Regional variations (television)
Encyclopedia
A regional variation generally refers to times when a radio station
or television station
simultaneously broadcasts different programmes
, continuity
or adverts to different parts of its coverage area. This may be so as to provide programming specific to a particular region
, such as local news
or may be so as to allow advertisements to be target ted to a particular area.
Some regional variations are the consequence of a federal
style television network
or radio network
where a local station is part of a larger broadcast network
and broadcasts the network's programmes some of the time and its own programming the rest of the time. The latter is therefore sometimes considered a regional variation. Examples of this include the UK's ITV
network throughout much of its history, and American network affiliate
stations.
Regional variation is also a common term used in British television listings publications, such as magazines and newspapers, to show the different programmes broadcast in different areas of the country.
has traditionally offered regional variations across many of its services. The Home Service
and its successor Radio 4
provided regional variations until the late 1970s when Local Radio
took over most of these responsibilities. BBC One
and the BBC Television Service have provided variations within England
throughout most of their history, and continues to do so today (mainly News and current affairs
programming). In Scotland
, Wales
and Northern Ireland
, BBC One has to a large degree been operated as a separate television channel, rather than a variant on BBC One as broadcast in England. BBC Two
has in the past broadcast variations within England, though now only has variations for England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. BBC Choice
also briefly had regional variations for these areas.
ITV
was originally established as a network of some 14 separate companies, each designated a region of coverage (see History of ITV
). Each company provided a mixture of local programming for its own coverage area, as well as airing nationwide networked programmes (usually produced by one of the contractors). ITV has traditionally included more regional variations than the BBC, though since consolidation
and majority ownership by ITV plc
regional variations on the network are far fewer, and often no more than the minimum requirements as set by Ofcom
.
Channel 4
, Five and GMTV
provide no regional variations for programming or continuity, but offer variation during advertising breaks. S4C
provides an alternative to Channel 4 in Wales, and broadcasts some of Channel 4's programmes; though this is technically not a regional variation, rather a separate station in its own right, it is nonetheless frequently described under the heading of 'regional variations' in many newspapers and magazines.
Sky News
and Sky1 also provide a variant of their stations for the Republic of Ireland, although specific Sky News coverage for the Republic of Ireland is extremely limited, due in part to the channel with Irish content
closing on 3 November 2006, and Sky1's variant is purely an advertising opt-out.
of the regional contractor would typically be displayed instead of, or far more prominently than, any 'ITV' logo, before programmes and during trailers. Separate announcers would also be used.
With the consolidation of many ITV companies throughout the 1990s, continuity was often shared between regions as a cost-cutting measure, with the Granada plc companies sharing a continuity announcer (but with different logos) from the late 1990s until all ITV Plc regions shared the same continuity from 2002 onwards. UTV
, Channel Television
and STV still continue with separate continuity most of the time.
The BBC also provided regional continuity during the 1960s and 1970s, often also for nationally networked programming, but this was phased out and never returned except for in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland where the practice continues to this day.
produces six different editions in total (three of them in England), while its oldest rival TV Times
now produces only four; newspaper supplements are usually printed in just one edition for the whole of the UK.
A Regional Variations column shows programmes in areas which differ from those in the main listings columns. Generally, only programming that differs from the main schedule is listed rather than listing the entire schedule of each regional area verbatim, much of which would be identical. It is these programmes that make up regional variations. Sometimes all UK regional variations are listed, generally when only one copy of a publication is made for every area, but often only adjoining regions are listed as variations, as is the case in the Radio Times.
In England and UK-wide editions, the main BBC One or ITV1
column shows programmes in the London region, with other regions (and nations) in the Regional Variations column. S4C is also often listed here. In Welsh and Scottish editions, adjoining English regions are usually listed. In Northern Ireland, some services from the Republic of Ireland are often listed as regional variations, although they are not.
, and be fed to all transmitters. Local offices or regional contractors would then be said to opt-out
of this feed when they switch to feeding the transmitter(s) with locally originated content and opt-in when returning to a national feed. Opt-ins and opt-outs were often quite noticeable in earlier days for causing the picture distortion such as jumping and rolling as the feed was switched, such effects are still noticeable today, though less obvious.
Whilst the BBC originated its network feed from the same place (Television Centre) ITV in earlier days would originate its feed from the broadcaster which made the programme.
