North Northumbrians Would Benefit from Collaboration between BBC1 Look North and ITV1 Tyne Tees

North East Regional Television 6 Minutes
The Coast at Alnmouth, Northumberland. Rural Northumberland would benefit from collaboration between ITV1 Tyne Tees and BBC1 Look North (NE and Cumbria) so that rural areas like much of Northumberland get better local news-coverage. (Photo courtesy of bobmcp @ Pixabay )

May 2021

Dear Readers

One of the problems that viewers in rural Northumberland- and indeed across North East England face- with their choice of Regional Television News is that both the two main News- providers cover much the same areas and same items of news.  Of course, the BBC1 North East and Cumbria version of Look North does cover Cumbria in output as well, about 15% of coverage, which does leave a bit less for North East England than is the case for ITV1 Tyne Tees Tonight – but there the differences end.

This is a situation unique to Britain- across the vast bulk of England and indeed all of Wales- the ITV1 Regional News for a location provides much the same news and geographic coverage as does the BBC1 Regional News- service for that same location. For example, in North West England BBC1 North West Tonight and ITV1 Granada Reports  cover almost exactly the same transmission areas, produces the same geographic mix and areas in news- output and covers much the same stories. In most of Yorkshire, the BBC1 Yorkshire version of Look North and ITV1 Calendar Tonight News cover the same geographic area and coverage. Across the country, there is duplication of Regional News programming with many areas, chiefly the urban areas near the centre of the transmission Region getting heavy news- coverage (and mainly about the same things) whilst rural areas on the fringes of the BBC1/ ITV1 Region get little coverage- and never get to hear about anything just beyond the transmission boundary (even quite a serious development).

This is certainly the case across North East England- BBC1 Look North (North East/ Cumbria) and ITV1 Tyne Tees Tonight will both cover the riot in Newcastle, the murder in Sunderland and Middlesbrough Football Club getting a new manager. Neither of the programmes will cover the fatal road crash on the A 68 at Jedburgh or a train derailment at Dunbar- even if that would be of more concern to viewers who live in Otterburn or Berwick-upon-Tweed, respectively. Instead, North Northumbrians have a choice of “News mainly about Sunderland, Middlesbrough and Newcastle” from ITV1 Tyne Tees or “News mainly about Sunderland, Middlesbrough and Newcastle- and a bit of Cumbria” from BBC1 North East/ Cumbria.

This duplication of resources spent on Regional Television represents a waste, particularly if some areas get two news- services that both cover the area extremely well, whilst rural areas at the fringes get next to no local coverage from either ITV1 or BBC1 with neither main Regional News- services telling these rural viewers about quite major events and happenings just over the transmission boundary.

The current situation, with both BBC1 North East/ Cumbria and ITV1 Tyne Tees majoring on the urban areas (just because that is where more people live) means that the rural north of the transmission areas for both (i.e., Northumberland) is poorly served and North Northumbrians never get to hear about quite serious happenings just over the Border into southern Scotland. To a lesser extent, viewers in rural County Durham and rural northern North Yorkshire also miss out on really local news, though viewers in these areas can find out major events across the border into Cumbria on BBC1 Look North (North East/ Cumbria).

There is a solution to this problem and it’s called Collaboration: Rather than competing for the same viewers in urban areas, the programmers at ITV1 Tyne Tees and BBC1 North East/ Cumbria should come to an accommodation that does not increase costs for news -output across North East England- and which may infact reduce costs across both ITV1 Tyne Tees and BBC1 North East/ Cumbria- whilst at the same time help to ensure everyone in the Region has a Regional News- service that not only covers their communities well but provides coverage for everyone of serious happenings up to an hour’s drive or train- journey away (even if that means crossing the Scottish Border).

