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Friday, 25 August 2017

Opinion: Lazy Scheduling of BBC News Programmes


Deviating from normal service slightly today to have a bit of a moan about the increasingly common phenomenon of BBC news and current affairs programmes being simulcast across more than one BBC channel.

Two of the main culprits are the Victoria Derbyshire show and BBC Newsroom Live, which are simulcast across BBC Two and the BBC News Channel. The same thing happens with BBC Breakfast, which is simulcast on BBC One and the BBC News Channel six days a week.

What's the point of that? Other than to save lazy schedulers a bit of effort with populating the BBC's mainstream channels? Of course broadcasting less content also saves the BBC a few quid as well, which is crucially important when it's tightening purse strings (said tongue in cheek).

In the age of digital television, where every viewer has ready access to every BBC channel, why does the BBC consider it necessary to broadcast the exact same thing on two channels at once?

Surely if a person wants to watch Victoria Derbyshire they'll not mind flicking to the BBC News Channel. Conversely, if they want to watch repeats of Homes Under The Hammer or Escape To The Country they can stick with BBC Two.

It's not rocket science, is it? It's about maintaining the brand identity of each individual BBC channel.

If anyone can suggest a reason for the increasing tendency to simulcast then we'd genuinely be interested to know. Please drop us a comment below.

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