These local TV stations are redundant. The content is threadbare, rehashed, and on constant repeat. No idea what void the government felt that they are filling.
Can't see Wake Up London lasting and Estuary TV is depressing.
I don't think anyone here is asking for a big budget local breakfast show, rather the basics instead. News, travel and weather. Not pointless lives asking if they prefer one type of pet to another and an odd weather/travel bulletin with a presenter who waffles without getting out the core elements.
It can be done, but London Live's editorial policy appears to be 'scared' of news, instead going for silly little features they can pad out throughout the three hours of the breakfast show.
Just noticed that Radio Times is carrying listings for London Live in the regional variations column. Quite surprised by this - given this is the London/Midlands/Anglia edition isn't that going to be a bit crowded once all the stations launch? And shouldn't Mustard TV be there already?
The "cultural differences" people are talking about are that people in the UK generally don't consider the TV as a medium to consume during the morning.
But
why
don't they? I would argue it's not because of cultural differences, but because they are not offered an attractive enough product.
That is a cultural difference though.
Companies like the ITV spending a lot of money trying to attract an audience for breakfast TV, and failing, should demonstrate how little Brits are actually interested in the format. If there was something simple, like starting at 4am, ITV would have tried it and captured the suppressed demand you appear to believe exists.
I would argue though that the problem with ITV's Breakfast programming is the content. They really should concentrate on that before signing up a moderately successful BBC host to front another flop.
However that said there is definitely a culture difference in Britain, we seem to enjoy Breakfast Radio more (hey your so-called local Heart station even has a localised show at that time!)...that doesn't mean Breakfast TV can't be successful though if done right.
I don't really get all this live news during the day and the lack of it at night. Surely all these young professionals that the channel is supposed to be aimed at will be in work?
Mind you the London's Burning repeats look truly ancient so I can imagine there'll be many 16-35s tuning in to that.
Although the general assumption (on here at least) appears to be that these Local TV services should consist mainly of local news, the Ofcom requirements for news provision was very relaxed in the tender documentation. According to this, it can be as little as 15 minutes a day, repeated 4 times a day. Here's the relevant bit :
Quote:
3.71
An L-DTPS must facilitate civic understanding and fair and well -informed debate through coverage of local news and current affairs. Therefore this question asks you to explain in more detail your proposed news and current affairs provision. This should reflect and be consistent with what you have included in your Programming Commitments.
3.72
We consider news to be the most important type of local programming and you must propose a reasonable provision of news and current affairs.
3.73 Again, there are no minimum quantity requirements, but with regard to news, we are unlikely to consider less than seven hours in total per week of broadcast news to be too burdensome for even the smallest L-DTPS licensee.
3.74
This does not mean that we expect L-DTPS licensees to produce an hour of continuous original news content per day. For example, a fifteen minute news bulletin, repeated four times in a day, provided it is updated, would count as an hour of broadcast news.
3.75
You may propose news content on the basis of hours per week rather than hours per day.
3.76
We have published guidance and definitions for news and current affairs, which is included in the Statement and reproduced below in full.
3.77 The guidance is as follows:
News: As the licence is for a local television service, the most important element of news provision should be local news. Local news should be high-quality, relevant, timely and accurate, as well as complying fully with the requirements of the Broadcasting Code, including due impartiality. A station should be able to react on-air to major local events in a timely manner. Bulletins should seek to reflect the interests and concerns of those living in the area. Local news stories should be up-to-date and regularly refreshed. Simply localising UK-wide news (e.g.by conducting vox pop interviews or inserting local place names into UK-wide stories) without local news/information generation would not be regarded as a valid approach to fulfilling local news requirements.
Local news can contain local sports stories but these should not be the main component of news. Similarly, entertainment news or ‘softer’ local content such as ‘what’s-on’ may be relevant locally but should not be the main ingredient of bulletins or replace local journalism.
The London Live service is disjointed. An apparent commitment to news / current affairs at breakfast but little in peak time.
They'd be better stripping back to an hour at breakfast to improve the quality and redistribute the rest of their news provision to lunchtime, late afternoon and then again in peak. (say a flagship bulletin at 8pm, away from network news bulletins).
I fail to see how turning into Channel 4+10 years in the evening meets the needs of the locality or broadens the range of TV programmes available to people in those areas (a determining factor for provision of the licence).
Last edited by Square Eyes on 2 April 2014 11:28pm