Satellite services such as Sky Digital
often offer regional variations by transmitting duplicate feeds of the same station for each region traditionally covered by groups of transmitters as an arguably costly way to provide regional variations within an area covered by the same satellite. Both the BBC and ITV do this, as do Channel 4 and Five for advertisements. The digital set top box will determine which version of the channel to supply based on a list of post codes corresponding to the details on the user's smart card
.
Opt out=
Opt out, (or opt-out) is a term used in broadcasting when a nation or region splits from the main national output. In the United Kingdom
, BBC ONE Scotland
, BBC ONE Northern Ireland
and BBC ONE Wales
often opt out of the main BBC One
schedule in favour of locally relevant programming.
In a similar manner, local television newsrooms present regional news following national news bulletins—the practise having been popularised by current affairs programme Nationwide
and Sixty Minutes (TV series)
—after which they would opt in to the national programme again. Opting out was also common throughout telethons, such as Children in Need
, where regions separate to transmit local coverage.
The term "opt-out" is a peculiarly British idiom when applied to broadcasting, whilst used to describe the occurrence of regional events in an otherwise national stream the term has fallen into technical mis-use. Of the British broadcasters, really only the BBC ever opts out within the proper technical meaning of the term and only then in its English regions.
Being a non-commercial broadcaster, the BBC has no need to play-out local commercial spots, thus a regional node will typically only output programme material during the local news. Rather than each region having to control or monitor output that is being relayed from a central source, the region will step back from the network allowing the central source to directly feed its transmitters. The central source is a national feed, which is complete in itself including all continuity, timing, announcement and programme elements. The region interposes to broadcast its element locally, in place of a programme in the national feed by bringing itself into the network (cold-opt) in preparation for the start of the regional element (warm-opt).
Within BBC English Regions
the opt-out usually takes place within equipment located within the region's own central technical area. This is not always the case though, for instance the output from BBC Hull, which feeds the Belmont transmitter, is actually switched at BBC Leeds, and the Channel Islands opt-out occurs at Plymouth of the UK mainland, although the programme content comes from both Plymouth and Jersey. Considerable variation can exist between the signal paths for digital (DTT and DSat) and analogue transmissions, leading to great complexity in the opt-out logic.
Commercial broadcasters such as ITV, Channel 4 and Channel Five distribute their programmes to regions complete with local advertising and regional programme variations. Regional programmes, although they may be produced in a particular region are sent to a centralised play-out facility as contributions for insertion into the regional broadcast feed. BBC programmes in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are broadcast from their own play-out facilities in Glasgow, Cardiff and Belfast, although receiving live and recorded programmes from London they continuously monitor their own output. Thus they don't actually "opt-out".
" (F R Trois) by opting out from a national service broadcast from Paris.
Many programme services on North American cable systems are subject to inserts of regional advertisements inserted by the local cable operator.
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
or television station
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...
simultaneously broadcasts different programmes
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
, continuity
Continuity (broadcasting)
'Continuity' or 'presentation' is a term used in broadcasting, especially in the United Kingdom , to refer to announcements, messages and graphics played by the broadcaster between specific programmes...
or adverts to different parts of its coverage area. This may be so as to provide programming specific to a particular region
Region
Region is most commonly found as a term used in terrestrial and astrophysics sciences also an area, notably among the different sub-disciplines of geography, studied by regional geographers. Regions consist of subregions that contain clusters of like areas that are distinctive by their uniformity...
, such as local news
Local news
In journalism, local news refers to news coverage of events in a local context which would not normally be of interest to those of other localities, or otherwise be of national or international scope.-Television:...
or may be so as to allow advertisements to be target ted to a particular area.
Some regional variations are the consequence of a federal
Federation
A federation , also known as a federal state, is a type of sovereign state characterized by a union of partially self-governing states or regions united by a central government...
style television network
Television network
A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...
or radio network
Radio network
There are two types of radio networks currently in use around the world: the one-to-many broadcast type commonly used for public information and mass media entertainment; and the two-way type used more commonly for public safety and public services such as police, fire, taxicabs, and delivery...
where a local station is part of a larger broadcast network
Broadcast network
A broadcast network is an organization, such as a corporation or other voluntary association, that provides live television or recorded content, such as movies, newscasts, sports, Public affairs programming, and other television programs for broadcast over a group of radio stations or television...
and broadcasts the network's programmes some of the time and its own programming the rest of the time. The latter is therefore sometimes considered a regional variation. Examples of this include the UK's ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
network throughout much of its history, and American network affiliate
Affiliate
An affiliate is a commercial entity with a relationship with a peer or a larger entity.- Corporate structure :A corporation may be referred to as an affiliate of another when it is related to it but not strictly controlled by it, as with a subsidiary relationship, or when it is desired to avoid...
stations.
