The Newsroom

Weekend bulletins & scheduling

(March 2016)

This site closed in March 2021 and is now a read-only archive
BR
Brekkie
I never really catch the late Saturday news so do they include any of the Premiership results at all or just leave it to at most a "look away now" caption knowing most the audience are waiting for Match of the Day?

That said I was caught out a couple of weeks back by a newsreader saying "you know what to do" when about to reveal the sports results - and then going on to read them out!
MA
Markymark
I never really catch the late Saturday news so do they include any of the Premiership results at all or just leave it to at most a "look away now" caption knowing most the audience are waiting for Match of the Day?

That said I was caught out a couple of weeks back by a newsreader saying "you know what to do" when about to reveal the sports results - and then going on to read them out!


Yes, that's pretty much it, not even a chance for anyone to hit their 'mute' button in good time, but of course as we all know, having two or three seconds worth of silence as a pause, (like they used to in the last century) will cause TV masts to topple over, and no doubt all sorts of other mayhem Rolling Eyes
IT
itsrobert Founding member
I never really catch the late Saturday news so do they include any of the Premiership results at all or just leave it to at most a "look away now" caption knowing most the audience are waiting for Match of the Day?

That said I was caught out a couple of weeks back by a newsreader saying "you know what to do" when about to reveal the sports results - and then going on to read them out!


Yes, that's pretty much it, not even a chance for anyone to hit their 'mute' button in good time, but of course as we all know, having two or three seconds worth of silence as a pause, (like they used to in the last century) will cause TV masts to topple over, and no doubt all sorts of other mayhem Rolling Eyes

Yes, that's one of the things I dislike about modern broadcasting - they are that self-important that they can't possibly be silent for a few moments. A couple of weeks ago I happened to be watching TV when the Flying Scotsman was making its journey from London to York. Both BBC Breakfast and Sky News babbled all the way through it, rather than letting the pictures and sound tell the story.
BR
Brekkie
Similar story in the badminton yesterday with a 53 shot rally. Usually the golden rule for tennis and badminton is you only commentate between the points, but after about 25 shots the commentator just had to make their voice heard, though to be fair it might have been through genuine amazement at what was unfolding. (Video here)

Absolutely agree though about broadcasters being scared of the sound of silence, most notable in breakdowns where the CA will pipe up every 10-20 seconds stating there is a problem rather than just letting the caption tell the story. It's the same with the credits too - they can barely let a second pass before speaking over them, regardless of how the programme may have ended.
DO
dosxuk
But that's a reaction to society today. Everybody is impatient and demands to know what's going on. The other week there was a power cut affecting the railway station, at night. Didn't stop people from complaining that there were no announcements explaining the lack of lights, or that someone had turned off the platform screens.
RS
Rob_Schneider
See Terry Wogan and more recently Mel Gideroyc at Eurovision. They feel like they have to be saying something if the EBU feed is not.
MA
Markymark
See Terry Wogan and more recently Mel Gideroyc at Eurovision. They feel like they have to be saying something if the EBU feed is not.


Well, Wogan on his radio show was a total master at using long silent pauses to great effect, sometimes comedic, sometimes reflective. That for me was his greatest skill as a broadcaster .
NG
noggin Founding member
See Terry Wogan and more recently Mel Gideroyc at Eurovision. They feel like they have to be saying something if the EBU feed is not.


The EBU feed is commentary free though - and designed to accommodate commentators (of which there are many)...

In recent years the BBC commentators have had to voice over host presenters even when speaking English to point out differences in UK voting to most of the rest of Europe (SMS not being allowed in the UK for instance), where the host presenters are saying things that don't apply in the UK (or in the case of a non-voting semifinal, reminding audiences that they can't vote when the hosts are exhorting them to...)
ED
EDCanada


Is the news fixed in countries outside the UK?


Someone else has mentioned US, but in Canada it's fixed.

CBC has The National at 10:00 PM local Sundays, and 6:00PM Eastern on Saturdays (before the national hockey broadcasts). Sunday is 1 hour in length, Saturday is 30 minutes. CTV has its national news bulletin at 11 PM on Saturday and Sunday, 30 minutes in length. Global has its national news at 5:30 or 6:30 PM Saturday and Sunday (depends on the station), 30 minutes in length.

Local stations who can afford to do news on weekends normally have it at fixed times at 6 or 11 (11:30 on CTV). The 6 PM news is either 30 minutes or 1 hour long, depending on the station.

No one, regional or national, has any bulletins less than 30 minutes long at odd times.
WW
WW Update

Is the news fixed in countries outside the UK?


Yes, both weekday and weekend newscasts tend to be fixed in most countries (although the weekend editions tend to be fewer in number and, in many countries, slightly shorter than their weekday counterparts.)
LX
lxflyer
RTE broadcast the early evening news at 18:01 on both Saturday and Sunday.

The Nine O'clock News is also fixed on Sundays at, surprisingly enough, 9pm.

The Saturday equivalent is, however, a moving feast depending upon the RTE One schedule.
LL
London Lite Founding member
In France, the start times of the main bulletins are the same as the week at 1 and 8pm on TF1 and France 2.

However, lunchtime bulletins are shortened to 15 mins, with a documentary for the remaining time.

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