[LDN]

I got a notification from the BBC News app a couple of hours ago encouraging me to "follow live" as Donald Trump appears in court. I jumped online to see if I could watch proceedings live, and was delighted to find a dedicated 'Donald Trump Takes the Stand in New York Fraud Trial' iPlayer stream. www.bbc.co.uk  

BBC iPlayer - Donald Trump Takes the Stand in New York Fraud Trial
Former US president Donald Trump attends the Organization civil fraud trial in N…
  Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Notably, the stream is using slightly different, and considerably smaller, lower-thirds compared with the main BBC News channel: 
ibb.co 

bbc-news-stream-graphics hosted at ImgBB — ImgBB
Image bbc-news-stream-graphics hosted in ImgBB
  Source: ibb.co

Frankly, they still look absolutely dreadful in plain all-red -- but at least they take up less room on the screen. 

Also -- miraculously -- the text in the LIVE and location bugs is properly aligned! 
i.ibb.co 

But what's truly remarkable is the fact that the stream has shown absolutely nothing of Trump's appearance in court. Instead, we've been treated to a static outside shot of the courthouse, and occasionally, we get to see some people milling around outside the entrance to the courtroom too. 
ibb.co 

bbc-news-trump-corridor hosted at ImgBB — ImgBB
Image bbc-news-trump-corridor hosted in ImgBB
  Source: ibb.co

And then, at random, and for no obvious reason, we're then shown endless loops of the BBC News bumper. 
ibb.co 

bbc-news-eternal-loop-of-neverending-nothing hosted at ImgBB — ImgBB
Image bbc-news-eternal-loop-of-neverending-nothing hosted in ImgBB
  Source: ibb.co

At a couple of points, the stream suddenly crashed into the middle of Verified Live without warning, to simulcast a couple of minutes of on-air coverage related to the Trump trial, before the stream then crashed back out to show viewers another three million loops of the logo bumper, and then it's back to looking at the outside of the courthouse again.

The stream has been up for nearly four hours now, and during that time, has shown a grand total of around 15 minutes of actual content related to the story.

I realise this is 'just' an online stream and not the broadcast channel, but how can this 'coverage' be viewed as anything less than utterly worthless? Who on earth is this stream supposed to satisfy? 

How can anyone at BBC News possibly believe that this rolling dreck is of any use to even a single viewer?

[thePineapple]

They do this sort of thing quite a lot - for example with Israel/Gaza where they'll broadcast the main channel when it's covering the relevant story, then when it's not, it just shows a live video feed. I agree that in this case it's annoying because the story hasn't been covered much, but generally it works fairly well I think. Another thing to note is that the stream is probably designed to be seen in context with the live page - which provides written notes underneath. www.bbc.co.uk 

Donald Trump fraud trial live updates: Former president takes the stand - BBC Ne…
"This is not a political rally," Donald Trump is told as he testifies …
  Source: www.bbc.co.uk

[PATV Scunthorpe]

I have seen recently Tweets and the like talking about a 'News on iPlayer' team.

[TVfan23]

They're definitely struggling for newsreaders today. Ben Brown has done the One, Six and now the Ten. I personally don't ever recall seeing anyone present all three in one day? Certainly doesn't happen often either way...

[interestednovice]

Did Gavin Grey do it once during a strike, or am I misremembering?

[Rolling News]

I’m sure I read somewhere once on the old TV Forum that Michael Buerk once alternated a whole two weeks worth of BBC One bulletins in the late 1980s with one other newsreader (can’t remember who) during a summer.

[interestednovice]

I’m sure I read somewhere once on the old TV Forum that Michael Buerk once alternated a whole two weeks worth of BBC One bulletins in the late 1980s with one other newsreader (can’t remember who) during a summer.

I think it was Peter Sissons. 

At the time, Buerk and Sissons were the two senior newsreaders and the arrangement was that they would work out the shifts amongst themselves. Buerk was apparently relaxed about it, so Sissons took a two week holiday and he covered it all and appeared every single day for the entire 14 days. Obviously, they normally arranged things in a more even manner!

I believe it was only the 9/10pm news though, not every BBC One bulletin!

[JamesWorldNews]

There was also a two week period during the 80’s when Nicholas Witchell and Michael Buerk covered the entire roster.

Michael Buerk did the One.

Nicholas and Michael did the Six, Nick leading.

Michael and Nicholas did the Nine, Michael leading.

Jan Leeming did the weekends.

I recall at the end of the first Friday thinking “that was really a marathon”, only for the entire scene to be played out the following week again.

[Chud]

Good seeing some new faces for the State opening of Parliament. Ben Thompson has done the lead up, now it’s Nicky Campbell with Tina Daheley too.

[alfiejmulcahy]

This state opening broadcast has been incredibly high quality. Very impressed with Nicky Campbell's commentary and Tina has been excellent in central lobby - excellent mix for the main panel as well and that room they use each year is just lovely. Such a contrast to the news channel.