BBC News 24
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| BBC News 24
<tr><th colspan="2" style="text-align: center;">Image:BBCNews24.png</th></tr> <tr><th>Launched</th><td>9 November 1997</td></tr><tr><th>Owned by</th><td>BBC</td></tr><tr><th>Audience share</th><td>0.6% (September 2006, Source:[1])</td></tr><tr><th>Sister channel(s)</th><td>BBC World</td></tr><tr><th>Website</th><td>www.bbc.co.uk/news</td></tr><tr><th style="background-color: #BFDFFF; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2">Availability </th></tr><tr><th style="background-color: #d0e5f5;" align="center" colspan="2">Terrestrial</th></tr><tr><th>Freeview</th><td>Channel 80</td></tr><tr><th style="background-color: #d0e5f5;" align="center" colspan="2">Satellite</th></tr><tr><th>Sky Digital</th><td>Channel 503</td></tr><tr><th>Astra 2D</th><td>10773 H / 22000 / 5/6</td></tr><tr><th style="background-color: #d0e5f5;" align="center" colspan="2">Cable</th></tr><tr><th>NTL:Telewest</th><td>Channel 610</td></tr><tr><th>Telewest (analogue)</th><td>Channel 10 (and default channel)</td></tr> |
BBC News 24 is the BBC's 24 hour rolling news television channel in the United Kingdom. It first broadcast on 9 November 1997 at 5:30PM, originally available only to cable television subscribers. This coverage was improved in 1998 with the advent of digital television in the United Kingdom allowing satellite and digital terrestrial television viewers to also view the service. Initially it was difficult to obtain a digital satellite or terrestrial receiver without a subscription to Sky or ONdigital respectively, but now the channel forms an important part of the Freeview package of channels.<ref>Freeview - Our Channels - BBC News 24 Freeview</ref>
The channel is based at and broadcast from the News Centre at BBC Television Centre, West London. It is the only domestic BBC channel transmitted by the BBC itself; all others are handled by Red Bee Media, formerly BBC Broadcast.
The BBC's 2004 annual report claims that News 24 outperformed Sky News in both weekly and monthly reach in multichannel homes for the January 2004 period, and for the first time in two years moved ahead of Sky News in being perceived as the channel best for news.<ref>BBC News 24 edging ahead of Sky NewsNeil Wilkes; Digital Spy, 19 August 2004</ref>
Contents |
[edit] Background
The launch of the channel brought many complaints; the BBC was criticised over the costs associated with running a channel that only a minority could view while rivals such as the well established Sky News objected to the very idea of the channel and how it was funded especially as it would act as a rival where previously Sky had held the monopoly. In September 1999 the European Commission ruled against a complaint made by Sky News that the publicly funded channel was unfair and illegal under EU law. The Commission ruled that the licence fee should be considered state aid but that such aid was justified due to the public service remit of the BBC and that it did not exceed actual costs.
The response by the BBC to complaints over costs and the lack of coverage was to begin simulcasting the channel overnight on terrestrial channels BBC One and BBC Two, ending the tradition of a closedown of both channels but at the same effectively making the service available to many more viewers. During major breaking news events, News 24 has been broadcast on BBC One; examples have included the September 11th attacks, the capture of Saddam Hussein and the 7 July 2005 London bombings.<ref>News 24 claims July victory Neil Wilkes; Digital Spy, 1 August 2005</ref><ref>News 24 top for rolling news TV Newsroom, 21 August 2005</ref>
Since 16 December 2005, the channel's journalistic output has been overseen by a Controller of the channel, Kevin Bakhurst. This was return to the Channel having a dedicated controller. Tim Orchard was the founding Controller News 24 from 1997-2000. From 2000-2006 the Editorial lead for the channel came from Rachel Attwell, Deputy Head of TV News. From 2004-6, her Deputy was, Mark Popescu - he was primarily responsible for developing the editorial content. The appointment of Kevin Bakhurst was part of further changes made to news operations including the replacement of single editors for the One O'Clock and Six O'Clock News with the establishment of a single daytime editor. <ref>BBC to revamp TV news operation - BBC News Online, 8 November 2005</ref>. At the same time as the appointment of Kevin Bakhurst, it was also announced that more funding and resources were to be provided as part of the aim of Head of Television News, Peter Horrocks, to shift the emphasis from the traditional BBC One bulletins to the rolling news channel. The introduction of simulcasts of the main bulletins on the channel was to allow the news bulletins to pool resources rather than work against each other at key times in the face of competition from the likes of Sky News.<ref>BBC announces changes to Television News TV Newsroom, 8 November 2005</ref>
[edit] Programmes
[edit] News Programming
Rolling news coverage including reports and live interviews form the main part of the daily schedule though these are interspaced with other programmes. Weather summaries are provided every half hour by forecasters from the BBC Weather Centre while business and sport updates are also presented generally from within the main studio.
