I've just returned from holiday. I was able to watch BBC World whilst in the hotel room. I have to say the channel certainly does not feel as well produced as it did a few years ago. For some reason the news presenter is nearly always cut off mid sentence when doing the update at half past the hour. Is this a regional problem with timing or a pres problem on the whole? One thing that does puzzle me is at the top of the hour the news titles say BBC World in large text and BBC News in smaller text but yet at half past the hour its BBC News in large text and BBC World in smaller text. Is there a specific reason for this? The weather intro music is just tacky now. Obviously someone just cut it up and wacked bits together from the original weather theme for this. It sounded awful. I was actually happy when the weather sponsor came on at peak viewing times to hide that hideous music. The breakfiller contains a bit too much info to read in the 15 secs its on screen but then i guess this has low priority as obviously they would prefer to have ads on in this space. I dont know why but the channel felt like it was dragging half the time and i did something i never normally do. I ended up watching Sky News (purely because it was the only other english speaking channel apart from BBC Prime but lets not go there on that one). I am so glad we have BBC News 24 in the UK. Go abroad cause you soon realise what an excellent service N24 is!
There's nothing wrong with BBC Prime
I do agree with your comments regards to BBC World, it's not as good as it was in the year 2000, everything made sense in the presentation department, the only thing that was wrong then was the breakfiller, everything else was just perfect, now BBC News 24 is the winner by a mile.
Well I have been watching BBC World all week in the UK this week (admittedly in a hotel room), and the version that you guys get here in the UK and Europe is far cleaner and less cluttered than the version I normally get to see in the Gulf. The absence of opt outs and superb picture clarity has been a joy all week!
Good to see Nisha Pillai doing a Sunday shift - hope she manages to get rid of her cold soon.
Well I have been watching BBC World all week in the UK this week (admittedly in a hotel room), and the version that you guys get here in the UK and Europe is far cleaner and less cluttered than the version I normally get to see in the Gulf. The absence of opt outs and superb picture clarity has been a joy all week!
Good to see Nisha Pillai doing a Sunday shift - hope she manages to get rid of her cold soon.
James
I thought Orbit were very good with opt outs in the Middle East?
It is also illegal to view BBC World here in the UK due to the licensing laws,
Rubbish. It's not illegal. It's just that the BBC's charter does not allow it to promote an ad-funded channel to a domestic audience.
Correct. BBC World is broadcast Free To Air (FTA) on two European satellites - Hotbird and Astra. Both of these satellites can be picked up in the UK with the correct (and legal) equipment - if BBC World want to broadcast on them, then people in the UK can view it. It would, however, be illegal for BBC World to be included in the Sky Digital package, as this is being directed at a domestic UK audience - as Londoner said, the BBC would therefore be promoting a commercial channel to the UK, which goes against the BBC Charter.
Although some hotels in the UK do show BBC World, and you can still watch specially-recorded and branded BBC World summaries on the Heathrow Express.
BBC World is bought by the Heathrow Express as a media package and there are no adverts on the trains tv. It's only a short news summary and weather report anyway. I believe Hotels can buy BBC World as a media package in the UK as well. In fact i think you can buy it to watch at home if you want but it aint cheap.
Just to add to this information, BBC World undercut ITN's price for the onboard news service by nearly 60%, which obviously made it a far more attractive proposition to BAA. ITN also apparently refused to include any mention of the Heathrow Express in the bulletins, as management considered this to be "commercial intervention into editorial decisions". BBC World had no such qualms, and the summaries continue to be introduced with "Welcome to the news from BBC World on board the Heathrow Express", or a similar greeting.
For those interested in such things, a few seconds of the 2002-era countdown can often be seen before each bulletin onboard.
The Heathrow Express package is the only instance of the BBC being granted a special dispensation to show BBC World in the UK. In all other instances, BBC World is only shown in the UK as part of 'international agreements' where hotel chains, for example, pay for a portfolio of channels to be shown in all of their hotels across a whole region or around the world. Such cases are not deemed to require the prior approval of the BBC Governors or OFCOM as the commercial agreements are arranged outside of the UK. The Heathrow Express deal was arranged within the UK, and as such required the approval of the Governors to prevent an infraction against the terms of the BBC's Charter.
It is also illegal to view BBC World here in the UK due to the licensing laws,
Rubbish. It's not illegal. It's just that the BBC's charter does not allow it to promote an ad-funded channel to a domestic audience.
