(25-08-2022, 05:02 PM)eyeTV Wrote: Kind of poor to use the simulcast bulletins on BBC One as examples of their 'many hours of UK only content on the UK feed'.
It is, but I just have such a hard time believing that'll be what we end up with. There are just too many wholly reasonable ways for them to provide several additional hours of UK-only content while still meeting their proposed level of cuts.
I mean, let's say the following:
- The BBC News at One presenter stays on to provide a few hours of afternoon rolling news (possibly 13:00-16:00).
- The BBC News at Six and Ten presenters both do an hour on the channel (12:00-13:00, 16:00-17:00).
- The PM programme is visualised (17:00-18:00).
- Regional news centres could, on rotation, produce an evening national/regional review hour (20:00-21:00).
None of these would require any significant additional staffing or costs relative to the initial proposals or are outlandish, yet all taken together would keep the UK-only output at roughly the same level as it has been since 2015. And this is without including the ill-defined domestic 'opt-out' abilities (which is another issue entirely). Even with just one or two options taken, there are clear ways to avoid the inevitably disastrous clash of merging afternoons.
While it is not unheard of for BBC management to make questionable decisions, I just can't believe they can't see the room to allow for better UK-only coverage within their existing plans, let alone a compromise plan. This is why I assume it has to be some form of negotiating position. Maybe I'm wrong, but the options are there.