The best solution is one which recognises ITV’s dependence on private revenue streams whilst the BBC is funded by that well-known Tax on Televisions,  that every household in the country has to pay (which, as of 1st April 2021 is now £159 per annum per household). This solution involves ITV1 Tyne Tees majoring the urban areas- Tyneside, Teesside, and Wearside- and providing more of the Sports coverage: Since ITV1 Tyne Tees does not have to cover Cumbria they could cover the urban North East well and cater for the supporters of Newcastle United, Sunderland Associated Football Club and Middlesbrough Football Club- and in the Summer cover Durham County Cricket Club. Most people in the North East live in these urban areas and a lot of them love Sport and- with less competition from BBC1 Look North (North East/ Cumbria) the reliably high numbers of viewers will keep the Advertising revenues coming. Programmers at ITV1 Tyne Tees will be happy with that.

The BBC, funded as it is by the Television Licence fee, can- in return- (and indeed should) cover the cities rather less, cover less Sport and cover rural North Yorkshire, western County Durham, and Northumberland more. In addition, they should provide some overlap coverage to the Scottish Borders, Dumfriesshire  and East Lothian- for the benefit of viewers who live in Northumberland and North Cumbria. However, since Cumbrian viewers have the option of switching to ITV Border to get much more localised news about their county- and north of the Scottish Border, the priority must be to cater for Northumberland, rural County Durham, and rural North Yorkshire (where viewers don’t have that option) more. In the process, ITV Tyne Tees can become a repository for those viewers from Tyneside, Teesside, and Wearside who hate the Scots (because of the SNP and their stance on Brexit) so much- that they cannot stand any mention of happenings north of the Scottish Border, though fortunately that won’t be a majority of viewers because Northumbrians are fair and friendly!

The BBC, governed as it is by the BBC Charter, and instructed to provide relevant news for all parts of the United Kingdom will be safe-guarding its own future (and protecting itself from politicians agitating for the end of the Television Licence) would do well to provide a service that covers those areas not covered well by the ITV1 Regional news services. Viewers in Berwick-upon-Tweed, Otterburn or Wooler have strong links across the Scottish border and northern Northumberland has its own distinct communities well to the north of the urban North East of England- it would do programmers at BBC Look North (North East/ Cumbria) well to recognise this.

Collaboration between BBC1 North East/ Cumbria and ITV Tyne Tees (and indeed ITV1 Border) will also save money if the Regional news- services pool resources in terms of reporting on major happenings across the North East of England, Cumbria, and southern Scotland. Currently, there is the situation whereby if there is a riot in Newcastle both BBC North East/ Cumbria and ITV1 Tyne Tees each send a news- reporter to gather the information, speak to by-standers about what has happened, etc. This is a waste of resources across two broadcast networks. Instead, as part of the Collaboration between ITV1 Tyne Tees and BBC1 North East Cumbria there should be an agreement that ITV1 Tyne Tees sends its reporters to news-gather in the urban areas of Tyneside, Teesside, and Wearside, whilst BBC1 North East/ Cumbria reporters do County Durham, Northumberland, and North Yorkshire- and liaise with ITV1 Border for news-reports about Cumbria and southern Scotland. The Regional Programmers should then edit the news- items each sources- and then share the news- items with the other Regional Television networks as appropriate.

If ITV1 Tyne-Tees, ITV1 Border and BBC1 North East/ Cumbria can share the source- material of each other in this way and share (as appropriate) this would deliver significant cost- savings in terms of reporters, editorial and travel-times to far- flung destinations across the North East, Cumbria, and southern Scotland. It is not inconceivable that both ITV.Plc and the BBC would have better balance sheets and profits if they did this for all their Television Regions across the United Kingdom. All viewers of Regional Television will be happier too, as no-one would have to suffer a largely- irrelevant Regional News- service about distant cities whilst not getting to know about major happenings just across transmission boundaries. Certainly, if the above accommodation could be reached between ITV1 Tyne Tees and BBC North East/ Cumbria viewers in Northumberland and rural County Durham would enjoy a more relevant local Regional News- service.

