BBC News (UK)

[joshuanesbit]

There’s no presentation gallery for the news channel - it goes straight to air from whatever gallery is required. The network is switched between galleries during the course of the day.

The “bulletin feed” is a separate output from Studio E which has its own viz engine for lower thirds. Essentially it’s the same as what’s routed to news channel but without the flipper and logo.

The two second early vision at the start of network bulletins (and BBC World News bulletins) allows for BBC One presentation to get in cleanly and for BBC World’s partner broadcasters to do the same.

Thank you for this. How do they switch between galleries on the news channel cleanly? is this automated? also, is there a sort of 'hierarchy' where, perhaps E, has priority over the 'master' and can override another gallery to air. For example, in case Studio C is also on air at the same time if that makes sense?

[joshuanesbit]

Chris Mason's live hit into the Six was from the Millbank newsroom with a very wide depth of field blurring the background. It certainly looked like it was live rather than a background on a screen/CSO. Haven't seen that for a long time.

Just had a look for it on iPlayer - the background is definitely live, as the bottom left monitor in the background is showing the Six (with a seven second delay).

It does feel a little bit too defocused - it's blurrier than the BH newsroom as seen from studio E. I'm guessing last night's occasional torrential rain ruled out use of the balcony or one of the regular DTL positions.

it's interesting how the TVs in the BBC Millbank newsroom have a 7 second delay, yet when you watch live hits from the Sky newsroom, and you see Beth Rigby speaking, there is probably a two second delay. Could this be because it's an 'internal' output at sky and they're receiving a fibre link from Osterley to the screens?

[Frances]

Thank you, Frances. Why does the studio that the countdown is run from make a difference to how easy it is for the network to opt in?

As far as I know, network runs the One, Six and Ten bulletins via a specific feed, which normally carries the Studio E output without the DOG and flipper, it’s different from the News Channel distribution feed.

In the pre-COVID era, 5pm was BBC News at Five from Studio C and 9pm was Outside Source from Studio A gallery, so the countdown before the Six and the Ten could be played by those studios, the News Channel then switched to Studio E as the clock hit the top of the hour, at the same time BBC One joined the bulletin feed. Here’s the timeline:

17:00:00 Studio C goes on air with BBC News at Five
17:56:xx Studio C runs Weather, trailers & countdown
18:00:00 BBC News at Six begins via Studio E, meanwhile BBC One opt in the bulletin feed

21:00:00 Studio A goes on air with Outside Source
21:56:xx Studio A runs Weather, trailers & countdown
22:00:00 BBC News at Ten begins via Studio E, meanwhile BBC One opt in the bulletin feed

As deejay mentioned before, the special staff arrangement under COVID has caused a side effect, that means the countdowns before the Six and Ten have to be played by Studio E. So they need to cut from the countdown to the presenter before BBC One joining the studio. The timeline is now:

17:00:00 Studio E runs BBC News
17:56:xx Studio E runs Weather, trailers & countdown
17:59:58 Studio E runs BBC News at Six
18:00:00 BBC One opt in the bulletin feed

21:00:00 Studio C goes on air with BBC News with Katty and Christian
21:56:xx Studio C runs Weather (sometimes trailers)
21:58:30 Studio E goes on air with the countdown
21:59:58 Studio E runs BBC News at Ten
22:00:00 BBC One opt in the bulletin feed

I don’t know why do they run the countdown via E instead of C but I guess it’s for a World News America opt in for BBC World News. That could be spotted at the first two seconds of the Ten on the News Channel:



In a nutshell, the countdown normally ends two seconds before the scheduled time to make sure BBC One (and the other simulcast channels like BBC Two and World) can get a clean opt in, otherwise 1/2/World might crash into the last few frames of the countdown. Here’s an example.

[video=https://up.metropol247.co.uk/052021/1621475024_1938801518.mp4]

this is really interesting, thank you! Could you just clarify what you mean by 'bulletin feed' '?

