South East Today Studio Picture

The Kentish Express Newspaper today published an article publicising the launch of South East Today on September 3rd:
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LICENCE FEE payers have not picked up the tab for the delayed launch of the BBC's television news service for Kent, its regional boss has insisted.
Laura Ellis, head of regional and local programmes in the South-East, said the delay - the service was scheduled to launch in April but will not start until September 3 -had not cost the BBC any money.

'We didn't have a budget for set-up as such,' she said and while we have been in this limbo period, we have been able to provide a lot of material to other studios.'

Staff training and glitches in pioneering technology have all contributed to the delay.

'We wanted to get it right,' said Ms Ellis. 'I don't think that we would have been doing anyone a favour if it went on air with a product that was less than 100 per cent effective.'

The programme, BBC South East Today, produced from the Great Hall, Tunbridge Wells, will focus on Kent and East Sussex for the first time. The present programme, Newsroom South East, is produced in Elstree with a mainly London audience in mind. This has enabled Meridian Tonight, the rival commercial offering produced in the New Hythe studios at Maidstone, to dominate the ratings.

Apart from Tunbridge Wells the new service will feature input from studios in Chatham,. Because of the location of transmitters, some places in Kent will be unable to receive the service, notably Dartford, and parts of Gravesend and Sevenoaks. Digital satellite viewers will also be unable to watch.

The new service is part of the BBC's radical overhaul of its regional television service. It has allocated £5.5 million a year for improved local services in the South East.

Experienced broadcaster Laurie Mayer, will present the new early evening programme. Greg Dyke, the BBC director-general, and a viewer chosen from entrants to a competition, will officially open the Tunbridge Wells studios on September 21.
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For the photo, click http://rain.prohosting.com/timfoxon/stheastod.jpg

Laurie Mayer? - wow, I had no idea! Obviously got bored of being paid millions to stick up for Mohammed Al Fayed and decided to go back to being a proper journalist

Wow!

The studio looks nice, it also had a BBC Regional style window rather than a nation style one like Newsroom South East had before.

Well it looks very nice! I only wished I lived in the South East.

I hope no one loses the cordless mouse that's sitting on his desk.

Actually I've just seen a live pilot of South East Today.
The studio is in the newsroom and the opening shot shows the newsroom and it sort of zooms into the studio shot.
Titles are standard BBC regional type ones.

Sound Interseting, do you expect London Live to use a kind of dark red variation colour scheme just like the website does?

Nicky, do you know which bed they are using, the ordinary one or the one with the continuous string note running all the way through?

I cannot honestly believe that the BBC would go all this way to creating a corporate identity, only to not use it on their number one regional station - London.
It would simply not be logical not to use the corporate look on the new London Live.
Mayer went from the Beeb to Sky to Al Fayed to the Beeb.
Good job the Hamiltons are living in Cheshire.

Nicky - How many pilots do they do, and how come you get to see them? Are they being fed back to TVC for quality control purposes?

William

I would imagine (but I don't know) that they are doing them real now full time all the bulletins (ready to go on air on the 3rd).
Just happened to see it tonight.

Does anyone know of a list of transmitters which will put out South East Today. My friends live in East Sussex but get Southampton via the Heathfield transmitter. I'm trying to find out if they will switch to South East Today.

Heathfield will definitely be getting South East Today, I think the other transmitters are Bluebell Hill and Dover and the associated relays.

Presumably the Tunbridge Wells transmitter will have to switch from relaying the Crystal Palace signal to being fed by Heathfield - after all, the programme is coming from Tunbridge Wells!

(Edited by RW at 10:07 pm on Aug. 23, 2001)