Powercut at Grays Inn Road: 4/4/22

[Inspector Sands]

Just out of interest is it the Meridian South Region that London falls back on or was it that edition was live tonight rather than pre-recorded?

According to comments above it was the Meridian West version and it wasn't live

[bbctvtechop]

The UK Power Networks disruption map suggests the power was restored 3 minutes ago.

[Inspector Sands]

Interesting. Could we be in for day 2 of disruption? I would suspect so unless the power comes back on in the next hour or two.

I suspect contingency plans were made yesterday should the disruption continue, but then again they may just take the jaunt back up to Leeds if needs must and it worked yesterday.

The contingency plans would have been long-standing, they wouldn't have just made it up yesterday.

And yes, if Leeds worked OK yesterday why would they need to do anything else today? No point undoing all yesterday's contingencies. Even if the power is back I'd imagine they'd have Leeds ready as a back up, or decide later in the day whether to fully return

Another thing that came to mind yesterday is why they didn’t use the studio that they use for the regional political programmes at Millbank? Unless that’s been addressed and I’ve just missed it.

As I suggested a few pages ago having a backup plan that is also in London isn't any good if the problem affects lots of London - if the power cut included Millbank for example.

Leeds is also home to one of ITVs two playout sites so it's the obvious place, if GiR and Millbank and Chiswick are all out of action, ITV can come from there

[Markymark]

As I suggested a few pages ago having a backup plan that is also in London isn't any good if the problem affects lots of London - if the power cut included Millbank for example.

And almost certainly ITN/ITV's contingency plans have had in mind something more serious and sinister than a power cut

Leeds is also home to one of ITVs two playout sites so it's the obvious place, if GiR and Millbank and Chiswick are all out of action, ITV can come from there

And it has the archive, so a near infinite supply of programming to entertain us into oblivion...

[Brekkie]

Probably not practical for the full half hour edition and relies on reports being filed but in theory could Meridian pre-record additional short bulletins for London in the breakfast, lunch and late slots or would playing out three versions be beyond Meridians capabilities, even if they could record them?

Also think it is worth noting how rare ITV London having to take Meridian is considering over on the BBC it has become quite a frequent occurance during the pandemic to have merged London and Meridian bulletins.

[Markymark]

Probably not practical for the full half hour edition and relies on reports being filed but in theory could Meridian pre-record additional short bulletins for London in the breakfast, lunch and late slots or would playing out three versions be beyond Meridians capabilities, even if they could record them?

Also think it is worth noting how rare ITV London having to take Meridian is considering over on the BBC it has become quite a frequent occurance during the pandemic to have merged London and Meridian bulletins.

There's such a large overlap with the (old money 'Newbury' based) sub region, and London (both in terms of signal, and 'culturally') it's actually quite useful to see London Tube delays etc info on the bulletins.

Although, for the same reasons sharing with Meridian SE also makes equal sense.

I think it's just another of those legacy things, when Hannington was Crystal Palace's off air back up feed station (for the Beeb, as well as ITV)

[Steve in Pudsey]

On the face of it, Meridian might seem a more logical place to go for a DR studio, but then you think of 1987 and that hurricane, getting further away from London has a lot of merit, and you ideally only want one DR plan, albeit with a lot of flexibility.

So was yesterday a YTV production for ITN or were ITN just hiring the studio and using their own people? I suspect the latter, or certainly their own director as the lunchtime bulletin in particular looked so different to Calendar, with camera framing at a proper eye level rather than tilted down so there wasn't so much of the reflective black showing below the screens.

[Inspector Sands]

Probably not practical for the full half hour edition and relies on reports being filed but in theory could Meridian pre-record additional short bulletins for London in the breakfast, lunch and late slots or would playing out three versions be beyond Meridians capabilities, even if they could record them?

I suppose theoretically they could just turn one of their three sub regions, say Meridian West, into one for London. Then somewhere down the chain in playout they could send that output from Whiteley out on ITV London and Meridian South news onto Meridian West

I imagine it wouldn't be something that would only be done if the problem continued for a few days or more, and of course there are plenty of other places ITV London News could decamp to in that time anyway

[Ash101]

Jeremy Vine bank on air this morning, but with no on screen graphics. But they are taking phone calls.

