BBC News 24
Encyclopedia
BBC News is the BBC's
24-hour rolling news television network in the United Kingdom
. The channel launched as BBC News 24 on 9 November 1997 at 17:30 as part of the BBC's foray into digital domestic television channels, becoming the first competitor to Sky News
, which had been running since 1989. Since then, with several relaunches, an increase in funding and resources from the BBC and improvements in digital television technology, the channel has been able to diversify content, with two minute looped bulletins available to view via BBC Red Button, BBC News Online
and the BBC's mobile website, alongside individual weather and sport bulletins.
In May 2007 the channel became available for UK viewers to view through the BBC News website through a live stream
. In April 2008 the channel was renamed "BBC News" as part of a £550,000 rebranding of the BBC's news output, complete with a new studio and presentation. Its sister services, BBC World was also renamed as "BBC World News" while the national news bulletins became BBC News at One, BBC News at Six and BBC News at Ten.
As a major part of the BBC News department, the channel is based at and broadcast from the News Centre within BBC Television Centre
in West London. The channel was named RTS
News Channel of the Year in 2006 and again in 2009.
remain the only BBC "digital" channels which are made available to analogue cable 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.
The BBC had run the international news channel BBC World for two and a half years prior to the launch of BBC News 24 on 9 November 1997. Sky News
had had a free hand with domestic news for over eight years (since 5 February 1989) and being owned by News International
their papers were used to criticise the BBC for extending its news output.
Sky News
objected to the breaking of its monopoly, complaining about the costs associated with running a channel that only a minority could view from the licence fee
. Sky News claimed that a number of British cable operators had been incentivised to carry News 24 (which, as a licence-fee funded channel was made available to such operators for free) in preference to the commercial Sky News. However, 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 channel's journalistic output has been overseen by Controller of the channel, Kevin Bakhurst
, since 16 December 2005. This was a return to having a dedicated Controller for the channel in the same way as the rest of the BBC's domestic television channels. At launch, Tim Orchard was Controller of News 24 from 1997 until 2000. Editorial decisions were then overseen by Rachel Atwell in her capacity as Deputy Head of television news. Her deputy Mark Popescu became responsible for editorial content in 2004, a role he continued in until the appointment of Bakhurst as Controller in 2005.
A further announcement by Head of television news Peter Horrocks
came at the same time as Bakhurst's appointment in which he outlined his plan to provide more funding and resources for the channel and shift the corporation's emphasis regarding news away from the traditional BBC One bulletins and across 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 particularly from Sky News.
The BBC Governors
' annual report for 2005/2006 reported that average audience figures for fifteen minute periods had reached 8.6% in multichannel homes, up from 7.8% in 2004/2005. The 2004 report claimed that the channel 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.
On 22 February 2006, the channel was named News Channel of the Year at the Royal Television Society Television Journalism Awards for the first time in its history. The judges remarked that this was the year that the channel had "really come into its own."
The BBC News Channel moved from the Studio N8 set (now home to BBC World News) to what was the home of the national news in Studio N6, allowing the Channel to share its set with the BBC News at One and the BBC News at Ten – with other bulletins moving to studio TC7.
, then on the BBC News Channel and any other programmes that are on air. For foreign news, first a "generic minute" is recorded, then reports are to World Service
radio, then the reporter talks to any other programmes that are on air.
A key claim made by Lord Lambert in his report had been that the channel was slower to react to breaking news compared with its main rival Sky News. To counteract this, a new feature introduced with the 2003 relaunch was a 'breaking news sting': a globe shown briefly onscreen to direct a viewer's attention to the breaking news.
The graphics relaunch in January 2007 has since seen the globe sting replaced by a red strapline to highlight the breaking story immediately.
To complement this, a permanent live news ticker had earlier been introduced in 2006: this had only previously been in use sporadically. News statements are shown as continuously-scrolling upper-case text located at the bottom of the screen; some past ambiguities noted have included spelling the plural of MPs as "MPS", together with other occasional spelling and grammatical errors. The design of this ticker was slightly altered with the 2007 graphics redesign and from June turned red to indicate breaking news, as Newswatch
reported viewers' confusion.
ing the channel overnight on terrestrial
channel BBC One with the launch of the channel, ending the tradition of a closedown but at the same time effectively making the service available to many more viewers. In the early 2000s, BBC Two also started simulcasting the channel, although the weekend morning show Weekend 24 had been simulcast on the channel in the early days. During major breaking news events, the BBC News Channel has been broadcast on BBC One; examples of special broadcasts include the 11 September 2001 attacks, 7 July 2005 London bombings
and the capture of Saddam Hussein
. Coverage of major events has also been simulcast on BBC World News. Currently, overnight viewers receive 25 minute editions of BBC News every hour, and on weekdays 0100-0500 receive Newsday
, live from Singapore and from London.
in 2000, the programme has been simulcast on both BBC One and BBC News, replacing the individual breakfast news programmes that had been run by both channels. Since May 2006, the simulcast begins with the programme at 06:00 until 08:30 when programming on BBC News begins. Breakfast on BBC One then generally continues until 09:15.
The BBC News at Ten began simulcasting on the channel on 30 January 2006 as part of the Ten O'Clock Newshour, followed by extended sport and business news updates. The bulletin was joined in being simulcast on 10 April 2006 when the BBC News at One (with British Sign Language
in-vision signing) and BBC News at Six bulletins were added to the schedule following a similar format to the News at Ten in terms of content on the channel once each simulcast ends.
During the Summer, the hour long programme News 24 Sunday was broadcast both on BBC One and the BBC News Channel at 09:00, to replace The Andrew Marr Show, which is off air. It was presented by a newspresenter, and came from the main News channel studio. The programme was made up mostly of interviews focusing on current affairs, and included a full paper review, a weather summary, and a news update at 09:00, 09:30 and 10:00. Sunday Morning Live
and alternate programming now fill this slot.
with Huw Edwards (including Film 24 with Mark Kermode
at 17:45 on Fridays, Sportsday (at 18:45, except on Fridays and Saturdays when it is from 18:30, plus 22:30 every weekday) and Newswatch
(Friday 20:45, Saturday 07:45).
Programmes including Click
, Dateline London
, HARDtalk
, Our World, E24, The Record Europe, Reporters, Straight Talk and Your Money appear regularly in the weekend schedules. Many of these programmes also appear throughout the week on BBC News's sister channel BBC World News.
Previous BBC News programming includes Head 2 Head, Your News
, STORYFix
and News 24 Tonight a regular weekday evening programme providing a round up of the day's news which ran from 2005 to 2008.
On 1 October 2007, BBC World News started broadcasting BBC World News America
and World News Today
at 00:00 and 03:00 UKT respectively. World News Today was simulcast on the BBC News channel at 0300UKT. BBC World News America used to be aired as a reduced length, tape-delayed version at 00:30 UKT. ABC World News also used to appear at 0130 every Tuesday-Friday, but this was replaced by Asia Business Report and Sport Today
.
From 13 June 2011, the weeknight editions of BBC News
at 0100, 0200, 0300 and 0400 were replaced with Newsday
. The programme acts as a morning news bulletin for the Asia-Pacific
region and is broadcast as a double-headed news bulletin with Rico Hizon
in Singapore
and Babita Sharma
in London's N8 studio. Asia Business Report and Sport Today
are aired at the back of the first three hours of Newsday.
BBC World News and World Business Report air at 5.00 on both channels and in lieu of commercials seen on the international broadcasts, the presenters give a brief update on UK news for domestic audiences.
launched its new satellite television service. During the news programmes on Galaxy and Now
and during the sports news programme on The Sports Channel clips from other broadcaster's sports output would be used to illustrate the sports headlines. The BBC took BSB to court to sue them for copyright violation for showing highlights of the BBC's live broadcasts of the 1990 FIFA World Cup
football matches. The High Court of Justice
decided that the rebroadcasts were for the purposes of reporting the news and were legal, even if the highlights were also entertaining, the BBC lost the case but set a legal precedent.
This has allowed all UK television broadcasters to legally package highlights from their own and other broadcasters' output into news programmes without payment or permission, as only a caption indicating the originating broadcaster is required. Fair dealing
allows copyright
ed material to be used for news gathering purposes, as well as criticism and review or research.
