RAPID RESCHEDULE FOR BBC LATE NIGHT NEWS

THE BBC are to shift their flagship news vehicle to 10pm despite government requests not to change the schedule.
The BBC’s main evening news at 9pm will move to 10pm from October 16 as part of this autumn’s BBC ONE schedule. The new 10pm programme will run six nights a week, with a fixed 15-minute bulletin at 10pm on Sunday evenings. The BBC are also doubling the length of the late regional news bulletin for each of the regions.
The decision to move in October was agreed by the BBC Board of Governors on Monday.
Christopher Bland, BBC Chairman, said: “Serious news must have a scheduling certainty. The BBC will be offering its traditional bulletin of national and international news at 10pm on BBC One every weekday evening, followed by an extended regional news bulletin. Newsnight will continue to offer detailed analysis and comment on BBC Two straight afterwards. The Governors believe that 10pm is a better slot editorially. It allows the BBC to provide better coverage of parliamentary votes and the business markets, breaking stories in America which, with a US election coming, will be vital to our international coverage.”
Bland said that doubling the length of the late regional news bulletins on BBC One was something regional audiences had long sought and would be an addition to the BBC’s total news provision across all channels and networks.
Culture Secretary Chris Smith urged the BBC last week to rethink the intended change in their schedule following the agreement between ITV and the ITC to move their news back to 10pm from the beginning of 2001. Smith expressed concern at the consequences of both BBC and ITV ‘going head to head’.
However, Director-General, Greg Dyke was in an upbeat mood: “Launching the BBC 10 O’clock News as part of the new autumn schedule causes minimum disruption to viewers. It gives the 10 o’clock news a secure slot which we believe will better serve our viewers’ need for news. The recent ITC and ITV compromise of a news at 10pm, three or so nights a week, is confusing for viewers. All the evidence shows that viewers want to know when news is being played. They welcome certainty and the BBC is offering them a main evening news proposition that is coherent and clear.”