Broadcasting House, Salford Quays & TVC

Could have been to space them out correctly, or something technical like that?

So they know where to install the monitor arms so the operator has clear visibility of all the screens. Difficult to do without a screen attached - so they'll use wooden templates until the kit comes.

That looks like a dummy studio being evaluated for layout. Wooden fake monitors and an MDF prototype desk to check sightlines, positioning, layout, accessibility etc.?

You normally do this sort of thing when laying out new broadcast areas, particularly if the same design is going to be used for a lot of them.

As I think I mentioned somewhere (quite possibly elsewhere in this thread), if you're building a modern studio complex, you probably wouldn't tie a particular studio floor to a particular gallery.

Take BBC Scotland, for example - Studio C's gallery will run Reporting Scotland at 1830 (from Studio C's floor), then it'll handle An La (using the studio in Inverness) at 2000. There's a smaller gallery around the corner, the Bulletin Control Room, which will then do the 2000 BBC One bulletin, from a CSO position in Studio C - though they also use it to direct the shorter bulletins from the main floor.

Besides, while they've decided how many studios they're going to build in BH, I think you're a bit early to be speculating about how they'll be used. I wouldn't be surprised if the high-ups in BBC News don't know; haven't decided; or change their mind several times before the building goes on air.

Quite. Some plans for the News operation at BH included a studio for Liquid News and BBC Three News... Times change very quickly these days.

I would be very disappointed if BH is stuck with the dedicated studio+gallery model - which ties studios to specific ways of working, or worse, a one-size-fits-all compromise gallery.

ITN and US broadcasters are using a much more flexible model - separating studios and galleries. (This allowed ITN News Channel and ITV News bulletin galleries to share two studios effectively)

Indeed, that is why I hope they go with galleries for uses rather than studios.



However, now they're moving into the fit out stage, which involves running all the cables, they're going to have to make a decision about how many / where all of their facilities are going. While they don't need to decide where each programme is coming from, they do need to decide (and almost certainly already have) how many galleries, where they're going and for what rough purpose they are being used.

Anyway, I only asked in case anybody had heard anything...

Just stumbled across some pictures on flickr of the TV studios and newsroom at BH:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bathspamusic/sets/72157625872934566/

Thanks for that. Interesting that they claim this will be the BBC NC studio,


http://www.flickr.com/photos/bathspamusic/5375184086/in/set-72157625872934566/

.. also on the newsroom photo it says




So BBC World will get the newsroom set I guess...

But, on a later photograph, it says



suggesting that the picture is of the newsroom studio but just facing the other way.

It would be a shame for BBC World News to get the newsroom studio. Domestic in my opinion should be the priority and to me, if they get stuck in a generic studio without any view of the news centre, they may as well just stay in N6...

Comparing the picture to Rory Cellan Jones' one, that is clearly the newsroom studio. My expectation would be that, unfortunately, BBC WN will get the newsroom set in order to keep a level of consistency (or available consistency) between the Newsnight, NC and National sets, which would be much harder to achieve if the NC had a set based around a newsroom backdrop.

Either way that view will look amazing.

As long as News Channel vieweres don't have a fake newsroom background with Barcos and their visible screen 'cracks', I'll be happy!

Just to clear up, the News Channel studio won't be a clone of TC7/ N6, will it? Will it have a genuine backdrop of the newsroom? I don't want to see another bland TC7 studio.