49-827: BBC South is the BBC English Region serving Hampshire , Isle of Wight , Dorset , West Sussex , Oxfordshire , Berkshire and parts of Gloucestershire , Buckinghamshire , Northamptonshire , Surrey , and Wiltshire (including the city of Salisbury and Swindon ), with geographic coverage varying between digital, television and radio services. The region is headquartered in Southampton and has smaller offices in Brighton , Dorchester , Oxford , Reading , Swindon and Guildford . BBC South' s television output (broadcast on BBC One ) consists of its flagship regional news service BBC South Today and includes
98-530: A coverage area across three sub-regions in the South and South East of England. Freesat and Sky viewers in Brighton can receive either Meridian South or Meridian South East region on channel 103 as default via the depending postcode. This means that the city's news, sport and weather is covered by both sub-regional programmes. Its main competitors are BBC South 's main evening programme BBC South Today in
147-464: A map of the UK made out of squares. On 16 January 2006, this was altered following the change of ITV logo to a sequence showing footage of the region and ending with the name over a light blue and turquoise cylinder , and further altered on 15 December 2009 to match the new ITV News style. This latest style featured a yellow and translucent black colour scheme and again focusing on footage of locations within
196-567: A military HQ during the planning of the D-day landings. The building was famed for its clear views of Southampton docks, making events such as the departure of the Queen Mary easy to film, as cameras only had to set up on the roof of the building, though the technology used at South Western House was famed for its unreliability, as most of this equipment was second hand and brought in from other BBC buildings. The introduction of colour television in
245-475: A more localised Channel 3 news service were approved. ITV News Meridian extended the South and South East opt-out services by an extra five minutes during the half-hour 6pm programme, in addition to separate lunchtime and weekend bulletins for the two regions. A Thames Valley service was also reintroduced, consisting of a ten-minute opt out within the 6pm programme for the South and a late bulletin after News at Ten . The two late night bulletins are retained for
294-735: A programme producer. Mark Southgate recruited journalist Marc Percy. The three new-look programmes were hosted from an original set design was by Eye-Catching Design. All three editions of Meridian Tonight went onto win the Royal Television Society's Nations and Regions Programme of the Year award – the only time three programmes have tied for the top prize. Presentation for all three services moved to new smaller digital studios at Whiteley, near Fareham on Saturday 4 December 2004. The Northam studios in Southampton were sold for
343-583: A radical review of the BBC's network radio and non-metropolitan broadcasting structure – published on 10 July 1969. Before this the structure of regional broadcasting in England had remained virtually unchanged since the late 1920s, when the establishment of four regional radio transmission stations covering England had led to a regional structure on similar lines. BBC North was based in Manchester and covered
392-586: A raft of closures, restructures and cost-cutting measures and one of these was the decision not to renew We Are England for a third series. ITV News Meridian ITV News Meridian is a British television news service broadcast and produced by ITV Meridian . The news service is produced and broadcast from ITV Meridian's studios in Whiteley , near Fareham with reporters also based at bureaux in Didcot , Brighton and Maidstone . The service transmits to
441-402: A region as it acted as the sustaining service for the other regions. These regions (alongside the national regions BBC Scotland , BBC Wales and BBC Northern Ireland that performed a similar role outside England) were well-suited to delivering the pre-war BBC Regional Programme and the post-war BBC Home Service that replaced it. By the 1960s, though, the growth of television, the birth of
490-626: A reported £5 million for domestic housing and the studios near Maidstone were closed. The Meridian team in the South East moved back to the Maidstone Studios originally built by TVS and rejected by Meridian when they took over. Newsgathering operations in all areas were retained. In December 2006, the updates during GMTV became pan-regional. Weekend bulletins had become pan-regional across the South Coast and South East only, whilst
539-540: A small television news studio, the latter to enable local ( opt out ) programming. As a result of the latter, Plymouth -based BBC South West and Southampton -based BBC South were split from BBC West in Bristol; Norwich -based BBC East separated from BBC Midlands in Birmingham; a new smaller BBC North West was created from the existing Manchester -based region, with the old BBC North name being taken by
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#1732779983189588-436: Is based in Southampton , with local radio and television studios also in Brighton , Dorchester , Guildford , Oxford , Reading and Swindon . Prior to moving to the current studios in 1991, BBC South was based next to the disused Southampton Terminus railway station at South Western House, a former grand hotel set up to cater for first class passengers using the transatlantic liners from Southampton and latterly used as
637-453: Is covered by both BBC London , BBC South East and BBC South. The television output also produces occasional regional documentaries, the such as Titanic – Southampton Remembers and Sea City . The former, broadcast in April 2012, looks at the impact of the disaster on Southampton, where most of the ships staff were recruited while Sea City looks behind the scenes at Southampton Docks and
686-800: Is made up of 12 regions. Many of the names of these regions are similar to those of the official government Regions of England , but the areas covered are often significantly different, being determined by terrestrial transmission coverage rather than administrative boundaries. BBC English Regions has its headquarters at The Mailbox in Birmingham (West Midlands) and additional regional television centres in Norwich , Nottingham , Broadcasting House (London), Newcastle , MediaCityUK (Salford), Southampton , Tunbridge Wells , Plymouth , Bristol , Leeds , and Kingston upon Hull as well as local radio stations based at 43 locations across England. Overall,
