[DTV]

I think that's the issue with it being a combined channel - there seems to be a tug-of-war as to whether (and which) international or domestic stories get priority. Though I'd argue that the husband of the de-facto leader of the Scottish independence movement being arrested could have been a big story worldwide (although he was later released without charge). So quite how they are deciding which stories go where in the running order is a bit beyond me. You'd think the SNP story would be the sort of thing the breakout stream was made for - but presumably there was no one there to do it, as they would have perhaps been preparing for the blood verdict later?

I wouldn't be surprised, though, if there was an element about the peculiarities of the case that explain why it didn't get higher priority. Scotland has very strict contempt laws (that start after the arrest) and limited information was available other than the police statements (the second of which didn't appear until the evening). Should probably have been higher on the running order, but I can see why you wouldn't give it rolling news coverage - just not much to say and not the kind of thing where you want reporters ad libbing for ages.

On the point of a partial reversal - there is scope for some extra UK output if they wanted it, but I think I'd rather they got things like the editorial balance settled and operational issues fixed before they even considered going down that route. The same really with launching any branded programmes - though, the Hockings/Amroliwala/Hakim slots do appear to be somewhat 'shadow' branded programmes already. Get the basics right, then start looking at bigger changes.

For me, I think finding a structure for the average hour that works is one of the key solutions to the editorial question marks that have existed so far. There is a lot of variation between slots (and even between hours within slots), some of which are too slowly paced which makes it harder to include a range of stories - including key UK ones. It also doesn't help that what is happening in the back-halves - whether UK-focussed, or including business and/or sport is irregular and only signposted in a few instances. I think a tighter more uniform format throughout the day - not dissimilar to late-2000s WNT or the old NC - would improve things and allow more stories to get featured, including domestic ones.