EXCLUSIVE: Central News South to Close

Well, a programme gets broadcast for each region every night, if that's what you mean! As far as the ITV head honchos are concerned that's all that really matters. Quality does not come into it I'm afraid. There are real problems with low morale in all three "separated news-gathering centres" you've quoted.

Central South and Meridian West have consistently performed well in terms of audience share; the viewers of each programme are obviously loyal people. The viewers and/or public have obviously not been consulted about this change - something which shows how little Ofcom really cares.

KB

I'd presume in either situation, editorial areas for the particular news programmes would be redrawn to fit transmission areas. After all, Central West used to cover Gloucestershire stories in the days before Central South... albeit not as extensively.



Indeed. I was working at the station at the time that they lost 603, and it really was a major blow which lost them a huge chunk of their audience overnight... but government policy at the time was that BBC LR shouldn't simulcast on FM and AM.

Unfortunately significantly increasing the height of the Churchdown Hill mast would cause more problems than it'd solve. If the signals were to get over the barrier of the Cotswold ridge there'd be nothing stopping them going way into Oxfordshire and beyond, causing interference with other signals.

Incidentally this page would seem to confirm Churchdown Hill will carry DTT from 2011.

That link implying the use of Churchdown Hill for DTT after the analogue shutdown is interesting. But, as I've posted on the Digital Spy site, it won't reach those market towns between Gloucester and Bristol who currently receive from Ridge Hill - such as Stonehouse, Cam and Dursley (accepting some in Dursley get pictures from Uley). I reckon we are talking a population of 20,000-25,000 overall. So for me DTT from Ridge Hill (which won't also involve the redirection of aerials that would be needed if C.Hill was set up) is the way forward. Otherwise there would be a very difficult situation with both northern and southern Gloucestershire getting West from C. Hill and already received Mendip with its relays..... and those communities I've mentioned getting nothing (!) if Ridge Hill purely radiates to Herefordshire.

Now this situation would clearly be untenable, so for me there are two DTT options to get Gloucestershire serviced properly by West signals:
1. Use Ridge Hill, using the soon to be established analogue model.
2. Use Churchdown Hill to service the Gloucester, Cheltenham, Newent and Tewkesbury areas. But add additional relays for Stonehouse and Cam/Dursley.

I'd suggest that option 1. is the most cost effective - for both the engineering aspects, and for us viewers.

That's wrong, it says much the same about another C5 only site, Fawley.

http://www.ukfree.tv/shutdowndetail.php?tx=SU473022

That certainly won't be carrying DTT after DSO, Rowridge will

In fact there's similar nonsense about all of the present C5 only sites,
including Lichfield

http://www.ukfree.tv/shutdowndetail.php?tx=SK164043

Well I'll take your word for that.

Incidentally, I've never seen the point of these C5 only transmitters. If everyone's aerial's pointing at another transmitter for all the other channels, they seem like a bit of a waste of time... especially in the case of Churchdown when the area's more than well covered by Ridge Hill for C5.

In the case of Fawley, (nr Southampton) it's because to have used Rowridge (the site on the Isle Of Wight that is the South Coast's main TV Tx) would have required more power than allocated for that area to reach the main target of Southampton. Fawley Power Station's chimney is more or less in the same direction from Southampton, as Rowridge, but is significantly nearer, so NTL selected that to carry C5. Other sites such as Churchdown Hill and Chelmsford are less suitable, I don't know how effective they are, without most viewers using a dedicated aerial ?

I live on a hill with clear line of sight to Churchdown Hill. The five signal carries heavy interference and is unusable by modern standards.

Rob.

Well, given that the BBC's offering in those areas is a programme that covers from Banbury to the Isle of Wight (save for 16.5 minutes of "South Today Oxford" on weekdays)*, it's hardly surprising that the ITV regional news gets the better ratings.

* And that, of course, doesn't include the Meridian West area

Or, in the case of the western half of the CNsouth area, they're lumped-in with a BBC region that goes as far north as Newcastle-under-Lyme (etc)!

Don't they do a full half hour for Oxfordshire now?

Only when they feel like it, (judging by the amount of Oxfordshire stuff still on South Today-South after 18:45hrs).

Really? I wasn't aware of this ever having happened.

I assumed it was still just 10-minutes at 18:30, and 6.5 minutes at 22:25-ish.

EDIT: I take it there's no Oxford sub-opt during the World Cup? I just went to the Where I Live - Oxford website for the first time in months and months, and found no "click to watch the latest bulletin" type link.

There was only a link to the main South Today frontpage, which has only ever offered the "main"/"south" edition on-demand. The Oxford sub-opt edition on-demand has only ever been accessible via bbc.co.uk/oxford, as far as I'm aware.

In fact, the World Cup rescheduling has meant Oxford has had its own stand-alone bulletins at 7:15 - without rejoining Southampton. Alina has even been doing Oxford-only weather forecasts.

Friday evenings often see a full 6:30 half-hour from Oxford too.