12th June 2023
Dear Readers
This Website is dedicated to ensuring that viewers of Regional TV who live North of the Tyne and in some of the rural areas of North East England such as the North Pennines (which extends well into the west of the English North East) get better local all-round local and Regional TV News-coverage than they do currently. The vast bulk of viewers in North East England get both BBC1 Look North (NE and Cumbria) and ITV1 News Tyne Tees by default. Viewers in the far west-southwest of Northumberland- west of Haydon Bridge- receive ITV1 Border (England) which provides the flagship Regional TV programme Lookaround at 6.pm on week-days (this program has typically 50% coverage of Cumbria with the remainder being about southern Scotland and occasionally north-west Northumberland).
Parts of far northern Northumberland along the Scottish Border with the Cheviots to the south and Cheviot foothills to the east, like the villages of Pawston and Shotton, pick up ITV1 Border (Scotland) and BBC1 Reporting Scotland transmitted from Selkirk better than BBC1 Look North (NE/ Cumbria) and ITV1 News Tyne Tees. (which is transmitted from the Chatton transmitter south of Berwick). Folk living in Berwick-upon-Tweed in northernmost Northumberland can also get BBC1 Reporting Scotland easily from the Eyemouth relay transmitter connected to the main Selkirk transmitter. Viewers in those areas may wish to continue watching the ITV1 Border (Scotland), which transmits programming for viewers in southern Scotland only such as Border Life and the political programme Representing Border, along with BBC1 Reporting Scotland, because the extreme north of Northumberland has stronger ties with the Scottish Borders and towards Edinburgh than with the cities of North East England which are well over 60-70 miles to the south.
For the vast bulk of the English North East, however, Regional TV is a choice between ITV1 News Tyne Tees which airs at 6.pm every week-day (and which just covers the North East and North Yorkshire in programming) and BBC1 Look North (NE/ Cumbria) which covers North East England, much of North Yorkshire and also what is now Cumberland and northern Westmorland & Furness. On the face of it, ITV1 News Tyne Tees would provide better coverage of North East England because it is not diluted by 15 to 20% coverage of Cumberland and Westmorland (i.e., the northern two-thirds of Cumbria). However, it really depends where one is in the North East of England, and most viewers who go out and visit places and go for trips in the countryside would benefit from about 20% coverage of significant happenings up to one hour’s travel time away north and west, as well as south. The ideal for any purveyor of local and Regional TV News is about 80% coverage of happenings within a 30-minute drive (in all directions) from the community in which one resides, with 20% of the coverage being of significant happenings further afield (i.e., Regionally Local News-coverage). Along the North East Coast news of such wider Regional interest would surely include a fishing vessel capsizing in the North Sea forty miles north-east of Tynemouth (as it is likely to include fishermen from Tyneside or Wearside), and an explosion on an oil rig in the middle of the North Sea would also be of interest to folk living in North East England as it is likely to impact on North East families.
Both the two mainstream Regional TV News- services serving North East England, that is ITV1 Tyne Tees and BBC1 NE/ Cumbria, are certainly too large to provide really localised news-coverage (plus wider all-round news-coverage) that is ideal for every community in North East England because the transmission areas are too large. That is especially true of the BBC1 NE/ Cumbria transmission area which extends from Berwick-upon-Tweed in the north to Harrogate in the south and west as far as St. Bees Head in west Cumberland (the most westerly part of North West England, I may add). The urban areas of Tyneside, Teesside, and Wearside (all of which are within fifty miles of each other) get the lions’ share of coverage, especially from ITV1 News Tyne Tees as that programme does not cover Cumbria. However, that does not mean that Regional TV is ideal for viewers in the cities of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Sunderland, and Middlesbrough. Geordies and Mackems enjoy a higher proportion of coverage of their more urban communities on Regional TV, but they still want to know about major or significant happenings up to an hour’s travel time away. I have already mentioned the possible interest that families living on Tyneside or Wearside might have in fishing boats capsizing out in the North Sea, but significant or major happenings up to an hour’s travel time to the north, south or west are also relevant to those viewers, especially if they travel to visit the areas affected regularly. Thus, a major road smash on the A68 near Jedburgh- just an hour’s drive north-west of Newcastle would also be of interest to Geordies. Viewers of Regional TV living in Middlesbrough would also want to be made aware of the major rail-crash on the East Coast Main Line just south of York- just an hour’s drive to the south whilst viewers in Darlington would want to know about the flooded A66 near Penrith just an hour’s drive to the west.
