[qwerty123]

The technology is not “there” for staff to be axed. Now that presenters have to operate their own autocue, the visual variety of the channel is sorely lacking as they cannot easily move around nor can they switch between cameras in the way they used to.

Other cutbacks have also had an impact, with stories repeated more due to fewer reports being produced and gallery staff cut so presentation has become more basic (compounding the autocue issue) leading to problems such as a restricted ability to accommodate in-studio guests.

Very simple iPlayer streams (live press conferences, etc, perhaps not covered directly on the merged channel) would be virtually free as they should only need one producer to put to air, which is why a I suggested it.

When I said “newsroom revamp”, I meant the needless extra screens and adaptations to the weather balcony - it’s not a full revamp, I agree, but it’s money spent on alterations that didn’t have to be and hasn’t improved content for the viewer.

To put it bluntly news channels don’t need visual variety within the studio and there has never been much variety at times of major breaking news. The new presentation point in the newsroom may have had a slight cost to get to air (although I’m not convinced those screens aren’t repurposed screens that have seen previous use) but almost certainly saves money in the long run by reducing the need to go on location or produce full packaged reports on elements of a story.