This has allowed the BBC to benefit from the action it took against BSB, to provide a cut-price sport news service since the channel launched. As the precedent only applies to television, Sky News
is not streamed online as the criticism and review provision used does not apply outside broadcast television. Since the beginning of May 2007, the BBC News Channel has been streamed online.
Sports bulletins are usually at 45 minutes past the hour, with headlines at 15 minutes past the hour. There are also two extended sports bulletins per day, entitled 'Sportsday' broadcast at 18:45 (18:30 Friday and Saturday) and 22:30 (weekdays only). Each bulletin is read by a single sports presenter, with the exception of Saturday Sportsday, which is double headed.
Bulletins during BBC Breakfast
are presented by Chris Hollins
or Mike Bushell
, with the latter also appearing on other sports bulletins on the channel. The other presenters for bulletins on the channel are: Reshmin Choudhury, Amanda Davies
, Sean Fletcher
, Olly Foster, Matt Gooderick, Lizzie Greenwood-Hughes, Amelia Harris, Celina Hinchcliffe
, Rachael Hodges, Damian Johnson
, Adnan Nawaz
, George Riley and Olympic gold medalist turned journalist Matthew Pinsent
. These presenters also often produce reports on major sports stories, as well as appearing on the BBC One weekend bulletins.
during BBC Breakfast
and through the morning until the BBC News at One and Maryam Moshiri
or Ben Thompson during the rest of the day. Other presenters include Samantha Washington, Ben Thompson, Joe Lynam, Jenny Culshaw, Susannah Streeter
, Sara Coburn
, Penny Haslam and Sally Eden. News Channel updates are usually broadcast at 40 minutes past the hour from 08:40 until 22:40, except at 19:40. The 21:40 round-up is often earlier and the final bulletin is an extended roundup of the day's business news.
Rico Hizon
regularly presents the main business stories from Singapore during the BBC's Asia Business Report, which is simulcast on BBC World News.
Until May 2009, the morning business updates on BBC Breakfast and on the BBC News Channel were broadcast from one of the London Stock Exchange
's studios in central London. Since Tuesday, 26 May 2009, those bulletins have been broadcast from TC7 and N6 in Television Centre, the main studios of BBC Breakfast and the BBC News Channel respectively.
, Carrie Gracie
, Matthew Amroliwala
, Jane Hill
, Jon Sopel, Emily Maitlis
, Louise Minchin
, Huw Edwards
, Ben Brown
, Joanna Gosling
and Chris Eakin
. The main weekend presenters include Tim Willcox
, Maxine Mawhinney
, Nicholas Owen, Clive Myrie
and Annita McVeigh
. Most of these presenters also regularly stand in during the week.
Rico Hizon
(reporting from Singapore), Babita Sharma
and Kasia Madera
are the main overnight presenters on the channel, appearing on Newsday and generic BBC News bulletins. These programmes are simulcast with BBC World News and either BBC One
or BBC Two
. Deborah Mackenzie
regularly presents at weekends and in place of Sharma and Madera, while Rebecca Pike
and Rachel Hodges also appear in these slots. Naga Munchetty
, Komla Dumor
and Martine Dennis
present the BBC World News five o'clock hour, which is also broadcast on the News Channel and BBC One.
The main relief presenters are Martine Croxall
, Gavin Esler
(BBC News at Five), Sophie Long
(mainly weekday afternoons), Rachel Schofield
(Monday mornings), Tim Willcox
and Julian Worricker
(Friday afternoons), while Fiona Armstrong
, Ellie Crisell
, Ben Geoghagen, Roger Johnson
, Kasia Madera, Chris Rogers, Babita Sharma, Julia Somerville
, Sue Thearle
and Carole Walker
also fill in for regular presenters. Armstrong, Somerville and Walker present as part of the BBC's push to "ensure it [has] the best range of faces". They most frequently appear during holidays.
The simulcasting of the main national news bulletins has led to the presenters of those bulletins appearing on the channel, including Huw Edwards, Fiona Bruce
, George Alagiah
, Sophie Raworth
, Kate Silverton
and Mishal Husain
. The main Breakfast
presenters have also appeared on the channel since it was first launched as a simulcast programme in 2000, with the current presenters being Bill Turnbull
, Sian Williams (Mondays to Thursdays), Susanna Reid
and Charlie Stayt
(Fridays and weekends).
Zeinab Badawi presents the BBC World News programme Reporters on the channel, while Esler presents Dateline London
. Stephen Sackur
appears on Hardtalk
, which is aired weeknights and at weekends, while Badawi, Gracie and Sarah Montague
provide cover for him. Spencer Kelly
presents the technology news programme Click. Today host Evan Davis presents The Bottom Line, and Victoria Derbyshire
appears on Victoria Derbyshire Interviews. Dominic Byrne
presents Newsbeat's Oddbox.
During a major news event one or more of the main news presenters may be sent to present live for the channel from the scene of the story, where they will conduct interviews with the people involved, question correspondents, introduce related reports and also give general information on the story, much as a reporter sent to cover a story would. The presenters often have expertise in the story they are sent to cover, for example, former Paris correspondent Jon Sopel presented coverage of the 2007 French presidential elections, while channel presenters and former reporters Ben Brown and Clive Myrie were dispatched to Cairo
and Tripoli
during the Middle East uprisings.
had originally planned to have a television version of the informal news radio channel BBC Radio Five Live
, or a TV version of Radio 4 News FM both of which she had run. The bright design of the set was also blamed for this – one insider reportedly described it as a "car crash in a shower" – and was subject to the network relaunch on 25 October 1999. The channel swapped studios with sister channel BBC World, moving to studio N8 within the newsroom, where it remained until 2008. New music and title sequences accompanied this set change, following the look of newly relaunched BBC One bulletins.
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
and the three BBC Nations – Scotland
, Wales
and Northern Ireland
. The similarity of main BBC News output was intended to increase the credibility of the channel as well as aiding cross-channel promotion.
A graphics relaunch in January 2007 saw the channel updated, with redesigned headline straplines, a redesigned 'Digital on-screen graphic
' and repositioned clock. The clock was originally placed to the left hand side of the channel name though following complaints that this could only be viewed in widescreen, it was moved to the right in February 2007. Bulletins on BBC World News and BBC One also introduced similar graphics and title sequences on the same day.
In 2008 the graphics were again relaunched, using the style introduced in 2007 and a new colour scheme.
. As a direct result of this, a brand new style across all presentation for the channel launched on 8 December 2003 at 09:00. 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 would begin spinning from where the main story was taking place, while the headline scrolled around in a ribbon; this was occasionally replaced by the BBC News logo. The titles concluded with a red globe surrounded by a red stylised clamshell and BBC News ribbons forming above the BBC News logo.
Bulletins on BBC One moved into a new set in January 2003 although retained the previous ivory Lambie-Nairn titles until February 2004. News 24 updated the title colours slightly to match those of BBC One bulletins in time for the 50th anniversary of BBC television news on 5 July 2004.
, and mirrors the pips on BBC Radio 4
.
Previous styles have included a series of fictional flags set to music between 1997 and 1999 before the major relaunch, incorporating the new contemporary music composed by David Lowe, and graphics developed by Lambie-Nairn
. Various images, originally ivory numbers fully animated against a deep red background, were designed to fit the pace of the channel, and the music soon gained notoriety, and was often satirised and parodied in popular culture, perhaps most famously by comic Bill Bailey
who likened the theme music to an "apocalyptic rave
". Images of life around the UK were added in replacement later with the same music, together with footage of the newsroom and exterior of Television Centre. The 2003 relaunch saw a small change to this style with less of a metropolitan feel to the footage.
A new sequence was introduced on 28 March 2005, designed and created by Red Bee Media
and directed by Mark Chaudoir. The full version ran for 60 seconds, though only around 30 seconds were usually shown on air. The music was revised completely but the biggest change came in the footage used – reflecting the methods and nature of newsgathering, while a strong emphasis was placed on the BBC logo itself. Satellite dishes are shown transmitting and receiving red "data streams". In production of the countdown sequence, Clive Norman filmed images around the United Kingdom, Richard Jopson in the United States, while BBC News cameramen filmed images from Iraq
, Beijing (Great Wall of China
), Bund of Shanghai, Africa, as well as areas affected by the 2004 Asian Tsunami
and others.
