Channel 4 News

Why is there no Channel 4 News during the day on C4, is it because they don't want that crappy set to be seen so often?

I think that Channel 4 only has to have 1 news programme a day. That's why there's the 1 bulletin only.

There are though, some bulletins on weekends but not many as news is widely available on the other 4 terresteral channels.

I think also Channel 4 has just one news programme today so it put all its effort into that and make it hard hitting and decisive - which it is. I don't think the Channel 4 format would lend itself to many bulletins through the day and they wouldn't want that.

When C4 started it used not to have any daytime shows cos it carrried ITV Schools programmes - so it may not historically have been able to carry a lunchtime news programme. It also had a charter remit to be different, and serve minorities, maybe news didn't seem so important in this context.

C4 does carry PowerHouse at lunchtime - which isn't exactly News - but is political/topical current affairs. This is broadcast from The Atrium (a restaurant in the Millbank broadcast centre where ITN, the BBC and Sky are based) at Millbank (number four I think?)

Also C4 News is normally 55 mins long - so significantly longer than any other network news show (apart from Newsnight which is deemed to be more current affairsy)

Only comparatively recently did C4 gain a 7 day news service - I think Sundays are relatively new?

technically no...C4 didn't show ITV Schools right from launch...they were only transferred to C4 when ITV realised that they were losing viewers to BBC1's daytime service, which funnily enough didn't consist of schools programmes. This happened around 1987.

Sorry - I stand corrected! Did C4 actually show anything at this time before they got ITV schools (apart from a Testcard?)?

to be honest i'm not sure...can anyone else enlighten me on this subject...i do believe they did, but sometime after the launch - not anything that would be a serious challenge to BBC Daytime Programming though...

And what happened to ITV Schools programmes, do they no longer have a comitment to produce these ?

Am pretty certain Channel 4 used to broadcast a lunchtime news update (5 minutes or so) after the Schools programmes in the morning.

And then, of course, there was Channel 4 Daily!

Oh, and Powerhouse is from the Atrium at 4 Millbank - it's a brilliant building that and the atrium (the balcony of you can often see people walking round in some BBC interviews) is huge and very impressive!