BBC One English Regions opt outs

I think you answered your own question in your second paragraph.

Resources wise, between 8am and 8pm I'd imagine they could, if they so wished but resilience wise they might struggle. Most English Regions staff are multi-skilled, so could rotate breaks but I suspect the attitude is if the News Channel can adequately cover a story what's the point in duplicating work at the regional studio centre?

One example of something similar to the above happening that springs to mind is during the 2011 Summer Riots, where in some cases placing journalists on the streets was deemed dangerous so the News Channel used the regional studios as DTL positions, or at least used Birmingham and I think Manchester for this purpose.

30th December 2014. Leeds opted out for a documentary a few days after the death of Debbie Purdy, an MS sufferer from Bradford who campaigned for legalising assisted suicide.

On that occasion they weren't able to find a disposable programme in the schedule so they showed it after the late Look North and timeshifted network.

Often in this situation regions have just run network output in delay but they did it properly including what I believe is the only modern regional closedown into the News Channel with Christmas idents.

BBC Northern Ireland (obviously not the same as an English region) put out some special announcements during junctions when severe weather closed all schools in NI a few years ago.

I think I'm right in saying that regions have opted out of the One Show to extend the 6.30 on occasion, I know it was done on a planned basis in the run up to the Olympics but I think it has been done on a more ad-hoc basis to react to news.

I was thinking more in terms of staff rotations, screen breaks and breaks etc. in the case of sustained broadcasting (not just keeping some astons on screen or doing their own links all night)

Yes I agree that's unlikely to be possible. I guess doing their own links directing people to local radio is more likely to be possible.

Sustained output from English regions simply doesn’t happen. The staff are not used to providing it and in most situations there simply isn’t the news to warrant it. Take, for example, the recent stabbings in Manchester. While the news channel would rightly cover it with as much material as they can muster, if BBC North West decided it was a situation serious enough to mount some sort of news report and/or special what else could they do? The answer is nothing. BBC News Channel exists to bring that kind of rolling coverage as and when it’s required and is resourced appropriately. Regional centres are resourced to provide “appointment to view” produced news programmes at fixed times. That’s not to say that regions don’t respond as best they can to a breaking or developing story within their own slots, just that they don’t break into the BBC One schedule to do it. Regional news programmes are best at providing analysis, holding to account and packaged reports of the days events.

Other BBC outlets do exist for local coverage of important news stories - notably local radio (especially in severe weather events) - but also local pages on the BBC website and news app.

The only example I have been involved in where a region has been on standby to do any sort of opt out of BBC One for a breaking story was when the city of Oxford was flooded (2007 I think) and police advised us they were about to ask residents to leave their homes. I was asked to prepare some captions to key over BBC One output, pointing to local radio and the next edition of South Today. In the end, by the time the order came, the one o’clock news had started and the lunchtime South Today handled it all from Southampton.

Back in 1987 and on attachment at Pebble Mill, there was a bit of a surprise on a Saturday while I was on shift, and Coventry City won the FA Cup, and announced a victory parade through the streets of the city the following day.

BBC 1 Midlands opted out with our quickly assembled OB, and we were parked up next to a Central TV truck in middle of the happy mayhem.
I can't imagine that being able to opt out of network on a Sunday afternoon for a few hours would even be possible today based on the comments here? Certainly not for anything like a football victory parade - although a team in the Midlands doing well does require celebration as it is such a rare event!

Overlaying astons on programmes I would imagine would be as far as they could go.

Indeed Midlands Today did this in front of The One Show 3 years ago as has been mentioned a few times on here:



So it's certainly possible for regions to opt at any point, but I wouldn't imagine it would be for the purpose of opting out of regular programming.

Technically it would be possible, but politically would it be allowed not to take network programming for a few hours?

A few hours? No, probably not sustainable with any real quality. A half hour special on a massive news story that the news channel hasn’t covered already? Potentially, but permission would be sought. Although it’s technically possible to opt out whenever a site wants to, it simply isn’t done.

I have vague memories of a 'behind the scenes' type programme ['A Day In The Life Of Television' possibly - can anyone verify?] which featured a discussion amongst BBC 1 management as to whether to allow BBC Midlands to opt out of the evening schedule to air a regional version of Crimewatch. I appreciate this wasn't recent, but IIRC the request was very quickly rejected.

Yes. I first saw that used in the early 80s on BBC South West, when there were power glitches one evening affecting most of the region. (Salt on the 400kV lines that run alongside the A38 Plymouth to Exeter road)