Regional variation is also a common term used in British television listings publications, such as magazines and newspapers, to show the different programmes broadcast in different areas of the country.
Regional Variations in the UK
The BBCBBC
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...
has traditionally offered regional variations across many of its services. The Home Service
BBC Home Service
The BBC Home Service was a British national radio station which broadcast from 1939 until 1967.-Development:Between the 1920s and the outbreak of The Second World War, the BBC had developed two nationwide radio services, the BBC National Programme and the BBC Regional Programme...
and its successor 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...
provided regional variations until the late 1970s when Local Radio
BBC Local Radio
BBC Local Radio is the BBC's regional radio service for England and the Channel Islands, consisting of 40 stations. They cover a variety of areas with some serving a city and surrounding areas, for example BBC Radio Manchester; a county, for example BBC Radio Norfolk; an administrative region for...
took over most of these responsibilities. 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...
and the BBC Television Service have provided variations within England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
throughout most of their history, and continues to do so today (mainly News and current affairs
Current affairs (news format)
Current Affairs is a genre of broadcast journalism where the emphasis is on detailed analysis and discussion of news stories that have recently occurred or are ongoing at the time of broadcast....
programming). In Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
and Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, BBC One has to a large degree been operated as a separate television channel, rather than a variant on BBC One as broadcast in England. 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...
has in the past broadcast variations within England, though now only has variations for England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. BBC Choice
BBC Choice
BBC Choice was a BBC TV station which launched on 23 September 1998 and closed on 9 February 2003. It was the first British TV channel to broadcast exclusively in digital format, and was the first new channel from the BBC since BBC Two launched in 1964...
also briefly had regional variations for these areas.
ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
was originally established as a network of some 14 separate companies, each designated a region of coverage (see History of ITV
History of ITV
The history of ITV, the United Kingdom "Independent Television" commercial network, goes back to 1954.-The early years: 1954–1963:After much debate both in the British Parliament and the British Press, the Television Act became law in 1954...
). Each company provided a mixture of local programming for its own coverage area, as well as airing nationwide networked programmes (usually produced by one of the contractors). ITV has traditionally included more regional variations than the BBC, though since consolidation
Consolidation (business)
Consolidation or amalgamation is the act of merging many things into one. In business, it often refers to the mergers and acquisitions of many smaller companies into much larger ones. In the context of financial accounting, consolidation refers to the aggregation of financial statements of a group...
and majority ownership by ITV plc
ITV plc
ITV plc is a British media company that operates 12 of the 15 regional television broadcasters that make up the ITV Network, the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom...
regional variations on the network are far fewer, and often no more than the minimum requirements as set by Ofcom
Ofcom
Ofcom is the government-approved regulatory authority for the broadcasting and telecommunications industries in the United Kingdom. Ofcom was initially established by the Office of Communications Act 2002. It received its full authority from the Communications Act 2003...
.
Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
, Five and GMTV
GMTV
GMTV was the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 to 3 September 2010. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV plc. in November 2009. Shortly after, ITV plc announced the programme would end...
provide no regional variations for programming or continuity, but offer variation during advertising breaks. S4C
S4C
S4C , currently branded as S4/C, is a Welsh television channel broadcast from the capital, Cardiff. The first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speaking audience, it is the fifth oldest British television channel .The channel - initially broadcast on...
provides an alternative to Channel 4 in Wales, and broadcasts some of Channel 4's programmes; though this is technically not a regional variation, rather a separate station in its own right, it is nonetheless frequently described under the heading of 'regional variations' in many newspapers and magazines.
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...
and Sky1 also provide a variant of their stations for the Republic of Ireland, although specific Sky News coverage for the Republic of Ireland is extremely limited, due in part to the channel with Irish content
Sky News Ireland
Sky News Ireland was a television news channel which broadcast in the Republic of Ireland. Sky News International is now available throughout Ireland...
closing on 3 November 2006, and Sky1's variant is purely an advertising opt-out.
