[Humphrey Hacker]

Did that ever happen? BSB's news bulletins were just a newsreader and static captions from what I've seen, no moving footage whatsoever.

 ISTR that bulletins were outsourced.

[nwtv2003]

The Sports Channel did have its own actual sports news bulletins by the name of Sportsdesk, which was more of a programme than BSB News. Think a bit more like Sky Sports Centre from the latter half of the 1990s. Very little of it remains online unfortunately (TV Ark had a couple of clips when they were active) so it’s hard to establish whether they used footage from the BBC, ITV or the likes.

[lookoutwales]

ISTR that bulletins were outsourced.

Crown Communications, then-owners of (the original) LBC, produced BSB News.

There's a bit of PR blurb that Transdiffusion published recently that boasted about being 'TV's most comprehensive service' and being produced by 'the same team that brings IRN news to independent local radio' - which it was (some IRN / LBC staff also popped up on the summaries) but to describe it as comprehensive is a bit rich.

transdiffusion.org 

BSB – Britain’s new revolutionary television network - Technology - Transd…
Cable TV invites you to get the new BSB
  Source: transdiffusion.org

Crown also produced a number of other programmes for BSB - can't remember who produced Sportsdesk but it's probably fair to say most, if not all, of BSB's original output was contracted out elsewhere.

[Humphrey Hacker]

Crown Communications, then-owners of (the original) LBC, produced BSB News.

There's a bit of PR blurb that Transdiffusion published recently that boasted about being 'TV's most comprehensive service' and being produced by 'the same team that brings IRN news to independent local radio' - which it was (some IRN / LBC staff also popped up on the summaries) but to describe it as comprehensive is a bit rich.

transdiffusion.org 

Crown also produced a number of other programmes for BSB - can't remember who produced Sportsdesk but it's probably fair to say most, if not all, of BSB's original output was contracted out elsewhere.

Crown Communications. Didn't they have something to do with Freeview?

[lookoutwales]

Crown Communications. Didn't they have something to do with Freeview?

AFAIK, that was a separate company - Crown Castle Communications, which was part of the launch consortium at Freeview.

This 'Crown Communications' was born out of Darling Downs Television* in Australia, which bought out LBC in 1987, moved the station to Hammersmith and then, split it into two services - the Radio 4-esque Crown FM (which died a quick death and soon became LBC Newstalk) and the populist London Talkback Radio on AM.

Crown went into receivership in 1993 and LBC was sold to an investment firm headed by the infamous (ex-Dame) Shirley Porter. Months later, LBC lost its franchise.

Come to think of it, one of Crown's other productions for BSB was the last programme to go out on Now - 'Weather Permitting', co-presented by Steve Allen and featuring LBC's long-serving weatherman Philip Eden.

rewind.thetvroom.com 

Now continuity followed by Sky News top-of-the-hour (1st December 1990) - Rewind
The 1am Now junction.
  Source: rewind.thetvroom.com

* Regional TV station based out of Toowoomba, Queensland - went onto buy the Network Ten station in Brisbane, along with a couple of other regional licences.

[James2001]

Rewind also have a clip of the final ever BSB News bulletin- there's actually a crowd of people behind the window in the studio here, when it's normally deserted.

rewind.thetvroom.com 

Now continuity followed by BSB News (final edition) (30th November 1990) - Rewin…
A late-night Now junction.
  Source: rewind.thetvroom.com

[Stuart]

Rewind also have a clip of the final ever BSB News bulletin- there's actually a crowd of people behind the window in the studio here, when it's normally deserted.
rewind.thetvroom.com 

That's a lovely find James2001.

Perhaps the people behind were having a leaving party.

[Humphrey Hacker]

That's a lovely find James2001.

Perhaps the people behind were having a leaving party. 

There must have been a hell of a lot of devastated people when BSB closed. They probably thought that they had jobs for life and I doubt many were taken on by Sky.

I can't help but think of a parallel some 6-7 years later when the BBC attempted to launch a news channel on an Arabian service called Orbit. Due to various political pressures the channel collapsed after about 18 months and while many of the staff found jobs with Al-Jazeera there must have been an equal amount of heartbreak

[Neil Jones]

There must have been a hell of a lot of devastated people when BSB closed. They probably thought that they had jobs for life and I doubt many were taken on by Sky.

I can't help but think of a parallel some 6-7 years later when the BBC attempted to launch a news channel on an Arabian service called Orbit. Due to various political pressures the channel collapsed after about 18 months and while many of the staff found jobs with Al-Jazeera there must have been an equal amount of heartbreak

Strange thing to say.
Anybody who works at a job and sticks it out for months will be upset when it gets pulled for whatever reason (the story of Wilko is the obvious example here) as you stick your own mark on things. If somebody isn't upset when they go then either they aren't human or something's happened that makes you glad to go (any compassionate person would at least play the "sorry I'm leaving" card, even if they aren't).

A previous job I held onto for nearly 13 years, got a bit of promotion along the way and redundancy came along. Was I happy about that? No, course I wasn't (if i was 68 and due to retire anyway, maybe I would have been, but retirement isn't an option at 36 so...). Was I upset about leaving? Yes, but the writing was on the wall so it wasn't a total surprise to me. Sometimes you can see these things coming. Anyway I found another work opportunity six months later and I'm still there six years later.

Job for life hasn't been a thing for years since long before BSB, I'm already on my fourth career job as it is, and I'm half expecting to change again (by choice or otherwise) at least twice before I get to retire.

[WillPS]

I think there were question marks about BSB's viability long before it launched; it was far from a dead cert even before Murdoch turned up all guns blazing. Like the engineers who moved from the BBC to the new ITV companies in the early days, there was certainly an element of risk inherent in what they did (as there is with anyone taking a new job).