Since 10 April 2006, the three main BBC One news bulletins, the One O'Clock, Six O'Clock and Ten O'Clock News have been simulcast on the channel. The Ten O'Clock News had already been simulcast since 30 January 2006 as part of the Ten O'Clock Newshour, followed by extended sport and business news updates. This has been the model since for the other bulletins once simulcasts with both channels end.
Breakfast is also a simulcast programme with BBC One; both channels share production, having previously produced and operated individual yet similar programmes.
Other programming produced solely by News 24 includes the Five O'Clock News with Huw Edwards, News 24 Tonight, Sportsday, and World Business Report.
The channel simulcasts with its sister channel, BBC World from 01:00 GMT for the first 25 minutes of each hour. Bulletins are branded under the BBC News banner and are normally produced by News 24 from within the main studio. At other times, the main BBC World studio is used. Regular presenters during this time include Alastair Yates, Martine Croxall and Deborah Mackenzie. Filler programmes are used generally on the half hour, notably ABC News' ABC World News with Charles Gibson at 01:30. The World Today with a half hour edition of World Business Report is shown at 05:00 GMT is simulcast with the channel and produced by BBC World.
[edit] Current Affairs and Miscellaneous Programming
Many of the programmes listed below are shown on both News 24 and BBC World. Due to the times of simulcasts between News 24 and the terrestrial channels BBC One and BBC Two, it has become possible for others without digital television to view them.
Click, Dateline London, Fast Track, HARDtalk, Head 2 Head, The Record Europe, Reporters, Straight Talk and Talking Movies. More recently, STORYFix, a satirical view of the weeks news, has been added to the channel's schedule appearing on Friday evenings and during weekends.<ref>Get a fix Mark Barlex; The Editors Blog - BBC News Online, 5 June 2006</ref>
[edit] News Presenters
Some of the main presenters on the channel include Jon Sopel; Huw Edwards<ref>Huw Edwards to present on BBC News 24 TV Newsroom, 9 March 2006</ref>; Jane Hill, Kate Silverton, Matthew Amroliwala, Emily Maitlis, Alastair Yates, Ben Brown, Louise Minchin, Chris Eakin, Carrie Gracie, Peter Sissons, Maxine Mawhinney and Simon McCoy. The introduction of the main weekday BBC One bulletins being simulcast with the channel has also led to Sophie Raworth; George Alagiah; Natasha Kaplinsky and Fiona Bruce also appearing on News 24 with their respective bulletins.
Nicholas Owen, of ITN's ITV Lunchtime News, has since been announced as a new presenter on the channel. He will take up his position in February 2007.<ref>Nicholas Owen joins BBC News 24 TV Newsroom 20 November 2006</ref>
[edit] Presentation
[edit] General
Initially, the channel was criticised for its style of presentation with accusations of it being less authoritative compared to news on BBC One since male presenters were seen on screen in shirts but no jackets. The bright design of the set was also blamed for this and was subject to the largescale relaunch on October 25, 1999. A new set, music and titles were introduced, based on the then recent new look of news on BBC One. Graphics and titles were developed by the Lambie-Nairn design agency and were gradually rolled out across the whole of BBC News, including a similar design for regional news starting with Newsroom South East. The similarity of main BBC News output was intended to increase the credibility of the channel (male presenters donned jackets), while it also helped to aid cross channel promotion.<ref name="aboutN24">About BBC News 24 TV Home</ref>
The Lambert Report into the channel's performance in 2002 called upon News 24 to develop a better brand of its own, to allow viewers to differentiate between itself and similar channels such as Sky News. As a direct result of this, a brand new style across all presentation for the channel launched on Monday 8 December 2003 at 0900. Philip Hayton and Anna Jones were the first two presenters on the set, the relaunch of which had been put back a week due to previous power disruptions at Television Centre where the channel is based. The new designs also featured a dynamic set of titles for the channel; the globe spins to where the story takes place while the headline scrolls around in a ribbon. Occasionally this is replaced by the BBC News logo.
