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I know the current BBC sub-opt was considered as temporary, when Newsroom South East ended, but i was under the impression that the new service which may be launched by the BBC in Milton Keynes would unite both Cambridge and Oxford into one region, thus ending the temporary opt.
noggin posted:
The Abingdon / Newbury merger has been rumoured for so long now it isn't a huge surprise it is happening - though it is a shame for those working in Abingdon (as it was for those working in Newbury when it shut)
This larger Thames Valley region does make editorial sense in quite a few ways - and is an understandable economy for ITV to make these days. (After all they want to make as much money as possible...) If it means a better quality show for both regions then it could be good news - however the production values at Meridian took a nose-dive when they left Newbury/Southampton and moved to the tin shed - it is is pity that Abingdon's relatively high production standards are likely to disappear. The future I guess.
Be interesting to see if this has any influence on what the BBC does regionally. Is South Today Oxford a fully split show at 1830 yet - I know there has been an aspiration to split for a while, since presentation moved to Oxford from Southampton? I suspect with analogue switch-off so close the BBC won't want to addconnections to the Hannington transmitter (which is fed from an off-air feed of BBC Southampton, but was fed directly by Meridian Newbury) to allow Oxford to feed that as well and directly match the new ITV region.
Similarly although BBC Cambridge has recently had a bit of a spruce-up technically (new cameras, new graphics kit, newer vision mixer etc.) there is still the issue of what happens when they leave their current premises. A BBC Milton Keynes TV operation was mooted a while back. The perceived wisdom was that this would just be a relocation for BBC Cambridge - and the editorial patch would still be the same as now - matching Anglia West. I wonder if there will, again, be consideration for this to become an Oxbridge opt by adding the BBC Oxford region to the patch? I doubt it - the editorial patches didn't really work last time they looked at this possibility.
This larger Thames Valley region does make editorial sense in quite a few ways - and is an understandable economy for ITV to make these days. (After all they want to make as much money as possible...) If it means a better quality show for both regions then it could be good news - however the production values at Meridian took a nose-dive when they left Newbury/Southampton and moved to the tin shed - it is is pity that Abingdon's relatively high production standards are likely to disappear. The future I guess.
Be interesting to see if this has any influence on what the BBC does regionally. Is South Today Oxford a fully split show at 1830 yet - I know there has been an aspiration to split for a while, since presentation moved to Oxford from Southampton? I suspect with analogue switch-off so close the BBC won't want to addconnections to the Hannington transmitter (which is fed from an off-air feed of BBC Southampton, but was fed directly by Meridian Newbury) to allow Oxford to feed that as well and directly match the new ITV region.
Similarly although BBC Cambridge has recently had a bit of a spruce-up technically (new cameras, new graphics kit, newer vision mixer etc.) there is still the issue of what happens when they leave their current premises. A BBC Milton Keynes TV operation was mooted a while back. The perceived wisdom was that this would just be a relocation for BBC Cambridge - and the editorial patch would still be the same as now - matching Anglia West. I wonder if there will, again, be consideration for this to become an Oxbridge opt by adding the BBC Oxford region to the patch? I doubt it - the editorial patches didn't really work last time they looked at this possibility.
I know the current BBC sub-opt was considered as temporary, when Newsroom South East ended, but i was under the impression that the new service which may be launched by the BBC in Milton Keynes would unite both Cambridge and Oxford into one region, thus ending the temporary opt.
