I've seen some of the pilot stuff, pretty impressive.
the whole thing looks fantastic doesn't it! such a shame its not going to be on digital terrestrial. it will be interesting to see whether the presence of local tv will have an impact on the way in which midlands today gathers news. although the teams are separate (and branded as such i might add), surely having so many more vjs on the ground in their dedicated counties cant be a bad thing.
i think there is a barker out there on sky somewhere - although i don't think it shows any of the fantastic graphics/titles/countdowns that they are using.
Brekkie Boy posted:
Maybe the BBC should concentrate on making Midlands Today less cringeworthy than even Granada Reports first before venturing into "Local TV"!
It's a case of the BBC feeling they need to do absolutely everything linked with TV whether the licence fee payer wants it or not!
it might not be to your taste, but its the most popular news programme in the midlands. we like a bit of cheese in the mids. and to be honest - local tv isn't specifically aimed at the average midlands today demographic - i believe they are aiming younger and dare i say more female. so delivering local tv news/community content to an audience not largely catered for by the bbc never mind anyone else isnt a bad thing surely. i think its important the bbc plough more money into the english regions through concepts like this, the "nations" get enough services as it is.
I've seen some of the pilot stuff, pretty impressive.
the whole thing looks fantastic doesn't it! such a shame its not going to be on digital terrestrial. it will be interesting to see whether the presence of local tv will have an impact on the way in which midlands today gathers news. although the teams are separate (and branded as such i might add), surely having so many more vjs on the ground in their dedicated counties cant be a bad thing.
Yes, looks great. Saw some stuff about a year ago and it wasn't fantastic, but its come on leaps and bounds since. The presentation is nice, although I'd say from the pilot I saw they need to watch the levels a little bit. Too much 'banging' music.
I also agree Midlands Today will benefit from more people on the ground. Without wishing to divulge specifics, it will see a lot more people in the county radio stations as well as WM doing work for Local TV and giving more choice to the MT producer. Hopefully instead of scrabbling around for stories, the only choice they will have is what to leave out!!!
I've seen some of the pilot stuff, pretty impressive.
the whole thing looks fantastic doesn't it! such a shame its not going to be on digital terrestrial. it will be interesting to see whether the presence of local tv will have an impact on the way in which midlands today gathers news. although the teams are separate (and branded as such i might add), surely having so many more vjs on the ground in their dedicated counties cant be a bad thing.
i think there is a barker out there on sky somewhere - although i don't think it shows any of the fantastic graphics/titles/countdowns that they are using.
Brekkie Boy posted:
Maybe the BBC should concentrate on making Midlands Today less cringeworthy than even Granada Reports first before venturing into "Local TV"!
It's a case of the BBC feeling they need to do absolutely everything linked with TV whether the licence fee payer wants it or not!
it might not be to your taste, but its the most popular news programme in the midlands. we like a bit of cheese in the mids. and to be honest - local tv isn't specifically aimed at the average midlands today demographic - i believe they are aiming younger and dare i say more female. so delivering local tv news/community content to an audience not largely catered for by the bbc never mind anyone else isnt a bad thing surely. i think its important the bbc plough more money into the english regions through concepts like this, the "nations" get enough services as it is.
Certainly anyone I've spoken to is very excited about the forthcoming trial. When I was on the radio t'other day, many went out of their way to say "The BBC are covering it too on their new interactive service" - which at least means people understand where it's going and don't think it'll go straight to Midlands Today.
The increased presence of VJs is only a good thing in terms of the competition, when I heard about the Local TV trials I thought it'd just be a few bits of library video overlayed with a bad voiceover, but they do appear to be going all out (especially with each "county" getting 10 minutes too).
Very good news, and I can't wait for the launch on Thursday.
In other words, by it's very definition, regional news covers story not major enough to worry anyone outside your county.
This new BBC trial is "local" TV- which simply won't work.
The only level of news below national that is genuinely newsworthy to individuals is what is termed "ultralocal" TV....your local community.
This "local" TV aims for 60 zones- that means that even many major towns will not have their own service.
It's a more expensive way of delivering regional news, which we already spend far too much money on.
its a trial designed to work out if the service does deliver the news in a way in which the viewers want. not really sure we can rely on your bedroom hypothesis to give us an accurate picture of exactly what the entire country wants.
In other words, by it's very definition, regional news covers story not major enough to worry anyone outside your county.
This new BBC trial is "local" TV- which simply won't work.
The only level of news below national that is genuinely newsworthy to individuals is what is termed "ultralocal" TV....your local community.
This "local" TV aims for 60 zones- that means that even many major towns will not have their own service.
It's a more expensive way of delivering regional news, which we already spend far too much money on.
its a trial designed to work out if the service does deliver the news in a way in which the viewers want. not really sure we can rely on your bedroom hypothesis to give us an accurate picture of exactly what the entire country wants.
My point is that it's a bit of a con.
The beeb's sales pitch sounds very much like "ultralocal TV", but in actual fact the 60 programmes will never achieve this.
In true ultralocal TV, an area the size of Greater London would probably have 10-15 stations. That's true community broadcasting.
60 stations for the UK means there will be a broadcast for "London", for "Birmingham" etc. which is simply no better than regional news.
In other words- it's pointless and a waste of money.
And it quite obviously hasn't really been thought through before going to trial.