The 'Victoria Derbyshire' Programme

Presumably costing more than what it replaced and you'd expect the news channel to be picking up the full cost as BBC Two won't be contributing.

My usual appetite for news consists of ITV News for bulletins and BBC News for rolling news - I've been on leave this week and would usually watch BBC News during the morning (post-Breakfast) however I've been watching Sky News instead all week. VDS just isn't giving me what I want at that time in the morning, whereas Sky News is. In fact, because Sky News has now been the first channel to appear when I switch Sky on, I've been watching it at other times of the day/evening as well. That is very, very unusual for me - I would almost always go to BBC News for rolling news until now.

Kind of in the wrong thread but just interested too see how you have found Sky News this week, have they done enough to keep you long term?

I got the distinct impression that the ViD show was a BBC 2 show foisted on the News Channel rather than the opposite. It has some budget over and above what I suspect what BBC News would spend on 90 minutes of News Channel output.

It's a perfectly good BBC2 show, it just fails to hit the mark for a News Channel audience who tune in expecting a rolling news service.

I thought BBC Two no longer has any budget for daytime since DQF, alas the old repeats and BBC News/World News simulcasts when they're not covering sport?

However, you make a valid point about the targeting of the show being more for BBC Two than the NC.

I'd actually say so, yes. The channel is quite pacey and the political coverage has been excellent, not to mention being on top of breaking news as well. The only downsides I can think of compared to BBC News are the advert breaks and their weather forecasts are nowhere near as good as the BBC's - but news and sport wise, I think they've been excellent.


It's a shame really, but every time I've switched to BBC News in the morning this week they've usually been in the middle of one of those "beautiful films" or some sort of discussion/debate. I'm afraid that isn't for me - even on holiday, I haven't got the time to sit around for hours on end watching that sort of content. I've been able to switch Sky News on at 9am and get everything I need in 15 minutes before moving on to do something else. And the sad thing is that until now, that's exactly what BBC News has provided me with for the past 15 years in the morning.

That said, I'll probably still watch BBC Breakfast when I'm back at work next week - but I may well consider Sky News as an alternative now for those times when there is an uninteresting story on the BBC.

We're getting way off topic here, but I've also been watching a lot of Sky News for the past week or so, and to me the biggest thing that stood out is the graphics. The polling graphic in the top left is much less obtrusive than the BBC one that has been posted here (although that isn't displayed permanently like on Sky News), and I particularly like the constituency graphic that appears in the top right whenever there's a live OB - it's informative and genuinely useful.

And because Sky takes full advantage of the size of the 16:9 HD picture (on both SD and HD) the graphics can be made smaller and don't float in the 4:3 safe area. This inevitably means they will be harder to read, say, on a smaller screen in SD over Freeview, but I think the trade off is worth it.

VDS really does sound like something you should be getting treatment for.

Nothing to add to the many arguments here which mainly have exactly the same concerns as when it was announced. Rather than strengthening BBC News's output (and it's a show which scheduled right could be an asset) it's actually weakening it during arguably the most important six weeks of the last 5 years. At the very least it should have been held back until after the election.

I'm sure people will shoot me down for this and I'm not suggesting for one minute it should happen but the nature of the show IMO means it would be a better fit as a revamped One o'clock News than as the bulk of the morning coverage. It's a pause from the rolling news and the "lovely films" would fill the back half of the 1pm hour nicely. It would just fit a bit better as the break in the middle of the days rolling news coverage, but of course would be a huge risk replacing the very popular 1pm bulletin.

France 2's Le Journal 13H has a Victoria Derbyshire style 'lovely film' segment or a fluffy studio guest on to fill the last 15 minutes of the bulletin. However the main part of the news bulletin stays mainstream.

The current format really does feel like 'Breakfast Extra' as an extension of the 8.30-9.15 segment with a more dumbed down (for the Beeb) style of reporting the news. Especially the political segments and the over casual wear. Ben Thompson going casual for a biz segment was terrible.

Breaking News strap used on the Derbyshire programme this morning on the NC.

Why can't the logo be to the left of the BBCX News logo and then everything align as it normally would on the NC?

It would be out of the safe areas. The V logo is the same length as the BBC logo.