The Newsroom

New Meridian, BBC South & South East Thread

(July 2006)

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BA
Ballyboy
What if Thames valley tonight was still on today as ITV News Thames Valley?

Do miss Wes Mark And Hannah
Last edited by Ballyboy on 19 October 2020 9:53pm - 4 times in total
ST
South Today
What if Thames valley tonight was still on today asITV News Thames Valley?

Do miss Wes Mark And Hannah


But not scary Mary?! Always referring to co presenter as ‘’Westley’’.
BA
Ballyboy
Forget about Mary too. local news and a local weather forecast
MA
Macalolo
RDJ posted:

And the one part of Oxfordshire not served by Meridian, which makes it even more stranger.


Henley used to get the odd mention in the Central South days, but yes as you say it's on the edge but officially it's London territory.

You'd think for having such a large patch, they'd be able to get some sort of suitable backdrop for each sub-region. It's not an area that's short of them... White Cliffs of Dover, Brighton Pier, Southampton Docks, Radcliffe Camera in Oxford. But they've gone for one bridge for all sub-regions that's not even comfortably within Meridian territory. Very odd.


The idea is for it to be relatable to viewers rather than recognisable
Cold Open and Ballyboy gave kudos
LL
London Lite Founding member
Dartford Crossing or Brighton Pavilion would be nice


Neither of which are really properly in the Meridian SE region !

Brighton is in the BBC South East region, it moved there at DSO, but Meridian kept it in their South region


Brighton is itself a special case for Meridian. While it takes Meridian South Coast bulletins, the advertising region is shared with East, so is the fourth sub-opt for advertising purposes.
Cold Open and Ballyboy gave kudos
CO
Cold Open
RDJ posted:

And the one part of Oxfordshire not served by Meridian, which makes it even more stranger.


Henley used to get the odd mention in the Central South days, but yes as you say it's on the edge but officially it's London territory.

You'd think for having such a large patch, they'd be able to get some sort of suitable backdrop for each sub-region. It's not an area that's short of them... White Cliffs of Dover, Brighton Pier, Southampton Docks, Radcliffe Camera in Oxford. But they've gone for one bridge for all sub-regions that's not even comfortably within Meridian territory. Very odd.


The idea is for it to be relatable to viewers rather than recognisable


Indeed.

There are countless multi-arched stone bridges over rivers around Britain. It's hardly iconic or distinctive like e.g. the Clifton Suspension Bridge, St Paul's Cathedral, or the Library of Birmingham.

Which means that different viewers might easily assume that it's somewhere in, say, Hampshire or Kent. This avoids it seeming obviously "wrong" to average viewers in any of Meridian's sub-regions. It's not like giving Tyne Tees a backdrop of King's College, Cambridge (or whatever)!

As has been correctly stated already, technically it's "wrong" for all three sub-regions of course. But as Henley-on-Thames is only just outside of the Beckley/Oxford TX footprint it's "almost right" for Meridian Thames Valley.

I kind of like the idea of them reintroducing separate backdrops for each version of Meridian, but this would be complicated by the fact that the Thames Valley/South Coast split is only partial.

As the South East edition is (usually) fully separate however, it would have no such issues with reintroducing a SE specific backdrop.

Would having the "West" edition's outdoor view change after 6:10pm be too jarring?

It would be nice to have new versions of the previous Reading (Oracle shopping centre) and Portsmouth (Spinnaker Tower) backdrops reintroduced for the split Thames Valley/South Coast bulletins. What would the pan-West bulletins have though? Winchester maybe (cathedral? guildhall? King Alfred statue?), as it's pretty much where those two editorial sub-regions meet?
LL
London Lite Founding member
There is one tiny issue with the Sky/Freesat ITV Meridian changes tomorrow and that is Brighton postcodes are likely to get ads tailored for viewers who live in the Solent area, so they receive the correct news bulletin.

I think one of the reasons why ITV wanted Whitehawk Hill in the East advertising region while maintaining the traditional editorial area that looks west towards West Sussex and the Solent area was that the population area of Brighton & Hove make the Meridian East opt more of a viable area than the already large population centres of Portsmouth & Southampton which would already be viable without Brighton in it.
CO
Cold Open
I would advocate Meridian SE news being made the official designation for Brighton & Hove on all platforms, including Whitehawk Hill TX.
LL
London Lite Founding member
I would advocate Meridian SE news being made the official designation for Brighton & Hove on all platforms, including Whitehawk Hill TX.


The issue with that is that viewers, especially in Worthing which is editorially in South Today's patch have aerials pointing towards Whitehawk Hill, so would lose their only alternative to South East Today which seems to think the signal ends on the Brighton & Hove/Adur border.

There will be some that use the Findon relay which has BBC One South and ITV Meridian (South Coast macro), or even Rowridge, but Whitehawk's coverage matches that of the BBC Sussex/Heart Sussex FM areas which include Worthing and the Adur district which includes Shoreham and Lancing.
LL
London Lite Founding member
Incidentally I think Brighton stories are covered on both the East and South Coast bulletins due to Brighton being geographically on the border of those two regions.

I lived briefly in Brighton in the late 80s in Kemptown where South Today and the Southampton editon of Coast to Coast were the norm, but I remember going past an electrical shop in the town where tv sets were showing the regional news, one had South Today on and the other had Newsroom South East. Presumably this was cable fed as the town was clearly being covered as a relay of Rowridge then terrestrially, compared to the current situation.
RO
rob Founding member
Here's Roger Finn's farewell...

MA
Markymark
rob posted:
Here's Roger Finn's farewell...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6A33iahc3A


In the bit where the car turns over, surely the image from the fixed 'Go-Pro' camera itself won't have turned over too ! Wink

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