Changes to BBC Parliament & Political Programming

I've always assumed that it must be literally only e.g. MPs/politicians/political activists/party members/tedious bores (etc) that have ever watched any of these kind of political programmes*.

Whether that be On The Record, Frost on Sunday/Breakfast with Frost, Despatch Box, Sunday AM/The Andrew Marr Show, Westminster Live, AM:PM, Holyrood Live, Hearts & Minds, Scrutiny, the old BBC Two regional ones like Midlands@Westminster/Viewpoint Midlands etc, This Week, The Politics Show, Daily/Sunday Politics... blah blah blah.

(*Plus also some of us TV pres geeks, but watching for our own reasons obviously. And even we seldom watch methinks, and probably only small chunks of the programme (e.g. around the 11:37-ish regional opt junction in Sunday Politics)).

99.9% of normal humans must barely be aware of the very existence of these programmes, let alone be inclined to tune in to them.

That said, I absolutely didn't see this announcement coming.

I can't imagine what the heck they could put into the vacated airtime, as Sunday morning/lunchtime political snoozefest has been a fixture on BBC One and/or BBC Two since Moses' Bar Mitzvah.

It may be a good idea for Sky News to move Ridge on Sunday to 11am to fill the void left by the scraps of Sunday Politics moving to 10am.

While cuts have been made to the lunchtime political show, PMQ's is extended by 15 mins, which should be enough time for post analysis, considering how long the debate in the Commons generally over runs.

Both main TV channels seem to be reducing or even abandoning (in ITV's case) the traditional Sunday morning political programmes.

For quite a while ITV didn't seem to have anything at all after the Jonathan Dimbleby show finished in 2006. Then Peston arrived and I thought that programme seemed to work well.

ITV used to have quite a strong lead in this area. I recall the old Weekend World programme that ran until 1988.

It opened with a very odd long-shot of what seemed to be a largely empty studio, with the presenter sat quite close to the camera, but the "intended interview victim of the day" sat alone in the far distance, as if in the 'naughty seat' awaiting punishment.

Here's an example from 1982, complete with lovely LWT clock and ident.

According to The Times, the changes will save £1.9m a year and 23 roles will be affected.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/bbc-ditches-sunday-politics-amid-westminster-cost-cutting-d0z0ggrzb

Marr has always had the bigger interviews with the PM & Cabinet Ministers etc but I’ve always found it relatively soft.

I suspect this will be the death knell for BBC Parliament as a linear channel.

This does also show there is still a lot to come in terms of BBC cost cutting.

I think the first was 100% a coincidence date wise but not so sure today's wasn't realised knowing what was going on.

"Politics Live" sounds like the sort of programme that might be simulcast on the News Channel, especially since this programme is apparently "at the heart of BBC News's remit". Seems named to fit with Newsroom Live and Afternoon Live.

Breakfast with Frost / Sunday AM / The Andrew Marr Show has typically rated pretty highly - so people definitely watch that.

Marr got 1.6m / 27.5% this Sunday whereas Zoe Ball on Sunday got 100,000 / 2.7% ...

I thought the same, another hour of BBC Two and BBC News simulcasting from 12:00-13:00 then.

BBC News often takes a decent chunk of PMQs anyway so there won't be much difference there either.

At least they aren't calling it Westminster Live and going for the full 'Back to the Future'...

Sunday Politics has been on life support for a while now. It has never managed to pull in the 'A' list guests who typically would rather go for a higher profile and softer Marr interview rather than a grilling from Brillo. When he left last year it was pretty clear that having Sarah Smith hosting along with her Scotland commitments could only be a stopgap solution.

Shame about BBC Parliament, but would it really completely axe things like the old Election Night repeats and some of the archive showings around historic event anniversaries? Surely these must cost peanuts to play and always seem to get a bit of social media buzz.

Extending The Daily Politics to an extra 15 mins on Wednesday needs to happen since PMQS is now regularly pushing an hour in length leaving no time for any type of analysis and 45 mins for the rest of the week feels about right.

So I'm confused about one line in the statement: the point about "no more bespoke programming". Does that mean that the "Today in Parliament" / "Week in Parliament", which I assume is created solely for BBC Parliament and repeated on News Channel overnight, will be removed?

If so, that's a bad move, because that programme is a great way of getting a succinct look over all of Parliament's debates and discussions, most of which don't make it to the News Channel.

Apart from that particular concern, the Parliament Channel is pretty useless. If it's important enough, it will be run by the News Channel as needed, and the removal of the channels' broadcasting when Parliament is closed opens up the slot for another Red Button channel during sporting events (which someone mentions after this post)

The other thing with simulcasting it with the News Channel (if indeed that's what they plan to do) means they won't have to keep moving it around for sports at this time of year and can run it on the NC only (and if required replace the 1 O'Clock News after PMQs).