20 years of the BBC News Channel (BBC News 24)

I completely agree. To be honest, I don't think any of David Lowe's music has ever been as good as it was between 1999 and 2003. As soon as the December 2003 rebrand happened, the music became watered down and has never really recovered. Some of his recent work is interesting - different - but for me, nothing compares to the originals. The variety, detail, quality were all superb.

I've noticed as well that the bottom of the hour stings on Afternoon Live has a subtle throwbacks to the 1999 music as well.

The original flags look and sound is somewhat timeless. As for what follow definately feel the theme peaked in 1999 and no version has really matched up to it - hate the stop start nature of the headline bed nowadays.

Also can't help but feel this nostalgia trip has just highlights how much the channel has been stripped to the bone over the last couple of years - indeed perhaps that's why those at the channel have pushed the anniversary so much to make that point.

It's not just the countdowns. The 2000 BBC World Headline Vamp is sublime. It was changed in 2002 and there you can already hear the shift away. It gained a more standard techno beat, increased the prominence of that dotted rhythm base line, and lost all the subtle percussive notes that helped integrate the pip into the music.
Pip beeps against techno beat was NOT how the original packages sounded, but that's what the brand ended up being.

1997 launch countdown, Lord Hall and Helen Willetts interviews, along with the flags countdown into the Six.

No classic countdown before the 10.

Here's the online news story reporting on the launch of News 24 in '97 (must have been one of the first online news stories from the BBC as well):

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/24978.stm

At least Phil Hayton was with Anna Jones that day & not Kate Silverton

Certainly an improvement on ten years ago when the anniversary was ignored completely!

I think the channel seems to be quite an easy target for cuts - just add an extra simulcast with BBC World here and there. I haven't been paying so much attention recently so I hadn't even noticed until this evening that the 7-8pm hour now seems to be simulcast with World (and hence BBC Four as well for the first half hour).

And with the BBC continuing to announce investment in other areas, including only yesterday Tony Hall's announcement that £10 million worth of planned cuts to BBC Local Radio will not now go ahead (which I do welcome) meaning further cutbacks will need to be made elsewhere - so we probably haven't seen the end of cuts to the news channel.

Only 7 hours 45 mins a weekday on the News Channel is live and unique to the channel these days, the rest being simulcast with BBC One, BBC Two or BBC World, pre-recorded back half hours and the Newsnight repeat.

Just fortunate they dropped the '24' when they did.

I think there is one at 22:59 though