 presenter slots this doesn’t necessarily mean there are 3 gallery teams or floor managers or that those slots could be extended to allow one of them to move to a fixed UK opt.

I'm not suggesting that 9am - 12pm is a fixed UK opt out program. I'm suggesting that the current 9am - 12pm slot on the international channel is instead turned into a UK focussed program for both World and UK viewers.
We've been told consistently on here that UK time mornings are not a peak time period in any major market around the world for the international channel, so why not put out a UK focussed news program on both the international channel and the UK stream on weekday mornings? Hence my suggestion of branding it "UK Today" so international viewers will know they are getting a specifically UK focussed program at that time.

And yes, bring in one of the former UK channel presenters to anchor it.

[qwerty123]

I'm not suggesting that 9am - 12pm is a fixed UK opt out program. I'm suggesting that the current 9am - 12pm slot on the international channel is instead turned into a UK focussed program for both World and UK viewers.
We've been told consistently on here that UK time mornings are not a peak time period in any major market around the world for the international channel, so why not put out a UK focussed news program on both the international channel and the UK stream on weekday mornings? Hence my suggestion of branding it "UK Today" so international viewers will know they are getting a specifically UK focussed program at that time.

And yes, bring in one of the former UK channel presenters to anchor it.

Presumably the whole reason those particular presenters are not on air is because they are not willing to work the hours that are required by the new channel* (at least at the rate of pay that is being offered) and simply changing one slot to focus on UK News would do nothing to change that situation so even if they did decided to brand the 9-12 slot UK Today it would be fronted by the current rotation of presenters rather than those who used to present on the UK channel (which incidentally Karin Gionnone for example did not in any case).
* yes I realise this is an over simplification of the situation but the reality is the editorial decision of the channel to focus on international news are not the reason they are off air.

[Brekkie]

If BBC News don't add programmes for the election I hope at least Nicky Campbell is reworked for the period more with simulcasting on TV and radio in mind.

[LargelyALurker]

The channel is rarely, if ever, mentioned on domestic bulletins now as somewhere to go for more news & analysis.

I suspect that it’s part of the move away from linear TV more generally - the push will inevitably be towards the BBC News app, website, streams (on the app/website and iPlayer) and perhaps even podcasts and 5Live on Sounds. 

Much like the Red Button, the News Channel feels like a legacy service now - part of the future 15 years ago, but overtaken by changing technology and media consumption habits.

[interestednovice]

I don’t mean any offence when I say this, so please don’t think I’m directing my comments as a personal critique, but so often we hear this and it “seems like” the right answer/correct line of thinking. I am imagining the “very good”, “very strong”, “legacy service, bravo” W1A comments in my head already.

People who are saying this, in my view, fundamentally misunderstand what the news channel is for. It is the place to go to immediately understand breaking news. When a story breaks, the webpage article is a simple stub and social media is full of rampant “unverified” (did you see what I did there?!) speculation. Neither are good sources for explaining the story. Whereas the news channel, at least in theory, immediately picks up the story - and puts it in context, explains what we know, covers the reaction and provides you with a simple way to find out what you want to know. The rest of the time, it is a basic “low effort” affair of rolling news, live interviews and reports. This shouldn’t cost too much for a broadcaster the size of the BBC, frankly.

It’s good, even if news is not breaking, as a way to watch up-to-date news at any time of day and as an easy way to hear about a range of major stories. It’s very passive and simple for the viewer. This means the channel is ideal for public displays, which further helps the BBC provide the essential PSB service of informative journalism to all.

The BBC NC also provides a ready feed for BBC One to crash into at short notice for very serious breaking news.

Other supposed “legacy” services have a direct replacement - the BBC Red Button has ad hoc drop-in iPlayer live streams for events, etc. The BBC News Channel has no equivalent or equal. As I say, social media is a very poor equivalent. The BBC’s own website is fine but cannot be updated quicker than people can speak (the speed of the channel, which normally goes live to breaking news if it can). A video carousel of reports is no replacement for the channel.

People high up in the BBC basically don’t realise why viewers want a news channel, and that’s where the difficulty lies.

