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ALL NEW BBC NEWS 24 (September 2003)

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MA
Marcus Founding member
itsrobert posted:
harshy posted:
It's amazing how a small fire fooks up News 24 so badly, yet BBC World comes back at ten, and how quickly they seem to recover!

Shame BBC N24's revamp is now next week, oh well!


Yes, why was it that World started back up again so quickly, and News 24 took until 4pm? Was it that Stage 6 was more badly hit than Stage 5, or something to do with the CSO studio? Does that need more power or something?


Maybe because all of News24's staff had been sent to Millbank
TW
Turnbull and Williams
JimR posted:
Another article about the power cut, this time from the Breakfast website.

Breakfast article

We all know Bill and Sian can ad lib for ever... what would have happened on any other day of the week?


Well I imagine any other day of the week, with a different team, it could have been a complete disaster. It sounds to me like things were in a worse state than first thought - no computers, no communications. There must have been a time when Bill & Sian were sat there, thinking "what on earth are we going to do now?"

Fortunately, they appeared completely unflappable. Those moments after they lost the weather forecast must have been awful - I imagine their computer screens went dead, people in the gallery started shouting and swearing in their ears and they had to soldier on ad libbing live for a period of minutes. I hope Bill and Sian are appropriately rewarded for their efforts.

I do wonder how Dermot and Natasha would have coped though.

Shame about the delay to the relaunch, but then again it is good to see the BBC making sure they have everything right and ready to go, rather than just jumping in without adequate preparation.
BE
beefqueen
Were they perhaps doing a pilot when the smoke struck? Launch put back a week while they discover the legions of lights they've installed in that plastic excuse for a new News 24 desk?
AN
Andrew Founding member
harshy posted:
It's embarassing no doubt and it seems to happen every few years and News 24 always gets badly affected!


Indeed. And at times like this it is often mentioned on here, what would ITN do in the same situation, well it seems that we'll never find out although it can almost be guaranteed that it'll happen on News 24 again sometime between now and Summer 2005!.


They were quite lucky today that there wern't much breaking news, what would have happened if something major had happened that needed news updates or even a simulcast on BBC1. The other two news channels really would have been having a laugh
DU
Dunedin
Andrew posted:
They were quite lucky today that there wern't much breaking news, what would have happened if something major had happened that needed news updates or even a simulcast on BBC1
.

That would have actually been a lot easier in terms of simple simulcasting...they did remarkably well given the situation...three television channels and two radio stations all going out live....ITN could never find themselves in this situation because they don't put out that much live material

Quote:
The other two news channels really would have been having a laugh


Some would say the ITV news channel are always having a laugh Wink
ND
ndp
[quote="ukfreetv"]
ndp posted:
Don't they have signed bulletins when at 1/6/10 o'clock? That seems a better use of N24 at these times IMHO.


How many people can use BSL? From RNID site

More than speak Welsh. Do you advocate axing BBC Newydion? Razz

The BBC is the public service broadcaster in the UK. Even if only 0.85% of the population benefit from signed bulletins, these people would be left in the dark in respect of TV news if the BBC didn't provide the signed bulletins on N24. I still say they should continue this policy.
MN
MarkNewby
What's wrong with subtitles?
DA
DAS Founding member
Let's not go down this route again! Perhaps it's something to add to the FAQ page. Someone will happily explain that subtitles aren't always preferred by deaf people... BSL is a language in itself quite different from standard, written/spoken English language, and for this reason it cannot be dropped in favour of straightforward words on a screen.
NG
noggin Founding member
Turnbull & Williams posted:
JimR posted:
Another article about the power cut, this time from the Breakfast website.

Breakfast article

We all know Bill and Sian can ad lib for ever... what would have happened on any other day of the week?


Well I imagine any other day of the week, with a different team, it could have been a complete disaster. It sounds to me like things were in a worse state than first thought - no computers, no communications. There must have been a time when Bill & Sian were sat there, thinking "what on earth are we going to do now?"

Fortunately, they appeared completely unflappable. Those moments after they lost the weather forecast must have been awful - I imagine their computer screens went dead, people in the gallery started shouting and swearing in their ears and they had to soldier on ad libbing live for a period of minutes. I hope Bill and Sian are appropriately rewarded for their efforts.

I do wonder how Dermot and Natasha would have coped though.

Shame about the delay to the relaunch, but then again it is good to see the BBC making sure they have everything right and ready to go, rather than just jumping in without adequate preparation.


Whilst I agree with your sentiments - I suspect you are mistaken in the shouting and swearing stakes. In my experience of similar situations - you find that quite often the gallery team becomes, scarily, quieter and calmer than usual - as people realise the gravity of the situation - and the need for clear communication and calm decision taking.
NG
noggin Founding member
ukfreetv posted:
ndp posted:
Don't they have signed bulletins when at 1/6/10 o'clock? That seems a better use of N24 at these times IMHO.


How many people can use BSL? From RNID site

Quote:
How many people use British Sign Language (BSL)?
Many people who are born deaf or are deafened early in life use sign language to communicate. It is difficult to say how many people in the UK use BSL as their first or preferred language - current estimates suggest 50,000.


That's 0.085% of the UK population. It would be much cheaper for these people to be given a service over the internet, where they need it.

On N24 viewing figures, there must be 42 people wanting these in-vision signs. I am sorry, but this is a waste of precious shared resources that could be allocated in a more constructive way for the benefit of those needing the signs (perhaps higher resolution), and everyone else (an analysis program at lunchtime).

You could put them on the "Channel Islands" feed during the "one" "six" and "nine" and BSL viewers would just have to watch 958 not 507. And then they can have BSL national news, not N24...!

Or go the whole hog and have an interative channel that shows live or repeated BSL BBC programming 24/7? It could also carry Audio Description too...

(I assume this would be OK, as it's OK to have the "Liquid Loop" and "Entertainment Extra")..

And on Freeview, the BSL could appear on one of the BBCi channels, when not in use for other programming.


The BBC have to in-vision sign a proportion of News 24's output on DTT - as they agreed to match the ITV/C4 legal requirement for this platform. News 24 on DTT HAS to carry a percentage of BSL as a result - hence the signed slot at 0800 on Breakfast, during the National bulletins (at One and Six?) as well as the signed repeats of programmes like Hardtalk.

Also your figure of 42 viewers doesn't take into account that BSL users may search out signed programmes - so the proportion of viewers with BSL as their first language (or preferred language) might be higher than simply extrapolating from ratings and population ?
NR
News room
Lets be honest here. who on earth thinks that a few hours of power loss can lead to a WEEKS postponement of a relaunch of News 24. It seems wholly ridiculous. Press photos were released, articles appeared in papers, all was ready....................yet a power failure that rectified itself by 4pm GMT means that a relaunch is delayed by a week.....................................RIGHT??????
SE
Square Eyes Founding member
News room posted:
Lets be honest here. who on earth thinks that a few hours of power loss can lead to a WEEKS postponement of a relaunch of News 24. It seems wholly ridiculous. Press photos were released, articles appeared in papers, all was ready....................yet a power failure that rectified itself by 4pm GMT means that a relaunch is delayed by a week.....................................RIGHT??????

It was probably more of a case of not being ready anyway and insufficient pilot testing being completed. The power cut probably just gave them a convenient excuse to put it back another week.

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