I have a feeling they may be considering dropping the countdown altogether - I sa them do the same a few weeks back - straight from weather to TOTH.
When you think about it - who, other than us, is gonna sit there and watch knowing full well nothing of interest is going to happen for 30+ seconds? Viewers get easily bored!
The countdown also makes things easier to get everything synced for the top of the hour. With rolling news things over, and under run. So it builds in some flexibility. Obviously we have seen it is possible to start at the top of hour the minus a countdown, but it requires more precise timing and just that little bit more effort.
This is why I thought the old 10 second countdown on BBC World was a waste of time, simply not being long enough to provide that bit of flexibility at the top of the hour.
The countdown also makes things easier to get everything synced for the top of the hour. With rolling news things over, and under run. So it builds in some flexibility.
Or, if you're Sky News, just crash into ads mid-sentence.
The countdown also makes things easier to get everything synced for the top of the hour. With rolling news things over, and under run. So it builds in some flexibility.
Or, if you're Sky News, just crash into ads mid-sentence.
It is quite funny occassionally seeing the fantastically horizontal, languid Frances, suddenly speeding up and being cut off by the Qatar Airways sting.
The countdown also makes things easier to get everything synced for the top of the hour. With rolling news things over, and under run. So it builds in some flexibility. Obviously we have seen it is possible to start at the top of hour the minus a countdown, but it requires more precise timing and just that little bit more effort.
This is why I thought the old 10 second countdown on BBC World was a waste of time, simply not being long enough to provide that bit of flexibility at the top of the hour.
I agree that the old World 10sec countdown was a bit pointless, but not for the reason you're suggesting. The whole track was actually a 30 second rumble, the 10 sec countdown followed by the ident which ran to 1 minute. The news always started bang on the hour - in effect, the countdown was only counting down to the channel ident, which in turn led up to the TOTH.
The countdown also makes things easier to get everything synced for the top of the hour. With rolling news things over, and under run. So it builds in some flexibility. Obviously we have seen it is possible to start at the top of hour the minus a countdown, but it requires more precise timing and just that little bit more effort.
This is why I thought the old 10 second countdown on BBC World was a waste of time, simply not being long enough to provide that bit of flexibility at the top of the hour.
I agree that the old World 10sec countdown was a bit pointless, but not for the reason you're suggesting. The whole track was actually a 30 second rumble, the 10 sec countdown followed by the ident which ran to 1 minute. The news always started bang on the hour - in effect, the countdown was only counting down to the channel ident, which in turn led up to the TOTH.
Completely forgot that was the sequence, absolutely right.
I think that the order has been given to avoid the countdown as much as possible. There's only been a countdown at midday and 7pm so far; indeed, Huw filled right upto the '6', cutting straight from him in N8 to Sian & George in N6.
It just seems to be being avoided as much as possible until they can remove the offending images
