Stories featured on this page:
- MON 28TH NOV (5.30PM)
Channel 4 launches new YouTube channel: 4 Reality - TUE 29TH NOV (11.15AM)
BBC Northern Ireland announces plans to cut 36 posts - TUE 29TH NOV (2PM)
Line freezes just as BBC Sport correspondent is about to speak - TUE 29TH NOV (10.40PM)
Behind-the-scenes of BBC North West Today bulletin studio - FRI 2ND DEC (2.45PM)
TG4 now available in HD on Saorview - FRI 2ND DEC (2.45PM)
Nationwide SD feed of BBC One on satellite to be known as Nightlight
Monday 28th November
5.30pm Channel 4 launches new YouTube channel: 4 Reality
Channel 4 today launched a new YouTube-based channel – 4 Reality.
As the name suggests, the channel will feature full-length episodes of reality shows.
The new series of Celebs Go Dating will be available on the YouTube channel at the same time as episodes become available on All4 – immediately after their E4 airing.
Matt Risley, 4Studio Managing Director said: “Fandoms are at the heart of 4Studio’s strategies to reach and engage digital audiences, and 4 Reality is the perfect way to harness the passionate conversation already happening around some of our biggest, and most entertaining reality shows on YouTube.”
EXTERNAL LINK: Channel 4 launches brand new reality destination 4 Reality on YouTube.
Tuesday 29th November
11.15am BBC Northern Ireland announces plans to cut 36 posts
BBC Northern Ireland plans to axe 36 jobs as part of a cost-cutting plan aimed at achieving savings of £2.3m.
BBC Radio Foyle appears to be impacted most, with the loss of eight journalist posts. The station will lose its dedicated breakfast programme and hourly news updates.
BBC Radio Ulster’s weekly business programme, Inside Business, is another casualty.
The BBC says it intends to invest more in local digital services, including the BBC iPlayer.
BBC Northern Ireland said it hoped to achieve the majority of the proposed job reductions through voluntary redundancy.
The cuts at BBC Northern Ireland are part of wider proposals announced in May this year, aimed at making £500m annual savings, with an increased focus on digital services.
Foyle MP Colum Eastwood called the proposed Radio Foyle changes “an absolute disgrace”.
“This is an attempt to close BBC Radio Foyle down by stealth,” the SDLP leader added.
“Over half of the newsroom staff in Foyle are going and that will make it totally unsustainable.
“The flagship programme, The Breakfast Show, is going and anybody knows that once you remove the flagship programme, you’re basically removing the station.
“We all pay our licence fee, there is nobody in Radio Foyle on massive wages, they are all ordinary working people who are either losing their job or losing their station, it’s being gutted and it’s shameful.”
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) MP for East Londonderry, Gregory Campbell, told BBC Radio Ulster: “I don’t think people saw the Radio Foyle announcement coming as it did.
“What they [the BBC] do well is local news and they do that very well.
“I think what will happen here is that it will become quite Belfast-centric.
“My fear and the fear of many will be that Radio Ulster will become effectively BBC Radio Greater Belfast. That’s the fear.
“There is a regional localised radio station in the north west and if we lose that, what will the BBC put in its place?”
The NUJ said the decision to end Radio Foyle’s breakfast programme and news bulletins was a betrayal of the people of Northern Ireland.
“This is an attack on the very essence of public service broadcasting,” said Seamus Dooley, NUJ assistant general secretary.
“Radio Foyle is part of the cultural landscape of the north west with a wide listenership on both sides of the border. The diminution of services in Radio Foyle is of particular concern and will be strongly resisted by the NUJ.
“If redundancies are implemented, they should be on a voluntary basis.”
In a statement, BBC Northern Ireland said that its plans “reflect a BBC-wide strategy to prioritise digital content, announced earlier this year, and the need to manage inflationary and other cost pressures”.
“BBC Northern Ireland is proposing to close approximately 35 – 40 posts to contribute to its £2.3m savings and reinvestment plans.
“Efforts have been made to limit the effect of proposed changes on the scope and benefits of BBC services in Northern Ireland and local staff teams.”
The interim director of BBC Northern Ireland, Adam Smyth, added that the corporation faced “some difficult choices, none of which are easy”.
“We have to find monies to maintain and develop our local presence on BBC iPlayer and to absorb cost pressures across different aspects of our work,” he said.
“Our concern in all of this will be to safeguard audience value and benefit and to remain mindful of the impact that this announcement will have on BBC staff in Northern Ireland.”
UPDATE: on 30th November, SDLP MP Colum Eastwood raised the proposed job cuts at BBC Radio Foyle with PM Rishi Sunak at Prime Minister’s Questions. Mr Eastwood says BBC NI’s proposed cuts “will leave the station totally unsustainable”.
UPDATE: also on 30th November, protestors gathered outside the BBC Radio Foyle building. Politicians, senior clergy and business/community leaders called on the BBC to reverse its decision to cut eight posts at the station.
2pm Line freezes just as BBC Sport correspondent is about to speak
A small blooper from today’s BBC News at One on BBC One.
Clive Myrie had just thrown to sports correspondent John Watson, when the line to Doha froze.
With no sign of the problem quickly remedying itself, Clive handed across to Stav Danaos for the weather.
The handover was slightly awkward, as Stav paused briefly to all the studio cameras to be repositioned.
Thanks to James Vertigan for flagging this blooper.
10.40pm Behind-the-scenes of BBC North West Today bulletin studio
The late BBC North West Tonight bulletin has been relegated to the bulletin studio as tonight’s edition of Newsnight is being broadcast from the local news programme’s main studio.
NWT presenter Roger Johnson provided a brief tour of the bulletin “broom cupboard” studio on Twitter:
Friday 2nd December
2.45pm TG4 now available in HD on Saorview
The Irish-language channel TG4 has been available in HD (1440 x 1080) on the Saorview platform since yesterday.
The channel joins RTÉ One and RTÉ 2 which are the only other channels available in HD on the Irish digital terrestrial platform.
The four Virgin Media TV channels are SD-only on Saorview (526 x 576).
2.45pm Nationwide SD feed of BBC One on satellite to be known as Nightlight
The planned nationwide SD feed of BBC One on satellite is due to go live on 23rd January when the first migrations of SD to HD get underway. The service will be known as Nightlight.
Courtesy @a516digital.
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Acknowledgements
PICTURED: graphic detailing proposed BBC NI job cuts. COPYRIGHT: BBC.