New look Channel 4 morning schedule from Monday 11th Jan!

VCR - what's one of those?

Actually though digital recorders and Sky+ make things a bit more difficult for teachers to record overnight and then take into school - I know with Sky+ and some PVRs you can transfer to DVD/VHS (indeed with any if you set things up correctly), but perhaps not quite as straight forward as the old fashioned VHS. Can't imagine many schools having a PVR where all their content is then stored.


Interesting too yet again the BBC make such changes at relatively short notice and relatively little fuss compared to their commercial counterparts - though to be fair nobody seems to have batted an eyelid that C4's schools shows have now gone. It's a bit confusing really as when initially announced though the 2010 date was put in place, it was kind of denied they'd be axed completely. There was also a bit of debate between OFCOM and C4 about ads airing within the school programme slot - and OFCOM ultimately said they would have to from 2010 - but there now is no schools programmes slot, so all a bit pointless really.

I would still like to see C4 and the BBC make a small quota of new programming per year (nothing more than 10-20 hours a years), and still screen them in a reasonable daytime slot, or in C4's case perhaps take out another repeat of Friends on Saturday morning and give shows like Battlefront a chance in a T4 slot.

Will at least give Learning Zone something to show, it still hasn't returned from the "Christmas" break! Wasn't so long ago it was 0030-0700 every night...

I don't see why not, it would seem to me the perfect solution, it can be set up to record the whole of a series and then it will just sit there recording everything for viewing by the kids next day. A terrestrial PVR doesn't cost that much these days.

Remember that all schools have to upgrade to digital recievers at some point, having a STB connected to a VCR would be more complicated and problematic to a teacher

I'm not sure for certainl, but I think the BBC may have scrapped The Learning Zone from it's schedules altogether as it still hasn't returned to BBC2's early morning 4am-6am slot. I'm not really surprised though to be honest, there was little point in the BBC showing this for just 2 hours like that and the BBC have been gradually reducing The Learning Zone programming since 2006/2007. I don't think the demand of schools programming is as high as it used to be with the internet and TV on demand now available.

EDIT: Just noticed from an earlier post in this thread that The Learning Zone is returning in March

It would be a better idea if the BBC would show The Learning Zone from 9am until 11am each morning and show CBBC from 6am until 9am instead of 11am. During term holidays, they could show CBBC from 9am to 11am as a special treat for kids.

This is what BBC2 used to do in the days of 'Daytime on TWO', but strangely they decided to go CBBC-crazy and show a whole 5 hours of it every morning.

And strangely they only really started doing that once the CBBC and CBeebies channels launched - probably to justify the spending on CBeebies I guess to give content a BBC2 airing - though be interesting to see how the ratings compare for CBeebies on BBC2 and the CBeebies channel.

I bet too late mornings on BBC2 becomes as bland as the afternoons have with all the tat that BBC1 doesn't want. Would surely be better to reintroduce the afternoon film - or at least some programme which isn't antique / Diagnosis Murder She Wrote related!

I expect it will be more repeats of Animal Park. I've seen the half term schedule and it's wild in africa after CBBC. Perhaps a sign of things to come?

I really hope not,though you're probably right. Whenever there is a gap in BBC2's schedules these days, the schedulers at the BBC seem to use Animal Park or Escape to the Country to fill the gaps. The BBC probably think these programmes are good, but when you take a glance at what other channels are showing to fill a couple of hours, they generally always show a film, especially during the weekends. BBC2 to be fair shown a couple of films yesterday (Sunday), but during the week they feel it more appropriate to show Animal Park rather than show an old b&w movie.

To be fair though next week (not this week) the Daily Politics show returns at 12pm everyday, so they only have a 1 hour slot to fill rather than 90 minutes, so I can understand why they would show Animal Park to fill that 1 hour gap as there aren't many films (apart from the Laurel & Hardy films and old B movies from the 1940's) that run for 1 hour. It still would be good to see those said films above just a little treat now and again. Animal Park overkill surely isn't going to get good ratings for the channel. Strangely it probably does though.

I really miss the afternoon film on BBC2. They used to show one every weekday afternoon at 1.30pm Mon & Tues, 2pm Weds and 1pm Thurs and Fri. It was around 2006 the BBC opted to show a continuation of what BBC1 shows every morning with similar programming on BBC2 from 1pm everyday.

This is all good for non Digital viewers, but for those who have Digital, you have UK Home showing near enough 24 hours of DIY/auction shows. We certainly don't want to see the BBC showing a whole day of it as well. It will be interesting to see what the BBC decides to do after the Digital Switchover in 2012.

Which is essentially what they always used to do, it kind of defeats the whole process of moving educational programmes to overnight in the first place


Only those with pay TV (Sky or cable) - it's not free-to-air

I think most of them are BBC/OU co-productions - whereby the BBC and OU provide joint funding (just as other non-Educational co-production partners would). I would expect the OU would only co-produce content that fits into their national education strategy, and they may have some editorial input.

I don't think it is the case that the OU make a show independently of the BBC and then demand a slot - it is more a case that the OU and the BBC work together on some programme ideas, which they then co-produce.

Since the demise of the formal OU course TV programmes (the stuff you used to see early in the morning or overnight with OU idents before them) and the closure of the BBC's OUPC (Open University Production Centre - which contained BBC-operated studios and editing facilities as well as production teams), I think the OU have moved to funding more general mainstream TV productions with a factual/educational basis.

I also remember when BBC2 used to show Open University every Saturday from 6am until 3pm, which covered most of what The Learning Zone used to show when that took over in the mid 1990's. If memory serves me right, Daytime On TWO was catored for primary schools only and the schedule ran from 9am, took a break at 10am for 'Playdays' and returned at 10.20am until 12.30pm. I think the schedule used to run for even longer in the late 80's/early 90's, until it was trimmed down as The Learning Zone kicked in.

Daytime on TWO offered really good competition alongside what Channel 4's schools programmes selection. In a way Daytime on TWO has never really ended as BBC2 still shown primary schools programmes somewhere in the morning schedule, but simply not under the Daytime on TWO banner anymore, I assume because the schools programming was reduced to just 1 hour from around 2003 or 2004.

It seems we are losing the 11am hour primary schools strand this year as well, as that content is moving to The Learning Zone from the spring. It's a fair bet the replacement for schools will be Animal Park, that is pretty much certain, unfortunately.