The sequence has since seen several remixes to the music and a change in visuals to focus more on the well-known journalists, with less footage of camera crews and production teams. Changes have also seen the channel logo included during the sequences and at the end, as well as the fonts used for the time. The conclusion of the countdown was altered in 2008 to feature the new presentation style, rather than a data stream moving in towards the camera.
A full three minute version of the countdown music was made available on BBC News Online
and David Lowe's own after a remix on 16 May 2006.
An international version of the countdown was launched on BBC World News on 5 September 2005 featuring more international content and similar music. Various changes have been made to the music and visuals since then, with presentation following the style of BBC News. The visuals in the sequence were updated on 10 May 2010. In June 2011, further imagery was added relating to recent events, including the conflict in Libya and views of outside 10 Downing Street.
(available to UK viewers only - TV Licence required)
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(available to UK viewers only - TV Licence required)
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
24-hour rolling news television network in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. The channel launched as BBC News 24 on 9 November 1997 at 17:30 as part of the BBC's foray into digital domestic television channels, becoming the first competitor to Sky News
Sky News
Sky News is a 24-hour British and international satellite television news broadcaster with an emphasis on UK and international news stories.The service places emphasis on rolling news, including the latest breaking news. Sky News also hosts localised versions of the channel in Australia and in New...
, which had been running since 1989. Since then, with several relaunches, an increase in funding and resources from the BBC and improvements in digital television technology, the channel has been able to diversify content, with two minute looped bulletins available to view via BBC Red Button, BBC News Online
BBC News Online
BBC News Online is the website of BBC News, the division of the BBC responsible for newsgathering and production. The website is the most popular news website in the United Kingdom and forms a major part of BBC Online ....
and the BBC's mobile website, alongside individual weather and sport bulletins.
In May 2007 the channel became available for UK viewers to view through the BBC News website through a live stream
Streaming media
Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a streaming provider.The term "presented" is used in this article in a general sense that includes audio or video playback. The name refers to the delivery method of the medium rather...
. In April 2008 the channel was renamed "BBC News" as part of a £550,000 rebranding of the BBC's news output, complete with a new studio and presentation. Its sister services, BBC World was also renamed as "BBC World News" while the national news bulletins became BBC News at One, BBC News at Six and BBC News at Ten.
As a major part of the BBC News department, the channel is based at and broadcast from the News Centre within BBC Television Centre
BBC Television Centre
BBC Television Centre at White City in West London is the headquarters of BBC Television. Officially opened on 29 June 1960, it remains one of the largest to this day; having featured over the years as backdrop to many BBC programmes, it is one of the most readily recognisable such facilities...
in West London. The channel was named RTS
Royal Television Society
The Royal Television Society is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present and future. It is the oldest television society in the world...
News Channel of the Year in 2006 and again in 2009.
History
BBC News 24 was originally available only to analogue cable television subscribers. To this day it and BBC ParliamentBBC Parliament
BBC Parliament is a British television channel from the BBC. Its remit is to make accessible to all the work of the parliamentary and legislative bodies of the United Kingdom and the European Parliament...
remain the only BBC "digital" channels which are made available to analogue cable subscribers. This coverage was improved in 1998 with the advent of digital television
Digital television
Digital television is the transmission of audio and video by digital signals, in contrast to the analog signals used by analog TV...
in the United Kingdom allowing satellite
Satellite
In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
and digital terrestrial television
Digital terrestrial television
Digital terrestrial television is the technological evolution of broadcast television and advance from analog television, which broadcasts land-based signals...
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.
The BBC had run the international news channel BBC World for two and a half years prior to the launch of BBC News 24 on 9 November 1997. Sky News
Sky News
Sky News is a 24-hour British and international satellite television news broadcaster with an emphasis on UK and international news stories.The service places emphasis on rolling news, including the latest breaking news. Sky News also hosts localised versions of the channel in Australia and in New...
had had a free hand with domestic news for over eight years (since 5 February 1989) and being owned by News International
News International
News International Ltd is the United Kingdom newspaper publishing division of News Corporation. Until June 2002, it was called News International plc....
their papers were used to criticise the BBC for extending its news output.
Sky News
Sky News
Sky News is a 24-hour British and international satellite television news broadcaster with an emphasis on UK and international news stories.The service places emphasis on rolling news, including the latest breaking news. Sky News also hosts localised versions of the channel in Australia and in New...
objected to the breaking of its monopoly, complaining about the costs associated with running a channel that only a minority could view from the licence fee
Television licence
A television licence is an official licence required in many countries for the reception of television broadcasts...
. Sky News claimed that a number of British cable operators had been incentivised to carry News 24 (which, as a licence-fee funded channel was made available to such operators for free) in preference to the commercial Sky News. However, in September 1999 the European Commission
European Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
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
Television licence
A television licence is an official licence required in many countries for the reception of television broadcasts...
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 channel's journalistic output has been overseen by Controller of the channel, Kevin Bakhurst
Kevin Bakhurst
Kevin Bakhurst is the Controller of the British digital television news channel BBC News, a position he has held since December 2005...
, since 16 December 2005. This was a return to having a dedicated Controller for the channel in the same way as the rest of the BBC's domestic television channels. At launch, Tim Orchard was Controller of News 24 from 1997 until 2000. Editorial decisions were then overseen by Rachel Atwell in her capacity as Deputy Head of television news. Her deputy Mark Popescu became responsible for editorial content in 2004, a role he continued in until the appointment of Bakhurst as Controller in 2005.
A further announcement by Head of television news Peter Horrocks
Peter Horrocks
Peter John Gibson Horrocks is Director of BBC World Service. He was educated at the independent King's College School in Wimbledon and at Christ's College, Cambridge....
came at the same time as Bakhurst's appointment in which he outlined his plan to provide more funding and resources for the channel and shift the corporation's emphasis regarding news away from the traditional BBC One bulletins and across 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 particularly from Sky News.
The BBC Governors
Board of Governors of the BBC
The Board of Governors of the BBC was the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation. It consisted of twelve people who together regulated the BBC and represented the interests of the public. It existed from 1927 until it was replaced by the BBC Trust on 1 January 2007.The governors...
' annual report for 2005/2006 reported that average audience figures for fifteen minute periods had reached 8.6% in multichannel homes, up from 7.8% in 2004/2005. The 2004 report claimed that the channel 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.
On 22 February 2006, the channel was named News Channel of the Year at the Royal Television Society Television Journalism Awards for the first time in its history. The judges remarked that this was the year that the channel had "really come into its own."
2008 rebranding
On 21 April 2008 BBC News 24 was renamed BBC News on the channel itself – but is referred to as the BBC News Channel on other BBC services. This is part of the creative futures plan, launched in 2006, to bring all BBC News output under the single brand name.The BBC News Channel moved from the Studio N8 set (now home to BBC World News) to what was the home of the national news in Studio N6, allowing the Channel to share its set with the BBC News at One and the BBC News at Ten – with other bulletins moving to studio TC7.
News
Each hour consists of headlines on each quarter hour, extended at the top of the hour to form the main part of the daily schedule though these are interspaced with other programmes, generally at weekends. This will be often be displaced by rolling news coverage including reports and live interviews. 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.Breaking news
The BBC maintains guidelines for procedures to be taken for breaking news. With domestic news, the correspondent first records a "generic minute" summary (for use by all stations and channels) and then priority is to report on BBC Radio 5 LiveBBC Radio 5 Live
BBC Radio 5 Live is the BBC's national radio service that specialises in live BBC News, phone-ins, and sports commentaries...
, then on the BBC News Channel and any other programmes that are on air. For foreign news, first a "generic minute" is recorded, then reports are to World Service
BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is the world's largest international broadcaster, broadcasting in 27 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays...
radio, then the reporter talks to any other programmes that are on air.
A key claim made by Lord Lambert in his report had been that the channel was slower to react to breaking news compared with its main rival Sky News. To counteract this, a new feature introduced with the 2003 relaunch was a 'breaking news sting': a globe shown briefly onscreen to direct a viewer's attention to the breaking news.
The graphics relaunch in January 2007 has since seen the globe sting replaced by a red strapline to highlight the breaking story immediately.
To complement this, a permanent live news ticker had earlier been introduced in 2006: this had only previously been in use sporadically. News statements are shown as continuously-scrolling upper-case text located at the bottom of the screen; some past ambiguities noted have included spelling the plural of MPs as "MPS", together with other occasional spelling and grammatical errors. The design of this ticker was slightly altered with the 2007 graphics redesign and from June turned red to indicate breaking news, as Newswatch
NewsWatch (BBC)
NewsWatch is a weekly BBC television programme presented by Raymond Snoddy that provides a viewer and listener right of reply for BBC News.-The programme:...
reported viewers' confusion.
