NG
There have been rumours about this for some time I understand. The most recent co-incided with the announcement that ITV will launch on Sky Digital some time this year, and will carry SOME regional News. (Only one version of each English ITV company will be carried, so what that means for companies like Anglia, Meridian, Westcountry, Yorkshire who do more than one local news prog is unsure)
The BBC would, in an ideal world I think, like to broadcast all the BBC One regional variants on Sky, but this would massively increase the cost of transmission (plus the cost of getting all the regions back to London to be coded and up-linked)
Currently there are THREE BBC satellite transponders, but one of them is earmarked for Interactive services (like Wimbledon and the Open Golf). This leaves Two transponders currently used for TV.
They currently carry :
Four National BBC Ones, Four National BBC Twos, UK wide BBC News 24, BBC Knowledge (possibly soon to be Four/Childrens) and BBC Choice (possibly soon to be Three/Childrens) and BBC Radio and Text. BBC Parliament is broadcast separately by Sky for some reason.
This is 11 video channels broadcast on two satellite transponders.
In England there will soon be different BBC One programmes broadcast for the following regions :
Plymouth
Jersey
Bristol
Southampton
Oxford
Tunbridge Wells
London
Norwich
Cambridge
Nottingham
Birmingham
Manchester
Leeds
Hull
Newcastle
That is 15 different English Regional BBC Ones (Treating Jersey as part of England!)
Putting all these up on satellite would more than double the BBCs current transponder costs - and the cost of getting all the regional variations back down to London would also be pretty huge. Even if the BBC decided not to broadcast sub-regions (removing Jersey, Oxford, Cambridge and Hull from the list) this would still leave 11 English regions... (I would imagine Jersey would be particularly expensive to put on satellite - and very difficult to justify given the small number of potential viewers?)
Then again - when ITV do move to satellite, the BBC may feel it has to bite the bullet...
We'll have to wait and see.
noggin
Founding member
Marcus posted:
A mate of mine who works for the BBC said that UK Today will be ending soon, maybe sepetmber. Does this mean that the regions will finally be available on Sky Digital?
There have been rumours about this for some time I understand. The most recent co-incided with the announcement that ITV will launch on Sky Digital some time this year, and will carry SOME regional News. (Only one version of each English ITV company will be carried, so what that means for companies like Anglia, Meridian, Westcountry, Yorkshire who do more than one local news prog is unsure)
The BBC would, in an ideal world I think, like to broadcast all the BBC One regional variants on Sky, but this would massively increase the cost of transmission (plus the cost of getting all the regions back to London to be coded and up-linked)
Currently there are THREE BBC satellite transponders, but one of them is earmarked for Interactive services (like Wimbledon and the Open Golf). This leaves Two transponders currently used for TV.
They currently carry :
Four National BBC Ones, Four National BBC Twos, UK wide BBC News 24, BBC Knowledge (possibly soon to be Four/Childrens) and BBC Choice (possibly soon to be Three/Childrens) and BBC Radio and Text. BBC Parliament is broadcast separately by Sky for some reason.
This is 11 video channels broadcast on two satellite transponders.
In England there will soon be different BBC One programmes broadcast for the following regions :
Plymouth
Jersey
Bristol
Southampton
Oxford
Tunbridge Wells
London
Norwich
Cambridge
Nottingham
Birmingham
Manchester
Leeds
Hull
Newcastle
That is 15 different English Regional BBC Ones (Treating Jersey as part of England!)
Putting all these up on satellite would more than double the BBCs current transponder costs - and the cost of getting all the regional variations back down to London would also be pretty huge. Even if the BBC decided not to broadcast sub-regions (removing Jersey, Oxford, Cambridge and Hull from the list) this would still leave 11 English regions... (I would imagine Jersey would be particularly expensive to put on satellite - and very difficult to justify given the small number of potential viewers?)
Then again - when ITV do move to satellite, the BBC may feel it has to bite the bullet...
We'll have to wait and see.
SE
Square Eyes
Founding member
On ONdigital you get UK Today during Breakfast on News 24 and you get your regional news on BBC1.
IS
Isonstine
Founding member
I would imagine that if UK Today did go then would have to offer some kind of alternative for regional news.
I think that when ITV goes on SkyDigital then the BBC will look at their technology and consider launching the regions on BBC ONE, they will also lose a lot of viewers if ITV are offering some kind of regional news.
I do think that they are waiting to see how successful the technology used by ITV will be and how easy it is.
I think that when ITV goes on SkyDigital then the BBC will look at their technology and consider launching the regions on BBC ONE, they will also lose a lot of viewers if ITV are offering some kind of regional news.
I do think that they are waiting to see how successful the technology used by ITV will be and how easy it is.
AJ
Aaron J Tibbett
Yeah, on Sky if you live in one of the nations, you get your local programme, but if you live in England, you get UK Today.
On ONdigital, it's the same, except that if you're in England, you get the same programme as you would on analogue BBC1, as Rob rightly said, because it comes from your usual TV transmitter.
BBC2 is not regional, again except for the nations.
On ONdigital, it's the same, except that if you're in England, you get the same programme as you would on analogue BBC1, as Rob rightly said, because it comes from your usual TV transmitter.
BBC2 is not regional, again except for the nations.
EL
Elusive
I never really understood why the BBC didn't just put together an 'England Today' considering Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland all have their programmes available on D-sat. I guess it works for News 24... but why not an 'England Today' at 6.30pm?
AN
I think the reason they don't have a 'England Today' is because it needs to be the sustaining feed in case your local news programme fails.
Therefore it needs to be relevant throughout the UK (today)
Andrew
Founding member
Elusive posted:
I never really understood why the BBC didn't just put together an 'England Today' considering Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland all have their programmes available on D-sat. I guess it works for News 24... but why not an 'England Today' at 6.30pm?
I think the reason they don't have a 'England Today' is because it needs to be the sustaining feed in case your local news programme fails.
Therefore it needs to be relevant throughout the UK (today)