BBC Cuts: BBC2 daytime, Local Radio, Wimbledon/F1 "at risk"

Although you'll still have the same problem - what to broadcast during the day?

I do like the idea of them filling the hours with news from other parts of the world (SABC used to do it with CNN) but of course the big difference with SBS is that the beeb has to be more careful about giving airtime to rivals. Simulcasting English language news from the likes of the ABCs, TVNZ orCBC would be nice, and cheap.

There's probably a load of good, English, public service programming that could be obtained cheaply from around the world to fill the hours in a productive way.

Although many of the short sighted decision of this Coalition government are too ludicrous for words too - so although I agree with you, I'm not taking too much for granted. I also suspect it's partly the Murdoch press trying to take the focus off themselves too and on to the BBC.

Daytime is a tricky business though - there are always complaints nothing decent is on during the day, but then when the BBC do put things which are well received, as they have done increasinly with drama in the last couple of years, there are quickly calls that such shows are too good for daytime and should be in primetime - although the sort of shows promoted to primetime are usually the sort that shouldn't be let anywhere near it.


BBC2 just gets attacked from every angle within the BBC - BBC3 and BBC4 have been talked about, and then any hit BBC2 finds for itself is often poached by BBC1.

Going back to the idea of simulcasting with the news channel - I can't see it happening all day (although perhaps the News Channel may begin to simulcast The Daily Politics) but they might broadcast an hour or so of a dedicated programme to fill a slot. Now, at the moment the only branded show in daytime on the channel is the Five o'clock News - and I'm not sure they'd want to air that just before the Six o'clock News, but perhaps something might be created earlier in the schedule which can be broadcast as a standalone show on BBC2 and fit seamlessly into the BBC News daytime schedule.

Harry Hill (wait, it's actually a serious point) said in an interview on 5Live a few months back that BBC's scheduling was crazy and that BBC 1 is far too like ITV is and BBC 2 is more like the old BBC 1 and BBC 4 is the old BBC 2 - if any of that makes sense.

The half hour Daily Politics could fit in, along with GMT, but what about the Wednesday edition of DP?

Apart from displacing the Wednesday GMT, which it does already, the Wednesday edition covers PMQ's too, & that particular slot is 90 mins, as opposed to 30 mins normally.

Would there be a chop down to an hour(1130 to 1200, then PMQ's 12 to 1230)?

In a post-digital switchover age is there any need for PMQ's on BBC Two - it's already on BBC Parliament and most of the time on BBC News 24.

But haven't the BBC already sold the UK rights for most of those programmes to UKTV for endless showing on Eden, Blighty and Yesterday?

It doesn't mean that they can't be shown on a BBC channel too, the BBC couldn't sell that programme to Discovery but there's nothing to stop them showing it themselves.

I suggested this on another forum when the BBC cuts were first being talked about.
Please bear in mind I am talking post-DSO (which is 18 months time roughly).

1. Put GMT/The Daily Politics on BBC One.
2. Leave PMQs for the News channel and BBC Parliament.
3. Whilst BBC One show Breakfast, News at One, Six and Ten, show the relevant BBC World News output.
4. As kids programmes are on CBBC and Cbeebies, close BBC Two daytime to 6pm. (not simulcast anything - close it).
5. Do a BBC Three/Four-esque repeat of primetime BBC One and primetime BBC Two on overnights of BBC One and BBC Two. This means that on all 4 BBC channels, you get two chances to see most primetime things in the same day. If BBC One or Two overnights end at 4am (say), close for the night. (not simulcast anything - close it).
6. BBC Two daytime can open for sport if necessary, unless something better can be done with the time.

This should allow for a more varied programme selection on BBC One daytime.

Seems obvious to me.

There is probably a need for a programme surrounding PMQs rather than just the raw coverage. Whilst BBC Parliament shows the event itself, the Daily Politics do a bit more than just that, putting stuff into context. I don't think that is BBC Parliament's role - so in the case of PMQs I think there IS justification for it.

And of course there is also the argument that not all digital channels are equal. Whilst logically BBC Two and BBC Parliament have near identical digital access in all-digital households (they're still on different muxes in analogue regions so you can't say they are 100% matched) that doesn't mean showing an event on BBC Two and BBC Parliament will achieve the same level of viewing. It is likely that a show on BBC Two will get far higher viewing figures (because of inheritance, EPG position, familiarity etc.) than the same thing shown on BBC Parliament - so there is definitely a public service reason to broadcast PMQs on BBC Two rather than BBC Parliament.

I know this doesn't make sense to many people - but just because a service is available on one digital channel (say a news genred outlet in the news section of the EPG), it doesn't mean that making it available on a different channel (say a general channel higher up in the EPG) isn't a sensible thing to do.

While the last 15 minutes of the Wednesday Daily Politics is hardly essential, the 12.30-12.45 bit is really - it offers analysis on PMQ's. This isn't something offered on BBC Parliament, nor on the BBC News Channel if there is breaking news. Without this analysis then there would be nothing to differentiate the BBC2 coverage, and post DSO there would be no point in keeping it. If anything the BBC News Channel should drop PMQ's, in particular the back bench questions which are very rarely newsworthy. This would then make it easier to cover breaking or significant news during PMQ's, which surely is the News Channel's primary purpose

IMO, the Daily Politics should be at 11.30 all week with GMT for an hour at 12pm except Wednesdays. And keep GMT on when parliament is off. That would be either 60 or 90 minutes every weekday of news/current affairs, an d in the case of GMT, I guess rather cheap

I disagree with this - many public places have BBC News 24 and leave it on all day every day and would want to see Breakfast/One/Six/Ten rather than 5 hours of BBC World News, the News Channel would be in danger of being known for neglecting domestic news, and there should be an even balance throughout the day. If the best way of achieving this is through simulcasting then that should be the way it's done.



I've suggested this before - any programme between 19:00 and midnight on BBC One or Two should be repeated in the middle of the night, as an alternative to launching a +1 channel and to give those always neglected night-workers something better to watch than BBC News 24 or Pages from Ceefax. The exceptions would be live sport and news programmes.



As well as some of the other suggestions made above, why don't they shift Sign Zone programmes to daytime? Unless there are scenes that are inappropriate for daytime audiences, but having looked at what is offered on Sign Zone, that doesn't appear to be a problem.