[Brekkie]

But the purpose of holding on that final shot shot is to give the regions a chance to opt out cleanly, while also providing a sustaining feed for any regions that fail to opt for whatever reason.

Your suggestion would require you to wait for a similar amount of time before playing the sting in, or playing the sting to just the London region - but then what do you do for regions that fail to opt?

I don't think the pause is that big an issue to be honest. I'd much rather have it and have the local presenters pick up directly from the national pres.

It's about good presentation - something lacking a bit at BBC News in recent years.   And the sequence should be planned on everything going right rather than the possibility a region fails to opt out.   If BBC London is the sustaining feed it's not like the presenter doesn't start the London bulletin until a region that fails to opt out sorts itself out.

Now they have the brief ad break it's no longer a factor but ITV London just using the ITV News endcap between the end of their bulletin and the start of the Evening News made all the difference into switching from one to the other without a harsh cut.