With all that said, viewers in the main still want news about locations near where they live: Thus Geordies will want to see news about Tyneside and south-east Northumberland and possibly Wearside too (assuming they don’t have a dislike of folk from Sunderland) along with north-eastern County Durham. Viewers of Regional TV in Middlesbrough want to see news mainly about Teesside, southern County Durham, and the North York Moors area of North Yorkshire (which Teesiders frequent in nice weather). Beyond that, if something major happens or there is some stunning scenery to be told about, the North East’s viewers of Regional TV will want news of such significant events in an area stretching from the northern side of Leeds and Selby in the south to the Scottish Borders in the north and to Carlisle and the north-east Lake District in the west. That said, it’s probably fair to say that what happens in west Cumberland- around Whitehaven and Workington- is outside the sphere of interest of 100% of North East viewers (unless they have relatives living there).
Viewers are also unlikely to be interested in what happens in Bradford or Sheffield as that is beyond the sphere of interest of North East viewers- even from Middlesbrough or Darlington. Thus, when BBC NE/ Cumbria joins with BBC1 Yorkshire and BBC1 East Yorkshire/ Lincolnshire because of strikes (and which I notice has happened twice this year) to produce one Look North for three BBC1 Regions it is definitely not appreciated by the vast majority of viewers in North East England!! It happened on 11th and 12th May this year with BBC1 staff going on strike over cuts to BBC1 Local Radio -so they inflict much Non- Local “Local” news on an entire region (article referring to this happening here: https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/news/tv/bbc-look-north-sudden-change-26896322)! It also happened as recently as 6th and 7th June with BBC reporters and staff working for BBC1 Look North (NE/ Cumbria) joining other BBC staff striking over local radio cuts- again inflicting non-local news on viewers (details here: https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/no-look-north-wednesday-thursday-27073607). Viewers in Tyneside don’t want to know what’s happening in Sheffield, 125 miles to the south, but they might be interested in a major happening near Thirsk or Carlisle since that is within the distance that folk might travel on a day-trip in nice weather. If the BBC start adopting policies on lumping the North East with the BBC Regional TV output from Leeds whenever staff go on strike, fall sick, or there are technical issues that will lead to a marked deterioration in local and Regional TV News for North East England as provided by BBC1 Look North.
Whilst both BBC1 Look North (NE/ Cumbria) and ITV1 News Tyne Tees are broadcast to (and provide news about) geographical areas that are too big to satisfy viewers across the entirety of North East England there are things that the Regional News-broadcasters can do to improve local and Regional News-coverage, particularly for the rural west and north of the region. Regional News- programming must be precisely that, for Regional News. In these days when Sports fanatics can get all the sports coverage of Newcastle United or Newcastle Falcons that they want from Sky Sports and other Sports channels Sports coverage does not need to take ten minutes out of a 30-minute Regional TV programme. This could be shortened by two or three minutes without upsetting the vast majority of viewers to provide a couple of items of more news-coverage of rural areas such as the North Pennines, rural Northumberland and even coverage of major happenings north of the Scottish Border. This, as I have mentioned, enhances Regional News-coverage not just for viewers living in the rural north and west of North East England but actually anywhere from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Gateshead northwards would appreciate some more coverage of Northumberland and the North Pennines.
Despite the short-comings of both BBC1 Look North (NE/ Cumbria) and ITV1 News Tyne Tees either one or the other is better to watch dependant on where one lives in North East England. Basically, viewers who live east of the A1(M) would be better off watching ITV1 News Tyne Tees because what happens in Cumbria will be of next to no interest to viewers who live there, and without the dilution that Cumbrian coverage brings to North East England news-programming ITV1 News Tyne Tees is clearly going to be better. That is not to say ITV1 News Tyne Tees is ideal: It is not anything like it used to be when there was a southern version of (what was then) Tyne Tees Television news for viewers in Teesside and North Yorkshire and a northern version for viewers on Tyneside, on Wearside and in Northumberland: The southern opt-out was axed a few years before Tyne Tees TV became ITV1 Tyne Tees/ Border to save money!
Viewers of Regional TV who live west of the A1(M), in the foothills of the North Pennines, in the Tyne Valley and the northern Yorkshire Dales would do better tuning in to BBC1 Look North (NE/ Cumbria) as BBC1 Look North (NE/ Cumbria) covers Cumbria. Since much of Cumbria is within an hour’s drive of places like Barnard Castle, Stanhope, Hexham and Hawes, viewers in such areas stand to get better all-round local coverage from BBC1 Look North (NE/ Cumbria)- whereas ITV1 News Tyne Tees would never cover places to the west of the Durham Dales or the Tyne Valley.
