BBC World 'April' breakfiller

Think you will have a long wait for widescreen and stereo on World.

Widescreen. Yes, news operate in a widescreen environment and therefore all their output is generated as 16:9 FHA (16F16). BBC World operates as a 4:3 (12F12) channel, so therefore all material that goes through World pres is in a 4:3 aspect ratio. The feed of World news studio and N24 is ARC'd (aspect ratio converted) to 14:9 letterbox (14L12) before it reaches the pres suite. This has always happened, and there has never been any form of widescreen switching on Worlds output (suggest you check your telly Ison!). There have been occasions when programmes have been delivered to pres in the wrong aspect ratio but so close to TX that there hasn't been opportunity to get it converted (World pres does not have an ARC to do this live, and getting circuits up to get it ARC'd live takes time to set up) and has gone out as 16F16.

Stereo sound. Well, it's a news channel. Does it really matter? The cost and limited appeal of a stereo news channel really blow the argument of going stereo out the water . Technically it would be difficult as World's signal is bounced around so many satellites, analogue sound could easily drift out of phase or other major timing discrepancies between the two legs of audio. Digital or SIS (sound in sync) would rely on all head ends to have appropriate decoding equipment, again expensive. Mono is far easier, and after all, news is generally mono apart from branding and junction items.

I know World is a news channel, but if that's the case then BBC News 24 ought to be mono too!

Anyway when precisely is the new breakfiller coming andyrew?

To the nearest second.......? lol. Don't know. Kit is currently being installed. Very soon I suspect.

Don't think you quite understand the point about World being mono. The BBC has little or no control of the signal path once it leaves TVC. To ensure that the signal arrives at all the different destinations intact it is far easier to transmit in mono, which is far more robust than a stero signal. No doubt the cost of enabling a stereo signal reach all the viewers without error would be very huge. Particularly as the service has no real need to be stereo. It's news.

The UK television networks are set up to broadcast stereo signals to a defined standard that broadcasters and UK domestic appliance manufacturers subscribe to. The signal paths to analouge/ DTT/DSAT within the UK are known and easily monitored/controlled. Therefore, it's just as easy to TX N24 as stereo as it is mono.

OK, I see your point andyrew!

Back to the breakfiller. Does anyone think that it would be good on News 24? Now, I have been thinking about this.

Top of the hour

*57 weather (1 min only); promos; breakfiller; countdown (10 seconds); ident; headline bed; titles; 'hello'

and when they are short of time,

weather (1 min only); breakfiller (even if it is only a few seconds); countdown; ident; headline bed etc....

Or maybe drop the breakfiller - go to ident or countdown if time is sparce.

Then at *30, when they have World News or programmes, they could show the breakfiller with the headlines for 1m30, then the ident, then when the programme comes to a 'break', go back to the breakfiller with the headlines then opt back in.

Consistency and would look good - make News 24 not look like World's poor relation!

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