BBC News Rebrand - This Monday

I totally agree tvmercia, and said something similar a few pages back.

Unless someone is in the habit of watching alternate BBC One regions on DSat, they won't notice the set/graphics/title differences between the editions.

As long as they have a bit of red and white on the set and graphics; slap "BBC NEWS" somewhere in the titles, then the audience will assume it's part-and-parcel of the same operation as the national news.

I normally watch Spotlight (Plymouth edition), but have seen the Channel Islands version. I also sometimes watch Look North (Newcastle) because I used to live there, and NorthWest Tonight because that's where I am from originally. I don't expect them all to have the same look: they are different programmes for and presented by different people.

I think there is a difference between every show looking the same, and all of them belonging to the same brand. Branding is more than a colour scheme, a desk design and a logo, it includes the writing style and content as well! Different regions have different audiences and different "levels" of news - and the way a set works will differe between regions as well. One size fits all doesn't work (anyone watching the dire ITV Plc regional output at the moment can see that) - but equally neither does anything goes.

Any more news on the rebranding noggin? What are they doing in N6 at the moment, does it give any clues to what it'll look like when N24 move in? Are they doing anything to the set, or just working on the plumbing?

None that comes close to being for public consumption, I'm afraid. With ITN and Sky having a presence here - and competition between news providers quite high at the moment there is no point tipping others off before they see it on-air.

I've never been one to "leak" stuff - and don't really plan to start now!


Think they are going through the annual electrical safety testing at the moment (if you've ever been in any non-domestic environment you've no doubt seen stickers with dates on every bit of electric kit ? If you plug anything in to power in most businesses, schools, hospitals etc. it has to be safety tested. That includes every monitor in a monitor stack - vision mixers, camera control units, the works...)

I respect your position noggin, but don't see why the BBC keep things so secret.

ITN trailed News at Ten beforehand and put loads of stuff about their rebranding on YouTube etc. What will the BBC lose by information leaking out? Surely they'll gain by creating more interest.

ITN and Sky are hardly going to copy branding, so what's the harm in some information being released. If it was some new format in which they were doing the programmes, then I could understand it, but backgrounds and graphics are different.

I doubt it would ever happen for exactly the reasons you stated noggin, but it's a shame there isn't a project blog for these types of things. Like the one for eurovision, http://www.eurovisiondiary.com/ , they keep all of their 'secret' stuff off there (until after the event) so people don't know what's coming, but cover a lot of the backstage / install stuff.

I don't imagine ITN / Sky would get much out of some fairly low res photos of the gallery being stripped apart.

On another note...

What's the point in electrically testing all the gear, if it's all being replaced as it's no longer viable to maintain?

Well it confirms something bigger is happening in N6, if it cant be talked about. Obviously more than a tweak to the backing image on the Barco Screens...

Not sure how far you should read into noggin's refusal to say anything, he quite understandably doesn't like to reveal anything even if they were just going to sit Huw in the other corner of the studio or have a floating pink hippo on the backdrop he wouldn't give the game away.

Awww but its fun!

For some reason I can imagine a big picture of Natasha Kaplinsky with her evil smile appearing on the backdrop don't know why though!

With the one o'clock news (sorry if this is the wrong thread - can't remember!) perhaps the BBC One team have been asked to gradually move towards N24's style thus so viewers don't necessarily notice.

In regards to the Ten/ Newsnight setup, surely both programs have a long time to rehearse at least parts of their bullitens before the ten starts... nothing in TC7 normally between 8pm and 10pm!


Also, if the ten really is going to have to share a studio, I'd rather it shared with Newsnight rather than N24! It's been said that when N24 and the ten are in N6 they'll only have 10 minutes to rehearse (I'd imagine some sort of 'The World' or 'Hardtalk Extra' program put on in this time) surely it would be better to give the ten pleanty of time but strip Newsnight of some rehearsals. N6 looks so small in comparison to TC7 and I think we're going to get a rushed feeling during the ten that we don't get now with them in TC7.

If Sophie Raworth's only going to be away until the summer, what was the point in all the 'Silverton to present the one' stuff talked about at the end of last year. Sian was on the six for longer covering for Sophie than Kate will be, and she didn't get a PR.

There are many reasons for keeping stuff confidential and in the private domain. They include not helping your competitors/rivals in countering what you are doing, allowing you a degree of experimentation and the scope to change your mind in private, and the freedom to develop ideas and make mistakes.

ITV don't tell you what they are doing to their schedule before they do it, Sky don't tell you about their new graphics before they do it, and the BBC don't tell you - in any great detail - about their sets before you see them on-air.


ITN were working on News at Ten in private for weeks before they started on-air promotion - with publicity stills and promos.

There werent' camera phone stills of design in process.

The BBC redesign isn't due on-air for a month or two - and any previews, like ITN's, will be sanctioned and co-ordinated, not leaks.

This is a professional business (mostly) - and it isn't professional to publish stuff that shoudl be confidential on a public website.

Those from the industry who do post here are usually careful to keep stuff to what is in the public domain, or informed guesswork would tell you, with occasional "insider insight" and historical perspective. If we posted other stuff it could easily result in disciplinary action or a P45 after all... (Our day jobs do boring stuff like pay for mortgages and food!)



No - but they can pre-empt design changes that indicate format changes - and branding is still confidential until it is released in a co-ordinated fashion and presented in a professional manner.

Can you imagine if the regions found out about the direction of their new brand here rather than internally?



But the two are linked... Formats may change because the set changes for example... Graphic changes may link to format changes.

It doesn't confirm anything I'm afraid - it simply confirms that we aren't talking about it - whether it is a 1 tv-line height change to the name supers or the background being replaced by a coastal seascape and the presenters being winched in from the ceiling at the top of the show.