MA
A 9pm newscast is exactly what I was thinking. It's a time slot that's been under-served for news ever since the BBC moved their late news to 10pm. If not a whole hour, then half an hour, followed by a top-notch half-hour comedy re-run perhaps.
The downside is that they'd be competing with some big entertainment offerings on the other channels. Realistically, the same is true at any other time of the day, though, so their best best is to offer an alternative, steering clear of 6-7 and 10-10.30 when local and national news is well-catered for.
10.30 could be another option, as a slightly later news fix for folks who didn't catch the 10 o'clock bulletins. If there's the market for (two) half-hour regional news programmes in the 6 o'clock hour, who's to say there isn't in the 10 o'clock hour too? They could try to cash in on the fact that, at that time, BBC and ITV regional newsrooms are bashing out a 5-minute bulletin and then shutting up shop for the night.
In any case, one of London Live's many problems on the news front is that they don't have a 'flagship' evening news programme to build their reputation. There's nothing that can really be deemed 'news' after 1.30pm.
This is where they should do much better than they do. The Standard has a very strong, aggressive newsroom - but the problem is that London Live doesn't seem to benefit much from it. Closer integration could be something that comes with time, of course - as I'm sure habits need to be changed. Hopefully this is the next step.
mark
Founding member
Then an 9:00 hourlong newscast that wraps up the day and short updates throughout the night.
A 9pm newscast is exactly what I was thinking. It's a time slot that's been under-served for news ever since the BBC moved their late news to 10pm. If not a whole hour, then half an hour, followed by a top-notch half-hour comedy re-run perhaps.
The downside is that they'd be competing with some big entertainment offerings on the other channels. Realistically, the same is true at any other time of the day, though, so their best best is to offer an alternative, steering clear of 6-7 and 10-10.30 when local and national news is well-catered for.
10.30 could be another option, as a slightly later news fix for folks who didn't catch the 10 o'clock bulletins. If there's the market for (two) half-hour regional news programmes in the 6 o'clock hour, who's to say there isn't in the 10 o'clock hour too? They could try to cash in on the fact that, at that time, BBC and ITV regional newsrooms are bashing out a 5-minute bulletin and then shutting up shop for the night.
In any case, one of London Live's many problems on the news front is that they don't have a 'flagship' evening news programme to build their reputation. There's nothing that can really be deemed 'news' after 1.30pm.
Quote:
Without a strong aggressive newsroom they possibly lost a potential audience.
This is where they should do much better than they do. The Standard has a very strong, aggressive newsroom - but the problem is that London Live doesn't seem to benefit much from it. Closer integration could be something that comes with time, of course - as I'm sure habits need to be changed. Hopefully this is the next step.
Last edited by mark on 19 August 2014 12:09pm
