BBC East opt out and timeshift

There's a 'Battle for Clacton' debate on BBC One East after the 10 tonight, which appears to result in the rest of the evening's schedule being played out from Norwich 40 minutes later than network, eventually joining the BBC News Channel at 1:30. What could possibly go wrong?

Well at least they won't crash into News Channel mid-programme, like they usually do.

Is the debate live or recorded?

I'd be amazed if it was live. Two other regions did pre-recorded debate shows recently.

Its recorded this evening

It seems BBC One East have dropped Room 101 and are now back in sync with network, for some reason.

Nobody's told the EPG, though...

That's basically what that slot for Room 101 is for, a droppable programme that won't be missed in the region that's not getting it.

Those repeats of Keeping Up Appearances on Sunday lunchtime were for the opt outs for The Super League Show I think..... although why they didn't just put that out everywhere I don't know

Presumably they think Keeping Up Appearances will draw a larger audience outside of Northern England, than the SLS, though it's not terribly 'PSB' of the Beeb to take that stance, and they've never tested SLS nationally
(except at 4am on BBC 2) so how would they know for sure ?

Of course, they no longer show The Super League Show on Sunday lunchtimes (where it was flung from pillar to post) and it's now on Monday nights where it usually replaces a repeat of Live At The Appalling. It has been networked a few times, most obviously during the Olympics and Commonwealth Games when BBC1 was full. But it is obvious that most of its appeal is in the North (and not even the whole of that, I read somewhere somebody moaning that because of its popularity in Cumbria it's on BBC North East despite the North East having no interest in it). The play-offs and the Challenge Cup are networked and there are many other sports that don't have regular weekly highlights. It's certainly true the network coverage hardly gets spectacular ratings.

It may well have something to do with helping them reach X number of hours of regional programming and also there may well be limitations that mean they don't want to network it, they may only be able to show it on Monday night which BBC Sport thinks is too out of date for a networked show but OK for a regional one.

You'd think it would air in every region with a Super League team (except for that one team based in France, obviously), but it doesn't air in London, does it?

Well, the repeat does. And given how many times the London team has been rebranded and moved over the years, I don't think there's much interest in it, I think there's a London team in Super League just because they think there should be rather than any great clamour for one. You could argue people who have moved down from the North might like to see it but most big rugby league fans will almost certainly have Sky anyway. The biggest value The Super League Show has is for older viewers who have followed the sport for years but don't want or can't afford Sky.

Interesting programme pres-wise. Used the normal BBC Regional News title music (the images changed to shots of Clacton, with all the place lines reading Clacton), but I think the title music was mixed with BBC South East's new music slightly? There were a few drum beats at the end and some other notes in the titles that aren't normally there! The set was made up of a Question Time style desk, although slightly more modern, with a large screen at the side where the presenter (Look East's Stuart White) stood for the duration. The straps were the normal BBC News one but with 'SPECIAL' in bold after BBC Look East on the strap.