BBC News and BBC World to merge

[News48]

Starting from scratch sounds even worse than what we all initially thought!

[headliner101]

The Times have run a piece that doesn't make for great reading at all. Sounds utterly vile trying to imagine it.

I wonder if Deborah Turness knew what she was signing up to before taking the role?

Fears of further job cuts

If anyone can't read it, I'm happy to chop it in.

The Tory-friendly broadsheets tend to be the ones most protected by paywall.  What are the key highlights?

[dougal]

The Times have run a piece that doesn't make for great reading at all. Sounds utterly vile trying to imagine it.

I wonder if Deborah Turness knew what she was signing up to before taking the role?

Fears of further job cuts

If anyone can't read it, I'm happy to chop it in.

The Tory-friendly broadsheets tend to be the ones most protected by paywall.  What are the key highlights?

Highlights as follows:

• New service to replace News Channel and World News.
  
• "...opportunity to reinvent its rolling news and make it nimbler and more digitally focused".
  
• New channel "will split apart for big UK news stories".
  
• "One idea is to create a dedicated breaking news team in Britain for domestic issues. Managers hope that this pool of journalists will be fleet of foot, going live quickly and using mobile phones to report remotely."
  
• "BBC News is also keen to secure more space on iPlayer to encourage audiences online. The channel was given a prominent slot on the streaming service early during the Ukraine invasion and it is said to have performed well."
  
• "Presenters are among those expected to be in the firing line".
  
• "...speculation that the BBC could outsource nightshift work to cheaper locations, with Singapore and the US said to be under consideration".
  

Sounds like a move towards a BBC equivalent of CBS News Streaming Network (which was suggested in the past).

[Joe]

I’d argue that starting with a blank page is a great way to plan something that doesn’t exist at the moment. Judging by the negativity that has surrounded any simulcasting in the past few years, or the past few weeks since this was announced, it seems posters here wouldn’t really like something resembling the current arrangement anyway.

[mdta]

So something like BBC News Now then?

[Roger Darthwell]

https://archive.ph/aIPH2 Here is the article without paywall

[DTV]

What is described in the article doesn't seem that terrible, though obviously need to wait until BBC announcements and then the final product to make a full judgement. As I've previously suggested focussing on the international market is the more financially sound thing to do and the ability to opt for big UK news is obviously a sensible idea - though, again, I have previously queried wheher having the ability to do that is actually any cheaper than just having a fixed opt.

Also some of the suggested changes are neither particularly radical or unexpected - overnights coming from the US and/or Singapore makes sense (and already happens for three hours with Newsday/ABR). The BBC recently made a major investment in their Washington studio, yet only use it for 30 minutes per day - would make sense to use it and the Washington team more. Presenter losses are not that unexpected, if unfortunate for the people involved - they were always going to be a likely target of budget cuts.

[Omnipresent]

Full details announced:

The new channel will launch in April 2023.  Nicky Campbell''s Five Live show will be simulcast on the UK stream and BBC Two.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2022/b...ch-in-2023

BBC News has set out further details of the new TV news channel which will launch next year, replacing its two existing separate news channels for UK and global audiences. The channel, which will be called BBC News, is expected to launch in April 2023.

This forms part of the plan announced earlier this year to create a modern, digital-led and streamlined organisation that drives the most value from the licence fee and delivers more for audiences.

BBC News Digital Director Naja Nielsen says: “Our aim is to create the best live and breaking video news service in the world - on our web pages, our apps, on BBC iPlayer and on our new TV news channel.

“The way audiences consume news is changing. In recent years we’ve seen a huge surge in audiences coming to our live coverage, with tens of millions following live pages when big stories and events unfold.

“As the world’s most trusted source of news, with a huge depth and breadth of expertise, the BBC is uniquely placed to offer audiences the best analysis and explanation as these stories are unfolding. So we are investing in new capability to cover breaking news stories, and our news channel and digital teams will work hand in hand to bring the best journalism to audiences both at home and abroad.”

The channel will be broadcast around the world, bringing the BBC’s trusted journalism to international audiences and providing licence fee payers in the UK with ad-free access to a huge range and breadth of international coverage which hasn’t previously been available to them. It will feature new flagship programmes built around high-profile journalists, and programmes commissioned for multiple platforms.

UK viewers will receive specific content at certain times of the day, and during certain news stories. A new live and breaking news team will provide universally available coverage of global breaking news, and – when relevant - a domestic-only stream for UK-specific news events, ensuring that audiences get the best live video coverage of the news that matters most to them.

