[lookoutwales]

In any case, The Nine, the late RepScot bulletin and Sportscene all went out as planned live from Pacific Quay last night.

I imagine the 'buddy' system between the nations would have come into use if they had to evacuate at the Beeb, as well?

[Stooky Bill]

In any case, The Nine, the late RepScot bulletin and Sportscene all went out as planned live from Pacific Quay last night.

I imagine the 'buddy' system between the nations would have come into use if they had to evacuate at the Beeb, as well

Possibly, though only for BBC1. The other TV channels I suspect could just run by themselves assuming the live events such as news were taken out.

Would have been a bigger issue for the BBC, they have 3 TV channels and one radio station coming out of their building

[Orry Verducci]

Surprising they don't have their own DR back up at another site but the arrangement seems to have worked pretty well last night. Presumably nowadays too - especially post-covid - their playout could probably done remotely if needed anyway.

As I mentioned in my previous post they can operate playout remotely, and do use it to allow home working.

Given STV remained on air after the evacuation it's probably a fair assumption it was put in to use.

They will have DR arrangements (presumably involving ITV) but this wasn't the sort of disaster that would require them to be brought into use. If everything's powered and working and can be used remotely then there's no need 

As I mentioned previously the DR arrangement is to put ITV1 to air. Given the appearance of ITV1 after the news it looks like they put this in action. I would suspect this was done for operational ease given that they couldn't go ahead with their planned programming.

As to why they don't have their own DR, I would hazard a guess they've done that as a cost saving. Usually this would be essential for a major broadcaster, but in STV's case it doesn't really make sense when they have ITV1 airing the same programmes most the time. So it makes sense to use ITV1 as DR rather than going to the huge expense of setting up a second playout operation.

[Spencer]

Do we know which ITV1 region they use for DR? Is it London, as the ‘default’ ITV1, or Border Scotland which would make more sense geographically and politically?

[lookoutwales]

Do we know which ITV1 region they use for DR? Is it London, as the ‘default’ ITV1, or Border Scotland which would make more sense geographically and politically?

Don't think it would have been Border Scotland - they opt out for their own local political programme, Representing Border, after the late regional news from Tuesday - Thursday.

[Brekkie]

Don't think it would have been Border Scotland - they opt out for their own local political programme, Representing Border, after the late regional news from Tuesday - Thursday.

Surprising ITV haven't found a way out of that yet.

[Stooky Bill]

As to why they don't have their own DR, I would hazard a guess they've done that as a cost saving. Usually this would be essential for a major broadcaster, but in STV's case it doesn't really make sense when they have ITV1 airing the same programmes most the time. So it makes sense to use ITV1 as DR rather than going to the huge expense of setting up a second playout operation.

There's two things getting a bit mixed up - DR and broadcast continuity. 

Last night wasn't a disaster, everything stayed powered and running. People left the building for a while and the only problem was continuing broadcasting. Which they did, with a combination of their existing automation, the ability of their staff to remotely access that automation, and the provision of a sister channel to be used instead. Looks like it all went to plan, textbook broadcast continuity.

If the worst had happened and the building had been badly damaged or rendered unusable then that's where disaster recovery plans kicks in. That's more than just what happens to the TV service, it's potentially everything to do with the company - from backups of data to relocating staff. 

STV, like any broadcaster will have both. Obviously I don't know what would happen to STV the channel in a DR scenario but my guess would be ITV providing the channel and one of their other studios doing the news. There'll be a range of options and scenarios planned for

[BlueFrog]

Do we know which ITV1 region they use for DR? Is it London, as the ‘default’ ITV1, or Border Scotland which would make more sense geographically and politically?

I don't know if this was the same for the main STV, but as far as I know STV+1 was broadcasting ITV Granada for a little bit.
It had a messy handover. The STV News bulletin wasn't even finished yet and it cut from that into the Granada weather with James Wright.

[Steve in Pudsey]

I've seen the clips on BlueFrog's YouTube channel that somebody linked to elsewhere, I'm not clear whether STV were managing to play out adverts or if they were filling the breaks with trailers, other than the ITV adverts that went out after Granada appeared on STV+1? I guess for a commercial broadcaster, business continuity needs to include the adverts as much as the programmes

[Orry Verducci]

There's two things getting a bit mixed up - DR and broadcast continuity. 

Last night wasn't a disaster, everything stayed powered and running. People left the building for a while and the only problem was continuing broadcasting. Which they did, with a combination of their existing automation, the ability of their staff to remotely access that automation, and the provision of a sister channel to be used instead. Looks like it all went to plan, textbook broadcast continuity.

If the worst had happened and the building had been badly damaged or rendered unusable then that's where disaster recovery plans kicks in. That's more than just what happens to the TV service, it's potentially everything to do with the company - from backups of data to relocating staff. 

STV, like any broadcaster will have both. Obviously I don't know what would happen to STV the channel in a DR scenario but my guess would be ITV providing the channel and one of their other studios doing the news. There'll be a range of options and scenarios planned for

You raise a valid point, but as someone who's worked with both ITV Pres and STV TX and has some knowledge of their DR arrangements, I can tell you it looks very much like they put the DR plan in to action last night.

As much as STV is dependant on ITV, they are fiercely independent and proudly STV. They really do not like broadcasting with ITV1 branding and continuity (except breakfast which is ITV's air time). Cutting output to ITV1 is a last resort saved when they have no other good options (the DR plan).

Also you say like all broadcasters they will have plans for both, but the norm these days is for a single DR plan to cover any eventuality that prohibits transmission from the normal playout facility, even if the alternative feed is going to air through the normal facility (i.e. ITV1 via Pacific Quay TX). That ranges from the minor and brief (fire alarm, power cut, major playout system crashes, etc) to actual disasters (à la the Red Bee incident).

Plans for business continuity are for continuing broadcast from the normal facility when there are technical and operational challanges, which are things like having backup (guard) feeds for live contributions, duplicated and redundant playout, emergency programming, etc.