[DTV]

Having caught up with the overnights, I have to say I hope the increased levels of panel discussions are one of those relaunch gimmicks that ends very quickly. Fine, have The Context, but keep it contained and don't start exporting its format to news programming across the schedule.

What I want from BBC News is a simple factual-account, clearly explained, of what has happened around the world and the UK. That's what both BBC News channels did very well for many years - news, business and sport every hour. So why, now both channels have merged - particularly in this day-and-age, are news reports being sidelined in favour of more opinions? Why am I losing out on more stories so that we can hear some pundit's views on what they think has happened? It's not exactly like opinion-based content is in short supply elsewhere.

Given the slots this content seems to appear most in, I assume it's partly an attempt to go after the US market - but even then the success the BBC have had in America is based on the fact they actually deliver world news straight without the many crappy qualities of US news networks.