Overnight and special simulcasts
The BBC began simulcastSimulcast
Simulcast, shorthand for "simultaneous broadcast", refers to programs or events broadcast across more than one medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at the same time. For example, Absolute Radio is simulcast on both AM and on satellite radio, and the BBC's Prom concerts are often...
ing the channel overnight on terrestrial
Terrestrial television
Terrestrial television is a mode of television broadcasting which does not involve satellite transmission or cables — typically using radio waves through transmitting and receiving antennas or television antenna aerials...
channel BBC One with the launch of the channel, ending the tradition of a closedown but at the same time effectively making the service available to many more viewers. In the early 2000s, BBC Two also started simulcasting the channel, although the weekend morning show Weekend 24 had been simulcast on the channel in the early days. During major breaking news events, the BBC News Channel has been broadcast on BBC One; examples of special broadcasts include the 11 September 2001 attacks, 7 July 2005 London bombings
7 July 2005 London bombings
The 7 July 2005 London bombings were a series of co-ordinated suicide attacks in the United Kingdom, targeting civilians using London's public transport system during the morning rush hour....
and the capture of Saddam Hussein
Operation Red Dawn
Operation Red Dawn was the U.S. military operation conducted on 13 December 2003 in the town of ad-Dawr, Iraq, near Tikrit, that captured Iraq President Saddam Hussein, ending rumours of his death. The operation was named after the 1984 film Red Dawn. The mission was assigned to the 1st Brigade...
. Coverage of major events has also been simulcast on BBC World News. Currently, overnight viewers receive 25 minute editions of BBC News every hour, and on weekdays 0100-0500 receive Newsday
Newsday
Newsday is a daily American newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties and the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, although it is sold throughout the New York metropolitan area...
, live from Singapore and from London.
Simulcast BBC One programmes
Since the launch of BreakfastBBC Breakfast
BBC Breakfast is the morning television news programme simulcast on BBC One and the BBC News channel. It is presented live from BBC Television Centre in White City, West London, and contains a mixture of news, sport, weather, business and feature items...
in 2000, the programme has been simulcast on both BBC One and BBC News, replacing the individual breakfast news programmes that had been run by both channels. Since May 2006, the simulcast begins with the programme at 06:00 until 08:30 when programming on BBC News begins. Breakfast on BBC One then generally continues until 09:15.
The BBC News at Ten began simulcasting on the channel on 30 January 2006 as part of the Ten O'Clock Newshour, followed by extended sport and business news updates. The bulletin was joined in being simulcast on 10 April 2006 when the BBC News at One (with British Sign Language
British Sign Language
British Sign Language is the sign language used in the United Kingdom , and is the first or preferred language of some deaf people in the UK; there are 125,000 deaf adults in the UK who use BSL plus an estimated 20,000 children. The language makes use of space and involves movement of the hands,...
in-vision signing) and BBC News at Six bulletins were added to the schedule following a similar format to the News at Ten in terms of content on the channel once each simulcast ends.
During the Summer, the hour long programme News 24 Sunday was broadcast both on BBC One and the BBC News Channel at 09:00, to replace The Andrew Marr Show, which is off air. It was presented by a newspresenter, and came from the main News channel studio. The programme was made up mostly of interviews focusing on current affairs, and included a full paper review, a weather summary, and a news update at 09:00, 09:30 and 10:00. Sunday Morning Live
Sunday Morning Live (BBC)
Sunday Morning Live is a religious and currents affairs discussion programme. The first series aired on BBC One from July 2010 to November 2010 after the end of the third series of The Big Questions.A second series began on 26 June 2011.-Format:...
and alternate programming now fill this slot.
Exclusive programmes
Other programming produced solely by the BBC News channel includes the BBC News at FiveBBC News at Five
The BBC News at Five is an hour long news programme broadcast from Monday to Friday at 17:00 on the BBC News channel. The programme is fronted by BBC News at Ten anchor Huw Edwards from Monday-Thursday, the Friday edition is fronted by Gavin Esler...
with Huw Edwards (including Film 24 with Mark Kermode
Mark Kermode
Mark Kermode is an English film critic, musician and a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. He contributes to Sight and Sound magazine, The Observer newspaper and BBC Radio 5 Live, where he presents Kermode and Mayo's Film Reviews with Simon Mayo on Friday afternoons...
at 17:45 on Fridays, Sportsday (at 18:45, except on Fridays and Saturdays when it is from 18:30, plus 22:30 every weekday) and Newswatch
NewsWatch (BBC)
NewsWatch is a weekly BBC television programme presented by Raymond Snoddy that provides a viewer and listener right of reply for BBC News.-The programme:...
(Friday 20:45, Saturday 07:45).
Programmes including Click
Click (TV series)
Click is a weekly BBC television programme covering news and recent developments in the world of consumer technology, presented by Spencer Kelly....
, Dateline London
Dateline London
Dateline London is a weekly news discussion programme shown on both BBC News and BBC World News. The programme, presented by Gavin Esler, with Nik Gowing and Lyse Doucet acting as relief presenters, features a roundtable panel of foreign and British journalists who discuss the week's top news...
, HARDtalk
HARDtalk
Hardtalk is a flagship BBC television programme, consisting of in-depth half-hour one-on-one interviews.It is broadcast four days a week on BBC World News and the BBC News channel. Launched in 1997, much of its worldwide fame is due to its global reach via BBC World...
, Our World, E24, The Record Europe, Reporters, Straight Talk and Your Money appear regularly in the weekend schedules. Many of these programmes also appear throughout the week on BBC News's sister channel BBC World News.
Previous BBC News programming includes Head 2 Head, Your News
Your News
Your News was a weekly BBC News television programme made from user-generated content sent into the BBC by viewers and the public.-Broadcast:The programme was broadcast every weekend on the BBC News at 3:30pm and 10:30pm on Saturday and Sunday...
, STORYFix
STORYFix
STORYFix was a television programme on UK news channel BBC News. Broadcast between May 2006 and July 2007, it was notable for presenting an alternative view of the week's news...
and News 24 Tonight a regular weekday evening programme providing a round up of the day's news which ran from 2005 to 2008.
BBC World News shared programming
Between 01:00 and 06:00 UK Time (UKT) the channel simulcasts with its sister channel, BBC World News, for the first 25 minutes of each hour with world news shown all through the simulcasts. Since 21 April 2008, the overnight bulletins, while produced by the BBC News Channel, have usually been broadcast from the studios of BBC World News.On 1 October 2007, BBC World News started broadcasting BBC World News America
BBC World News America
BBC World News America is a current affairs news programme produced by BBC World News to be shown initially for American audiences. It's presented by Katty Kay, who was announced the main anchor in September 2011....
and World News Today
World News Today
World News Today is a current affairs news programme produced by BBC News and presented by Zeinab Badawi. It was originally conceived as a morning television show aimed at American audiences, hosted by George Alagiah, but later expanded to six editions a day aimed at different markets...
at 00:00 and 03:00 UKT respectively. World News Today was simulcast on the BBC News channel at 0300UKT. BBC World News America used to be aired as a reduced length, tape-delayed version at 00:30 UKT. ABC World News also used to appear at 0130 every Tuesday-Friday, but this was replaced by Asia Business Report and Sport Today
Sport Today
Sport Today is a sports news programme produced by the BBC and is shown on BBC World News. It is broadcast up to 12 times daily from Mon-Thu, 11 times daily on Friday and 2 times daily on the weekends...
.
From 13 June 2011, the weeknight editions of BBC News
BBC News
BBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
at 0100, 0200, 0300 and 0400 were replaced with Newsday
Newsday (programme)
Newsday is a news programme on BBC World News that first premiered on 13 June 2011. The programme is co-hosted by Babita Sharma and Kasia Madera† in London with Rico Hizon and Sharanjit Leyl in Singapore...
