How the BBC regions should be organised

BBC SPOTLIGHT: (Plymouth) Devon, Cornwall, Channel Islands

BBC POINTS WEST: (Bristol) Gloucestershire, Avon, Wiltshire and Somerset

BBC SOUTH TODAY: (Southampton) Dorset, Hampshire, West Sussex

BBC THAMES VALLEY TONIGHT: (Oxford) Oxfordshire, north Wiltshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire

BBC LONDON NEWS: (London) Greater London, Surrey, south Essex, Hertfordshire and south Buckinghamshire

BBC LOOK EAST: (Norwich) Norfolk, Suffolk, north Essex, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire

BBC MIDLANDS TONIGHT (Birmingham) Shropshire, Staffordshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Warwickshire and West Midlands

BBC NORTH WEST TONIGHT (Manchester) Greater Manchester, Cumbria, Lancashire, Cheshire and Merseyside

BBC MIDLANDS TONIGHT (Nottingham) south Lincs, south Notts, south Derbys, East Staffs, Leicestershire, Peterborough and Warwickshire

BBC LOOK NORTH (Leeds) Yorkshire and Humberside, north Lincs, north derbys, north notts

BBC NORTH EAST LIVE (Newcastle) Durham, Tyne and Teeside, and Northumberland



Apologies for mistakes in counties.

THIS IS HOW IT SHOULD BE!!!! SO WHY ISN'T IT???!!!!

Apart from creating a new Thames Valley region, which I agree with and indeed suggested in another thread a couple of weeks back, that virtually is how it's done!

But what's the point in changing the name of Midlands Today to Midlands Tonight, when the daytime editions would still have to be called Midlands Today?

I don't think there should be a home counties news.

Surely there should be just a semi-opt?

As has been the case for eons Kent has been forgotten!!!

it should be NEWSROOM SOUTH EAST with Gillian Joseph and Jules Botfield (HEAVEN!!!)

and the titles should consist of the LDN music - but changes the images to depict Emily Matlice hanging from the LDN Newsroom railings!!!

james

Sorry to bring up the same thing yet again, but at least Kent HAS A REGION! You have a dedicated news programme - stop complaining!

Essex is not taken in officially by any region. On ITV: London Tonight? Anglia News? Meridian Tonight? On BBC: London News? South East Today? Look East?

Nope on all six. Occasionally, if something major like a massacre happens, we MIGHT be covered for a couple of minutes. Otherwise, we have to put up with whats going on in Lowestoft, Tunbridge Wells or Reigate. Look at a road atlas, you'll see what I mean.

Triple grey area = area 51!

Whilst I agree there should be a BBC Thames Valley region, one of the things that should be remembered is that a lot of people in Berkshire only get BBC LDN. I live near Reading now and we just get Carlton and LDN although officially in BBC South. Likewise, people I know in Reading, Farnham and Fleet only get BBC LDN. The BBC LDN programme should really do what Westcountry Live used to do in 1993 - not opt outs (as Crystal Palace doesn't allow this) but part of the programme coming from different news bureaux in the region i.e. Dartford (East), Crawley (South), St Albans (North) and Reading (West). Each would then bring stories from their own part of the area. Its not as good as opt outs, but would address the lack of 'home counties' stories that currently exist.

I live in Reigate - and we haven't been mentioned for years!!

But it's all down to transmitter coverage areas - on the terrestrial network there can never be a separate programme or even an opt-out for the Home Counties because the whole area is covered by the Crystal Palace transmitter and its relays.

I think south and central Essex officially falls in the BBC London region - and they do actually have an Essex reporter, which is more than what Surrey gets!

They have already tried to put Cumbia back in with BBC NW but the Cumbrians didn't like it with most residents prefering to hear their news from Newcastle...and why should BBC NE&C give up the title 'Look North'?, many up here don't like the term ' North East' to describe the area and anyone whos watched John Lawrence recently would get done under trade descriptions act for calling it 'Live'.

Why don't you like the term 'North East (England)'?

Sorry, I just said Reigate beacuse I knew it was LDN territory if you know what I mean!

I think North Essex is officially Look East (but still not covered) and south Essex is 'being fostered' (nice phrase!) by BBC LDN. It's just a triple grey area - nothing much you can do about it as with Reigate, so I suppose I'll have to put up with bloody fishtanks and trendiness!

As for the Essex reporter based in Thurrock, I've never seen him on TV yet.

I'd love there to be a Home Counties Today but it will never happen, like Robert said, because of the transmitters.

Last night LDN had the first 10mins on a Luton story, and over on Look East, I think they had something about EasyJet from Luton. So to see all local news I would of had to watch both programmes!! Then some people get South Today from Oxford too (!)

I will still watch LDN whatever though, even if the news isnt that local a lot, I prefer it than Cambridge/Norwich news anyday.

(Edited by Aaron J Tibbett at 8:12 pm on Oct. 30, 2001)

Why couldn't they do a 'BBC home counties today' when Yorkshire TV have managed to do an opt out based on relay tansmitters with Calendar South from Sheffield? They could do the same thing in the South East based on the relays of Crystal Palace.