TV Home Forum

A question regarding breakdowns

How are they dealt with today (February 2020)

This site closed in March 2021 and is now a read-only archive
BB
BBI45
Neil Jones posted:
Ne1L C posted:
thegeek posted:
It depends how big the broadcaster - the biggest have split-site or spare playout, coding & mux and uplink facilities.

In reality there are so many things which could go bang that there's no catch-all plan. You just need to have lots of alternatives and staff who know how to cope with anything unusual you throw at them!


Well as I seem to recall it was handled very well


I assume by "it" you mean the GMB fire alarm incident(s), or the Lorraine fire alarm incident.

These strictly speaking aren't "breakdowns" as such as they could have carried on, but of course only a moron would stay on air with the fire alarm going off in the background, especially if turns out to be a real fire.

The done way as has been proven (both on GMB/Lorraine and when a similar thing occurred on The One Show) is to say we're off, here's some VT to look at, run it and then head off to the fire assembly point at wherever. If the show doesn't come back it doesn't come back, and that's the network's problem.

You say that...


IS
Inspector Sands
Neil Jones posted:

Output wise I suspect they'll be able to route it elsewhere (Leeds?) if needs must, much like I believe the BBC used to be able to control the output from Birmingham should an issue crop up that means London can't, but I think that's all changed now anyway and I think Red Bee handles all that, so if things go totally up the creek then...

It wasn't the case that Birmingham could 'control the output', it was just the location that the channels would decamp to should TV Centre be totally out of action. That involved people and tapes getting into cars going to Pebble Mill. It didn't have any dedicated facilities for providing the channels, they converted edit suites and galleries. They had standby tapes in case the presentation staff couldn't make it up the M40 in time


Nowadays things are very different. Now all non live programmes come from a server it's possible to mirror everything on an another server elsewhere in the country and run that in parallel if you so wanted.
GE
thegeek Founding member
The BBC's Nations can back each other up - when Cardiff had a major power problem last year, Belfast helped out.
IS
Inspector Sands
thegeek posted:
The BBC's Nations can back each other up - when Cardiff had a major power problem last year, Belfast helped out.

Yes but as was seen that evening, the nation helping out doesn't necessarily have copies of the programmes that are scheduled
SP
Steve in Pudsey
I'm not sure, wasn't the reason they couldn't broadcast a Wales opt out programme early in the evening that they hadn't got the spare pres suite on air yet (because somebody probably had to come in specially to do it) so Wales was simulcasting NI?

Once they had a separate feed for Wales they were able to play out Wales only programming.
SP
Steve in Pudsey
Ne1L C posted:
Just watching the breakdowns section of TV ARK has made me wonder how such faults are dealt with today. I remember Good Morning Britain was taken off air several years ago due to a fire alarm. ITV played an emergency tape in lieu.

That was sorted out fairly quickly but does anyone know how an extended breakdown would be dealt with in terms of keeping broadcasting?

There was an occasion where there was a genuine fire at TLS and the alarms went off a few minutes before GMB was due on air.

ITV at Chiswick played out filler material until 8.30 (luckily it was Good Friday so a less important show) and then managed to get Lorraine on air. That day's show happened to be a pre rec so somebody grabbed the backup tape copy as they evacuated and this was eventually played out, in SD, I think from ITN.
NL
Ne1L C
Steve in Pudsey posted:
Ne1L C posted:
Just watching the breakdowns section of TV ARK has made me wonder how such faults are dealt with today. I remember Good Morning Britain was taken off air several years ago due to a fire alarm. ITV played an emergency tape in lieu.

That was sorted out fairly quickly but does anyone know how an extended breakdown would be dealt with in terms of keeping broadcasting?

There was an occasion where there was a genuine fire at TLS and the alarms went off a few minutes before GMB was due on air.

