BBC News at Ten

ITV News at Ten started at 3 or 4 minutes past ten last night and ended at 10:33, followed by the weather and the regional news.

My concern was that by running BBC News at Ten later it would diminish Newsnight further - they've quietly removed five minutes a night I believe already - and we would then see the programme disappear perhaps due to cost cutting and poor viewing performance.

I wonder if an extended BBC Ten would just happen to be launched the same day as Tom Bradby takes over ITV News at Ten.

Extending the bulletins kills off the post news slot though, as the later you finish the news the less likely people are to watch the show afterwards.

Also of course extending the regional news dragged on and just repeated content from teatime, extending the main news would mean extra content would need to be made.

Extending the BBC 10 permanently could mean some talks with the unions, so I doubt it'll happen that fast.

Unless they would be bringing in the content that follows on the news channel afterwards?

I suspect it may become a reaction to what ITV are doing - making its 10 more distinctive from the other bulletins. But yes, the BBC aren't going to get round to doing this within the next couple of weeks to launch alongside the new ITV News.

Although revamping the Ten to coincide with ITV doing the same won't do themselves any favours when it comes to those who say the BBC is too competitive. What John Whittingdale really wants is for the BBC to outsource their news provision to an independent company such as Big Centre TV.

But that's the hypocrisy of the whole argument - the government want a competitive market economy which based on the idea of economic 'survival of the fittest' - those who are bigger, better survive. Yet they are telling the biggest and the best that they are hurting the competition. This seems diametrically opposed to the idea of a competitive market and seems incredibly hypocritical on the part of the government. If Sky or ITV were opening up a Parliament Channel would they give a toss how it would affect the BBC? No - so why should the BBC give a toss how they affect their consistently hostile competitors. You're either pro competition or you're not - this government can't have a pick 'n' mix attitude to it.

I doubt that the BBC will ever outsource their news - though given that John Whittingdale is an absolute Jeremy Hunt towards the BBC I wouldn't be surprised. (You can take an absolute Jeremy Hunt as either Rhyming Slang or corrupt and in the pockets of Murdoch)

But I guess that's the government's point. The publicly funded BBC is supposedly getting in the way of its commercial competitors. The BBC arguably has an advantage in that it is propped up by license fee payers and is not necessarily affected by true competition and market forces as ITV, Channel 4, Sky et al are. Therefore the "survival of the fittest" argument does not apply since the BBC is the biggest and the best because it receives money regardless of its commercial performance. This in turn, according to the government, affects its rivals because they can't compete on a level playing field. I'm not saying that I agree with this notion in the slightest but when you look at it from this perspective, the government position is more understandable.

Hot on the heels of ITV's refresh of News at 10, the BBC will be revamping theirs as well. Report from The Times, confirmed to me by someone at the BBC.

The Times is reporting that the BBC are planning to give their 10pm bulletin a revamp. https://t.co/HmN5YdfuYt

— TV Live 💙 (@tvlive) November 2, 2015

How on Earth would the News at Ten coming from Studio B benefit anything? Not to mention cost - Newsnight (in studio A?) and News at Ten would need full crews (including cameramen) and Studio E would be sitting vacant for most of the evening.

And making changes now is the worst possible idea - the BBC should hold steady and actually believe their line that competition is good for the industry and viewers - trying to make the BBC bigger, grander and longer than ITV's will only aid Bradby, Wittingdale and Co.'s arguments.

For what it's worth, I think the programme would feel less welcoming from Studio B. The use of the elections studio only worked because Huw was surrounded by election journalists in various shots, and Newsnight doesn't feel too lonely because of the large number of guests in an out of studio B each night. The BBC World News (generic news) bulletins from B are both wasted and off putting because the only opportunity is for a presenter to sit or stand in front of screens.

Posts from BBC News at 10 to get revamp have been merged into this topic.