The BBC News channel, BBC World News and BBC One national and regional news programmes are next to adopt the revised BBC blocks logo.
The low-key rollout across the BBC’s news channels began at 9am on Monday morning, bringing the channels in line with other BBC channels which have already adopted the new logo. Regional news services have also received a minor cosmetic upgrade. World Service TV bulletins, including BBC Persian, as well as BBC Parliament are yet to switch. BBC Weather bulletins continue to use the old logo.
In October, BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Four, BBC Scotland and BBC Alba became the first UK services to adopt the new logo. Since then, BBC Three, BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds have been revamped. Earlier this month, BBC One launched a new set of idents, delayed from October, to accompany the new look.
The revamped BBC blocks logo replaces the old Gill Sans-based logo introduced in 1997. It marks a wider distancing from the Gill Sans typeface in favour of its in-house Reith typeface, reducing the amount the BBC spends on licensing fonts for commercial usage.
But if the new look looks like a temporary fix, that’s because it is.
Wider changes to BBC News delayed
Further changes to the look and feel of BBC News won’t be implemented until after a major announcement is made over the future shape and size of the broadcaster. For the time being, the familiar 14-year-old striped globe will continue to appear on-screen.
The BBC plans to relaunch many of its news programmes with a new look and feel by next April. Changes to studios will also be rolled out gradually, with many of the alterations spread out over multiple financial years to spread the cost.
First though, the broadcaster is expected to announce a comprehensive set of proposals in May. This is expected to align with Ofcom’s review of the operating licences for each service, which dictate the types of programme each BBC channel has to broadcast.
Following budget cuts and major changes to the way viewers consume TV, radio and online content in the past decade, the broadcaster is undertaking a major review of the types of content it produces and wants the operating licences to reflect these changes.
Programmes including Dateline London are expected to be axed, to allow the BBC to reinvest resources into modernising other parts of BBC News. It is also reviewing how it covers news stories and the number of stories it covers. Its annual plan for 2022-23 already confirmed a revamp of the BBC’s regional news programmes in England in the next 12 months.