The Newsroom

Northern Ireland news thread

(July 2006)

This site closed in March 2021 and is now a read-only archive
CO
Colm
bbcsport posted:
Col posted:
So... when did the BBC Newsline headline sequence change?

From banter with the team on Twitter:

nornironyorkie What is that on the @bbcnewsline headline sequence? A snooker ball? A concentric atom particle? An Everlasting Gobstopper?

bbcnewsline @nornironyorkie best one so far is Pokéman ball

Laughing


Its been like that for at least a couple of weeks now, Col. It's pretty worthless, and not particularly pleasing to the eye. Change for the sake of change, IMO.


The sphere thing was also used to promote the show's contact details; but there's been no sign of it tonight...

Newsline had sound problems on the OB from Ballycastle tonight, but they were quickly resolved so us Gavin Andrews fans could enjoy our rosy-cheeked hero present sport from his hometown without any disruption Smile He then changed into his special Christmas jumper to give a blooming pregnant Sarah Travers a kiss under the mistletoe...

EDIT: The clip's been uploaded to BBC Newsline's Facebook page...

Meanwhile, on the other side, isn't Rose Neill looking stunning at the moment?
Last edited by Colm on 22 December 2011 7:44pm
CO
Colm
Studio lights fail on BBC Newsline, but again, they were quickly resolved during the next studio link to much studio banter. I forgot the frequency of technical faults they tend to have during Newsline Wink

EDIT: Here it is, again via the Facebook page

Also, photo evidence of Gavin Andrew's festive apparel last night, again via Facebook...

*

And it's so good seeing Tina Campbell back presenting UTV Live. No doubt, she'll be sent back to Studio 3 when Jar Jar returns from maternity leave.
Last edited by Colm on 23 December 2011 9:28pm

12 days later

CO
Colm
Can someone at Havelock House please tell Paul Clark to stop looking down at his script after each paragraph when he's presenting UTV Live? It's distracting and looks unprofessional.

And while Newsline sent the lovely Natasha Sayee out at lunchtime in the rain on a live two-way to cover the missing cyclist story, UTV cover the story with archive RNLI footage and our Marc seemingly not leaving HavHo at all to provide more expansive content. Lazy.

It's interesting that the pundit speaking about the failed UU/Tory political merger gave his thoughts in areas not often seen on our screens. While UTV's corridors (which have the same grey wallpaper they had eight years ago) are adorned by their art collection, BBC NI instead have nice collages of archive images of their news services down the years.

8 days later

ET
ETP
Col posted:
The sphere thing was also used to promote the show's contact details; but there's been no sign of it tonight...


Well, it returned on Monday, in another form!

Have a look at the Breakfast bulletins. The camera angle has changed, with one of the smaller projector screens now appearing behind the presenter, with the sphere device animating away in the background.

What does this thing symbolise and how does it tie in with the existing graphic elements within the BBC News package? Also, they now brand their local news inserts 'Breakfast' - which, incidentally, is displayed in Gill Sans Regular rather than Bold. So much for consistency eh.
CO
Colm
Issued by UTV yesterday:

Quote:
16 January 2012

UTV LIVE TOPS NEWS RATINGS FOR NORTHERN IRELAND
AND INCREASES DOMINANCE OVER BBC NEWSLINE

UTV Live is by far the first choice for news in Northern Ireland attracting an average of 196,000 viewers every night at 6pm, compared to an average 163,000 on BBC NI’s Newsline.

Michael Wilson, Managing Director, UTV said: “In the 2011 industry ratings just released, UTV Live was once again the clear leader for news in Northern Ireland, attracting an average audience share of 34.5% against Newsline’s 26.4%.

“We are extremely proud of our position as the most watched news in Northern Ireland and thank our viewers for making us their first choice once again. Credit is due to the hard work of our staff who are dedicated to ensuring we bring our viewers the highest quality news as it happens on TV, radio and online. We have also extended our lead year on year on the BBC which is a fantastic reflection of our team’s commitment to our viewers.”

Darwin Templeton, Executive Editor of News said: “UTV Live’s first week of 2012 has already seen very strong programmes backed up with excellent viewing figures of more than 200,000 every night, beating BBC Newsline by a convincing margin and we hope to continue this trend throughout the year. As well as being the most watched news locally, we are proud that our news ratings are almost double that of the ITV Network regional news average.

“We’d like to thank the people of Northern Ireland for making us their first port of call for news in 2011 and the team look forward to continuing to deliver for them in the exciting year ahead.”


-Ends-

For further information please contact Michelle Cassidy,
UTV Communications on 028 9026 2129

Notes to Editors:
UTV Live (at 6) average 196,000 viewers and 34.5% share in 2011
BBC1 NI Newsline average 163,000 viewers and 26.4% share in 2011
ITV Network Regional News average 17.8% share in 2011

Source: BARB/Advantedge
Audience: All Individuals
Period: January 1st to December 31st 2011

UTV Live v BBC Newsline - Week 1 2012

Tuesday 3 Jan
Average 35% v 30%
232,000 v 212,000


Wednesday 4 Jan
Average 38% v 27%
249,000 v 181,000

Thursday 5 Jan
Average 41% v 32%
245,000 v 201,000

Friday 6 January
Average 36% v 27%
227,000 v 183,000

Source: BARB Overnights


I'm unsure if there's enough quantifiable data in there to substantiate all the claims (particularly the year-on-year build Mr Wilson mentions), but there you go - UTV still outperforming BBC Newsline.

Any thoughts?
EX
excel99
It reads as if all the claims are supported by Barb data, but they have only chosen to release specific nightly ratings for a few dates. The other option would be a very very long list of nightly ratings for every weekday in the past year
ST
Steve Founding member
Didn't realise quite how low the viewing figures were for both (yes I know, it's a small country!) but it's a quarter of the nightly viewers for a region like BBC Yorkshire.
CO
Colm
Steve posted:
Didn't realise quite how low the viewing figures were for both (yes I know, it's a small country!) but it's a quarter of the nightly viewers for a region like BBC Yorkshire.


FWIW, The total population of Northern Ireland (c. 1.75 million, 2008 estimate) is around a third (c. 36.01%) of the current BBC Yorkshire region (c. 4.86 million, calculated by total Yorkshire = c. 5.2 million minus c. 0.34 million in the East Riding, 2008 estimates).

I'll shut up now before I make any mathematical fails.
CO
Colm
As I only have access to UTV's late news online, I am impressed with how quickly Mark McFadden turned out a two-minute VT report on the two explosions in Derry tonight. By coincidence, an excellent report by Brian Rowan on recent dissident republican activity also featured in the programme. Due to the coverage of tonight's events in the North West, Paul Clark read the news as well.

I understand via Twitter BBC Newsline had a live OB to the scene of one of the explosions in their late bulletin tonight.

25 days later

GE
Gareth E
Well it was a pleasure to watch UTV Live at 6 this evening . . . probably because the one and only Rose Neill was back on co-presenting duties. Perhaps we'll have the pleasure of her company for the rest of this half-term week. Her presence makes the programme so much more watchable.
SC
SCBNI
Little bit of a graphics refresh on UTV Live tonight. New astons, two way graphics, coming up graphics etc. I missed the opening titles though, was there any change there?

The website has also had a relaunch today so I assume this is to bring them both in line with each other.
SC
SCBNI
Ooh, updated weather graphics too! And there was a new animation at the end of the programme so I assume the opening titles have changed too.

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