Changes to BBC Parliament & Political Programming

Nothing too surprising there - actually thought for a while it makes sense to flesh the opt-outs in the Sunday Politics to a 30-minute show, though assumed it would follow an hour long show.

BBC Parliament should really have stopped broadcasting during recess when the red button streams were slashed to one - been frustrating to see that airing reruns whilst sport has needed that extra space. I assume that is where it'll go, but really I'd axe the channel all together now and run live coverage via the red button when in session. Not sure if Democracy Live is still going but they should replicate that via connected TV.


As for "Politics Live" - think it's a good call it might be simulcast on the news channel. Wouldn't be surprised if it is 11.15am rather than 12.15am with the 11am news bulletin cut to just 15 minutes like it's evening counterpart.

The BBC have done a good line in spinning there. In reality they’ve axed one of the two national politics shows that airs on a Sunday, and there has been two shows on a Sunday under many different names for decades.

Of course what does this mean for the 10am programme, shifted to 10:30 and with a poorer lead in from the regions rather than Marr?

You're getting a whole bloody channel with an hour extra of news every night. You're hardly being shortchanged.

If it's Marr then regional Politics Show, I assume the god slot moves to 10:30?

I wonder what the 1000-1030 regional shows' branding and name will be? (Apologies if I missed the name announcement)

Surely it has a place for showing devolved assemblies and the Scottish Parliament too?

So, let me get this right, a proper 24 hour BBC channel, BBC Parliament will close down for the following:

One week in November, during the November recess
Nearly three weeks over Christmas
A week in February for the mid-term recess
Nearly three weeks over Easter
Two week split in May and June
And the six week summer recess

16 weeks of nothing on a channel funded by us the licence fee payers. So, are we going to go back to the good old days of the 70s and 80s with a testcard, or a style like Pages from Ceefax.

This is pure stupid on the BBC. How much does it cost them to just air repeats of parliament, repeats of general elections, repeats of other programming.

16 weeks is a lot of time during the course of a year. Saving money yes, but what will they use the space for? Is it going to be a blank channel space, and not used for anything else?

I am sorry, if this is their plan to save the channel, then they should axe it all together, and stream parliamentary coverage online, like BBC Three. Leave PMQs and other major parliamentary events for BBC One or BBC Two. Anyone agree?

It's not - the URL just redirects to the politics section of the BBC News site.

Incidentally, the On The Record site still lingers on.

So we're going back in time to the days before the BBC took over the channel



When they say only on air when the houses are sitting, does that mean an end to the coverage of party conferences too?

Seems highly likely, they already have a channel broadcasting nothing but an animated caption during prime viewing hours every night of the year.