. The programme acts as a morning news bulletin for the Asia-Pacific
Asia-Pacific
Asia-Pacific or Asia Pacific is the part of the world in or near the Western Pacific Ocean...
region and is broadcast as a double-headed news bulletin with Rico Hizon
Rico Hizon
Rico Hizon is a Filipino broadcast journalist with BBC World News. He anchors Newsday and Asia Business Report, which is broadcast to more than 300 million households worldwide...
in Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
and Babita Sharma
Babita Sharma
Babita Sharma is a British television newsreader, currently fronting the overnight bulletins on the BBC News and BBC World News, presenting the Newsday strand each Monday-Wednesday from London with Rico Hizon in Singapore....
in London's N8 studio. Asia Business Report and Sport Today
Sport Today
Sport Today is a sports news programme produced by the BBC and is shown on BBC World News. It is broadcast up to 12 times daily from Mon-Thu, 11 times daily on Friday and 2 times daily on the weekends...
are aired at the back of the first three hours of Newsday.
BBC World News and World Business Report air at 5.00 on both channels and in lieu of commercials seen on the international broadcasts, the presenters give a brief update on UK news for domestic audiences.
Sport coverage
In 1990, new broadcaster British Satellite BroadcastingBritish Satellite Broadcasting
British Satellite Broadcasting was a British television company which provided direct broadcast satellite television services to the United Kingdom...
launched its new satellite television service. During the news programmes on Galaxy and Now
Now (television)
Now was a British television channel transmitted as part of the British Satellite Broadcasting service during 1990.-History:The Now channel was broadcast throughout BSB's short spell on air from March to December of 1990 on the Marcopolo satellites...
and during the sports news programme on The Sports Channel clips from other broadcaster's sports output would be used to illustrate the sports headlines. The BBC took BSB to court to sue them for copyright violation for showing highlights of the BBC's live broadcasts of the 1990 FIFA World Cup
1990 FIFA World Cup
The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event twice. Teams representing 116 national football associations from all six populated...
football matches. The High Court of Justice
High Court of Justice
The High Court of Justice is, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, one of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
decided that the rebroadcasts were for the purposes of reporting the news and were legal, even if the highlights were also entertaining, the BBC lost the case but set a legal precedent.
This has allowed all UK television broadcasters to legally package highlights from their own and other broadcasters' output into news programmes without payment or permission, as only a caption indicating the originating broadcaster is required. Fair dealing
Fair dealing in United Kingdom law
Fair dealing in United Kingdom law is a doctrine which provides an exception to United Kingdom copyright law, in cases where the copyright infringement is for the purposes of non-commercial research or study, criticism or review, or for the reporting of current events...
allows copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
ed material to be used for news gathering purposes, as well as criticism and review or research.
This has allowed the BBC to benefit from the action it took against BSB, to provide a cut-price sport news service since the channel launched. As the precedent only applies to television, Sky News
Sky News
Sky News is a 24-hour British and international satellite television news broadcaster with an emphasis on UK and international news stories.The service places emphasis on rolling news, including the latest breaking news. Sky News also hosts localised versions of the channel in Australia and in New...
is not streamed online as the criticism and review provision used does not apply outside broadcast television. Since the beginning of May 2007, the BBC News Channel has been streamed online.
Sports bulletins are usually at 45 minutes past the hour, with headlines at 15 minutes past the hour. There are also two extended sports bulletins per day, entitled 'Sportsday' broadcast at 18:45 (18:30 Friday and Saturday) and 22:30 (weekdays only). Each bulletin is read by a single sports presenter, with the exception of Saturday Sportsday, which is double headed.
Bulletins during BBC Breakfast
BBC Breakfast
BBC Breakfast is the morning television news programme simulcast on BBC One and the BBC News channel. It is presented live from BBC Television Centre in White City, West London, and contains a mixture of news, sport, weather, business and feature items...
are presented by Chris Hollins
Chris Hollins
Chris Hollins is an English journalist, presenter and sportsman, currently employed by the BBC and best known for being the sports correspondent for BBC Breakfast, and for winning Strictly Come Dancing 2009.-Early life:...
or Mike Bushell
Mike Bushell
Mike Bushell is a sports presenter for the BBC. He presents the sport on BBC Breakfast on Fridays and at the weekends, and also presents sports bulletins throughout the week on BBC News and BBC World News. On Saturdays, during his Breakfast shift, Bushell also has a regular report on an unusual...
, with the latter also appearing on other sports bulletins on the channel. The other presenters for bulletins on the channel are: Reshmin Choudhury, Amanda Davies
Amanda Davies
Amanda Davies is a British sports presenter on BBC World News and the BBC News Channel.-Early life:Davies was born on 28 November 1978 in Birmingham, West Midlands and she is the daughter of sports journalist and sports administrator David Davies, Amanda was educated at King Edward VI High School...
, Sean Fletcher
Sean Fletcher
Sean Fletcher is a British journalist and radio broadcast personality.-Early life:Born in New York, but brought up in Essex, England, and educated at Felsted School, an independent school in the village of Felsted in Essex...
, Olly Foster, Matt Gooderick, Lizzie Greenwood-Hughes, Amelia Harris, Celina Hinchcliffe
Celina Hinchcliffe
Celina Hinchcliffe is a British television sports presenter.-Family and early life:Celina married in May 2009 and they had a son the following year...
, Rachael Hodges, Damian Johnson
Damian Johnson (broadcaster)
Damian Johnson is a broadcaster with BBC Sport who was born in Hull.He currently works as a reporter on the football programmes Match of the Day and Football Focus, as well as presenting and reporting on various other sporting programs, notably including the Super League Show on BBC1 in regions in...
, Adnan Nawaz
Adnan Nawaz
Adnan Nawaz is a News and Sports presenter, currently working for the BBC. He can increasingly be seen presenting the news on BBC World News and has presented the sport on BBC News, the Corporation's rolling news channel in the UK, and on BBC World News since 2001...
, George Riley and Olympic gold medalist turned journalist Matthew Pinsent
Matthew Pinsent
Sir Matthew Clive Pinsent CBE is an English rower and broadcaster. During his rowing career, he won 10 world championship gold medals and four consecutive Olympic gold medals, of which three were with Steve Redgrave...
. These presenters also often produce reports on major sports stories, as well as appearing on the BBC One weekend bulletins.
Business
An hourly business update is included during the weekday schedule from the BBC Business Unit, usually presented by Simon JackSimon Jack
Simon Jack is a British business journalist and correspondent for the BBC, known for appearing on BBC Breakfast until September 2011...
during BBC Breakfast
BBC Breakfast
BBC Breakfast is the morning television news programme simulcast on BBC One and the BBC News channel. It is presented live from BBC Television Centre in White City, West London, and contains a mixture of news, sport, weather, business and feature items...
and through the morning until the BBC News at One and Maryam Moshiri
Maryam Moshiri
Maryam Moshiri is a regular presenter of the afternoon and evening business news on BBC News, the corporation's rolling 24 hour news channel.-Broadcasting career:Maryam started her career as a business reporter for Independent Radio News....
or Ben Thompson during the rest of the day. Other presenters include Samantha Washington, Ben Thompson, Joe Lynam, Jenny Culshaw, Susannah Streeter
Susannah Streeter
Susannah Mary Streeter is a BBC television business news presenter.-Early life:She was born in Chippenham in Wiltshire.She studied at Aston University, where she graduated in 1995 with a BSc in French, Government, Economics, Society...
, Sara Coburn
Sara Coburn
Sara Coburn is a journalist and currently a business presenter on BBC Breakfast and the BBC News Channel.- Career :...
, Penny Haslam and Sally Eden. News Channel updates are usually broadcast at 40 minutes past the hour from 08:40 until 22:40, except at 19:40. The 21:40 round-up is often earlier and the final bulletin is an extended roundup of the day's business news.
Rico Hizon
Rico Hizon
Rico Hizon is a Filipino broadcast journalist with BBC World News. He anchors Newsday and Asia Business Report, which is broadcast to more than 300 million households worldwide...
regularly presents the main business stories from Singapore during the BBC's Asia Business Report, which is simulcast on BBC World News.
Until May 2009, the morning business updates on BBC Breakfast and on the BBC News Channel were broadcast from one of the London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange
The London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in the City of London within the United Kingdom. , the Exchange had a market capitalisation of US$3.7495 trillion, making it the fourth-largest stock exchange in the world by this measurement...
's studios in central London. Since Tuesday, 26 May 2009, those bulletins have been broadcast from TC7 and N6 in Television Centre, the main studios of BBC Breakfast and the BBC News Channel respectively.
