South West England & CI Thread

I feel this would certainly be the right decision but it comes down to money. Constant BBC cuts I can't see it happening, sadly. The Channel Islands do get a bad deal with the daytime and weekend bulletins with the odd story now and again.

I really can't see it happening. So much of the Channel Islands infrastructure relies on Plymouth. To make them entirely independent technically would cost a fortune, and in staff it would also cost a lot more as they'd have to fill the full half hour daily as well as morning and weekend bulletins. I really can't see it ever happening.

Oh I don't disagree, but as a temporary measure, they could still utilise Plymouth on an infrastructure level, whilst the on-screen stuff could be just from the studio in Jersey, maybe utilising staff from Radio Jersey, as they used to do when the TV studio was at Fremont Point. As for the short bulletins in Breakfast, the only video bit required would be a weather forecast, everything else could be done with just a single camera. Don't forget, we are about 25 years down the road, from BBC Channel Islands News being a single nightly short bulletin after the late news. The 6.30 opt-out didn't come in until 2004. Maybe extending the 6.30, and adding the weekend bulletins are the next phase.

When there used to be a fully separate Oxford edition of South Today (even branded at one stage as BBC Oxford News) every Friday only, it was always a bit of a car crash in terms of finding enough decent content to fill its airtime.

Cost-cutting causing it to be scaled back to a 10-15 minute opt (just like on Mon-Thurs) was a blessing.

In terms of both resourcing costs and news content, a more autonomous BBC Channel Islands is doubtless an equally unviable proposition.

I've never viewed a full 30-minute edition of Channel Report / ITV News Channel TV in my life, but have always wondered whether it is fluff/padding city.

You've never viewed ITV News: Channel TV? So, what makes you think that referencing Oxford supports your case? Besides which, Guernsey and Jersey are unique in the UK, in that both have their own separate parliaments, The States Of Jersey and The States Of Guernsey.

Your fluff argument as well is off, because every regional news magazine contains some fluff, because that's easier to produce than news. Even the network bulletins in the US, are mostly fluff after the A block. It's par for the course these days, deal with it.

Bit of an over-reaction to what was a very fair post. He said he wondered if the service was padded-out and full of fluff, not that it was.

Correct, and what I said was, it's par for the course these days to have some fluff in regional news, cos it's cheaper to produce. That's just the way it is.

The last time I watched a bulletin from ITV News Channel TV, there was a padded out VT from a Channel reporter promoting an ITV commission set in southern Europe which had a connection with the Islands.

The Channel Islands are not part of the UK, nor is the Isle of Man, which also has its own 'parliament' (The Tynwald) but I don't think it even gets a regional sub-opt on either BBC One or ITV.

And not really "unique" if there are two of them - and the Isle of Man is in pretty much the same position, so that's three!

True, but they are part of our TV system. That's what makes them unique.

I doubt the BBC CI TV service would exist if Channel TV didn’t