However, if the BBC start amalgamating BBC1 Look North (NE/ Cumbria) with BBC1 output from Leeds and BBC1 output from Hull whenever it is convenient for them to do so, it might be better for viewers who live west of the A1(M) to stick with ITV1 News Tyne Tees!! Then, if one wants to find out what is happening further west viewers can go on to the ITV1 News Border website to watch Lookaround at about 8.30 pm (the programme is loaded on to the website about two hours after being aired live)! ITV Border’s website address is here should one need to watch Lookaround– which has typically 50% coverage of Cumbria, with the rest of the news being about southern Scotland: https://www.itv.com/news/border. Should this come to pass do write to BBC1 Look North (NE/ Cumbria) to make programmers aware of how unhappy you are about losing local news-coverage due to the periodic amalgamations with Yorkshire and Lincolnshire BBC output, and that you will be watching ITV1 News Tyne Tees followed by ITV1 Border Lookaround from now on if the problems are not sorted out permanently! The e-mail address is: look.north.comment@bbc.co.uk. It is staggering that a Regional TV service for potentially 3.5 million viewers, as BBC1 Look North (NE/ Cumbria) is, does not have resort to alternative studios in the case of technical faults, or cannot call on a bank of journalists/ reporters if others are sick, go on strike, etc. and this needs to be pointed out to them!
Northwards of the A69 and northwards of Tyneside both ITV1 News Tyne Tees and BBC1 Look North (NE/ Cumbria) provide less localised news-coverage in any case. The 200,000 folk who live in rural western and northern Northumberland would seem to be a lesser priority for North East broadcasters even though folk living in places like Seahouses, Byrness or Wooler live an hour’s drive or more from any other county or metropolitan borough in North East England. ITV1 News Tyne Tees is probably marginally better for local news than BBC1 Look North (NE/ Cumbria) since what happens in Cumbria is unlikely to be of interest to anywhere in Northumberland northwards of Morpeth. Since ITV1 News Tyne Tees only covers the North East and North Yorkshire programmers are more likely to have a bit of space for rural northern Northumberland. Once one gets as far north as Berwick-upon-Tweed and Wooler, viewers are not going to be interested in North East England news outside of Northumberland with the possible exception of employment links with, or shopping in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. This far north viewers are more interested in what is happening in the Scottish Borders or north-westwards towards Edinburgh than what is happening south of the River Tyne. There is no Regional TV programming per-se that adequately covers northern Northumberland, or which provides folk living in rural communities across this large rural area with news that is either topically or geographically- relevant. Folk living in Berwick-upon-Tweed and northernmost Northumberland would do better to watch ITV1 News Tyne Tees but to follow this up by switching over to BBC1 Reporting Scotland to find out what is happening north-west of where they live. This provides the likelihood of netting about three news items within an hour’s travel- time of where one lives!
One solution is for programmers to recognise the deficiencies in local and Regional TV coverage across the different parts of their transmission areas, and to put in-place additional overlap coverage northwards as necessary. ITV1 Tyne Tees/ Border is in a stronger position to do this for the rural north and west of North East England because ITV Tyne Tees/ Border produce both ITV1 News Tyne Tees and ITV1 Border’s Lookaround (which caters for viewers in Cumbria, southern Scotland, and the far west of Northumberland).
The news-anchors for both Regional TV programmes are Amy Lea and Ian Payne, and they likely pre-record the presentation of ITV Border’s Lookaround before doing ITV1 News Tyne Tees live from The Watermark in Gateshead! Since ITV1 Tyne Tees/ Border provides news-coverage of the Scottish Borders for ITV1 Border’s Lookaround they could put one or two of the Scottish Borders news- features into ITV1 News Tyne Tees for the benefit of viewers who live northwards of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and who would like to know what is happening north of where they live. As the news-gathering has already taken place it would not be at significant extra cost for an extra news-feature or two about the Scottish Borders to appear in ITV1 News Tyne Tees output, especially as the same broadcast organisation is responsible both for the content of ITV1 Border’s Lookaround and ITV1 News Tyne Tees. Shaving a couple of minutes off the Sports coverage would make room for a short news- feature about the Scottish Borders and one about rural Northumberland. North Northumbrian viewers would greatly appreciate the greater all-round coverage this would bring for their local area and viewers further south- on Tyneside and Wearside would not feel a dilution or loss of coverage.
However, the real solution is for the ITV1 Tyne Tees transmission area to be split in two, or at least with an opt-out being provided so that folk who live in Northumberland get much more localised news-coverage. For that to happen, though, major political and legal pressure needs to be brought to bear on broadcasters at a national level- for both the BBC and for ITV.Plc to spend at least £500 million a year providing Regional TV News- programming and to use that money to provide more- and more localised- Regional TV services. This requires a political Party that campaigns well on local issues (such as the Liberal Democrats) to take the issue of Too Few, Too Big Regional TV services Failing to Provide Adequate Local News-Coverage, and which asserts that Local TV News Is An Essential Public Service Which Must Be Funded As Such. The Political Party taking this up would then be instrumental in campaigning to improve Regional TV by passing a law requiring broadcasters to provide more (and more localised) TV programming. To contact the Liberal Democrats in Northumberland to suggest this email them at: info@northumberland-ld.org.uk. This is something that will require viewers to campaign, to collaborate and get the Liberal Democrats (or whichever political Party is sympathetic to higher spending on Regional TV) to run with the issue and campaign in such a way that both the Government and Regional broadcast media feel pressure to adapt and improve their offering.