Variations in image and continuity in the UK
Until 2002, ITV's continuity was largely separate in each region of the country, even when announcing broadcasts that were the same throughout the country. The logoLogo
A logo is a graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition...
of the regional contractor would typically be displayed instead of, or far more prominently than, any 'ITV' logo, before programmes and during trailers. Separate announcers would also be used.
With the consolidation of many ITV companies throughout the 1990s, continuity was often shared between regions as a cost-cutting measure, with the Granada plc companies sharing a continuity announcer (but with different logos) from the late 1990s until all ITV Plc regions shared the same continuity from 2002 onwards. UTV
UTV
UTV is a television channel based in the UK region of Northern Ireland. The channel is the Channel 3 or Independent Television licensee for Northern Ireland and is operated by UTV Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of UTV Media.- Terrestrial :* Analogue: Normally tuned to 3 * Freeview : 3...
, Channel Television
Channel Television
Channel Television is a British television station which has served as an Independent Television contractor to the Channel Islands since 1962. It is based in Jersey...
and STV still continue with separate continuity most of the time.
The BBC also provided regional continuity during the 1960s and 1970s, often also for nationally networked programming, but this was phased out and never returned except for in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland where the practice continues to this day.
Regional Variations in listings
Magazines and national newspapers print different editions of their TV listings for different areas - some just for the four nations of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, while others produce separate editions for the regions within England also. For example, the Radio TimesRadio Times
Radio Times is a UK weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, owned by the BBC. It has been published since 1923 by BBC Magazines, which also provides an on-line listings service under the same title...
produces six different editions in total (three of them in England), while its oldest rival TV Times
TV Times
TVTimes is a television listings magazine published in the United Kingdom by IPC Media, a subsidiary of Time Warner. It is known for its access to television actors and their programmes. In 2006 it was refreshed for a more modern look, increasing its emphasis on big star interviews and soaps...
now produces only four; newspaper supplements are usually printed in just one edition for the whole of the UK.
A Regional Variations column shows programmes in areas which differ from those in the main listings columns. Generally, only programming that differs from the main schedule is listed rather than listing the entire schedule of each regional area verbatim, much of which would be identical. It is these programmes that make up regional variations. Sometimes all UK regional variations are listed, generally when only one copy of a publication is made for every area, but often only adjoining regions are listed as variations, as is the case in the Radio Times.
In England and UK-wide editions, the main BBC One or ITV1
ITV1
ITV1 is a generic brand that is used by twelve franchises of the British ITV Network in the English regions, Wales, southern Scotland , the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their...
column shows programmes in the London region, with other regions (and nations) in the Regional Variations column. S4C is also often listed here. In Welsh and Scottish editions, adjoining English regions are usually listed. In Northern Ireland, some services from the Republic of Ireland are often listed as regional variations, although they are not.
Technicalities of regional variations
Traditionally, regional variations depend on a network or service broadcasting over multiple transmitters. Typically a 'network' feed will originate from a central location, such as BBC Television CentreBBC 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...
, and be fed to all transmitters. Local offices or regional contractors would then be said to opt-out
Opt-out
The term opt-out refers to several methods by which individuals can avoid receiving unsolicited product or service information. This ability is usually associated with direct marketing campaigns such as telemarketing, e-mail marketing, or direct mail. A list of those who have opted-out is called a...
of this feed when they switch to feeding the transmitter(s) with locally originated content and opt-in when returning to a national feed. Opt-ins and opt-outs were often quite noticeable in earlier days for causing the picture distortion such as jumping and rolling as the feed was switched, such effects are still noticeable today, though less obvious.
Whilst the BBC originated its network feed from the same place (Television Centre) ITV in earlier days would originate its feed from the broadcaster which made the programme.
Satellite services such as Sky Digital
Sky Digital (UK & Ireland)
Sky is the brand name for British Sky Broadcasting's digital satellite television and radio service, transmitted from SES Astra satellites located at 28.2° east and Eutelsat's Eurobird 1 satellite at 28.5°E. The service was originally launched as Sky Digital, distinguishing it from the original...
often offer regional variations by transmitting duplicate feeds of the same station for each region traditionally covered by groups of transmitters as an arguably costly way to provide regional variations within an area covered by the same satellite. Both the BBC and ITV do this, as do Channel 4 and Five for advertisements. The digital set top box will determine which version of the channel to supply based on a list of post codes corresponding to the details on the user's smart card
Smart card
A smart card, chip card, or integrated circuit card , is any pocket-sized card with embedded integrated circuits. A smart card or microprocessor cards contain volatile memory and microprocessor components. The card is made of plastic, generally polyvinyl chloride, but sometimes acrylonitrile...