However, none of this will happen unless you, the viewers of Regional Television in Northumberland and the northern North East of England write to the Regional Television Programme- providers and complain, suggesting collaboration between the Regional News services might be the way forward so that everyone in the Region is happy with the amount of coverage. Do write, don’t send an e-mail as a letter will carry more weight and be more likely to get noticed. The Regional Television News- Providers for ITV Tyne-Tees, ITV Border and BBC Look North (North East/ Cumbria) are:

ITV1 Tyne Tees/ ITV Border

Michaela Byrne, Head of News, ITV Tyne Tees and Border,

Television House,  The Watermark,  GATESHEAD.  NE11 9SZ.

BBC Look North (North East/ Cumbria)

Mr. Jon Roberts, Assistant Editor,  BBC North East and Cumbria,

Broadcasting Centre,  Barrack Road,  NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE.

NE99 2NE.

Published by northwestisnorthwest

My name is Ian Pennell and I am a freelance Book-keeper: I live near Alston, in the North Pennines in north-east Cumbria. I have friends who live in northern North West England - near Lancaster (which is where I went to University and used to live until 17 years ago) and in other parts of Cumbria. I have two Website Campaigns that seek to promote more localised Regional TV coverage for large rural areas across the North of North West England and North East England. . A big problem is that the Regional Television Bulletins for the North West covers the southern third of the Region about 90% (plus a part of Derbyshire which is NOT the North West of England), covers the middle third of North West England poorly and covers the northern third of North West England not at all! When I was studying at Lancaster University, I used to watch BBC1 North West Tonight because it covered areas up around where I was brought up- in northern Cumbria as well as more immediately locally around Lancaster. Then I came home one day, turned on BBC1 North West Tonight wondering why they were silent on Cumbria and discovered why: Most of Cumbria had been chopped off the weather-map! . People living in the westernmost part of North West England (around St. Bees Head) have local BBC news on their televisions which is 90% about North East England! In rural and northern Northumberland too, Regional TV, as is received by viewers, tends too often to be Tyneside/ Wearside/ Teesside- focussed with little news locally. Communities in North Northumberland have strong links across the Border into south-east Scotland and towards Edinburgh but none of the Regional TV News- services serving Northumberland today ever goes across the Scottish Border for significant happenings of interest to North Northumbrians. I have also done walking in the area, including around the Cheviots in the past- and the Northumberland/ Scottish Borders/ East and Mid Lothian area is vast- but it is largely overlooked by mainstream Regional TV! . North Yorkshire, the largest county in England also falls in the gaps between coverage from BBC Look North (NE/ Cumbria) or ITV1 News Tyne Tees in the north of the county, and the Leeds-based BBC1 and ITV1 Regional TV- services in the south of the county: North Yorkshire is a huge, yet beautiful county, which I have visited and explored in the past, yet is poorly covered in Regional TV. . Based near Alston, near the Cumbria/ Northumberland boundary I am well-placed to discuss Regional TV in all these large rural areas, in which collectively some two million folk live, yet they are poorly covered by the Regional TV News- services set up to serve them. These huge areas are an hour to two hours' drive from where I live: North Lancashire and South/ West Cumbria are to the south-west, Northumberland and the Scottish Borders and Lothian are to the north and north-east, and North Yorkshire is to the south-east of my home near Alston. I am well-placed to draw attention to deficiencies in Regional TV coverage for folk in all these areas. The North Pennines, where I live, is arguably another large area that touches on the other three where Regional TV coverage falls through the gaps completely (and that is despite the North Pennines running north to south down the middle of the BBC1 NE/ Cumbria Region). . In two websites, one for northern North West England and the Isle of Man (a country in it's own right that does not have it's own TV service!), and another Website focussing on Northumberland, North Yorkshire and the North Pennines I make the point that Regional TV that informs viewers of important things in their local area is a Public Service, funding for which should be given a higher priority (and if necessary via statute through the BBC's Charter), than funding for Soaps, Films or Sport- which are for leisure. I also give viewers the tools to fight effectively for better- and more geographic-appropriate Regional TV where they live- and to seek it through alternative (often little-known) local TV services, some of which may only be available on the Internet.

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