ITV at Chiswick played out filler material until 8.30 (luckily it was Good Friday so a less important show) and then managed to get Lorraine on air. That day's show happened to be a pre rec so somebody grabbed the backup tape copy as they evacuated and this was eventually played out, in SD, I think from ITN.


Perfect answer Very Happy
SC
Si-Co
Steve in Pudsey posted:
Ne1L C posted:
Just watching the breakdowns section of TV ARK has made me wonder how such faults are dealt with today. I remember Good Morning Britain was taken off air several years ago due to a fire alarm. ITV played an emergency tape in lieu.

That was sorted out fairly quickly but does anyone know how an extended breakdown would be dealt with in terms of keeping broadcasting?

There was an occasion where there was a genuine fire at TLS and the alarms went off a few minutes before GMB was due on air.

ITV at Chiswick played out filler material until 8.30 (luckily it was Good Friday so a less important show) and then managed to get Lorraine on air. That day's show happened to be a pre rec so somebody grabbed the backup tape copy as they evacuated and this was eventually played out, in SD, I think from ITN.


Was the filler material GMB-related? I’m curious as to what could “legally” be played out between 0600-0925, as that timeslot still has something of a special status. In the TVam/GMTV days only material produced or acquired by those companies would have been shown.
WH
what
Si-Co posted:
Steve in Pudsey posted:
Ne1L C posted:
Just watching the breakdowns section of TV ARK has made me wonder how such faults are dealt with today. I remember Good Morning Britain was taken off air several years ago due to a fire alarm. ITV played an emergency tape in lieu.

That was sorted out fairly quickly but does anyone know how an extended breakdown would be dealt with in terms of keeping broadcasting?

There was an occasion where there was a genuine fire at TLS and the alarms went off a few minutes before GMB was due on air.

ITV at Chiswick played out filler material until 8.30 (luckily it was Good Friday so a less important show) and then managed to get Lorraine on air. That day's show happened to be a pre rec so somebody grabbed the backup tape copy as they evacuated and this was eventually played out, in SD, I think from ITN.


Was the filler material GMB-related? I’m curious as to what could “legally” be played out between 0600-0925, as that timeslot still has something of a special status. In the TVam/GMTV days only material produced or acquired by those companies would have been shown.

ITV could have taken the airtime, and did on occasion (for F1 races typically) but had to compensate GMTV with slots elsewhere in the schedule.
TI
TIGHazard
what posted:
Si-Co posted:
Steve in Pudsey posted:
There was an occasion where there was a genuine fire at TLS and the alarms went off a few minutes before GMB was due on air.

ITV at Chiswick played out filler material until 8.30 (luckily it was Good Friday so a less important show) and then managed to get Lorraine on air. That day's show happened to be a pre rec so somebody grabbed the backup tape copy as they evacuated and this was eventually played out, in SD, I think from ITN.


Was the filler material GMB-related? I’m curious as to what could “legally” be played out between 0600-0925, as that timeslot still has something of a special status. In the TVam/GMTV days only material produced or acquired by those companies would have been shown.

ITV could have taken the airtime, and did on occasion (for F1 races typically) but had to compensate GMTV with slots elsewhere in the schedule.


And did twice last year, during the RWC.

The ITV dog was seen on sunday afternoons on STV, typically during kids or family oriented programming.
SC
Si-Co
Ah, so that still applies now? 0600-0925 is still licensed to “ITV Breakfast” (as opposed to “ITV Plc” or “STV Plc”), so on the occasions mentioned, it’s effectively “ITV Breakfast” that’s appearing on ITV and STV in those afternoon slots?

I presume if ITV Plc plugged the gap on that Good Friday, there was nothing to stop STV opting out, as the time would be “paid back” anyway?
JB
JasonB
Steve in Pudsey posted:
Sit up had the added complication that their ordering system was vital to the operation. No point in broadcasting if people can't order.



This is an example of how well they coped with any power outage:


Watch the guy on Speed Auction towards the end, he doesn’t seem to know what’s going on.

Newer posts