It's because The Daily Politics is going daily, but they will only be half an hour, where as the Wednesday edition is going to be the same length as it is now for Prime Minister's Questions.
Also remember that Schools Education does appear overnight on BBC Two and on Weekdays on CBBC Class TV.
I think the days of BBC Schools during the day on BBC2 are numbered. Lets face it kids these days don't have to sit around a huge square box waiting for the set to warm up before they watch a programme, times have changed. Everyone has recording equipment of some sort, so I think Night time is the best time for programmes like these are shown. I also think BBC2 should cut back on the all morning kiddies programmes too, especially when things move over to digital.
But then the next question is can BBC2 fill the time with something we want to watch, one night this week it closed/handed over to News 24 at 11.55pm.
Yes, agree that BBC Two schools are probably numbered : however, we need rid of the DOG during schools broadcasts on CBBC, we need signed versions of broadcasts clearly marked (so as schools which need them know when to opt in, and those who don't want a person superimposed on the screen can opt out) and clear schedules for CBBC printed. Until the issue of getting details of programmes and schedules sent directly to schools is addressed BBC Two will remain. Yes I know it's possible to email and get the spreadsheet of broadcasts for a term from the kind people of Class TV but for the ordinary teacher trying to record a broadcast it's quite difficult to find the info - having to go through week by week on the BBC schools website is a pain.
BTW : Has anyone got a copy yet of the spreadsheet for Class TV for Summer 05?
I think the days of BBC Schools during the day on BBC2 are numbered. Lets face it kids these days don't have to sit around a huge square box waiting for the set to warm up before they watch a programme, times have changed. Everyone has recording equipment of some sort, so I think Night time is the best time for programmes like these are shown. I also think BBC2 should cut back on the all morning kiddies programmes too, especially when things move over to digital.
Even if most programmes are being recorded, at least in the daytime more people would notice them (especially the target audience), and it's a better use of airtime than endless Bilko repeats or b/w films. In any case, schools have been recording programmes for many years already, so why only now have they decided daytime schools programmes are surplus to requirements?
Agreed about the children's programmes - it's just schedule padding. And who's watching BBC2 at 6am anyway?
I think the days of BBC Schools during the day on BBC2 are numbered. Lets face it kids these days don't have to sit around a huge square box waiting for the set to warm up before they watch a programme, times have changed. Everyone has recording equipment of some sort, so I think Night time is the best time for programmes like these are shown. I also think BBC2 should cut back on the all morning kiddies programmes too, especially when things move over to digital.
Even if most programmes are being recorded, at least in the daytime more people would notice them (especially the target audience), and it's a better use of airtime than endless Bilko repeats or b/w films. In any case, schools have been recording programmes for many years already, so why only now have they decided daytime schools programmes are surplus to requirements?
Agreed about the children's programmes - it's just schedule padding. And who's watching BBC2 at 6am anyway?
It would probably sound hypocritical for me to say "you clearly don't have kids", but what the hell...
Quite a lot of kids are awake at that time, though their parents undoubtedly wish they weren't. At least when they are they get programmes, and not Pages from Ceefax, though perhaps schools programmes should be moved to that time of day instead.
As to "schedule padding"... well I don't see you complaining too much about Class TV...
It is important to mention that Schools do watch these programmes, even though they are scheduled at God knows what time. What the BBC tends to do is send a copy of a list of programmes to most schools, our College/High School has many lists of all of the GCSE Bitesize of when they are shown and repeated, so I presume the same is done with other programmes and IIRC the BBC has been doing this since the start of time.
The thing is that technology has moved on since the days of 4 hours of schools programmes a day on BBC and ITV or Ch4.
A video recorder costs virtually nothing - it is far better for schools to record programmes and then play them when it is convenient. The days of whole school years sitting around a large TV set at 11:20 on a Thursday morning are long gone.
Even better, there's really no need to broadcast schools programming over large, expensive national TV networks every day.... VHS tapes cost ***ger all these days and even DVD discs are cheap enough to be given away by newspapers. It would be far better just to send each school the programmes they require by post and use the airtime for other things. And that doesn't include pages from Ceefax!
This is very unfortunate. Why not show The Daily Politics in the afternoon, and include some secondary programmes in daytime Schools?
The Daily Politics covers PMQs once a week so it couldn't be on in the afternoon on Wednesdays.... and it's preferable being on at the same time every day rather tha chopped around.
Personally I think having TDP and Working Lunch together is a good combination
It would probably sound hypocritical for me to say "you clearly don't have kids", but what the hell...
Quite a lot of kids are awake at that time, though their parents undoubtedly wish they weren't. At least when they are they get programmes, and not Pages from Ceefax, though perhaps schools programmes should be moved to that time of day instead.
I take it you're not that bothered about concerns some parents are using television as a babysitter then...
Quote:
As to "schedule padding"... well I don't see you complaining too much about Class TV...
It's what BBC2 should be doing with their mornings rather than a digital channel which not that many schools can probably receive. Though some material does seem to be repeated too frequently, at the expense of other series in the archives which could be used.
It would probably sound hypocritical for me to say "you clearly don't have kids", but what the hell...
Quite a lot of kids are awake at that time, though their parents undoubtedly wish they weren't. At least when they are they get programmes, and not Pages from Ceefax, though perhaps schools programmes should be moved to that time of day instead.
I take it you're not that bothered about concerns some parents are using television as a babysitter then...
Quote:
As to "schedule padding"... well I don't see you complaining too much about Class TV...
It's what BBC2 should be doing with their mornings rather than a digital channel which not that many schools can probably receive. Though some material does seem to be repeated too frequently, at the expense of other series in the archives which could be used.
Simon,
You may live in a perfect world where children have their parents' full attention every waking moment but it's an impractical thing to suggest. I'm not for a moment saying that it's alright to put kids in front of the television for hours with no adult supervision or play, but most parents are grateful for something to occupy the children for a little time while they get on with the necessary tasks associated with bringing up a family.
As to your second point, do you ever wonder if you see the world through a somewhat unusual set of eyes? I get the impression you are a little obsessed with Pages from Ceefax, Grange Hill, library music and schools programmes from the 1970s. That's fine, but the world has moved on, and criticising everything simply because it's not the way you'd do things is a little unreasonable.
If there was a demand for repeats of Look and Read for purposes other than cheaply filling airtime on a channel whose target audience is at school, then they'd probably be shown. The problem is that they now look ridiculously dated. Today's kids aren't watching with the nostalgic notions you are - they'd have a good laugh at the house-sized box which prompted one character in the programme to ask "Ooh, is that a computer? I've never seen one before...".
To show those programmes now would be the equivalent of showing Muffin the Mule in the 1980s. Kids of the 80s were as far removed from the that as today's kids are from 1970s editions of Look and Read.
If a school wanted to receive the CBBC Channel it'd cost them all of £40 for a Freeview box. I'm sure that even in this day and age of 37p school dinners, that's not beyond most educational establishments.
One last thing. Is your telly on a big metal trolley, with doors on the front and a big top-loading video recorder on a shelf underneath?