Correct. BBC World is broadcast Free To Air (FTA) on two European satellites - Hotbird and Astra. Both of these satellites can be picked up in the UK with the correct (and legal) equipment - if BBC World want to broadcast on them, then people in the UK can view it. It would, however, be illegal for BBC World to be included in the Sky Digital package, as this is being directed at a domestic UK audience - as Londoner said, the BBC would therefore be promoting a commercial channel to the UK, which goes against the BBC Charter.
Although some hotels in the UK do show BBC World, and you can still watch specially-recorded and branded BBC World summaries on the Heathrow Express.
BBC World is bought by the Heathrow Express as a media package and there are no adverts on the trains tv. It's only a short news summary and weather report anyway. I believe Hotels can buy BBC World as a media package in the UK as well. In fact i think you can buy it to watch at home if you want but it aint cheap.
Just to add to this information, BBC World undercut ITN's price for the onboard news service by nearly 60%, which obviously made it a far more attractive proposition to BAA. ITN also apparently refused to include any mention of the Heathrow Express in the bulletins, as management considered this to be "commercial intervention into editorial decisions". BBC World had no such qualms, and the summaries continue to be introduced with "Welcome to the news from BBC World on board the Heathrow Express", or a similar greeting.
For those interested in such things, a few seconds of the 2002-era countdown can often be seen before each bulletin onboard.
The Heathrow Express package is the only instance of the BBC being granted a special dispensation to show BBC World in the UK. In all other instances, BBC World is only shown in the UK as part of 'international agreements' where hotel chains, for example, pay for a portfolio of channels to be shown in all of their hotels across a whole region or around the world. Such cases are not deemed to require the prior approval of the BBC Governors or OFCOM as the commercial agreements are arranged outside of the UK. The Heathrow Express deal was arranged within the UK, and as such required the approval of the Governors to prevent an infraction against the terms of the BBC's Charter.
Thanks for the information BBC LDN, yes isn't one of the programmes broadcast as BBC World NewsWeek?
It is also illegal to view BBC World here in the UK due to the licensing laws,
Rubbish. It's not illegal. It's just that the BBC's charter does not allow it to promote an ad-funded channel to a domestic audience.
Correct. BBC World is broadcast Free To Air (FTA) on two European satellites - Hotbird and Astra. Both of these satellites can be picked up in the UK with the correct (and legal) equipment - if BBC World want to broadcast on them, then people in the UK can view it. It would, however, be illegal for BBC World to be included in the Sky Digital package, as this is being directed at a domestic UK audience - as Londoner said, the BBC would therefore be promoting a commercial channel to the UK, which goes against the BBC Charter.
Although some hotels in the UK do show BBC World, and you can still watch specially-recorded and branded BBC World summaries on the Heathrow Express.
BBC World is bought by the Heathrow Express as a media package and there are no adverts on the trains tv. It's only a short news summary and weather report anyway. I believe Hotels can buy BBC World as a media package in the UK as well. In fact i think you can buy it to watch at home if you want but it aint cheap.
Just to add to this information, BBC World undercut ITN's price for the onboard news service by nearly 60%, which obviously made it a far more attractive proposition to BAA. ITN also apparently refused to include any mention of the Heathrow Express in the bulletins, as management considered this to be "commercial intervention into editorial decisions". BBC World had no such qualms, and the summaries continue to be introduced with "Welcome to the news from BBC World on board the Heathrow Express", or a similar greeting.
For those interested in such things, a few seconds of the 2002-era countdown can often be seen before each bulletin onboard.
The Heathrow Express package is the only instance of the BBC being granted a special dispensation to show BBC World in the UK. In all other instances, BBC World is only shown in the UK as part of 'international agreements' where hotel chains, for example, pay for a portfolio of channels to be shown in all of their hotels across a whole region or around the world. Such cases are not deemed to require the prior approval of the BBC Governors or OFCOM as the commercial agreements are arranged outside of the UK. The Heathrow Express deal was arranged within the UK, and as such required the approval of the Governors to prevent an infraction against the terms of the BBC's Charter.
Thanks for the information BBC LDN, yes isn't one of the programmes broadcast as BBC World NewsWeek?
I think it used to be News week but it has been dropped now. When i was on board HEX last week Mike Embley simply said this is BBC World News on the Heathrow Express, todays top stories etc. Its only about a 3 min bulletin followed by a weather summary. Then stuff like Top gear clips get shown and hey presto your at Heathrow Central station.
