[Radio_man]

It seems to have all gone quiet on the merger front. Has the merger been rubber stamped and is it definitely happening next April?

What about the studio that will be used - are we likely to see the NC vacate studio E in January to allow a revamp of it to take place, ready for the newly merged channel?

In many respects it's already happened by stealth. After 7pm weekdays and large parts of the weekend are already simulcast. Having the News Channel and World News using the same name would formalise this. I guess how much of the rest would then be shared or UK opt-outs may be still subject to some change.

Essentially, there's no reason why the new channel couldn't launch with the current set-up. A core UK only service Monday - Friday, 9am - 6pm from E, with World keeping it's branded weekday daytime programming from C or D. 
Then the two channels join together in the evenings and all weekend.
Re-name World as BBC News - job done. 
With the current set-up, you just about manage to satisfy both World and NC viewers. But as has been said, I suspect the two channels are being formally merged because even more cost savings are needed and there's now nothing left to cut on either channel.