7 O'Clock News Relaunched

Taken from this article in the Independent:

BBC3 gets serious with promise of hard news show

Main points:
Revamped to 30 minutes as a serious hard-hitting news show
Target audience 20-30s (as with channel)
Takes up 7pm-7:30pm slot (hence the name)
Same team as currently work on 15 minute bulletin
From April this year
Apparently taking up some of the budget of Liquid News which is axed from April
Channel 4 think it a waste of license fee payers' money, as it will compete more directly with Channel Four News

I'm sure NickyS will be able to fill us in with all the rest, but I think it's a step in a positive direction for the channel. It sorts out the 15 minute filler problem that there has been for many months now, it over-commits on news output versus the government quotas (dumbing down eh?) and it provides high quality programming pre-watershed (all really successful BBC3 programs have so far been post-watershed).

Stuart Murphy Quotes:
"It will be about the news machine as well as the final product that comes out of the news machine,"
"pushes towards Newsnight"
"Twenty and 30-year-olds get their news from lots of different sources."

Although I doubt the need for news on BBC3, I think 7pm is the wrong time for it. Have the hourly updates from 7pm to 10pm, then I think a 15-minute Newsbeat style bulletin at 11pm would work well, as the late-night news market hasn't really been catered for since the ITV Nightly News was axed.

I don't think a Newsnight style bulletin should be part of BBC3, and I'm sure it's only included to boost it's current affairs quota.

But the problem is- what do you put on between 7-9pm. This has been a real problem for BBC3, largely because their target demographic is more likely to watch shows aimed at a post-watershed market than the family market. Their pre-watershed documentaries have largely been excellent, but you can't fill 2 hours every day with new material.

With the axing of liquid news, this problem will increase, so the 30 minute bulletin makes sense. Question is what goes between 7:30 and 9pm without liquid news?

Oh, aye, yeah.

That'll work.

That is going to be a problem. Perhaps they should go for an hourly entertainment show, like terry & gaby, the big breakfast type show, where it's purely entertainment to run for an hour, and then fill the other half an hour with a new programme each night. Though I think it's a stupid idea to ace liquid news. And don't like the idea of the 7 o clock news being more like newsnight. As someone suggested, I'd prefer a newsbeat style show, where reports are quick and you get the gist of the story without going into every detail.

Well, it hasn't been tried before and that's part of BBC 3's mandate- to take risks that 'rival' channels (E4, Sky One, ITV2) wouldn't take.

I actually think the population largely don't follow target demographics. Branding BBC3 for the 21-35 market is stupid, as it alienates those people outside of those age-groups who got this target audience impression at launch. It should have just been the "third entertainment channel from the BBC, aiming to promote fresh talent etc."

Any suggestions, then?

And no, I'm not actually criticising, because I happen to agree - but it wouldn't do to make that too obvious

Going head to head against Channel 4 News? Surely that can't be right?

I thought BBC3 needs to have news, as Tessa Jowell said. Otherwise the 7'o clock slot would be used for more two pints of lager, eastenders revealed,

Interesting how "The World" (the new name for ""BBC Four News" ) has slightly broken ranks with the corporate look.

The old BBC Four News title sequence remains (glass globe surrounded by curvy shapes), but now tinted green, instead of orange. And whereas the BBC Four News titles were split in half, with headlines inbetween; the new version is strictly after the headlines.

The new studio has the same dark wooden flooring as the BBC One network news studio, but a - wait for it - crescent shaped desk.

I like the new look a lot, especially as it's not as dark a studio as before. I hated all the black before. Not sure about the "The World" title, though.

The article says that the same team will continue to work on the bulletin, but that an anchor has yet to be chosen. Perhaps that suggests that one will be coming in from elsewhere.

Any suggestions as to who it might be? Paddy O'Connell perhaps.... (although with it being a serious news show etc. he'd have to go back to calling himself Patrick)

I think he would be just right!

Perhaps they just put him on LN so BBC Three viewers would get used to his face more and then be more inclined to watch the 7 O'Clock News.

Nicky?