This will require viewers to be proactive, to take control of Regional TV in the North East to get it improved rather than the BBC Management thinking it’s OK at times for BBC1 Look North (NE/ Cumbria)- barely local for rural areas outside of the cities as it is- to be amalgamated into BBC1 Look North (NE/ Cumbria/ Yorkshire/ Lincolnshire), which is really not local at all for 100% of viewers. The cuts to BBC Local radio already mentioned are symptomatic of how the BBC Management goes about saving money, local news services are a priority and the provision of Local and National news and documentaries relevant to all viewers is the BBC’s core responsibility as underpinned by the BBC’s Royal Charter. It is the reason why folk have to pay a Poll Tax on their TV’s called the TV Licence fee because it is recognised by the Government that the BBC has to pay for what is essentially a Public Service- Local and National news and high-quality documentaries impact on people’s lives by informing them of issues that affect their lives so that informed choices can be made. This is why folk choose to listen to BBC Radio Newcastle or BBC Radio Tees, and it is part of how the TV Licence funding is spent. Those who work for the BBC have a point when they strike, but it is rather counter-productive when that means viewers get less local news-coverage. This applies to folk living in North East England who need to be informed of local villains on the loose, road closures, bad weather in places that they may go out for the day (which may include just over the Border into Scotland, or Cumbria by the way). The BBC Royal Charter stipulates this. If the BBC have to cut anything it should be the provision of entertainment shows that can be found on a multitude of other channels in the 2020’s. They can start closing down at midnight and re-opening at 6.am like they used to in the 1980’s rather than showing late-night US Talk Shows or old Westerns (which folk can watch on other TV Channels, or via Netflix).
Regional TV is under threat if this present Conservative Government remains in power after the General Election (expected in Autumn 2024) because they have promised to axe the TV Licence fee after the current BBC funding period comes to an end in 2027. The Government may or may not do this, depending if enough MPs can persuade the Conservative Government not to go ahead with this policy. The TV Licence is a blunt instrument for raising funds, and it is an additional cost for millions of ordinary folk during a Cost- of -living crisis. However, alternative funding streams need to be put in-place instead. The threat to BBC National and Local News and Current Affairs that axing the TV Licence means needs to be raised as a Political issue sooner rather than later: How to replace the BBC’s funding stream- and indeed increase it- so that smaller, more local and well- resourced BBC Regional News- services are provided in future should be at the forefront of politicians minds, though that is unlikely to happen without viewers of Regional TV pressing their MPs over the matter.
Alternative funding for the BBC should never be directly from the Government or from local Councils because of the pressure that this puts on journalists for both National and Regional TV to toe the line of the party in government. However, a combination of subscription fees and product placement (the BBC should remain free of advertising generally) for National programmes and National News, and local lotteries and business sponsorship for local and Regional TV News, topped up with National Lottery funding could help fill the gap. A cap could be placed on BBC Subscription fees of £100 a year and be legislated for so that most folk could afford it, but the BBC could be allowed to sell merchandise and old programmes to make up more of the shortfall. The new BBC Royal Charter could then underpin a new Charitable Status and exception from Corporation Tax unique to the BBC to help it save money, and this legislation could be gold- plated with a clause that it can only be rescinded with the approval of 75% of MPs so that a future Labour Government is unable to tax the BBC should the BBC report unfavourably on that Government. The only way that good local Regional News is going to be fully protected and then improved is if funding for it is mandated and broadcasters are then required by law to spend a minimum amount, say £500 million, on the provision of Regional TV News and Programming, nothing else. This is going to require political pressure and, in the meantime, from viewers seeking out alternatives for getting the news that they want to see for their area. I have mentioned viewers switching over to ITV1 News Tyne Tees and then catching up from ITV1 Border’s Lookaround from the website later if the BBC continue to permit the amalgamation of BBC1 Look North (NE/ Cumbria) with BBC1 Look North (Yorkshire) and BBC1 Look North (East Yorkshire/ Lincolnshire) as they see fit. More of this sort of direct action by viewers coupled with Political action needs to happen if the North East is to end up with Regional TV News-services that are truly fit for the region and provide effective all-round local news-coverage for all parts of the region.
LOOK NORTH MUST LOOK NORTH 