[quote="BBC WORLD"]I think Sara Coburn is way under-rated and is an excellent presenter on BBC Television, having exposure in all three areas (Network, N24 and World). I wouldn't mind seeing her as a permanent replacement for Sally Bundock. quote]
FYI - Sara has been around for many many years and never seems to age. I recall her being part of the Breakfast News business team when Nick Whitchell, Laurie Mayer, Jill Dando, Paul Burden and Fiona Foster were at the helm. Sara used to stand in for Foster on Business Breakfast, and also got to present the main part of the show with Whitchell and Mayer; If I remember correctly she also did the Six once or twice back in the days of the 'blue bars` era.
Just come back from a stay in Belgium/Netherlands where BBC World time-shares with French station Arte (which is pretty good BTW). First time I've actually watch BBC World proper and didn't find it as good as it's made out to be on TV Forum. It is good and you get a buzz from watching a BBC channel you know you're never going to watch in the UK but after about an hour of having it on, you begin to notice how low budget and repetitive it is. I began to realise how much better BBC News 24 is.
BBC News 24 is better, World these days looks like poor man's News 24, you wouldn't believe you were watching a global channel, World get little plasmas, News 24 gets big screens etc
BBC in talks with US cable groups
By Tim Burt in New York
Published: September 27 2004 03:00 | Last updated: September 27 2004 03:00
US cable groups including Comcast, Cox Communications and Time Warner Cable have been approached by the BBC about distributing the UK broadcaster's rolling news channel in America.
Executives from the BBC's news division last week held talks about a potential deal with cable operators in New York, and with DirecTV - the satellite platform controlled by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp - in Los Angeles.
The publicly funded broadcaster has been trying to launch BBC World in the US for more than two years, but has so far failed to find a distribution partner.
Although BBC World bulletins are broadcast once a day on almost 230 US stations affiliated with the country's Public Broadcasting Service, the UK corporation wants to exploit perceived interest in non-American television news more broadly.
A deal with a US cable or satellite platform would pitch BBC World into direct competition with domestic rivals such as CNN and Fox News. Time Warner and News Corp, the respective parents of CNN and Fox News, could come under internal pressure not to sign a deal with the BBC.
US distributors have warned that a "carriage agreement" could be hampered by a lack of trans-mission capacity.
BBC executives, however, said they hoped to sign a deal within months. "We are cautiously optimistic but it may be next year before we are on the air 24-hours a day," said one director, who declined to be named.
The BBC might also ask Discovery, its US joint venture partner, to market the news channel to local cable operators. Discovery already distributes and sells advertising for BBC America, the light entertainment channel.
The talks are not connected to separate discussions with US media groups about the potential sale of BBC Worldwide.
The BBC has invited potential bidders to discuss the future of the business, in a review that could lead to a break-up, joint venture or outright disposal of the commercial assets.
I do well recall Sara being on BBc Breakfast Time, and also Business Breakfast that preceded it on the schedule.
However, I don;t think she ever presented the Six in the blue bars era. You may be thinking of another red-headed BBC name from the past, Frances Coverdale, who DID present the Six quite extensively alongside Sue Lawley and Nicholas Witchell. Interesting, even in those days, if neither Lawley or Witchell was available to lead the show, rather than letting Andrew Harvey, Jeremy Paxman or Philip Hayton do the lead (they were the relief co-presenters), BBC used to wheel-in John Humphrys from the Nine as the main anchor. Must have been that they didn't trust the regular co presenters as suitable anchor material, so along came Humphrys!!
Back to BBC World - I disagree that its a poor man's N24. The news content and presentation style are entirely different and deliberatey so. Whilst I agree that there is a degree of repetitiveness, this will not seem the case for the massed global audience. N24's targetted audience is within the confines of the United Kingdom (mainly).
I agree that compared to CNN, who have various main bulletins anchored from Atlanta, Hong Kong and London at various stages of the day, it does add a bit more variety to the presentation style.
However, I far better enjoy World's style of news presentation and actual editorial content. It is superb. My only criticism is that I find the single-anchor style of presentation to be a bit monotonous, and would prefer if world would adopt the double header style, a la N24, Sky, CNN, etc.
And, of course, one thing we are all agreed on - the set needs a revamp. But not N24 style.
BBC in talks with US cable groups
By Tim Burt in New York
Published: September 27 2004 03:00 | Last updated: September 27 2004 03:00
US cable groups including Comcast, Cox Communications and Time Warner Cable have been approached by the BBC about distributing the UK broadcaster's rolling news channel in America.
Executives from the BBC's news division last week held talks about a potential deal with cable operators in New York, and with DirecTV - the satellite platform controlled by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp - in Los Angeles.
The publicly funded broadcaster has been trying to launch BBC World in the US for more than two years, but has so far failed to find a distribution partner.
Although BBC World bulletins are broadcast once a day on almost 230 US stations affiliated with the country's Public Broadcasting Service, the UK corporation wants to exploit perceived interest in non-American television news more broadly.
A deal with a US cable or satellite platform would pitch BBC World into direct competition with domestic rivals such as CNN and Fox News. Time Warner and News Corp, the respective parents of CNN and Fox News, could come under internal pressure not to sign a deal with the BBC.
US distributors have warned that a "carriage agreement" could be hampered by a lack of trans-mission capacity.
BBC executives, however, said they hoped to sign a deal within months. "We are cautiously optimistic but it may be next year before we are on the air 24-hours a day," said one director, who declined to be named.
The BBC might also ask Discovery, its US joint venture partner, to market the news channel to local cable operators. Discovery already distributes and sells advertising for BBC America, the light entertainment channel.
The talks are not connected to separate discussions with US media groups about the potential sale of BBC Worldwide.
The BBC has invited potential bidders to discuss the future of the business, in a review that could lead to a break-up, joint venture or outright disposal of the commercial assets.
Well, I am a bit reluctant, and I am not intending to offend anyone, but they have been saying that for a while, and nothing has happened yet. At least we can get BBC world news on PBS and BBC america.I do hope we get the channel in the near future .
Great stuff on the BBC's 'World Today' and 'World Business Report' today - Sally launched the BBC Global 30 a new stock index. Meanwhile David suggested that him and Sally could be the global 2..a few seconds of flirting later and they're off air!
Who was directing from the gallery during the BBC World bulletins on Saturday? I saw various bulletins through the day, one presented by Adrian, another by Lucy and a final one read by Anita. On all three cases, the director cut away far too early whilst the presenters were in the midst of re-capping the closing headlines and bidding their farewells. In fact, it happened on TWO of Adrian's bulletins, and all we got was the helicopter closing shot, with presenters still very much directed at camera and in mid flow.
Mildly annoying.
Also, I noticed that on Friday/Saturday, there was a white semi-opaque curtain wall that appeared to be erected just over the presenters left hand shoulder (as we look at him), and it appeared to run the entire length of the newsroom. I have seen this a few times, but then it was gone again by Sunday. Anyone know what it's for?
Nice closures from Adrian too on Saturday, particularly following the story about the goats for Christmas gifts.
After all my rantings at the top of this thread, it was bound to happen. My excessive complaints that news presenters were disappearing from time to time, when suddenly Keshini Navaratnam turns up again out of the blue on Asia Today!
I am glad though, as she is a superb presenter of News. Feel that she's underutilised by only presenting Asia Today, as opposed to bit more on News.
Good to see Alaistair Yates on TWT today alongside Sally Bundock - he did an excellent job. But does say the word 'And' alot at the beggining of scentences.