New Radio 5 Live simulcast is due to start on Monday 17th April on the UK feed of BBC News and BBC Two.
The phone-in show will replace the two hours of combined UK and International news currently shown between 9am and 11am on BBC News. Those hours of news will now only be seen by international audiences.
Plans for the simulcast were first revealed last year when the BBC confirmed it would be replacing the UK BBC News Channel with a new global, combined service. BBC bosses are keen to stress that this programme, plus simulcasts of other BBC One and BBC Two programmes on the UK feed of BBC News demonstrates their commitment to continue to provide quality UK news stories to audiences.
Nicky Campbell’s show will also be broadcast on BBC Two. Interim schedules reveal that for the show’s first days on TV, the BBC Two simulcast will be limited to the first hour, with live Snooker taking over at 10am.
The BBC originally brought BBC Two and BBC News together in the morning back in 2015, when it launched a daily news magazine presented by Victoria Derbyshire. The award-winning show was axed in January 2020 in a move claimed to be part of a cost-cutting exercise. At the time, the BBC indicated it was too costly to continue broadcasting the programme at a time when linear audiences were declining. Shortly thereafter, BBC management indicated they were looking into visualising radio programmes.
Marc Thornham
Updated 21:18. The initial schedules published by the BBC billed the show as “Nicky Campbell Everyday”. The BBC now says this was an error. The article has now been amended.