Also as you mentioned, in the pre-covid era, news channel would start News at Six as soon as the clock hit TOTH, and BBC 1 opts in at exactly the same moment... that said - surely this would cause there to be more of a crash with regards to rogue frames? Could you please just clarify, would you say that *nowadays* this happens less, as there's the extra two seconds of headroom for BBC1 to get a clean opt? Whereas before everything had to line up on the nose, with the countdown cutting to the studio and BBC 1 opting at the same second?

Studio E, the studio used by One, Six, Ten and News Channel except News at Five (which uses Studio C), has several outputs, one of them has a Viz engine - showing graphics without the flipper and the BBC News logo - I refer to this as ‘bulletin feed’ for convenience. Normally this ‘bulletin feed’ goes to a transmit line (TX line), which is joined by BBC One during network bulletins.

Before COVID, News Channel played the countdown until the proper TOTH, but it’s not on the ‘bulletin feed’ because the 5pm hour was carried by Studio C instead of E. What’s showing on the bulletin feed before the Six went on air on BBC One was different from what’s on the News Channel. So they don’t need to leave the countdown at xx:59:58 because the countdown was not on the ‘bulletin feed’ so BBC One had already got a clean opt in.

As well as this I was wondering if there was a special Presentation for the News Channel? Someone/something that controls the output of the News Channel/HD or is this just done from all the individual studio galleries? Many thanks!

As deejay said, News Channel does not have a presentation gallery - all of those done by the studio.

[deejay]

There’s no presentation gallery for the news channel - it goes straight to air from whatever gallery is required. The network is switched between galleries during the course of the day.

The “bulletin feed” is a separate output from Studio E which has its own viz engine for lower thirds. Essentially it’s the same as what’s routed to news channel but without the flipper and logo.

The two second early vision at the start of network bulletins (and BBC World News bulletins) allows for BBC One presentation to get in cleanly and for BBC World’s partner broadcasters to do the same.

Thank you for this. How do they switch between galleries on the news channel cleanly? is this automated? also, is there a sort of 'hierarchy' where, perhaps E, has priority over the 'master' and can override another gallery to air. For example, in case Studio C is also on air at the same time if that makes sense?

There’s no automation, it’s all doing manually as required by those in the gallery. All studios routed through the network switcher are synchronous, so the switch itself should be invisible (although if there are captions, flipper etc on air at the time of the switch these may disappear/jump).

[deejay]

There’s no presentation gallery for the news channel - it goes straight to air from whatever gallery is required. The network is switched between galleries during the course of the day.

The “bulletin feed” is a separate output from Studio E which has its own viz engine for lower thirds. Essentially it’s the same as what’s routed to news channel but without the flipper and logo.

The two second early vision at the start of network bulletins (and BBC World News bulletins) allows for BBC One presentation to get in cleanly and for BBC World’s partner broadcasters to do the same.

How does the NC carry BBC Breakfast? Do Salford send the programme feed to Studio E (or whatever studio responsible for the morning bulletins) and Studio E relays it and send it down the output? As you said, the NC needs a gallery to maintain.

The reason I made this assumption is because I always see a seamless transition from the end of Breakfast to the start of the 9AM bulletins on NC rather than an “abrupt” cut (you always hear a small “tick” noise) resulted from a switch of galleries. Also, in a couple of occasions there had been technical difficulties during Breakfast on the NC exclusively (e.g accidentally cutting to an empty studio) while Breakfast remains normal on BBC One.

Breakfast is carried directly to News Channel. At 0555 News Channel is switched from Studio C to E. E runs the weather and waits for BBC One to cut away to their trails. News Channel then runs some trails and a countdown from E. At 0600 E switches News Channel to the studio out out from Salford.

At 0900 it’s slightly different - E will switch News Channel back with Salford output on the output (this is very similar to a ‘soft opt’ in the regions). When Breakfast get to the opt out point for the channel, E mix to the countdown into the 0900.

