Might have been trouble free on the journey itself, but it doesn't mean things were fine behind the scenes. Especially on the financial side.
The fact we've now had 3 private operators fail on that route says it all, really.
Interestingly in a few weeks I'm taking a trip up to Scotland that just happens to straddle the changeover- will be getting there on Virgin, but it will have changed to LNER on the return journey. Not intentional, the change wasn't even announced until after I'd booked the tickets!
Interestingly in a few weeks I'm taking a trip up to Scotland that just happens to straddle the changeover- will be getting there on Virgin, but it will have changed to LNER on the return journey. Not intentional, the change wasn't even announced until after I'd booked the tickets!
When the trains were originally privatised they went for a 2am changeover time because there were all sorts of legal issues if they changed hands while the trains were running. However they forgot the 1:50am Fishguard service which picked up passengers from a Ferry. On this night however it was a bus replacement, but the passengers on it did start off on a publicly owned British Rail service and finish on a privately owned Great Western one
This is so off topic.... and just crying out for a photo of a train
Shut the stations, accept the commercial reality that local media of any sort will cease to be profitable in the very near future and give the BBC the funds it needs to ensure local areas are covered correctly - online, on radio and on TV.
It's time the Conservatives actually applied free market principles, accepted all attempts to prop up commercial operators are doomed and that this is exactly the sort of thing the Beeb is there for.
[[Mod snip to tone down post]] Local media and indeed, the very notion of localness has been continually undermined since the days of the national government taking on the GLC. Local media can be profitable quite easily, but all too often, it's treated like its a lesser medium. It's been treated with contempt and derided for being amateur, and second class, compared to national media, and that frankly is far worse than anything local TV has inflicted on us, even Sheffield Live.
I'm sure that when all this Local TV stuff was about to launch, I read somewhere that the name "That's TV" was derived from "That's Life!" because Esther Rantzen was involved in some way. Please can anyone explain how she was ever part of it, and when/why/how that (presumably) ceased?
Thanks in advance.
EDIT: I bet she'll now be
very
keen to distance herself from any association with them!
It's my understanding she was a part of the originally applications for a few franchises, but did pull out rather quickly afterwards. Possibly even before they started broadcasting.
I think Rantzen was supposed to present a show on That's Solent in the early days. Instead, it was students from the local college where the channel is based along with the now infamous Charlotte Briere-Edney who at one point presented on every channel as it launched.
Although OFCOM have now stopped issuing new licences, they clearly should have concentrated on a handful of licences to start with and waited to see if the model could prove itself.
It's also surprising that the conditions attached to the BBC buying content didn't stipulate minimum journalistic and technical standards. I'm sure any lawyer would have advised this should be in the contract.
As I noted at the time I feel these Local TV channels in my opinion should have been on YouTube. I'm imagining localised once a day News programmes with just a little set up money from the Government for this experiment. It's too expensive to set up/produce programming for an actual TV channel. Help these YouTube channels by having free advertising for their services on all the linear TV Public Service Broadcasters.
Then on linear TV let both the BBC/ITV continue their current limited Regional content. To save (limited) costs for both channels maybe have the Licence Fee funded BBC show their Regional News at 22:30pm, with the more commercially sensitive Broadcaster ITV showing their main bulletin at 18:00pm. Let the BBC/ITV scrap all other bulletins though I propose ITV should produce LIVE bulletins for the Westcountry and East Midlands (from within those Region/Sub-Regions) again. The ITV Border Region is another matter, which (as stated previously) should in my opinion be split between ITV Tyne Tees and STV.
With the monies saved I feel both Broadcasters should produce more Non-News Regional content. A weekly Regional Politics show such as 'Central Lobby' and a half hour Regional Life programme from ITV whilst the BBC improves it's Non-News Regional offering too. I know resources are limited for Local/Regional TV...
Rijowhi fantasing about slashing regional TV yet again, this time axing completely what is often the highest rated show outside the soaps on weeknights. That doesn't save the BBC a penny - indeed makes the other bulletins less financially justifiable.
Most people who are interested in local news are catered for with the few minutes of local content served up by their regional bulletins - where they know reports will be of a high standard and even if not local they won't be unbearable to watch.