It looks like Newswatch confirmed or reiterated what we have already suspected for quite some time now: "cutbacks" are impacting NC. I'm not sure though why we are talking about cutbacks when the licence fee has not decreased since 2010. Having said that, I don't expect the licence fee to go up anytime soon to ease the pressure since the man in charge of C, M and S is known to be hostile to the idea of the licence fee altogether.
A freeze is a cut in real terms. The burden of paying for things like BBC World Service and S4C was also put on the license fee.
It looks like Newswatch confirmed or reiterated what we have already suspected for quite some time now: "cutbacks" are impacting NC. I'm not sure though why we are talking about cutbacks when the licence fee has not decreased since 2010. Having said that, I don't expect the licence fee to go up anytime soon to ease the pressure since the man in charge of C, M and S is known to be hostile to the idea of the licence fee altogether.
A freeze is a cut in real terms. The burden of paying for things like BBC World Service and S4C was also put on the license fee.
Indeed. The licence fee would now be around £174 if it had kept pace with inflation
For all we know, I fear NC may just evolve into a version of WN with just a
slight
leaning towards UK news during moments when the rest of the world goes into ad breaks.
I understand WN is funded externally (i.e. ad money and subscription), hence it is open to influence from advertisers. But if their shows are seen on NC, how does that impact on the independence the domestic-facing side of BBC News is supposed to appeal to?
It looks like Newswatch confirmed or reiterated what we have already suspected for quite some time now: "cutbacks" are impacting NC. I'm not sure though why we are talking about cutbacks when the licence fee has not decreased since 2010. Having said that, I don't expect the licence fee to go up anytime soon to ease the pressure since the man in charge of C, M and S is known to be hostile to the idea of the licence fee altogether.
A freeze is a cut in real terms. The burden of paying for things like BBC World Service and S4C was also put on the license fee.
Indeed. The licence fee would now be around £174 if it had kept pace with inflation
If £174 is supposed to be this year's figure, doesn't it need to higher than that to compensate for the years it lost revenues? If the licence fee now absorbs the cost of S4/C and WS, I suspect it needs to be upwards of £190.
Last edited by headliner101 on 31 May 2015 10:26am
It looks like Newswatch confirmed or reiterated what we have already suspected for quite some time now: "cutbacks" are impacting NC. I'm not sure though why we are talking about cutbacks when the licence fee has not decreased since 2010. Having said that, I don't expect the licence fee to go up anytime soon to ease the pressure since the man in charge of C, M and S is known to be hostile to the idea of the licence fee altogether.
A freeze is a cut in real terms. The burden of paying for things like BBC World Service and S4C was also put on the license fee.
Indeed. The licence fee would now be around £174 if it had kept pace with inflation
Even if it had increased with earnings a quick calculation suggests it would be around £9 a year higher.
Someone I spoke to earlier this year suggested they could see a time when the BBC would operate one news channel both domestically and World - it doesn't look that far off. A third of each twenty fours hours is now shared. Clearly where it has been done is generally when the news channel has a lower audience but how long before daytime is hit?
Do we know yet what the news channel are broadcasting between 0900 and 0915 Monday to Friday?
It is still going to be a generic edition of BBC News. I can understand OS, Business Live and an extra half-hour of simulcasts with WN being introduced. But V-live in the morning does seem odd for a news channel, to reiterate my thoughts.
Having said those, going back to WN, if what m_in_m's source said materialises, how does the BBC reconcile the differing remits? Meaning WN answers to advertisers whereas NC answers to licence fee payers. For lack of a better term, I believe WN has more liberty to "pander" towards those who can provide them the dough. Even if they carry the "BBC" name with them, they are a commercial operation which does not pressure them to put a public service remit to their services, unlike NC.
Just to be clear there is absolutely no 'liberty to pander' towards advertisers on BBC World News. The product supplied by BBC News to BBC World Ltd is totally independent. Most in the newsroom would not even have any idea who the advertisers are.
The only difference between the channels editorial priorities is the target audience.
^^
Does that mean the entire international news-gathering operation of BBC News is funded by licence fee even if WN is funded by advertisers? Does this mean that WN (internally) "pays" BBC News to use the latter's content on the former's channel?
Last edited by headliner101 on 31 May 2015 12:22pm
Just to be clear there is absolutely no 'liberty to pander' towards advertisers on BBC World News. The product supplied by BBC News to BBC World Ltd is totally independent. Most in the newsroom would not even have any idea who the advertisers are.
The only difference between the channels editorial priorities is the target audience.
Precisely. The BBC World Ltd teams may schedule non-News shows based on generic advertising targets (to appeal to the right demographic at the right time of the day in specific territories) - but the content of the News bulletins is entirely editorially independent of any advertiser on the channel.
Don't know if these other changes that begin tomorrow have been noted:
- HARDtalk will be shown weekdays at 8.30pm.
- The BBC World News overnight simulcast begins an hour earlier, at midnight instead of 1.00am.
I'd assume it will now be same presenter from 6.30pm to midnight - with all the other stuff shown during that time it would only add up to 2 hours 45 mins of presenting.
Feels like the channel really is very part time now. The BBC1/BBC2/BBC World simulcasts will make up over half the schedule (13 hours 15 mins).
Don't know if these other changes that begin tomorrow have been noted:
- HARDtalk will be shown weekdays at 8.30pm.
- The BBC World News overnight simulcast begins an hour earlier, at midnight instead of 1.00am.
I'd assume it will now be same presenter from 6.30pm to midnight - with all the other stuff shown during that time it would only add up to 2 hours 45 mins of presenting.
Feels like the channel really is very part time now. The BBC1/BBC2/BBC World simulcasts will make up over half the schedule (13 hours 15 mins).
Yes, I knew about BBC World taking over at midnight (and at 9pm for Outside Source). I think it will be one presenter 6.30-midnight, as Martine Croxall has confirmed as much on her twitter. Usually will be either Clive Myrie or Martine.
To be fair, although there will be World simulcasts, the core daytime schedule after Victoria Derbyshire will still be "BBC News Channel" for the moment. And Victoria Derbyshire itself is a News Channel production, indeed carried by BBC2 to a wider audience. That's not to say I welcome all the simulcasting - Ros Atkins was asked on BBC Newswatch about how they would handle breaking UK news within the Outside Source hour and gave a reply that I didn't find very satisfactory. I don't know how it can be handled - admittedly this was during overnight hours rather than evening but when the story first broke about the Oxford Didcot murders a couple of weeks ago, at 1.15 in the night, I learnt about it from Sky News at that time. Nothing at all made the BBC News Channel as that was on the overnight World schedule where, obviously, tragic killings in Didcot, Oxfordshire are not headline World news.
I seem to remember reading an article that mentioned that the BBC subscribes to CNN's Newsource however I can't find any recent information. So I'm wondering if they ever did or still subscribe to Newsource? I realize that they are competitors but I think even Fox News subscribed at one point.
I know they use the AP and it video service; Reuters and it's video service; EBU's news exchange; and has access to ABC's Newsone (which actually draws B-roll footage from CBS and Fox Affiliates through the Network News Servide).