The little “coming up” sheet he has by the side of his suggests that Storm will take over with “Jeremy Vine Extra” at 10:45 today. Presumably half an hour early as they haven’t pre-recorded the last bit so he can cycle to Radio 2!

[Markymark]

On the face of it, Meridian might seem a more logical place to go for a DR studio, but then you think of 1987 and that hurricane, getting further away from London has a lot of merit, and you ideally only want one DR plan, albeit with a lot of flexibility.

I don't think there's anything that intrinsically rejects the 'M27 area' for DR. Another major broadcaster has their DR not so far away 8-)

However, having been to Meridian Whiteley, there's not a huge amount of space to accommodate the sudden arrival of lots of extra people. The same will apply to other ITV regional news sites (Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Media City). Never been to Leeds but I get the impression it has more 'space' ?

[Bluecortina]

Interesting. Could we be in for day 2 of disruption? I would suspect so unless the power comes back on in the next hour or two.

I suspect contingency plans were made yesterday should the disruption continue, but then again they may just take the jaunt back up to Leeds if needs must and it worked yesterday.

The contingency plans would have been long-standing, they wouldn't have just made it up yesterday.

And yes, if Leeds worked OK yesterday why would they need to do anything else today? No point undoing all yesterday's contingencies. Even if the power is back I'd imagine they'd have Leeds ready as a back up, or decide later in the day whether to fully return

Another thing that came to mind yesterday is why they didn’t use the studio that they use for the regional political programmes at Millbank? Unless that’s been addressed and I’ve just missed it.

As I suggested a few pages ago having a backup plan that is also in London isn't any good if the problem affects lots of London - if the power cut included Millbank for example.

Leeds is also home to one of ITVs two playout sites so it's the obvious place, if GiR and Millbank and Chiswick are all out of action, ITV can come from there

I think you’ll find C4 news did come from Millbank.

[Markymark]

I think you’ll find C4 news did come from Millbank.

This is exactly what I had suspected watching it last night. The Leeds thing (as far as C4 News is concerned) is largely a smoke and mirrors 'remote' pres site ? So ITN used the gallery at Milbank to drive the C4 programme ? (Which makes sense as ITV News was being driven from YTV Leeds?)

[Bluecortina]

I think you’ll find C4 news did come from Millbank.

This is exactly what I had suspected watching it last night. The Leeds thing (as far as C4 News is concerned) is largely a smoke and mirrors 'remote' pres site ? So ITN used the gallery at Milbank to drive the C4 programme ? (Which makes sense as ITV News was being driven from YTV Leeds?)

Have sent you a pm, but it sits in my outbox and never sends. You can pm me and see if I can reply that way.

[JAS84]

On the face of it, Meridian might seem a more logical place to go for a DR studio, but then you think of 1987 and that hurricane, getting further away from London has a lot of merit, and you ideally only want one DR plan, albeit with a lot of flexibility.

I don't think there's anything that intrinsically rejects the 'M27 area' for DR. Another major broadcaster has their DR not so far away 8-)

However, having been to Meridian Whiteley, there's not a huge amount of space to accommodate the sudden arrival of lots of extra people. The same will apply to other ITV regional news sites (Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Media City). Never been to Leeds but I get the impression it has more 'space' ?

It does. A lot of the regions downsized when they stopped making so many programmes (due to fewer regional opt-outs and more indie productions). But since it's used for Emmerdale and the storage of the archive, and not just the local news, Yorkshire Television's studio complex was retained.

[Markymark]

I think you’ll find C4 news did come from Millbank.

This is exactly what I had suspected watching it last night. The Leeds thing (as far as C4 News is concerned) is largely a smoke and mirrors 'remote' pres site ? So ITN used the gallery at Milbank to drive the C4 programme ? (Which makes sense as ITV News was being driven from YTV Leeds?)

Have sent you a pm, but it sits in my outbox and never sends. You can pm me and see if I can reply that way.

Message received and understood (The outgoing message stays tagged as 'Outbox' until the receiptant actually reads it, which seems counter intuitive given the way email operates, but hey)