[DTV]

I think you've also misunderstood the bit about regional content - the channel currently features slots that have a lot of regional packages showcased to a national audience - regional stories that deserve a wider airing. This sort of thing is going with the new merged channel.

The contribution of regional teams to the news channels is something that I was actually thinking about the other day. A large part of the merger is driven by the need to cut the presentation and production staff bill at Broadcasting House. But the BBC has fifteen presentation and production teams dotted around the country that aren't on air for much of the day. So why not have an hour or two a day presented from one of the regional studios. If you did it on a rota*, it wouldn't be particularly disruptive to existing operations and you could have a mid-afternoon or mid-evening slot that blended national headlines, highlights from the regions and a focus on that region. You could call it BBC News from <Leeds, Salford, Cardiff, etc.>.

This would allow for more domestic coverage on the channel, a showcase of regional news teams/output and utilise the fact that the BBC are the only news channel with news teams across the country. Additionally, if mixed with the News at One presenter doing a few hours of rolling news coverage, it would result in only a slight reduction in non-simulcast hours compared to now, while not incurring any significant extra staffing costs compared to the initial proposals. I'm sure that there might be a few hurdles, but with all regions being upgraded to HD/modern playout tech it's more feasible than it would have been a few years ago.

* I would do Scotland/Wales/NI one day a week each (allow for coverage of devolved issues), with the other two days rotating between English regions.