.
External links
- A map of ITV Regions at itvlocal.comITV LocalITV Local was a broadband service provided by ITV plc, the contractor and provider of ITV in 11 of the 15 Television Regions. First established in 2005, the website provided local news, weather and features on demand 24 hours a day....
- A map of BBC TV Regions in England
Opt out=
Opt out, (or opt-out) is a term used in broadcasting when a nation or region splits from the main national output. 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...
, BBC ONE 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...
, BBC ONE 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...
and BBC ONE 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...
often opt out of the main 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...
schedule in favour of locally relevant programming.
In a similar manner, local television newsrooms present regional news following national news bulletins—the practise having been popularised by current affairs programme Nationwide
Nationwide (TV series)
Nationwide was a BBC News and Current affairs television programme broadcast on BBC One each weekday following the early evening news. It followed a magazine format, combining political analysis and discussion with consumer affairs, light entertainment and sports reporting...
and Sixty Minutes (TV series)
Sixty Minutes (TV series)
Sixty Minutes was a news and current affairs programme which ran each day at 5:40pm between 24 October 1983 to 27 July 1984 on BBC One. It replaced the Nationwide programme, and like Nationwide, it also integrated the BBC regional news programmes into a single magazine programme.However, the BBC's...
—after which they would opt in to the national programme again. Opting out was also common throughout telethons, such as Children in Need
Children in Need
Children in Need is an annual British charity appeal organised by the BBC. Since 1980 it has raised over £500 million. The highlight of the Children in Need appeal is an annual telethon, held in November. A teddy bear named "Pudsey Bear" fronts the campaign, while Terry Wogan is a long...
, where regions separate to transmit local coverage.
The term "opt-out" is a peculiarly British idiom when applied to broadcasting, whilst used to describe the occurrence of regional events in an otherwise national stream the term has fallen into technical mis-use. Of the British broadcasters, really only the BBC ever opts out within the proper technical meaning of the term and only then in its English regions.
Technical description
An opt-out is the process of a regional entity inserting its output into a tributary of an otherwise complete national broadcast distribution feed, creating a local variation in output.Being a non-commercial broadcaster, the BBC has no need to play-out local commercial spots, thus a regional node will typically only output programme material during the local news. Rather than each region having to control or monitor output that is being relayed from a central source, the region will step back from the network allowing the central source to directly feed its transmitters. The central source is a national feed, which is complete in itself including all continuity, timing, announcement and programme elements. The region interposes to broadcast its element locally, in place of a programme in the national feed by bringing itself into the network (cold-opt) in preparation for the start of the regional element (warm-opt).
Within BBC English Regions
BBC English Regions
BBC English Regions is the division of the BBC responsible for local television, radio, web and teletext services in England. It is one of the BBC's four 'Nations' - the others being BBC Scotland, BBC Wales and BBC Northern Ireland....
the opt-out usually takes place within equipment located within the region's own central technical area. This is not always the case though, for instance the output from BBC Hull, which feeds the Belmont transmitter, is actually switched at BBC Leeds, and the Channel Islands opt-out occurs at Plymouth of the UK mainland, although the programme content comes from both Plymouth and Jersey. Considerable variation can exist between the signal paths for digital (DTT and DSat) and analogue transmissions, leading to great complexity in the opt-out logic.
Commercial broadcasters such as ITV, Channel 4 and Channel Five distribute their programmes to regions complete with local advertising and regional programme variations. Regional programmes, although they may be produced in a particular region are sent to a centralised play-out facility as contributions for insertion into the regional broadcast feed. BBC programmes in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are broadcast from their own play-out facilities in Glasgow, Cardiff and Belfast, although receiving live and recorded programmes from London they continuously monitor their own output. Thus they don't actually "opt-out".
Other instances
Regional elements are inserted into the French public broadcaster "France 3France 3
France 3 is the second largest French public television channel and part of the France Télévisions group, which also includes France 2, France 4, France 5, and France Ô....
" (F R Trois) by opting out from a national service broadcast from Paris.
Many programme services on North American cable systems are subject to inserts of regional advertisements inserted by the local cable operator.