News presenters
Since December 2007, the main regular presenters on the channel have been Simon McCoySimon McCoy
Simon McCoy is a newsreader for the BBC, and is currently a regular presenter on the rolling news channel BBC News between 8.30am and 11am. He is also a relief presenter of the BBC News at One and of BBC Weekend News.-Early life:...
, Carrie Gracie
Carrie Gracie
Carrie Gracie is a Scottish journalist and newsreader for BBC News.-Background:Gracie's father was a Scottish oil executive; Gracie was born while he was on assignment in Bahrain. She was educated in Aberdeenshire and Glasgow...
, Matthew Amroliwala
Matthew Amroliwala
Matthew Amroliwala is a BBC newsreader who presents on the BBC News Channel each weekday from 11am - 2pm alongside Jane Hill. He is an occasional relief presenter of the BBC Weekend News on BBC One and appears in the revamped Crimewatch programme on BBC One, with Kirsty Young.-Biography:He was...
, Jane Hill
Jane Hill
Jane Hill is a British newsreader working for the BBC.She is one of the main presenters on the BBC News Channel, the corporation's 24-hour rolling news service, and is a relief anchor for the BBC News at One, as well as regularly presenting the BBC Weekend News...
, Jon Sopel, Emily Maitlis
Emily Maitlis
Emily Maitlis is a Canadian-born British journalist and newsreader, currently employed by the BBC.-Career:Raised in Sheffield, she was educated at the local King Edward VII School...
, Louise Minchin
Louise Minchin
Louise Minchin is an English journalist and presenter. She is currently a regular presenter on the BBC News channel, as well as being the main relief presenter for the BBC News at One and BBC Breakfast and a guest presenter on The One Show.-Early life:Born Louise Grayson in 1968 in Hong Kong , to...
, Huw Edwards
Huw Edwards (journalist)
Huw Edwards is a BAFTA award-winning Welsh journalist, presenter and newsreader.He is a news presenter for BBC News in the United Kingdom. Edwards presents Britain's most watched news programme, BBC News at Ten, which is also the corporation's flagship news broadcast...
, Ben Brown
Ben Brown (journalist)
Ben Brown is a journalist and news presenter for the BBC's rolling news channel BBC News. He has also presented the BBC News at Six and the BBC News at Ten and is currently an occasional presenter on the BBC Weekend News on BBC One...
, Joanna Gosling
Joanna Gosling
Joanna Marie Mussett Gosling is a television news presenter, broadcast journalist and author. She presents on the United Kingdom rolling news channel BBC News, as well as occasionally on the Saturday evening and late editions of the BBC Weekend News on BBC One...
and Chris Eakin
Chris Eakin
Chris Eakin is a newsreader on the BBC's 24 hour rolling news channel, BBC News.-Early life:He was born in Northern Ireland and lived at Helen's Bay in County Down, then briefly moved to Spain. His father was a civil engineer....
. The main weekend presenters include Tim Willcox
Tim Willcox
Tim Willcox is a British journalist for BBC News, where he presents news bulletins for both the BBC News Channel and BBC World News. Generally a relief presenter for the BBC, he is probably most recognisable for presenting the BBC's live coverage from Chile during events surrounding the Copiapó...
, Maxine Mawhinney
Maxine Mawhinney
Maxine Mawhinney is a newsreader on BBC News, the BBC's 24 hour rolling news channel.-Biography:She trained as a newspaper journalist in Northern Ireland, then joined BBC Television and Radio in Belfast, before moving to Ulster Television and then ITN in London.She joined Sky News at its launch in...
, Nicholas Owen, Clive Myrie
Clive Myrie
Clive Myrie is an English television news journalist, who works for BBC News.-Biography:Born in Bolton, Lancashire, to Jamaican immigrant parents, his mother was a seamstress and his father a factory worker making car batteries...
and Annita McVeigh
Annita McVeigh
Annita McVeigh is a newsreader on the BBC's 24 hour channel BBC News.-Early life:McVeigh completed the NUJ National Council for the Training of Journalists Pre-entry course at the Belfast College of Further and Higher Education 1991-1992...
. Most of these presenters also regularly stand in during the week.
Rico Hizon
Rico Hizon
Rico Hizon is a Filipino broadcast journalist with BBC World News. He anchors Newsday and Asia Business Report, which is broadcast to more than 300 million households worldwide...
(reporting from Singapore), Babita Sharma
Babita Sharma
Babita Sharma is a British television newsreader, currently fronting the overnight bulletins on the BBC News and BBC World News, presenting the Newsday strand each Monday-Wednesday from London with Rico Hizon in Singapore....
and Kasia Madera
Kasia Madera
Kasia Madera is a British journalist and television news presenter, currently fronting the overnight bulletins on the BBC News and BBC World News, presenting the Newsday strand Thursday-Sunday from London with Rico Hizon in Singapore....
are the main overnight presenters on the channel, appearing on Newsday and generic BBC News bulletins. These programmes are simulcast with BBC World News and either BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
or BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
. Deborah Mackenzie
Deborah Mackenzie
Deborah Mackenzie is one of four presenters who regularly present the overnight shift on the rolling 24 hour UK news service the BBC News Channel, which is also shown on BBC One and BBC World News during this time.-Education:...
regularly presents at weekends and in place of Sharma and Madera, while Rebecca Pike
Rebecca Pike
Rebecca Pike is a business and economics correspondent for the BBC. She has worked as a reporter on a number of Radio and TV news programmes, including the Today programme, Radio 4’s Six o’clock News, Radio 5 Live, BBC One’s TV news bulletins and the BBC News channel.Pike attended Bedales School...
and Rachel Hodges also appear in these slots. Naga Munchetty
Naga Munchetty
Naga Munchetty is a British journalist and television presenter. She currently presents BBC World News at 0500GMT on weekday mornings on BBC News Channel and BBC World News and makes regular appearances on BBC Breakfast...
, Komla Dumor
Komla Dumor
Komla Dumor is a Ghanaian journalist. He was born in Accra, Ghana in 1972. Dumor is currently a television news presenter for the BBC's international news channel, BBC World, presenting BBC World News and Africa Business Report...
and Martine Dennis
Martine Dennis
Martine Dennis is an experienced and well known BBC news anchor. She has been one of the main news presenters of the BBC World News for many years. Ethnically black, she is currently the BBC World News main presenter in the slot 5:00 to 8:00 a.m.GMT on Friday, and 6:00 a.m...
present the BBC World News five o'clock hour, which is also broadcast on the News Channel and BBC One.
The main relief presenters are Martine Croxall
Martine Croxall
Martine Sarah Croxall is an English journalist and television news presenter.-Education:Croxall was educated at St Margaret's, Church of England Primary School in the village of Stoke Golding, Leicestershire. The school is situated near to the exact place where King Henry VII was crowned...
, Gavin Esler
Gavin Esler
Gavin Esler is a Scottish author and BBC television presenter, currently one of the four main presenters on BBC Two's flagship political analysis programme, Newsnight.-Education:...
(BBC News at Five), Sophie Long
Sophie Long
Sophie Long , is an English journalist who works for BBC News, mainly appearing as a presenter on the BBC News Channel.-Early life:...
(mainly weekday afternoons), Rachel Schofield
Rachel Schofield
Rachel Schofield is a journalist who works for the BBC. She can usually be seen presenting regular relief shifts on BBC News, the corporation's rolling news channel, each Monday-Wednesday. She returned to BBC News in October 2007 after a year long maternity leave.-Education:Schofield was educated...
(Monday mornings), Tim Willcox
Tim Willcox
Tim Willcox is a British journalist for BBC News, where he presents news bulletins for both the BBC News Channel and BBC World News. Generally a relief presenter for the BBC, he is probably most recognisable for presenting the BBC's live coverage from Chile during events surrounding the Copiapó...
and Julian Worricker
Julian Worricker
Julian Worricker is a British journalist, currently working as a presenter of You and Yours on BBC Radio 4 and a relief presenter on BBC News, the corporation's 24 hour rolling news channel...
(Friday afternoons), while Fiona Armstrong
Fiona Armstrong
Fiona Armstrong, Lady MacGregor of MacGregor is a freelance Scottish television journalist.-Early life and career:Armstrong was born in Preston, Lancashire. As a child she lived for ten years in Nigeria, where her father was in the colonial service. She became Lady MacGregor of MacGregor when she...
