BBC One English Regions opt outs

The Yorks & Lincs opt is peculiar, as the programme is about Bradford – not part of the Belmont area. And it’s not shared with the Yorkshire (ie Emley) region.

As so many regions are opting out, you’d think the others could find *something* with which to fill the hour.

Why would they spend money putting something put just for the sake of it? Even if it was a repeat they've still got to have extra staffing to put it out

The vast majority of the regions opting out are doing so for repeated content, so you could ask the same question of those. Staffing costs are likely to be negligible given the proximity to the 2225 bulletin.

It means finishing at least 1 hour and 40 minutes later than a regular shift, so it depends what the technical operator does at the other end of their shift whether they can come in later or get overtime. Plus working after midnight incurs night working payments and in some cases the'll be eligible for a late night taxi home.


I'd assume that they'd have to pay for an engineer to be on shift too, if not they'd need someone else in at some sites otherwise the operator would be 'lone working' which is a health and safety issue.

ALl that times the number of regions doing something for the sake of it and that does mount up. Budgets are tight at the regions

So are all English regions played out from the individual regions rather than from a couple of hubs like ITV? You'd think nowadays opt outs could be done remotely.

In general - yes. (Caveats apply to Cambridge, Hull, Oxford and Jersey). The opt-switches are still sited at each regional centre, so re-engineering that to allow for alternate-site opting is non-trivial. ITV have a major reason for centralised playout that the BBC don't. Advert breaks...

Are they literally switches then?

Were there not plans in the last few years to centralise BBC regional opting? Is this still on track, or are they waiting until a decision is made on how and when the regions will go HD?

It is but it's just a case of moving where the switch happens. So in this case it won't really help

How bizarre. The Yorkshire programme appears to be a repeat from last year, whilst the East Yorks and Lincs programme looks to be its first showing, despite it having no relevance to the region. It seems on odd decision Yorkshire aren't showing it too.

BBC English regions don’t just decide to opt. Programmes will be ‘commissioned’ (looser sense of the word than network world, unless it’s destined for a pan-UK repeat on 2 or 4) by senior staff in region and English Regions HQ.

Decisions over in-region slots for commissioned output are a conversation which the region is part of, rather than slots being selected on the region’s authority alone. There is a (very small) ER scheduling team who work closely with BBC One programme schedulers to find suitable slots which won’t impact network priorities. They work closely with BBC Two and Four schedulers to make sure network-wide repeats line up sensibly with in region TXs.

Aside from that they’re making sure the regional opts are captured in all the other unseen reporting and quotas that network and nations channel schedulers do.

In nations, however, the relationship is very different and there is much more autonomy.

I’m not sure if it ever happens - or has happened in recent years - but what if an English region wanted to opt out at short notice (eg. if a major local news story was breaking or ongoing)? Would they even have the facilities or resources to put such a programme to air?

I suppose I’m over-thinking things as I can’t remember an occasion when such a breakaway from network was necessary. I expect any major event (terrorist attack, severe weather etc) would either be covered by national rolling news. A less serious incident could perhaps be covered by the region breaking into a junction and making an announcement?