[ViridianFan]

It’s shown that no one really watches the news channel except for us tv pres enthusiasts otherwise the complaints would have already flooded in.

It's not really that nobody watches the channel, it's just that what people watch it for is the news from the BBC and they've continued to get the news from the BBC - for domestic viewers, with almost exactly the same editorial balance as before. There's no real reason for them to complain.

Post-April, they'll still be getting the news from the BBC - just with (I'd hope) a stronger lean towards international news. And, given what we've seen in the 10:00 hour and interim periods, there's still likely going to be a fairly large amount of UK news, plus you have the special opt-out for UK-specific breaking news. Ultimately, the news events that get people to switch on the channel will still be covered, general hours will be fairly similar to now - the casual viewer probably won't even particularly notice the change.

I think the change has been so gradual in a way that most won’t notice. There was the sudden change when the lockdowns started and it’s never go back. If there had still been things like afternoon live etc and that all suddenly stopped then i think more people would have taken notice and spoken up more. As has been mentioned many times before, most people probably aren’t as aware of all the ins and outs as there’s never been announced a full plan. It’s come out bit by bit. 

Also we haven’t as of yet had any of those events eg a storm, heavy snow or flooding which UK viewers have come to get used to wall to wall coverage which may or may not be the case.

 It will also be when stories are being reported on other outlets which the NC would have covered but isn’t covered on the new channel and isn’t important enough for an opt out. It’s also going to be when regional stories which the NC would have covered get ignored, especially if it appears London Centric. 

That’s when you’ll get complaints when what the UK viewer has come to expect isn’t met or if the opt out isn’t to a standard UK viewers are used to. 

Of course we don’t know what any of this will be like until it happens and even then it’s going to need time to settle in. It does all depend on what gets an opt out and way doesn’t and how they work. I am intrigued to see what happens