Subsequently, bulletins on BBC One were also updated to the new style, having moved into a new set in January 2003 but retaining the ivory Lambie-Nairn titles until February 2004. News 24 updated their colours slightly to match those of BBC One bulletins in time for the 50th anniversary of BBC television news in May 2004.<ref>BBC News 24 2003-date TV & Radio Bits</ref>
[edit] Breaking News
A key claim by Lord Lambert was that the channel was slow to react to breaking news unlike its competitor Sky News. To counteract this, a new feature introduced with the 2003 relaunch was a 'breaking news sting'; a globe would be shown briefly onscreen to direct a viewer's attention to the breaking news.<ref>BBC says changes planned for News 24 James Welsh; Digital Spy, 20 February 2003</ref>
Small changes to the onscreen graphics in 2006 included the introduction of a permanent live news ticker, originally this had appeared sporadically. News statements are shown as continuous scrolling text, at the bottom of the screen. The text is displayed in capitals, and common ambiguities include spelling the plural of MPs as "MPS", together with other occasional spelling and grammatical errors.
[edit] Countdown
Since the October 1999 relaunch, an important element of the channel's presentation has been the countdown to the top of every hour. Music composed by David Lowe has accompanied various imagery designed to show the pace of the channel and more recently the work involved in bringing news stories to air. The first such countdown featured ivory numbers set against a deep red background but later involved shots of life around the UK; school children, stockbrokers and hospitals, together with footage of the newsroom and exterior of Television Centre were all shown. The 2003 relaunch of the channel saw a small change to this style with less of a metropolitan feel to the footage.
The countdown sequence was radically altered on 28 March, 2005 when a new version designed and created by BBC Broadcast, now Red Bee Media, and directed by Mark Chaudoir was launched. The full version runs for 60 seconds, though only around 30 seconds are shown on air. The music was revised completely but the biggest change came in the footage used — it now reflects the methods and nature of newsgathering, while a strong emphasis is placed on the BBC logo itself. Satellites are shown transmitting and receiving red "data streams". In production of the countdown sequence, Clive Norman captured images around the United Kingdom, Richard Jopson in the United States, while BBC News cameramen caught images from Iraq, Beijing, Africa, as well as areas affected by the Asian Tsunami and others. Some people have also noted that the red "data streams" represented on the BBC News 24 countdown appear to defy the laws of physics <ref>News 24 gets an F in physics - bnb.bpweb.net</ref>.
On May 16 2006 the music that accompanying the countdown was remixed, with a full three minute version by composer David Lowe later posted in full <ref>News 24 'releases' countdown music - BBC News Online, 18 May 2006</ref> on the BBC website as well as Lowe's own website. This was followed by a competition to produce a remix of the theme, with the BBC posting over a dozen entries of various styles, tenors and demeanors <ref>Remix the BBC News 24 countdown - BBC News Online, 22 May 2006</ref>. As a result of the number of entries, some have been used, one every week, to lead into the Six O'Clock bulletin on Fridays.
The international version of the countdown, using some additional footage and with a slightly different musical arrangement, launched on sister channel BBC World on 5 September; it replaced the previous 'ribbons-around-the-world' countdown which the channel had used from its graphics refresh in late 2003 until then.
[edit] Awards
On 22 February 2006, BBC News 24 won the News Channel of the Year at the RTS Television Journalism Awards for the first time in its history.<ref>BBC winners at TV journalism awards Dave West; Digital Spy, 23 February 2006</ref>The judges remarked that this was the year that the channel had "really come into its own."<ref>News 24 wins news channel of the year Newswatch - BBC News Online, 23 February 2006</ref>
[edit] References
<references />
[edit] External links
- BBC News at bbc.co.uk
- The Lambert Report on the DCMS website
- TV Newsroom presentation coverage
- MP3 tracks of News 24 music: 1997, 1999 and 2003 - See the David Lowe article for more.
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