, Ellie Crisell
Ellie Crisell
Ellie Crisell is an English journalist and television presenter. Crisell currently works on the BBC's 8pm news summary, and as a relief presenter on the BBC News Channel...
, Ben Geoghagen, Roger Johnson
Roger Johnson (TV presenter)
Roger Johnson is an English journalist and presenter, currently working as the main presenter for the BBC regional news programme North West Tonight.Johnson was previously a sports presenter on BBC South's news programme South Today...
, Kasia Madera, Chris Rogers, Babita Sharma, Julia Somerville
Julia Somerville
Julia Mary Fownes Somerville is a British television news anchor and reporter, who has worked for the BBC and ITN.-Education:...
, Sue Thearle
Sue Thearle
Sue Thearle is a British journalist.She presented on the now defunct Setanta Sports News. She is currently a relief presenter on the BBC's 24 hour news channel BBC News. She was previously a sports presenter on the channel and on BBC Breakfast.After training as a journalist, Thearle began her...
and Carole Walker
Carole Walker
Carole Walker is a political news correspondent with the BBC and an occasional relief presenter on its news channel.She attended North Walsham Girls' High School in Norfolk, attached to the all-male Paston College, attended by Admiral Horatio Nelson, Stephen Fry and Craig Murray...
also fill in for regular presenters. Armstrong, Somerville and Walker present as part of the BBC's push to "ensure it [has] the best range of faces". They most frequently appear during holidays.
The simulcasting of the main national news bulletins has led to the presenters of those bulletins appearing on the channel, including Huw Edwards, Fiona Bruce
Fiona Bruce
Fiona Elizabeth Bruce is a British journalist, newsreader and television presenter. Since joining the BBC in 1989, she has gone on to present many flagship programmes for the corporation including the BBC News at Six, BBC News at Ten, Crimewatch, Call My Bluff and, most recently, Antiques Roadshow...
, George Alagiah
George Alagiah
George Maxwell Alagiah OBE is a British newsreader, journalist and television news presenter.Since 3 December 2007, he has been the sole presenter of the BBC News at Six and has also been the main presenter of GMT on BBC World News since its launch on 1 February 2010...
, Sophie Raworth
Sophie Raworth
Sophie Jane Raworth is an English newsreader and journalist who works for British broadcaster the BBC. She is the main presenter of the BBC News at One, presenting Tuesday to Friday, and regularly appears on the BBC News at Six and occasionally on BBC News at Ten.-Early life:Born in Surrey to a...
, Kate Silverton
Kate Silverton
Kate Silverton is an English journalist, currently employed by the BBC.- Early life and education :Silverton was born in Essex, England, the daughter of English parents; Terry Silverton, a black-cab driver turned registered hypnotherapist and Patricia Silverton, who now heads her daughter's...
and Mishal Husain
Mishal Husain
Mishal Husain is a television news presenter for the BBC's international news channel, BBC World News, presenting Impact between 1400 and 1600 GMT every Monday to Thursday as well as presenting the Sunday evening editions of the BBC Weekend News on BBC One...
. The main Breakfast
BBC Breakfast
BBC Breakfast is the morning television news programme simulcast on BBC One and the BBC News channel. It is presented live from BBC Television Centre in White City, West London, and contains a mixture of news, sport, weather, business and feature items...
presenters have also appeared on the channel since it was first launched as a simulcast programme in 2000, with the current presenters being Bill Turnbull
Bill Turnbull
William Robert "Bill" Turnbull is an English journalist and presenter, currently employed by the BBC and best known for presenting BBC Breakfast...
, Sian Williams (Mondays to Thursdays), Susanna Reid
Susanna Reid
Susanna Reid is an English journalist and presenter, best known for presenting BBC Breakfast.-Early life:The youngest of three children, Reid was born in Croydon, London to an English father who worked as a management consultant, of Scottish ancestry, and an English mother who worked as a nurse...
and Charlie Stayt
Charlie Stayt
Charles Stayt is a British journalist and presenter, currently working freelance with the BBC as a presenter of BBC Breakfast.-Early life:Stayt was born in 1962 in Gloucester in Gloucestershire, in the West of England...
(Fridays and weekends).
Zeinab Badawi presents the BBC World News programme Reporters on the channel, while Esler presents Dateline London
Dateline London
Dateline London is a weekly news discussion programme shown on both BBC News and BBC World News. The programme, presented by Gavin Esler, with Nik Gowing and Lyse Doucet acting as relief presenters, features a roundtable panel of foreign and British journalists who discuss the week's top news...
. Stephen Sackur
Stephen Sackur
Stephen John Sackur is a BBC journalist who presents HARDtalk, a current affairs interview programme on BBC World News and BBC News 24. He is also the main Friday presenter of GMT on BBC World News...
appears on Hardtalk
HARDtalk
Hardtalk is a flagship BBC television programme, consisting of in-depth half-hour one-on-one interviews.It is broadcast four days a week on BBC World News and the BBC News channel. Launched in 1997, much of its worldwide fame is due to its global reach via BBC World...
, which is aired weeknights and at weekends, while Badawi, Gracie and Sarah Montague
Sarah Montague
Sarah Montague is a British Journalist, best known for her work on BBC Radio 4 as one of the regular presenters of the Today programme.-Early life:...
provide cover for him. Spencer Kelly
Spencer Kelly
Spencer Kelly is the presenter of the BBC's technology programme Click, broadcast on the BBC World News and the BBC News in the United Kingdom. He grew up in Bishopstoke, near Eastleigh in Hampshire and attended Wyvern Secondary School in Fair Oak, then Barton Peveril College in Eastleigh...
presents the technology news programme Click. Today host Evan Davis presents The Bottom Line, and Victoria Derbyshire
Victoria Derbyshire
Victoria Derbyshire is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster who currently presents the mid-morning news/current affairs & interview programme on BBC Radio 5 Live between 10am and 12noon each weekday...
appears on Victoria Derbyshire Interviews. Dominic Byrne
Dominic Byrne
Dominic Anthony Byrne is a newsreader for BBC Radio 1 and a presenter on the BBC News Channel.-Biography:Born in Norwich, Norfolk, Byrne attended St Ivo School before attending Bournemouth University for two weeks. However, he dropped out to work at a local radio station...
presents Newsbeat's Oddbox.
During a major news event one or more of the main news presenters may be sent to present live for the channel from the scene of the story, where they will conduct interviews with the people involved, question correspondents, introduce related reports and also give general information on the story, much as a reporter sent to cover a story would. The presenters often have expertise in the story they are sent to cover, for example, former Paris correspondent Jon Sopel presented coverage of the 2007 French presidential elections, while channel presenters and former reporters Ben Brown and Clive Myrie were dispatched to Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
and Tripoli
Tripoli
Tripoli is the capital and largest city in Libya. It is also known as Western Tripoli , to distinguish it from Tripoli, Lebanon. It is affectionately called The Mermaid of the Mediterranean , describing its turquoise waters and its whitewashed buildings. Tripoli is a Greek name that means "Three...
during the Middle East uprisings.
Graphics
The channel was criticised at launch for its style of presentation, with accusations of it being less authoritative than the BBC One news bulletins, with presenters appearing onscreen without jackets. Jenny AbramskyJenny Abramsky
Dame Jennifer Gita Abramsky, DBE is chairman of the UK's National Heritage Memorial Fund . The NHMF makes grants to preserve heritage of outstanding national importance. Until her retirement from the BBC Jenny Abramsky was its most senior woman employee; she was Director of Audio and Music...
had originally planned to have a television version of the informal news radio channel BBC Radio Five Live
BBC Radio Five Live
BBC Radio 5 Live is the BBC's national radio service that specialises in live BBC News, phone-ins, and sports commentaries...
, or a TV version of Radio 4 News FM both of which she had run. The bright design of the set was also blamed for this – one insider reportedly described it as a "car crash in a shower" – and was subject to the network relaunch on 25 October 1999. The channel swapped studios with sister channel BBC World, moving to studio N8 within the newsroom, where it remained until 2008. New music and title sequences accompanied this set change, following the look of newly relaunched BBC One bulletins.
Graphics and titles were developed by the Lambie-Nairn
Lambie-Nairn
Lambie-Nairn is an international branding agency within the WPP Group, headquartered in London with offices in Munich, Madrid, Abu Dhabi and Prague...