[Steve in Pudsey]

That seems remarkable in these cost conscious days that they would staff Gallery E to do that 0555 junction on the NC rather than switch to Salford at 0555 and have them play out the weather and trails.

Or is that all automated?

[JF World]

That seems remarkable in these cost conscious days that they would staff Gallery E to do that 0555 junction on the NC rather than switch to Salford at 0555 and have them play out the weather and trails.

Or is that all automated?

Would it not be from C as they are simulcasting with World, or do they need two galleries to run the different graphics on screen?

[deejay]

That seems remarkable in these cost conscious days that they would staff Gallery E to do that 0555 junction on the NC rather than switch to Salford at 0555 and have them play out the weather and trails.

Or is that all automated?

It’s done by people who are already there - and only two people at that.

[joshuanesbit]

There’s no presentation gallery for the news channel - it goes straight to air from whatever gallery is required. The network is switched between galleries during the course of the day.

The “bulletin feed” is a separate output from Studio E which has its own viz engine for lower thirds. Essentially it’s the same as what’s routed to news channel but without the flipper and logo.

The two second early vision at the start of network bulletins (and BBC World News bulletins) allows for BBC One presentation to get in cleanly and for BBC World’s partner broadcasters to do the same.

How does the NC carry BBC Breakfast? Do Salford send the programme feed to Studio E (or whatever studio responsible for the morning bulletins) and Studio E relays it and send it down the output? As you said, the NC needs a gallery to maintain.

The reason I made this assumption is because I always see a seamless transition from the end of Breakfast to the start of the 9AM bulletins on NC rather than an “abrupt” cut (you always hear a small “tick” noise) resulted from a switch of galleries. Also, in a couple of occasions there had been technical difficulties during Breakfast on the NC exclusively (e.g accidentally cutting to an empty studio) while Breakfast remains normal on BBC One.

Breakfast is carried directly to News Channel. At 0555 News Channel is switched from Studio C to E. E runs the weather and waits for BBC One to cut away to their trails. News Channel then runs some trails and a countdown from E. At 0600 E switches News Channel to the studio out out from Salford.

At 0900 it’s slightly different - E will switch News Channel back with Salford output on the output (this is very similar to a ‘soft opt’ in the regions). When Breakfast get to the opt out point for the channel, E mix to the countdown into the 0900.

Please could you just clarify, you said at 0600 studio E switches the News Channel to the output from Salford, but also at 0900 E switches to Salford output again. Does something different happen during the show that requires you to go back to Salford output?

[ALV]

Breakfast is carried directly to News Channel. At 0555 News Channel is switched from Studio C to E. E runs the weather and waits for BBC One to cut away to their trails. News Channel then runs some trails and a countdown from E. At 0600 E switches News Channel to the studio out out from Salford.

At 0900 it’s slightly different - E will switch News Channel back with Salford output on the output (this is very similar to a ‘soft opt’ in the regions). When Breakfast get to the opt out point for the channel, E mix to the countdown into the 0900.

Please could you just clarify, you said at 0600 studio E switches the News Channel to the output from Salford, but also at 0900 E switches to Salford output again. Does something different happen during the show that requires you to go back to Salford output?

I think he means at a few minutes before 0900, the NC will perform a “shadow switch” to Studio E (you will hear a small “tick” noise and the TV screen “jitter” a bit at around 0855 during Breakfast, implying a switch of galleries), where Salford output (prob via OS) will be relayed by Studio E until the opt out point, allowing Studio E to be able to fade to countdown. (You can’t fade if you switch outputs on the network switcher)

[joshuanesbit]

Breakfast is carried directly to News Channel. At 0555 News Channel is switched from Studio C to E. E runs the weather and waits for BBC One to cut away to their trails. News Channel then runs some trails and a countdown from E. At 0600 E switches News Channel to the studio out out from Salford.