Further details of the plans include:

The channel will be broadcast from London during UK daytime hours, and then Singapore and Washington DC. The BBC will invest in new on and off-screen journalism roles in Washington DC.

Sports programming will be a mixture of the UK-facing Sportsday and new global-facing sports programmes.

The BBC will invest in visualising programmes based on popular radio shows, with new technology and studio capacity to do so. This will begin with the BBC Radio 5 Live Nicky Campbell programme, which will be broadcast on BBC Two on weekday mornings as well as on the UK stream of the new channel.

BBC Studios will continue to have responsibility for securing commercial revenues from the channel outside the UK, primarily through advertising, returning funding to the BBC that can be reinvested in public service journalism. The channel will remain ad-free in the UK.

These plans are now subject to consultation with staff and trade unions.

[News48]

Well then i hope they get thrown out at consultation since that still has to happen.

[headliner101]

What is described in the article doesn't seem that terrible, though obviously need to wait until BBC announcements and then the final product to make a full judgement. As I've previously suggested focussing on the international market is the more financially sound thing to do and the ability to opt for big UK news is obviously a sensible idea - though, again, I have previously queried wheher having the ability to do that is actually any cheaper than just having a fixed opt.

Also some of the suggested changes are neither particularly radical or unexpected - overnights coming from the US and/or Singapore makes sense (and already happens for three hours with Newsday/ABR). The BBC recently made a major investment in their Washington studio, yet only use it for 30 minutes per day - would make sense to use it and the Washington team more. Presenter losses are not that unexpected, if unfortunate for the people involved - they were always going to be a likely target of budget cuts.

It appears as if the new channel will be more World-ish.  So as far as existing World viewers are concerned, it seems to be less of a major change in terms of types of stories covered. There is no indication from this or other 3rd party articles that existing World viewers will receive an increase in UK-specific content.  I don't see how it is a merger when you have fair chunk of bespoke UK content seen by only domestic viewers.  But no doubt domestic viewers, especially fans of News 24, are getting the shorter end of the stick.

But the biggest takeaway or highlight - which is why if you read Martine C's tweet it appears so glum - is the expected reduction by about 200-ish staff.

[News48]

I'd rather the Channel was more News Channel-ish than World-ish.

[Markymark]

• "...speculation that the BBC could outsource nightshift work to cheaper locations, with Singapore and the US said to be under consideration".
  

'Follow The Sun' working, quite common for organisations with worldwide offices to do that. 3 x 8 hr shifts in a row, that are during local office hours

[Keith]

Full details announced:

The new channel will launch in April 2023.  Nicky Campbell''s Five Live show will be simulcast on the UK stream and BBC Two.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2022/b...ch-in-2023

My initial thoughts are that I think the use of Singapore and Washington outside of daytime hours makes sense, and to some extent is already occurring.

Visualising BBC Radio 5 Live Nicky Campbell for BBC Two and the UK stream of the new channel I'm less sure about. I believe there are some radio programmes that are already visualised and shown on the News Channel at weekends and evenings. If the 5 Live show was only being shown on BBC Two then that would also be okay, as an alternative to the current daytime simulcast on BBC Two. However also being shown on the new channel does feel like a step backwards from the current offering, even if it does enable the (merged) channel to cover UK breaking news easily at minimal extra cost.

[DTV]

It appears as if the new channel will be more World-ish.  So as far as existing World viewers are concerned, it seems to be less of a major change in terms of types of stories covered.  I don't see how it is a merger when you have fair chunk of bespoke UK content.  But no doubt domestic viewers, especially fans of News 24, are getting the much shorter end of the stick.

To be quite honest, the News 24 lineage died in 2015. Since then the majority of the BBC News channel has been either World News simulcasts or BBC One/Two simulcasts - on the average weekday, less than a third of BBC News channel content is exclusive to the channel. The News 24 ship sailed a long time ago.

My reading of The Times and BBC articles is that the new channel (as proposed) will basically be fairly similar the current BBC World News channel, with evenings (probably post-Outside Source) now coming from Washington and overnights from Singapore. UK viewers will opt-out in the mornings for a simulcast of Nicky Campbell (recorded a la Newscast), as well as in future other BBC Radio programmes. The UK will also have the ability to opt-out for UK-specific Breaking News. Whether Breakfast and the three network bulletins will be simulcast is unspecified, but I think it's safe to assume that they will until otherwise stated.

[sigma421]

Slightly surprised by the notion that employing people in Washington DC will be cheaper. U.K. salaries are generally a fair bit lower than those in the US, especially in a city like Washington.