[Transmission]

There is no clock on the UK feed of BBC News at the moment. Has that happened only since today?

Was missing throughout the opt-out over the last few hours. It's back now they've returned to the main output.

[thePineapple]

I quite like the titles - or what we have seen of them! I don't get why there's not even any branding on the catwalk or screens during the wide shot - just the globe. I think that's the least they can do to emphasise the brands. Music would be nice too, and a genuine discernible point to each of the strands would be better still!

Like others, I am a bit disappointed, but on reflection the output hasn't got any worse, we've just got some more pretty pictures to look at when they feel like showing them to us.

[Brekkie]

Just zero care and attention put into the branding of these new strands - just sums up how unloved the news channel is now.

That BBC News Now sting would be embarrassing as a fanmade video, never mind on air on the BBC. And even relying on the Lowe soundtrack they could have achieved something much better.

The countdowns are still excellently put together - a shame that doesn't extend to the programme graphics.

[DTV]

Branding wise, what more is there to say? The animations are alright, but the underlying designs are just so basic and seem a bit ‘concept sketch to be finessed upon’. I like flat design, but this is the kind of bare depth-lacking stuff that can give it a bad name.

But ultimately, as others have touched on, it is just clearly a case of branding for the sake of it – Newsroom Live all over again. These programmes aren’t really any different to as they were last week when they used the stronger, core brand. Giving them weaker identities, with limited individual purpose, just makes the channel’s output more diffuse for no gain. I’m by no means opposed to branded programming, but there has to be a justification and I just don’t see it here. 

It really doesn’t help that a lot of the ‘selling points’ of the programmes just aren’t that true. News Now might be faster paced than some of the others, but a) the slot already was and b) it's not a particularly fast-paced news programme. Stressing that just seems to be an attempt to allay criticism of the slowed pace in recent years. Similarly, Verified Live doesn’t really spend much more time ‘verifying’ than the other slots. As I said previously, such a focus would work as a regular, branded segment or even a shorter programme, but naming a whole three-hour block after such a small part of it means you are a) mistargeting those interested in news verification and b) potentially putting off those who just want the news.

As a last minor point, I think the continued references to ‘three hours of’ are also misplaced. Very few people are actually going to sit down and watch a whole three-hour block of news channel – it seems very odd to highlight that, it just sounds alienatingly long.

[AaronLancs]

Who is the newsreader in Studio J for this coverage? I am not familiar with her on the BBC?

Just shimmied back on BBC iPlayer. The presenter is Tanya Beckett. She's best known for in the UK at least as a presenter on Working Lunch and most notably BBC Breakfast in addition to stints on the then 05:00 launch editions of The World Today. For BBC World News she originated Talking Business and fronted the monthly television version of the documentary strand Witness.

[harshy]

Ros Aitkins verify piece is very struttery like it’s being played from a little web server.

This channel is just a joke a massive opportunity absolutely thrown away they just don’t care.

[Worzel]

Ros Aitkins verify piece is very struttery like it’s  being played from a little web server.

This channel is just a joke a massive opportunity absolutely thrown away they just don’t care.

That piece seemed to suffer from the same frame rate issues that the newsroom camera points suffered from. I'm all for standing up presentation, but presenting in front of 3 oddly positioned screens with some of the information blurry or cut off looked a bit poor to be honest. They're also portrait and television pictures are shot in landscape so you never actually see the full screens in shot. It just looks awkward.

If they're going to do this sort of thing, I'd rather see Ros actually walking around talking to journalists or staff in the newsroom itself, showing how they go about verifying footage, how the news comes in to the BBC etc and the processes involved.

I think there are people who care, unfortunately the ones rolling it out are not the decision makers or those controlling the purse strings.

[harshy]

Focus on Africa a proper branded programme and the programme strap is back, titles not chameleonised though so it’s out of sync, the channel is so messy no cohesion, no thought really as to the delivery of the output, it’s not even a half hearted approach which is why it’s really disappointing.

If I was working for bbc verify surely this wasn’t intended as a launchpad about what they are about.

[Daveuk]

Ros Aitkins verify piece is very struttery like it’s  being played from a little web server.

This channel is just a joke a massive opportunity absolutely thrown away they just don’t care.

That piece seemed to suffer from the same frame rate issues that the newsroom camera points suffered from. I'm all for standing up presentation, but presenting in front of 3 oddly positioned screens with some of the information blurry or cut off looked a bit poor to be honest. They're also portrait and television pictures are shot in landscape so you never actually see the full screens in shot. It just looks awkward.

If they're going to do this sort of thing, I'd rather see Ros actually walking around talking to journalists or staff in the newsroom itself, showing how they go about verifying footage, how the news comes in to the BBC etc and the processes involved.

if only that has some unused screens within the studio that would allow for some conversation between the presenter and the verify team. 🤦🏼‍♂️ 🤷‍♂️

[ginnyfan]

The launch day of these new branded slots is so important that 2 out of 3 main presenters did not show up to do theirs.

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For those who missed the amazing new looks!

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