[DTV]

The number of people of people in the UK watching BBC News at midnight is incredibly low, we're talking a few 10,000s. Newsday/the slot is semi-targeted towards the Asia-Pacific region, where they have actual extreme weather events on a fairly regular basis. Given how slow the channel is these days, they don't need to spend a third of each edition of a programme barely being watched in the UK supplanting actual world news with a forecast of which bins are going to get knocked over.

There are times when the channel has made the wrong calls with UK news, but I find it hard to see this as one of them.

[Radio_man]

The number of people of people in the UK watching BBC News at midnight is incredibly low, we're talking a few 10,000s. Newsday/the slot is semi-targeted towards the Asia-Pacific region, where they have actual extreme weather events on a fairly regular basis. Given how slow the channel is these days, they don't need to spend a third of each edition of a programme barely being watched in the UK supplanting actual world news with a forecast of which bins are going to get knocked over.

There are times when the channel has made the wrong calls with UK news, but I find it hard to see this as one of them.

And meanwhile this morning they over over-doing the weather by having a UK opt that is rolling with the weather and nothing else.........

[Brekkie]

I get that argument but even in the domestic British bulletins we get lengthy coverage of US weather events so although this is just a bit of wind in comparison it probably warrants a bit more courtesy to the domestic audience.

As for ratings I suspect the midnight news channel figure is probably almost in single figures but once the BBC1 simulcast kicks in I'm guessing that outside the network bulletins simulcast and any noteable breaking news events that there might be more eyeballs on News Channel content in the UK than during waking hours?

[Universal_r]

The BBC also had a strap on display during the 11am hour saying “Storm Isha: Red warning in place in parts of Scotland” which of course was incorrect with the red warning expiring at 5am. You think they’d be able to get the facts right considering it is the only story they were covering on the UK feed this morning.

[Andrew]

The BBC also had a strap on display during the 11am hour saying “Storm Isha: Red warning in place in parts of Scotland” which of course was incorrect with the red warning expiring at 5am. You think they’d be able to get the facts right considering it is the only story they were covering on the UK feed this morning.

“Storm Isha: it’s been and gone” would get less attention and less viewers/clicks

[interestednovice]

That may seem to make sense, but it's not that long ago (well, before the slow merger of BBC World News & the News Channel) that you would see very little UK news on BBC World News.

In fact you would regularly see more UK news on CNN International than BBC World News. And vice versa when it comes to US News. Always seemed quite odd.

All of that’s true, although it is very odd.

Personally, I’m not saying to spend a third of the bulletin on it, or even have a full report, but I do believe it’s incumbent on the BBC to give a brief mention. That’s in recognition of the Asia & US focus of overnights, but proportionate coverage given the broadcaster.

Even more so given that overnights are simulcast on BBC One.

[newsdesk]

All of that’s true, although it is very odd.

Personally, I’m not saying to spend a third of the bulletin on it, or even have a full report, but I do believe it’s incumbent on the BBC to give a brief mention. That’s in recognition of the Asia & US focus of overnights, but proportionate coverage given the broadcaster.

Even more so given that overnights are simulcast on BBC One.

In regards to giving it a brief mention, they did do that during the 00:00 edition of Newsday (see the end of this clip archive.org ).

Newsday : BBCNEWS : January 22, 2024 12:00am-12:31am GMT : Free Borrow & Str…
Live from Singapore, the latest international news from the BBC. [S]
  Source: archive.org

Perhaps putting that brief mention before the segment about it would've been better rather than it being tacked onto the end, though I think it's proportionate considering Newsday's focus as a programme on the Asia-Pacific region.

[harshy]

I put it on Sky News and it was in the right order Uk storm news first then stuff happening in US, the thing is the bbc news channel as it now will be internationally focused first before the uk stuff, best Just to watch network news as that is domestic audience first.

[robrymond]

The frustrating thing about things like a storm is that Stav Danos at the end of the Ten said 'stayed tuned to the forecast'. What is the point when the web bulletin is updated around 11pm and never again until breakfast and the TV version is a pre-record on the news channel.

We know there is an overnight weather presenter because they were tweeting periodically (though perhaps not as much as you expect) but why can't they take the time to insert additional live broadcasts even if the channel is international. The Met Office are just as bad, no recorded information through the night.

[all new phil]

The frustrating thing about things like a storm is that Stav Danos at the end of the Ten said 'stayed tuned to the forecast'. What is the point when the web bulletin is updated around 11pm and never again until breakfast and the TV version is a pre-record on the news channel.

We know there is an overnight weather presenter because they were tweeting periodically (though perhaps not as much as you expect) but why can't they take the time to insert additional live broadcasts even if the channel is international. The Met Office are just as bad, no recorded information through the night.

Were there any developments missed? They broadly know what the weather will do and forecast accordingly. What difference would additional live bulletins have made apart from “yep, still windy”?

Not being facetious, I just think sometimes we think we need something that we don’t actually need or would use.