BBC News Channel General Discussion

To be honest- does the title really matter? The news is the news still regardless on if it's called the news at ten at 10:05 or called "the bbc news" if it airs at 10:00- the content is still the same.
Maybe to stop any person complaining about "news at when" etc all tv news should drop the time reference in the titles and just call it "bbc news" "itv news" etc.
It not the end of the world if the number 10 does not appear in the titles at the start- it's only a number.
Nowadays people seem to get so angry that the news for some reason such as live sport or a drama moves the news by 5-15 minutes than usual. I'm sure I've seen plenty of clips on the net from 80s and 90s where the bbc clock introductions at odd times(not even on the 5 or 10 minutes) such as 10:17 news- as
Long as it's on at time in the schedules or it is announced the news will follow this thing...does it matter?
Isn't there more important things in life? I like TV pres but I don't throw a fit everytime a big massive number doesn't appear inside a virtual globe.

I think that is because, lets say football, which IMO is wayyyy down the line of importance compared to news. If a network creates a newscast at a specific time, it should only move seldomly, and sport is not a reason to move it. I agree that they shouldn't put the time in the name, if they aren't sticking to it, even if it is 4 times in 2 months, it has still moved.

The point is that if the BBC or ITV wish to show a football match, they don't usually get that much control over when kick-off will be. Even then, if it rolls into extra time the news will be pushed back, and neither network are going to go 'We'll leave the football there as we must get the News on at 22:00:00 exactly.' Ultimately, the News isn't moved very often, and I see no reason for them to drop the numeral because they changed the time 4/46 or so times.

Do you want permanent times, proper Weekend News and whatnot because you'd rather all news output become American and come from a studio with wooden desks and wooden everything, with a voiceover that goes 'From Studio E at BBC Broadcasting House, this is the BBC Weekend News with Kate Silverton, presented tonight by Maxine Mawhinney?' It was you that said American news studios and the like was better, wasn't it?

That's your opinion as someone interested in news. A sports fan would have a completely different take on it.....

You have to remember that the BBC is there to inform, education and entertain. I think there is plenty of excellent news output on the BBC during the week but that Saturday should rightly be more focused on entertainment - be that Strictly Come Dancing, drama, comedy or sport - with news taking a back seat. It's only one day out of the entire week, after all.

And in this day and age, arguably news is far more accessible away from BBC One and Two than a BBC-covered match would be, or the BBC's flagship highlights programme? I don't see a BBC Sports channel, for example.

I have seen this mentioned before, but an advert was just played after the News at Ten on the news channel advertising a program that was on at 9 o'clock when the time was 10:20.


Does this happen a lot?!

During the football season when Match of the Day is airing it usually airs at either 10pm or 10.10pm. BBC1 probably could fix the Saturday evening news to 10pm 80/90% of the time if they wanted too


Out of interest what titles are used at weekend lunchtimes now? The bulletins are fixed to 1pm now unless there is live sport and the Sunday lunchtime bulletin had a full headline sequence when I last watched a couple of weeks ago (wasn't paying much attention to the titles). No more 5 minute updates in the Sunday Politics, instead a full 15 minutes


Though it's interesting if you look elsewhere in the world, 30 minute bulletins often air as normal at weekends - e.g. the US, Canada, RTE in Ireland, Australia. There is some flexibility with times, but even then the 'default' slot is often the same as on weekdays.


Though with MOTD2 on BBC1 these days it happens a lot less than it used too

Although, how many of those international broadcasters have numerous ad breaks during their news bulletins, unlike the BBC? Even on weekdays you'd be lucky to get 20 minutes of news during a 30 minute slot on US networks. I think the BBC would struggle to fill a full 30 minutes without interruption at weekends - there just isn't enough important news on the average weekend to justify it.

This is what we refer to in the industry as 'a mistake' or 'cockup'. Someone in the gallery possibly said 'whoops'.

On the subject of weekend bulletins, I've never really understood the fuss about fixing their time. A fixed 10pm bulletin is always available on the News Channel for the news fans that want it and will also cater for the extra audience that might want a bulletin at times of major breaking news.

There's a large audience on a Saturday night for the big ticket shows just as there is for live sporting events and I would argue at these times there aren't millions of people demanding news. Having said that all are licence fee payers & the BBC has to strike the right balance.

This raises the other argument I suppose that a fixed 10pm bulletin is often disturbed by the national news starting at any time other than the top (or bottom) of the hour. It works very well now at lunchtimes because the flow of the NC bulletin isn't really disturbed (especially as there is no presenter change). Obviously viewer figures are a lot, lot lower for the NC so it doesn't take precedence but it is a bit silly.

Managing to get the bulletin to stick to 10pm probably wouldn't be so difficult. I think the early evening poses a problem as it really is subject to sporting fixtures and the big name shows that happen on Saturday nights. Even if they got the presenter to do the whole hour or half hour, it would probably interrupt the flow less than Riz, Kate or whoever appearing for 10 minutes in the middle of an hour...

Sorry to prompt such a major debate! I only mentioned it because it seemed unusual for a bulletin at 10pm to have the generic titles when it's a time the news goes out on other days that's all. I thought it was a convention that the BBC Weekend News changed name depending on the broadcast time.

ABC in Australia would have no ads, but everyone else on the list would. RTE and CBC are carrying ads despite being public broadcasters. And obviously you then have the commercial stations in those markets.

Does PBS in America have ads on TV?