BBC One 2016

"don't care" may be harsh - "can't justify the cost" or "don't want to deal with the inevitable BBC wastes money headlines" may be closer to the truth.

There really is a darned good reason for the complete visual identity changing on 01-Jan-2017, Charter Renewal. It'd alert everyone that it's happened for good or evil.

All that dead air too with long holds on the closing frame of the programmes. This seems to suggest they hadn't just recorded these off the network feed - I assume they were clean fed to Manchester to record?

Other points were the weather being in the wrong aspect ratio, silent idents work dubious cuts and playing out North West local radio promos to Yorkshire and the North East (although the latter is perhaps no worse than playing a R Leeds trail on Emley where it is also seen in the York and Sheffield patches)

I think you overestimate the technical facilities at Jersey, I'm pretty sure they have no incoming sustaining feeds, they just fire their output at Plymouth, and that's where the actual opt switching occurs. It's more akin to an English ITV region, and their relationship with Chiswick or Leeds.

That said, and as pointed out, no reason why things can't be overpatched at Plymouth or the CCM centres ( as they have been for semi emergency use)

I don't dispute that! But it is *theoretically* possible for Jersey to have Net 1 as an OS on their mixer, using the contribution circuit FROM Plymouth that is usually used for the live CI weather towards the end of the subopt (which originates from Plymouth's smaller studio). Obviously that would require some assistance from Plymouth, and it would probably not be the smoothest transition.

I'm not sure if Jersey could even do that. I recall a DTL interview Jersey did, with a reporter at an SNG truck on the island, and the SNG picture was only viewable on the studio plasma screen, and at one point the studio camera zoomed into the screen. At no point was the direct picture 'cut up'. We talked about it in here, about 6/7 years ago ?

I do recall a few Channel Islands opt-outs in the early 405 days. A week's programmes from the Islands in 1958 used the most elaborate technical means to get pictures back to thenetwork, with signals going via France. This meant that an RTF programme about the islands, made in French for RTF viewers was also shown in the islands as an opt-out. Some years later, (I seem to remember it being around 1966?) they showed coverage of the football match to win the Muratti Vase. Les Platons opted out for live coverage (and even more astonishingly, The South & West Home Service opted out but only on 285m and VHF Les Platons!!) in the afternoon and recorded highlights after the regional news at 6.20.

I'm expecting this series to get a very rapid National BBC FOUR showing in the Autumn. Based on part one, the subject matter and style very much inline with the BBC Wales and BBC Scotland 30min mini documentaries shown already. I seem to recall something in a recent Trust report asking for more England regions content for the Network. This fulfills that mandate spot on. More of this type of programme is surely on the cards.

Certainly BBC Four had repeated BBC Yorkshire documentaries which have been shown in opt out slots. I wouldn't be surprised if some of them were joint commissions with some contribution to the funding from the network - if only to cover any increased cost of producing in HD

Would it necessarily cost that much to produce in HD?

It's pretty much the standard nowadays if it's an outside commission and unless the regional features production teams haven't upgraded their facilities in the last 10 years they will have HD capability (I know one edit suite bought for Inside Out was possible of doing HD about 10 years ago before there was even an HD channel).

Though of course there is extra cost in making a programme like that. I'd hope they'd get some funding in return for a network slot. It would still work out very a very cheap half hour for BBC4

Why not just network it to start with? Instead of subjecting the rest of the country to tedious Rip Off Britain repeats.