[James2001]

Noticed they've sorted out the frame rate on the hostage cam, when did that happen?

[interestednovice]

They are doing the best they can with the diminished budget they’ve got.

I’m sorry, but they are not at all.

It’s actually cost money to set up the “hostage screens area” and other modifications which were not strictly necessary.

And if the World feed is in Studio C, it wouldn’t be impossible to use Studio E for an opt even if it had to be a locked-off shot only driven by a single director - it wouldn’t take any more resources than opt-outs do now. Vice versa if World feed is using E. Again, it’s actually cost money to adapt the weather balcony area only for the “look” of authenticity by being in the newsroom. It’s unprofessional and amateurish, and there’s a perfectly good studio merely feet away.

And, again, “upgrading” a 5 Live Studio for “visualised radio” has cost money - totally wasted when they could simply broadcast the World feed at that time for a better service. A radio phone-in is not a rolling news programme.

The BBC have taken the public for fools. We pay for the channel outright, nobody else does, yet we only get to see half of it and our service is sub-par.

I haven’t kept fully up to date with this thread lately, but the fact is that the new channel launched as and remains an absolute joke.

[DTV]

I’m sorry, but they are not at all.

It’s actually cost money to set up the “hostage screens area” and other modifications which were not strictly necessary.

This is true, if 'costing money' was a single interchangeable unit. All those modifications have cost an amount of money, but, in TV budgeting terms, we're talking pennies and nowhere comparable to the savings that have been made elsewhere.

And, again, “upgrading” a 5 Live Studio for “visualised radio” has cost money - totally wasted when they could simply broadcast the World feed at that time for a better service. A radio phone-in is not a rolling news programme.

It's not a rolling news programme, but nor really is the rest of the schedule - rightly or wrongly, it isn't that kind of channel anymore. I wouldn't have picked a visualised Nicky Campbell, but I do think it is singled out unfairly when it isn't particularly any different in spirit to The Context and large parts of the The Daily Global and Washington overnights.

[interestednovice]

It’s ridiculous, the Uk feed it’s full on red graphics all the time, too many simulcasts and the Uk opt is just a presenter on a stool stood in front of a tv screen and Nicky Campbell, at least on the world feed you get those nice chameleon trailers(who does the pres on the global feed), no Nicky Campbell but proper news, and on the half hour programmes they show a nice transparent bbc news logo with no ticker, the Uk licence fee viewers have got it bad with bbc news Uk, they are taking the Mickey and masquerading the simulcasts as high quality Uk content.

Indeed, they should have been honest with viewers from the start. Autocue operators and behind the scenes technical staff and journalists should not have been axed.

If they couldn’t afford a proper UK opt, then they shouldn’t have done it. They should have admitted to Ofcom that they were closing the BBC News Channel, kept BBC World News pretty much as it was and broadcast that in the UK. The “World News” name would be a clear differentiator signalling that the channel was a global feed. In quarter-past-the-hour breaks, they could have done “UK News in Brief” headlines much as Newsday used to do. This would be infinitely more useful to viewers than the “Across the UK” repackaged local reports - valuable naturally UK-only time should cover the top UK stories of the day and not random regional human interest stories.

Separately, basic feeds covering UK rolling stories could have been made available via iPlayer, the BBC News website and app. I would call this channel “BBC News Breaking” and this would basically be equivalent to opts now but using a real studio.

I would have kept radio and any NBH newsroom revamps away from the plans. No “visualised radio”, no non-news content aside from established weekend Click, Travel Show, Hardtalk, etc factual programmes. No simulcast domestic bulletins - straight World feed instead.

If budgets couldn’t cover this, cut elsewhere. It’s often brought up that there’s some kind of “compact” with viewers that they get “stuff they want to see” (entertainment; Eastenders etc) and also “stuff they should be shown”. I reject that thinking entirely. Just go like PBS and refocus on true exclusively “nobody else will do it” PSB content and leave entertainment for others. That would preserve news at the cost of things like Match of the Day. You could get the same programme elsewhere (probably ITV) and it would make no difference. No other broadcaster will step in to provide news in an equivalent way.