Then again, which digital channel does not clog up its schedule with repeats?
The shopping channels?
Some make a fortune out of repeats though - The Viacom and Flextech channels have lasted for years on the back of repeats alone. In fact any channel that doesn't repeat something is losing out.
So what is the betting they scrap the 7pm news bulletins - blaming low ratings (because it inherits no audience from a previous show the 7pm slot is always the kiss of death, when the news was at 8.30pm for a fortnight the ratings rose considerably) but then introduce an earlier schedule, which would have delivered an inheritance, and no doubt higher ratings for a 7pm show.
The 7pm issue was one for BBC Choice as well, once CBBC started as a separate channel. Originally Liquid News used to follow a CBBC on Choice block of programming, and inherited an audience of parents and teenagers. Once the CBBC channel split away, Liquid News became the first show on the channel, and inherited no audience from a previous show, and of-course the ratings were lower.
I can see sense in BBC Three and BBC Four extending their viewing hours, however they would need to change the commissioning of Three, to have more pre-watershed shows (at the moment only a few pre-watershed shows are commissioned - mainly factual - Trauma, BodyHits, Parenting stuff etc.) They could show older, culty, repeats I guess...
The capacity argument is only really an issue for Freeview - cable and satellite have capacity. I guess they could extend the hours the on the latter two platforms and leave Freeview as is? I suppose they could time-share the interactive streams with CBBC/CBeebies- though this wouldn't be good for daytime interactivity like WImbledon and the Olympics.
Squeezing two more services onto Freeview Mux 1 and B IS possible though - though not instantly.
Ofcom have suggested that the existing 4 Freeview muxes (18Mbs) return to 24Mbs at analogue switch-off, and that the 2k system is upgraded to 8k, for better reception (though this will mean some first generation ON Digital boxes stop working) This would allow another 4 BBC services to squeeze in, or an HD service to launch, and if coupled with a change to the BBC's distribution, it might be possible to free up more space by changing BBC One regional services to statmux. (This would require the regions to feed back to London rather than coding locally probably)
The capacity argument is only really an issue for Freeview - cable and satellite have capacity. I guess they could extend the hours the on the latter two platforms and leave Freeview as is?
Nooooo!! That would just give Freeview the perception of being the poor man's platform. Anyway I think the BBC said they would never do anything like that (well, apart from the days when BBC Knowledge shut down at midday at weekends but continued on satellite and cable).
noggin posted:
I suppose they could time-share the interactive streams with CBBC/CBeebies- though this wouldn't be good for daytime interactivity like WImbledon and the Olympics.
Probably the best solution - 701 and 702 are so very rarely used in daytime hours. And when it comes to sporting events like Wimbledon, couldn't BBC THREE just show one of the matches instead of the interactive channels? This used to happen in the early days of BBC Choice (before CBBC on Choice started). There's nothing in BBC THREE's conditions to prevent it showing sports coverage; there would be nothing to stop BBC FOUR doing so as well, though it would sit very uncomfortably with the rest of the channel's output.
But isn't there one further problem, that BBC THREE and CBBC share the same transmission facilities, as do BBC FOUR and CBeebies - meaning that if all four channels were to operate at the same time it would mean an expensive upgrade to facilities?
As far as squeezing more channels out of the BBC multiplexes, I still think priority should be given to making BBC Parliament full screen, one area where DTT viewers are still disadvantaged; and then after that it's BBC FOUR that should be extended first to bring back a BBC Knowledge-style daytime servive.
BBC THREE really does need to have its ridiculously stringent conditions relaxed before it can consider extending its hours, seeing as it already struggles to fill its schedule; and anyway, who would the audience be? Isn't the majority of its target audience - young adults aged 25-34 - out at work during the daytime anyway?
The capacity argument is only really an issue for Freeview - cable and satellite have capacity. I guess they could extend the hours the on the latter two platforms and leave Freeview as is?
Nooooo!! That would just give Freeview the perception of being the poor man's platform. Anyway I think the BBC said they would never do anything like that (well, apart from the days when BBC Knowledge shut down at midday at weekends but continued on satellite and cable).
noggin posted:
I suppose they could time-share the interactive streams with CBBC/CBeebies- though this wouldn't be good for daytime interactivity like WImbledon and the Olympics.
Probably the best solution - 701 and 702 are so very rarely used in daytime hours. And when it comes to sporting events like Wimbledon, couldn't BBC THREE just show one of the matches instead of the interactive channels? This used to happen in the early days of BBC Choice (before CBBC on Choice started). There's nothing in BBC THREE's conditions to prevent it showing sports coverage; there would be nothing to stop BBC FOUR doing so as well, though it would sit very uncomfortably with the rest of the channel's output.
But isn't there one further problem, that BBC THREE and CBBC share the same transmission facilities, as do BBC FOUR and CBeebies - meaning that if all four channels were to operate at the same time it would mean an expensive upgrade to facilities?
As far as squeezing more channels out of the BBC multiplexes, I still think priority should be given to making BBC Parliament full screen, one area where DTT viewers are still disadvantaged; and then after that it's BBC FOUR that should be extended first to bring back a BBC Knowledge-style daytime servive.
BBC THREE really does need to have its ridiculously stringent conditions relaxed before it can consider extending its hours, seeing as it already struggles to fill its schedule; and anyway, who would the audience be? Isn't the majority of its target audience - young adults aged 25-34 - out at work during the daytime anyway?
I think there is plenty of space for expanding playout facilities at the new BBC Broadcast operation, and though - as you say - it would increase transmission costs, there is at least scope for doing this. At TVC there wouldn't have been as much excess capacity I guess.
Not convinced that there is an idea solution yet for Freeview though - the "sport on Three and Four" option is far from ideal as a replacement for 701/702 during the day for Wimbledon, Golf, Olympics etc. - especially at the weekend.
