Programming on the BBC News Channel and BBC World News was disrupted by technical issues overnight.
Shortly before 3am, it became apparent that all was not well. The endboard for Justice Delayed – a pre-recorded 30-minute programme – lingered for just over 15 seconds.
Then, instead of a pre-recorded weather forecast, a number of trails were played. The final trail in the sequence played out in full but remained on screen for about a minute (though countdown music was faded up after 30 seconds).
An attempt was made to run the weather bulletin. It played for a few seconds before the audio disappeared. The countdown sequence was promptly put to air.
The live 3am news programme seemed to go ahead as planned, presented by Tim WIllcox.
But less than a few minutes in, the live broadcast came to a halt. The first pre-recorded report played out to the end but remained on screen.
After about 30 seconds, we cut to pre-recorded news (the previous hour’s output). Though a live shot of presenter Tim Willcox appeared briefly after about 25 seconds.
The previous hour’s programming remained on air until normal service was restored shortly before 4am. Though the live news programme had by now moved out of Studio C and into Studio E.
Studio C was back on air by 5am.
Proving that there’s actually someone monitoring BBC One’s output during the overnight news simulcast, the BBC One breakdown graphic was cut up a number of times during the News Channel problems.
The breakdown screen didn’t seem to be triggered by an automated process – the reaction time varied for each appearance.
We first spotted it shortly before 3am, when a trail played out on the BBC News Channel became stuck:
BBC One went into breakdown mode again shortly after 3am when the live news programme hit problems with its first pre-recorded report:
The breakdown graphic appeared one final time before 4am, at the end of the repeat showing of Justice Delayed. We had the same delay on the programme’s endboard, so NC1 interjected with their on-screen apology before quickly rejoining the News Channel for trails.
BBC One’s apology graphic didn’t pop up the previous hour when the same endboard delay occurred.
Acknowledgements
PICTURED: presenter Tim Willcox appeared on air unexpectedly during technical problems on the BBC News Channel. COPYRIGHT: BBC.
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