[DTV]

It's a bit ridiculous, even more so when you consider that this is something that has been supposedly planned for at least a year. I don't want to go full 'armchair editor', but I really feel that I could have come up with a better set of editorial rules for how the running order on the merged channel should work in an afternoon on the back of an envelope. What on Earth have the executives been doing for a year?

And yes, this is an 'interim' service and presumably (we hope) things will work better once the full merged service is launched in April. But this week has been so inconsistent and, at times, like this afternoon and evening, downright baffling. I don't want to impinge anybody's professional judgement, but I just don't understand how any news editor could think this is a suitable lead story for an international news channel.

But the most bizarre thing is, the two channels have had some simulcasts since the second day of BBC News 24 and, for a long time, were very good at striking an appropriate balance during those simulcasts. Which just makes it all the more amazing that seemingly no rules have been set out on how this should all work.