At 0900 it’s slightly different - E will switch News Channel back with Salford output on the output (this is very similar to a ‘soft opt’ in the regions). When Breakfast get to the opt out point for the channel, E mix to the countdown into the 0900.

Please could you just clarify, you said at 0600 studio E switches the News Channel to the output from Salford, but also at 0900 E switches to Salford output again. Does something different happen during the show that requires you to go back to Salford output?

I think he means at a few minutes before 0900, the NC will perform a “shadow switch” to Studio E (you will hear a small “tick” noise and the TV screen “jitter” a bit at around 0855 during Breakfast, implying a switch of galleries), where Salford output (prob via OS) will be relayed by Studio E until the opt out point, allowing Studio E to be able to fade to countdown. (You can’t fade if you switch outputs on the network switcher)

Got it.

So Breakfast goes directly to News Channel straight from Salford then, until the 'soft opt' essentially?

[ALV]

(I'm just a nerdy viewer so I may be wrong, feel free to correct me
In case you're still confused on what is a "shadow switch" (I'm not sure if this is the correct term, refer to the video showing an extract of BBC Breakfast on 2021-05-07 (day of BBC Election 2021 coverage) below:
Video
At 00:16 to 00:17 of the video above, you will hear a small "tick" noise and a jitter of video image as well as a green bar, that implies someone pressed the network switcher and switched the NC output from Salford to Studio B (Studio B was responsible for the morning output of NC that day, due to Election 2021 coverage). From that point onwards, NC is now being carried by Studio B (usually Studio E), where Salford's output is being relayed by Studio B until the opt out point.

Note: The green bar was not supposed to be seen when NC switches gallery outputs, however perhaps due to some glitches in the network switcher that day it popped up when the NC switched to Studio B that day. That green bar disappeared shortly after 0900.

There are two reasons I assumed why they do this "shadow switch" instead of switching outputs directly at 0900:

1. Before Covid, the NC opts out of Breakfast at 0830 while Breakfast carries on on BBC One until 0900 on weekdays. Hence, the Salford gallery cannot play out countdowns and trails for NC leading up to 0830 as they have to carry on the show.

2. Performing a shadow switch allows the NC studio director to "cleanly fade" into countdown at the opt out point (at 02:57 of the video), if they switch outputs directly at the opt out point, you cannot fade into the countdown but rather abruptly cut into it and perhaps the folks at the BBC considers this "ugly"...

[ALV]

Got it.

So Breakfast goes directly to News Channel straight from Salford then, until the 'soft opt' essentially?

(I'm just a nerdy viewer so I may be wrong, feel free to correct me.)

In case you're still confused on what is a "shadow switch" (I'm not sure if this is the correct term), refer to the video showing an extract of BBC Breakfast on 2021-05-07 (day of BBC Election 2021 coverage) below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7iIJ6uMB4A

At 00:16 to 00:17 of the video above, you will hear a small "tick" noise and a jitter of video image as well as a green bar, that implies someone pressed the network switcher and switched the NC output from Salford to Studio B (Studio B was responsible for the morning output of NC that day, due to Election 2021 coverage). From that point onwards, NC is now being carried by Studio B (usually Studio E), where Salford's output is being relayed by Studio B until the opt out point.

Note: The green bar was not supposed to be seen when NC switches gallery outputs, however perhaps due to some glitches in the network switcher that day it popped up when the NC switched to Studio B that day. That green bar disappeared shortly after 0900.

There are two reasons I assumed why they do this "shadow switch" instead of switching outputs directly at 0900:

1. Before Covid, the NC opts out of Breakfast at 0830 while Breakfast carries on on BBC One until 0900 on weekdays. Hence, the Salford gallery cannot play out countdowns and trails for NC leading up to 0830 as they have to carry on the show.

