BBC News Studios

Well they do have Newswatch viewers on their backs all the time, complaining over the tiniest of things that the BBC get wrong

There is a Newswatch on Persian TV, which I've been on once. Also World Service radio has 'Over to You', which I've managed to avoid recently, but have made more than one appearance on in the past.

And screens, and lighting, and cameras, and talkback, and monitor speakers / screens, effectively building a studio in the newsroom with all the hassle and compromises that entails.

Besides, they already have a proper studio, with a lovely real set with a real view into a real newsroom - Studio E.



Why would it be cheaper? You're going to need as many staff to broadcast a full news hour from the balcony as you will from a proper studio. And since the studio is already set up, running and has all the necessary equipment, facilities and furniture, it's certainly cheaper to keep using that than build a new position.



Can you think of one sensible reason why? (And I don't consider they've got a balcony, they should use it as a sensible reason)

Overnights could already come from E with no changes or expense needed - so there must be other reasons why they chose not to - like maintenance (in the newsroom) or lack of staff working making the background unappealing.

Personally, I'm not a fan of the current studio A virtual set (at all) - I'd rather it was either a photo realistic rendition of either C or E, or they used it as a proper virtual studio. In fact, it'd be even better if they made the 9pm hour something different and took advantage of the facilities it gives them - using the virtual graphics to provide more detail on the current stories and making more dynamic presentation - think getting Jeremy Vine in to provide analysis after Prime Ministers questions, right there in the studio, complete with discussion with the newsreader and correspondents.

I'm purely thinking of a longer term cost saving option. Currently, broadcasting overnight and off peak from the main World studio, three floors down, necessitates additional staff for safety reasons alone, not to mention the logistics involved.

All of the points you mention above are do-able. Bringing in talkback, lighting and other such technical requirements into an already operational area should not prove too impractical or costly for the BBC. They've been adapting presentation areas for year's and have done so with the likes of N8 and N9 over the years.

And, I do appreciate that they already have bespoke studio space available, such as currently used on the overnights. The same applied in 1999. Fully functional studios were available then as well, yet they chose to broadcast the off-peak and overnight bulletins from the top of a staircase in the newsroom, as pointed out in my opening post. Why? I can only assume it was for budgetary reasons. Manning an already operational area (I.e. the newsroom) surely must be cheaper than firing up a fully fledged studio????

Perhaps not. I'm not sure. But just putting some food for thought out there. There is absolutely nothing wrong from the viewers perspective with the current studio for the night time and weekend bulletins. Again, and I stress, I'm angling from economic p.o.v.

Probably.

Yes, Naga only presents World Today nowadays at World, the business presenter on one side is a sensible explanation to use her left screen. However if I managed to get an observation where the presenter (double headed with WBR), uses his right display, then I guess I'll report it here, so it eliminates some of the possible reasons we've come up with.

Not too sure about Tanya though. I only managed to see her doing the special slot dedicated for her, Business with Tanya, where I think she sat somewhere at Studio B? Forgive my memory. Tanya seems to never present early hours in the UK eh? She's always the evening presenter there.


Haha. It's anyone's guess for now.
Sometimes it just tickles my curiosity to know their reason for choosing either side.

Provided the building is designed securely (which I hope it is!), there shouldn't need to be any extra staff to make it safe. I've worked in buildings the size of BH with only a couple of us there - we didn't need extra staff just to make the building safe to work in.



Of course it's do-able - virtually anything is do-able - if you spend enough money. N8 and N9 were different in that they needed the studio space, and there were no suitable studios available. And over the years of using them (and Millbank), there have been constant complaints about them, from insiders, viewers and the likes of us (too noisy, poor cameras, lack of variation, poor angles, etc).



Wasn't the "top of the staircase" position effectively N8 with the cameras turned round though - N8 was at the top of the stairs, along with all it's facilities. Bear in mind that any broadcast still requires a full gallery to run through - the likes of Studio C doesn't need more than a floor manager and a presenter. Even if you come from a single locked off camera in the newsroom, you still need both them, along with the same number of gallery staff as you use already (2?).



Indeed - I'm not having a go at you - but I don't think your idea is workable at all from an economic pov. There could be artistic and editorial merits for it, but IMHO the technical and economic cases are poor.

Hopefully as they get used to their new home, they'll become a bit more adventurous and those artistic / editorial reasons can break up the monotony of a day on the NC.



No it's not. Anyone with even a little common sense knows the presenters face the side they're told to, and any ideas that they are deciding which way they want to face are nonsense.

Found these clips about the move to the studios at NBH. There isn't one for Studio E however.

Studio A: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p018tmr8
Studio B: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p018tn8z
Studio C: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p018tnyn
MPA: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p018wbw3

Weather: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p019hlgs
Graphics Central: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p018tpp1

All from the BBC College of Journalism site.

Sorry if these have been posted before but thought they were worth a look for the advantages and limitations of the sets.

Where you say they presented the overnight news from the top of a staircase this was in fact the first version of N8 where the desk faced so that the cameras looked over the balcony. It wasn't simply used overnight because of costs, it was as close to a studio set up as N8 could be given it was in the middle of an office! The set didn't last much more than a year before N24 rebranded. The newsroom windows were a real problem if I remember meaning the blinds had to be kept closed on bright sunny days to avoid bleaching the cameras out. When N24 rebranded in 1999 I think NickyS said that a lot of things were done to try & reduce noise & light from affecting the studio but this led to the set being a warm place to be as the air con seemed to play up a bit I think.

N9, surely, if it's the first version of the News 24 set? Although it was just called News 24 then.

Nope I'm referring to the first set built in N8, I'm not talking about N9.

That weather clip identifies what the camera DanielK was asking about is used for - I assume its for use with that Plinth that is supposedly used by weather since it is lit blue.

Perhaps the plan for the relaunch included using that position in the TOTH sequence, like the original flags era when the weather forecaster would give a very brief summary teasing the full forecast after the headlines.