London Live

Surely this kind of thing already exists, though? The petrol station at the end of my road where I pop in for milk has a screen which shows news and travel headlines, and the rest of the time it shows adverts. Of course there are also the Sky News-supplied big screens in major railway stations. Surely it's easy enough to do this kind of thing yourself with a few RSS feeds. And why wouldn't you do it yourself, because you can sell your own advertising on it and make money from it? You don't need a channel to do it for you.

Also, I think the appetite for this kind of thing is rather overstated. I get the tube every day and I try and be in front of my telly when BBC London does the tube status (and I can rewind my PVR if I miss it), but I only need to see it once. I don't need to keep seeing it. It barely changes over the course of the morning and if it does I follow my line on Twitter and can look at the TFL website when I want to do it. It might have been of value a decade or so ago, less so now. The weather is another one. What else do you desperately need to know that local telly can tell you? It could tell me if the paper shop has run out of Guardians. It can remind me it's bin day. That's what I actually need to know.

I always find BBC London news at breakfast quite entertaining in the way it races through the headlines to get straight to the travel news - quite rightly as well, as breakfast TV news is under-resourced press release guff in most parts of the country, and this is the key stuff people care about.

If there is a market for this type of programming, then sadly I suspect it'll get less and less as the years go on. Because, as has already been pointed out, Twitter and other social media is taking that role over. I've been in gyms that show the status of the Tube lines. Radio is key for traffic news. If anything, people are going to consult TV less for this as the years go by, rather than more.

I still don't hold to the idea that this is ever going to bring in a huge, untapped audience of people who watch stuff that's ticking along quietly in the background. However, alternative option - could London Live run normal programming in a Sky Sports News-esque box and overlay the other information like those displays in garages do? I'm guessing there would still be a cost to that though, and I'm quite sure after emptying their wallets down a bin when they started it London Live is trying to save every penny it can.

In all honesty, the first thing I do is check the TfL website and National Rail Enquiries before work. The only time I then hear what's happening on the roads is when I'm out and then have the radio on.

The kitchen telly is on when I prepare breakfast, but it's only on for a few minutes and I just catch the heads on Breakfast or Sunrise. Rarely do I catch the BBC London bulletin.

Ultimately, the regional opt-out is far more important outside London, and especially in the nations. And herein we revert back to the problem of trying to be local for London.

I don't think it bothered Londoners that much. The BBC didn't even bother for many years, not until the 80s when the South East regional news unit was at Lime Grove, then to Elstree.

As a kid, my parents just watched the early evening Thames News and that was it and nobody batted an eyelid at weekends when LWT didn't bother until 1988. In those days, my family were more interested in the prime-time entertainment than if there was a fire in Leyton.

You know, that's what I thought LL would have done for breakfast at the very least. The Tube status bars are a graphic gift (and have been widely adapted for use elsewhere). But it's all what ifs, now, isn't it?



I thought that, too - that Sky Network Rail service started with the BBC about a decade or so ago, predating most smartphones.

Smart TV can probably do all that for you now - your local rail departure board and bin collection timetables together with BBC Breakfast!

Reminds me of Vanessa Baffoe and her little travel and weather cabin which was soon dumped. "Spinny wheel!"

Although they did eventually realise that if they used a large screen in the main studio it'd be a lot better. But in the end her role on the breakfast show was axed for a presenter read with a full screen graphic.

That's the thing though, that won't be independently owned and someone will have sold them that service, it actually shows the demand from this kind of thing for business is there. Many other businesses including pubs will show the service I'm proposing. And it's not just independents that will use the service it will be used across the city by many Wetherspoons (and the like), banks and offices. Freeview channel 7 is important and the accessibly to all businesses.


I agree it has less value than it would have a decade ago, but channel 7 on Freeview to local broadcasters didn't exist then. I think your more tech savy inclined to use your PVR then most and the fact is if it's on the screen all the time you wouldn't need to use your PVR. Many will find the usage of the PVR a waste of time in the morning.


You're just being fatuous here and it doesn't change the fact I think the idea would be financially worthwhile and rewarding for the operators if they're prepared to take the risk.

Again as many in this conversation, you're talking about you personally and not looking at whether in the population there are enough people to sustain the output proposed.

Lets not forget this kind of service exists in Paris.

Difficult to imagine any paper shop running out of Guardians.

Surprisingly on Monday, when I was trying to find an iPaper, a newsagent only had copies of The Times!

Don't forget that there is data from Rajar that supports the fact that more people use national services over local in London. Even if you look at regional news BARB figures for BBC1 for example this week, 3m watched the numerous regional bulletins nationally at 1830. Split that among the regions and it's not that much.