2. Performing a shadow switch allows the NC studio director to "cleanly fade" into countdown at the opt out point (at 02:57 of the video), if they switch outputs directly at the opt out point, you cannot fade into the countdown but rather abruptly cut into it and perhaps the studio directors at the BBC consider abruptly cutting to countdowns is "ugly"...




Can't you believe it haha, the mechanics behind a very simple junction we usually ignore is actually very fascinating... Thanks to deejay, I'm going to pay more attention to the NC junction at 0855 from now on :lol: ~

[joshuanesbit]

Got it.

So Breakfast goes directly to News Channel straight from Salford then, until the 'soft opt' essentially?

(I'm just a nerdy viewer so I may be wrong, feel free to correct me

In case you're still confused on what is a "shadow switch" (I'm not sure if this is the correct term), refer to the video showing an extract of BBC Breakfast on 2021-05-07 (day of BBC Election 2021 coverage) below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7iIJ6uMB4A

At 00:16 to 00:17 of the video above, you will hear a small "tick" noise and a jitter of video image as well as a green bar, that implies someone pressed the network switcher and switched the NC output from Salford to Studio B (Studio B was responsible for the morning output of NC that day, due to Election 2021 coverage). From that point onwards, NC is now being carried by Studio B (usually Studio E), where Salford's output is being relayed by Studio B until the opt out point.

Note: The green bar was not supposed to be seen when NC switches gallery outputs, however perhaps due to some glitches in the network switcher that day it popped up when the NC switched to Studio B that day. That green bar disappeared shortly after 0900.

There are two reasons I assumed why they do this "shadow switch" instead of switching outputs directly at 0900:

1. Before Covid, the NC opts out of Breakfast at 0830 while Breakfast carries on on BBC One until 0900 on weekdays. Hence, the Salford gallery cannot play out countdowns and trails for NC leading up to 0830 as they have to carry on the show.

2. Performing a shadow switch allows the NC studio director to "cleanly fade" into countdown at the opt out point (at 02:57 of the video), if they switch outputs directly at the opt out point, you cannot fade into the countdown but rather abruptly cut into it and perhaps the folks at the BBC considers this "ugly"...

Awesome, this is brilliant. Thanks so much for this explanation. I was just going to ask deejay, but - does this mean Studio E (or in this case, B) essentially acts, in a way, as a pres gallery - in that it has capacity to choose which gallery or studio is going live to the channel? Are studio galleries E, or B basically like master galleries in that they have that sort of power, and act like a pres? Excuse my ignorance on this, however!

[ALV]

Awesome, this is brilliant. Thanks so much for this explanation. I was just going to ask deejay, but - does this mean Studio E (or in this case, B) essentially acts, in a way, as a pres gallery - in that it has capacity to choose which gallery or studio is going live to the channel? Are studio galleries E, or B basically like master galleries in that they have that sort of power, and act like a pres? Excuse my ignorance on this, however!

I'm not so sure on how exactly how the hierarchy of the "network switchers" works, but from reading various old TVForum posts, there is a "network switcher device" in every studio at NBH (and at Salford?) and it looks like this:

https://twitter.com/chrisckmedia/status/...4007681025
Courtesy: The one and only Media Boy's twitter post~

Now forget what "NewsTX1,2,3" is, I have no idea what these three circuits are for. My assumption is that the network switcher is a "parallel" system and there are no hierarchy or whatsoever, anyone can override the output circuit from any studio gallery. I guess whichever studio gallery you are in, you can just assign whatever studio feed to the transmission circuit labeled "Channel" (or "World" so it will be fed to World pres at Red Bee), and the NC will immediately switch to the desired studio feed.

The image above shows the network switcher device at Studio A, displaying that the feed of Studio E is currently being fed to the NC transmission circuit. So if you switch studio feeds for the NC, the network switcher display at all studio galleries will immediately update what studio is being fed to the NC transmission currently.

(Again, I'm just a nerdy TV viewer and a computer science undergraduate, if I'm wrong, anyone here can feel free to correct me and I'll be humbled to learn from you all )