New late night schedule means BBC News Channel viewers in the UK are cut off twice in 30 minutes.
- Neither the BBC News at Ten nor Newsnight played out in full on BBC News.
- Changes remove UK specific 11pm news bulletin, introduced ahead of the General Election.
- Extended World News America programme introduced ahead of the US Presidential Election.
Late night viewers of the BBC News Channel may feel they are not wanted after the latest set of changes to the service following the merger of UK and international services in April 2023.
A new schedule introduced this week sees UK viewers crash out of two programmes mid-sentence within a 30 minute period. BBC News is once again hard crashing out of the BBC News at Ten mid-item into Newsnight, that’s despite assurances made in the 22nd March 2024 edition of the BBC’s Newswatch programme. After the programme, the practice of crashing out of BBC News at Ten mid-sentence was dropped in favour of leaving the programme after the last report.
In the new message that appears, viewers are advised to continue watching on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. However, viewers streaming BBC News on iPlayer also see the message.
28 minutes later though, the BBC News Channel now crashes out of Newsnight with a ‘fake ending’ and another message to continue watching on BBC Two or the BBC iPlayer, although again if viewers are watching the BBC News livestream on iPlayer they are also cut off.
Both BBC News at Ten and Newsnight were minutes before the end of their broadcast when cut off by the BBC News Channel.
Overnight changes
At 11pm, BBC News viewers in the UK then join World News America, which has extended its broadcast hours from this month. This replaces the bespoke UK-focused news bulletin that used to start straight after Newsnight, reinstated ahead of this summer’s General Election. Prior to the bespoke 11pm bulletin, News Channel viewers were switched over to Newsday mid-programme, but only after Newsnight had finished.
The late evening schedule changes are linked to wider adjustments to the BBC’s overnight news hours from this week. Live hours from Singapore and Washington have been swapped over. The Singapore-based Newsday, originally conceived as a morning show for viewers in Asia on the commercially funded BBC World News channel, now starts three hours later at 02:00 BST. The change extends World News America ahead of next month’s US Presidential Election.
World News America is currently on air at 22:00 BST (outside of the UK) and 23:00-00:00 BST (UK and Worldwide). Further US-based news bulletins follow at 00:00 and 01:00 BST.
However timings are subject to change again, when the UK changes its clocks a week before the USA at the end of October.
And even the BBC’s weekly feedback show Newswatch isn’t immune to the changes, losing its Friday late night slot. It is now broadcast on Saturday only on BBC News.
Fewer viewers use the BBC News channel for news
Ofcom’s latest annual survey of news consumption in the UK recorded a drop in the number of individuals who use the BBC News Channel for news. Research found that only 18% used the BBC News Channel for news, down from 23% a year earlier and below Sky News.
Although the BBC is encouraging users to watch news on iPlayer, Ofcom’s research also shows no growth in the number of iPlayer news users. Instead, once online, users are seeking out other news outlets and social media sites for their news.
Anniversary of BBC News U-turn
This week also marks the one year anniversary of the first major U-turn for combined international and UK news channels. Nicky Campbell’s 5 Live morning phone-in, launched in April 2023 and promoted as a sign of things to come, lost its regular slot in the schedule after the Friday 6th October 2023 programme.
By Monday 8th October 2023, and in the aftermath of events in the Middle East, the simulcast was quietly dropped in favour of live TV news. Since then, the show has only occasionally been simulcast on BBC News, and only in part, notably during the General Election campaign.
By: Marc Thornham