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
Newsroom South East
Newsroom South East was the name of the BBC's regional news programme for southeastern England. It was launched in March 1989 as the successor to London Plus, the South East's previous news programme...
and the three BBC Nations – Scotland
BBC Scotland
BBC Scotland is a constituent part of the British Broadcasting Corporation, the publicly-funded broadcaster of the United Kingdom. It is, in effect, the national broadcaster for Scotland, having a considerable amount of autonomy from the BBC's London headquarters, and is run by the BBC Trust, who...
, Wales
BBC Wales
BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the British Broadcasting Corporation for Wales. Based at Broadcasting House in the Llandaff area of Cardiff, it directly employs over 1200 people, and produces a broad range of television, radio and online services in both the Welsh and English languages.Outside...
and Northern Ireland
BBC Northern Ireland
BBC Northern Ireland is the main public service broadcaster in Northern Ireland.The organisation is one of the three national regions of the BBC, together with BBC Scotland and BBC Wales. Based at Broadcasting House, Belfast, it provides television, radio, online and interactive television content...
. The similarity of main BBC News output was intended to increase the credibility of the channel as well as aiding cross-channel promotion.
A graphics relaunch in January 2007 saw the channel updated, with redesigned headline straplines, a redesigned 'Digital on-screen graphic
Digital on-screen graphic
A digital on-screen graphic is a watermark-like station logo that many television broadcasters overlay over a portion of the screen-area of their programs to identify the channel...
' and repositioned clock. The clock was originally placed to the left hand side of the channel name though following complaints that this could only be viewed in widescreen, it was moved to the right in February 2007. Bulletins on BBC World News and BBC One also introduced similar graphics and title sequences on the same day.
In 2008 the graphics were again relaunched, using the style introduced in 2007 and a new colour scheme.
The Lambert report
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 NewsSky News
Sky News is a 24-hour British and international satellite television news broadcaster with an emphasis on UK and international news stories.The service places emphasis on rolling news, including the latest breaking news. Sky News also hosts localised versions of the channel in Australia and in New...
. As a direct result of this, a brand new style across all presentation for the channel launched on 8 December 2003 at 09:00. Philip Hayton
Philip Hayton
Philip Hayton is a British television presenter. He was born in Keighley in Yorkshire and was educated at Fyling Hall School, an Independent school near Robin Hood's Bay in North Yorkshire in Northern England.-Career:...
and Anna Jones
Anna Jones
Anna Jones is a Business presenter for Sky News.After four years as the editor of China Economic Review, Anna joined the BBC in 1992. She spent three years as a senior producer in the BBC's business department, both producing and presenting the Business Breakfast programme from 6am - 7am. Anna then...
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 would begin spinning from where the main story was taking place, while the headline scrolled around in a ribbon; this was occasionally replaced by the BBC News logo. The titles concluded with a red globe surrounded by a red stylised clamshell and BBC News ribbons forming above the BBC News logo.
Bulletins on BBC One moved into a new set in January 2003 although retained the previous ivory Lambie-Nairn titles until February 2004. News 24 updated the title colours slightly to match those of BBC One bulletins in time for the 50th anniversary of BBC television news on 5 July 2004.
Countdown sequence
An important part of the channel's presentation since launch has been the top of the hour countdown sequence, since there is no presentation system with continuity announcers so the countdown provides a link to the beginning of the next hour. A similar musical device is used on BBC Radio Five LiveBBC Radio Five Live
BBC Radio 5 Live is the BBC's national radio service that specialises in live BBC News, phone-ins, and sports commentaries...
, and mirrors the pips on BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
.
Previous styles have included a series of fictional flags set to music between 1997 and 1999 before the major relaunch, incorporating the new contemporary music composed by David Lowe, and graphics developed by Lambie-Nairn
Lambie-Nairn
Lambie-Nairn is an international branding agency within the WPP Group, headquartered in London with offices in Munich, Madrid, Abu Dhabi and Prague...
. Various images, originally ivory numbers fully animated against a deep red background, were designed to fit the pace of the channel, and the music soon gained notoriety, and was often satirised and parodied in popular culture, perhaps most famously by comic Bill Bailey
Bill Bailey
Bill Bailey is an English comedian, musician and actor. As well as his extensive stand-up work, Bailey is well known for his appearances on Black Books, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Have I Got News for You, and QI.Bailey was listed by The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy in...
who likened the theme music to an "apocalyptic rave
Rave
Rave, rave dance, and rave party are parties that originated mostly from acid house parties, which featured fast-paced electronic music and light shows. At these parties people dance and socialize to dance music played by disc jockeys and occasionally live performers...
". Images of life around the UK were added in replacement later with the same music, together with footage of the newsroom and exterior of Television Centre. The 2003 relaunch saw a small change to this style with less of a metropolitan feel to the footage.
A new sequence was introduced on 28 March 2005, designed and created by Red Bee Media
Red Bee Media
Red Bee Media Limited is a media management company.Headquartered in west London, United Kingdom at the Broadcast Centre, with international offices in Scotland, Australia, France, Germany and Spain, Red Bee Media has 1500 employees worldwide including homeworkers and revenues of £153m in...
and directed by Mark Chaudoir. The full version ran for 60 seconds, though only around 30 seconds were usually shown on air. The music was revised completely but the biggest change came in the footage used – reflecting the methods and nature of newsgathering, while a strong emphasis was placed on the BBC logo itself. Satellite dishes are shown transmitting and receiving red "data streams". In production of the countdown sequence, Clive Norman filmed images around the United Kingdom, Richard Jopson in the United States, while BBC News cameramen filmed images from Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, Beijing (Great Wall of China
Great Wall of China
The Great Wall of China is a series of stone and earthen fortifications in northern China, built originally to protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire against intrusions by various nomadic groups...
), Bund of Shanghai, Africa, as well as areas affected by the 2004 Asian Tsunami
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake
The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea megathrust earthquake that occurred at 00:58:53 UTC on Sunday, December 26, 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The quake itself is known by the scientific community as the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake...
and others.
The sequence has since seen several remixes to the music and a change in visuals to focus more on the well-known journalists, with less footage of camera crews and production teams. Changes have also seen the channel logo included during the sequences and at the end, as well as the fonts used for the time. The conclusion of the countdown was altered in 2008 to feature the new presentation style, rather than a data stream moving in towards the camera.
A full three minute version of the countdown music was made available on BBC News Online
BBC News Online
BBC News Online is the website of BBC News, the division of the BBC responsible for newsgathering and production. The website is the most popular news website in the United Kingdom and forms a major part of BBC Online ....
and David Lowe's own after a remix on 16 May 2006.
An international version of the countdown was launched on BBC World News on 5 September 2005 featuring more international content and similar music. Various changes have been made to the music and visuals since then, with presentation following the style of BBC News. The visuals in the sequence were updated on 10 May 2010. In June 2011, further imagery was added relating to recent events, including the conflict in Libya and views of outside 10 Downing Street.
See also
- BBC NewsBBC NewsBBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
- BBC World News
- ITV News ChannelITV News ChannelThe ITV News Channel was a 24-hour television news channel in the United Kingdom which broadcast from 1 August 2000 to 23 December 2005. It was available on Sky, NTL:Telewest, Freeview and analogue cable, presenting national and international news plus regular business, sport, entertainment and...
- Sky NewsSky NewsSky News is a 24-hour British and international satellite television news broadcaster with an emphasis on UK and international news stories.The service places emphasis on rolling news, including the latest breaking news. Sky News also hosts localised versions of the channel in Australia and in New...
- ABC News 24ABC News 24ABC News 24 is an Australian 24-hour news channel launched and owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The channel replaced the former ABC High Definition simulcast of ABC1 and commenced broadcasting at 7:30pm 5:30 on Thursday, 22 July 2010.-Pre-launch:The ABC announced in January 2010...
External links
} via BBC News OnlineBBC News Online
BBC News Online is the website of BBC News, the division of the BBC responsible for newsgathering and production. The website is the most popular news website in the United Kingdom and forms a major part of BBC Online ....
(available to UK viewers only - TV Licence required)
} via BBC iPlayer
BBC iPlayer
BBC iPlayer, commonly shortened to iPlayer, is an internet television and radio service, developed by the BBC to extend its former RealPlayer-based and other streamed video clip content to include whole TV shows....
(available to UK viewers only - TV Licence required)