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You make a very good point, DTV.

Out of the programmes you’ve cited there, for example, the geographical spread effectively creates a need for extra studio space and staffing. Breakfast, originally, would likely have been planned to come from the original Studio B in NBH. The soft side of the set, where Impact was presented from, would have looked great set up for Breakfast. Studio B was the spiritual successor to TC7 which housed both Newsnight and Breakfast at TV Centre. Even now, in the new Studio B, the set could probably be altered to host a sofa-based Breakfast in a similar way to the manner in which they alter the set for Laura K’s show.

Sports news programming, leaving aside Sport department-produced standalone programmes such as Match of the Day, could easily be accommodated at NBH. Sportsday could simply use a news studio and short sports updates could be presented either from the desk or catwalk within existing studios in a similar manner to business programming. Short updates clearly don’t need a dedicated studio and crew.

I’m sure 5 Live could easily fit in too, especially given that they do on occasion use London-based studios anyway.

The idea that programming should be based outside of London for the sake of it is a waste of money, as others have said. London is the UK’s capital city, it makes sense to have your news department based there. There are economies of scale, working efficiencies and benefits to collaboration (evident both on-screen and off) from having everything all in one place. This was the vision of NBH as intended, and why the BBC invested billions in producing the combined newsroom functions.

Before it was even finished, this vision was eroded and compromised for political reasons. It was simply unnecessary. Breakfast has come from a glorified cupboard for over a decade as a result, and the BBC have spent a fortune shuttling presenters back and forth to Salford. There was also a huge bill for relocation packages which wouldn’t have been needed if they stayed in London. Every single day, weather is presented down the line instead of in-studio because weather is still based in London. Given the programme is about having “the team” sat around the sofa together, this is jarring and presentationally poor. And it’s not genuinely created any jobs in the North either.

Now, under Tim Davie, whole news departments have randomly been moved across the UK to different regional bases for similar political reasons. It is absolutely not creating value for money for the LF payer and is a total waste of effort for no gain whatsoever.

And, by the way, I say all of this as someone who lives outside of London myself.

I’d argue that ABC being very decentralised reflects Australia in general.

While Canberra is the capital city, Sydney is the most significant media base for most broadcasters. Australia in general has the vast majority of the population concentrated in/around 5 major cities across the country. It also has several time zones. Catering to all of this means it may make sense to make extensive use of bases across the country.

News in Australia is also very different, generally. The country is quite parochial. Apart from most having a bit of interest in British affairs, due to our long historical connections, most Australians really don’t care very much about international news. In fact, they primarily care about regional/local news and this gets higher viewing figures than national news programmes. Their “news diet” is therefore different and the way ABC produce news reflects that.

I’d argue we are in the opposite position. The country is physically, geographically small so is only one time zone. London is a traditional capital city, where pretty much every company would have it’s UK HQ. Other news, whether political, the arts or whatever, really tends to originate from London. It therefore makes huge sense to have a centralised news department there.

Salford should have a basic North West Tonight/Today operation like every other region, at low cost. Breakfast should come from London, and the News at One should also. The idea of having part of the same team produce both is more an argument for Breakfast to return to London than for the One to move to Salford.

Why is having things randomly not in London regarded as a “Good Thing” when it creates inefficiencies, costs more and results in little difference to the viewer (often arguably a downgrade)?

In fact, at a time of such cuts in news at the BBC, cuts which are severely affecting the quality of output, how can such extravagance possibly be justified?

The argument that all news should come from London because ‘it’s the centre of the planet’ etc etc is hilarious. The legendary Jean Pierre Pernaut of France fought religiously against exactly the same bias at TF1. His almost pathological obsession with better regional representation on the 1pm news resulted in outstanding viewing figures and a sense for viewers in the regions that the afternoon news was ‘their’ news. Yes, the show generally broadcast from Paris, but it routinely featured OBs and reports from greater France. I remember being in a Provençal town and seeing a huge poster with his face on it celebrating that he’d literally just hosted a show there the previous year and handed the town a prize for their excellent local market! They were THAT proud of such a small achievement and it had a huge impact for them being seen nationally on screen.

Broadcasting from outside London is a no brainer. Of course, I agree that the sporadic and often token act of individual shows and teams suddenly being shuffled off to a regional city is pointless box ticking, but if it’s done right it can be a great success. I’d argue that 5Live and Breakfast have worked well. Newsbeat from Brum and tech from Glasgow have had no real positive or negative impact. (The loss of Rory Cellan-Jones isn’t that big a deal. He was pretty much at retirement age and making a lot of money doing the after dinner work and writing books. I know this because I booked him for a gig recently!) 

In summary, don’t be THAT person who thinks the other animals should be starved  to feed the London bull. Representation is important if the BBC is to survive.