735-401: Is themed around a different subtitle, with the first being Mental Health . Aisling O'Connor, the head of TV Commissioning for BBC England, commissioned 120 episodes to be broadcast in 2022, with the first being shown on 26 January 2022 at 7:30pm. In-addition to being shown on BBC One , select episodes are also repeated on BBC News and on BBC Three . In May 2022, the BBC announced
784-600: The BBC Home Service was to be replaced by BBC Local Radio . The report stated that the local radio experiment, started in 1967 "has proved that there is a demand for local radio" and that the BBC should "put forward to the Postmaster General a provisional scheme for expanding our local network to about forty stations" . This structure has largely survived since the 1970s. Local news services were developed on Ceefax from 1997 and were extended onto
833-609: The Look North branding for Yorkshire , East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire and the North East and Cumbria , with national bulletins for Scotland , Wales and Northern Ireland . All follow the national UK-wide BBC News bulletins. In May 2022 the BBC announced the cessation of the Cambridge and Oxford sub-regional television news bulletins as part of plans to move to a digital-first BBC. The last bulletins aired at 18:30 on
882-602: The Oxford transmitter were transferred from the large former BBC South East region, served by news programme Newsroom South East , and transferred to an opt out of the BBC South region served by South Today . Additionally, following the digital switchover of the Whitehawk Hill transmitter on 7 March 2012, Brighton and Hove transferred to the coverage of BBC South East . BBC South's regional broadcasting centre
931-521: The web in 1999. The decreasing costs of television production and improving technology also enabled the gradual development of even smaller regions. In 1991, BBC East Midlands was finally created in Nottingham , BBC London (separated from BBC South East) became a region in 2001 and BBC North was split into BBC Yorkshire and BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire in 2004 – with the new millennium seeing several BBC regions moving into new premises. In
980-416: The 16th December 2022. Programmes made for BBC English Regions include Walking with... and Winter Walks , two series produced by Cy Chadwick , where presenters take solitary walks along scenic paths, filming themselves and their surroundings with a 360-degree camera on a selfie stick . All the episodes from a series get a regional slot on BBC One where they are broadcast at all the same time, before
1029-636: The East, South and South West regions, sub-regional opt-outs during local news programmes have also been created (similar to those on ITV regional news programmes), based respectively in Cambridge, Oxford and Jersey. In total, the BBC has produced the regional news bulletins for London , the East , South East , South , South West , West , the West and East Midlands , and the North West regions of England, with
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#17327799831891078-590: The Meridian Tonight name. Following the merger of Granada plc and Carlton Communications in 2004 to form ITV plc , Meridian has used generic title sequences adopted across the ITV plc network of ITV stations. On 2 February 2004, this featured a blue and yellow look concentrating on vertical columns of translucent squares displaying images of the Meridian region, before ending with four square ITV logo over
1127-486: The South East edition of TVS's Coast to Coast . Three regional editors (later heads of news) were appointed to run each of the three news sub-regions: Meridian South went on air with Fred Dinenage (TVS & Southern) and Debbie Thrower (BBC), the South East anchors were Mike Debens (TVS) and Alison Holloway (Sky, ABC) and in the Thames Valley, Andy Craig (Central) partnered with Mai Davies (TVS). Carl Tyler did
1176-494: The South and Thames Valley regions; and BBC South East 's main evening programme BBC South East Today in the South East region. The programme is currently EDF Programme of the Year for London and the South East (for coverage of the 70th anniversary of D-Day) and the Royal Television Society's Southern Centre Programme of the Year (for coverage of the Eastbourne Pier fire) Meridian's flagship regional news programme
1225-556: The South and the South East, in addition to the new Thames Valley bulletin. The expanded sub-regional service launched on Monday 16 September 2013. The Head of News was Robin Britton. He previously launched Thames Valley Tonight and the West edition of Meridian Tonight . In September 2017 he was replaced by Alison Nice, a former content editor for ITV Meridian. Upon launch in 1993, Meridian decided that all three programmes would share
1274-542: The West retained its own weekend bulletins until 3 December 2006, when ITV Thames Valley was launched. On 4 December 2006, a merger between West and the ITV Central South sub-region took place, forming the non-franchise ITV Thames Valley news service, broadcasting Thames Valley Today/Tonight from the same studio at Whiteley. The merger saw Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and the Swindon area being added to
1323-559: The area from Cheshire and Sheffield northwards, BBC Midlands and East Anglia was based in Birmingham covering a swathe of central England from the Potteries to Norfolk , and BBC South and West was based in Bristol covering the area south and west of a line from Gloucester to Brighton . The London area, though it had regional transmission infrastructure of its own, produced only national programming and wasn't considered to be
1372-560: The articles produced for the BBC website. The BBC's television news operation in Southampton began on 5 January 1961 with the launch of South at Six , presented by Martin Muncaster, who had defected from Southern Television . The programme was later renamed as South Today . In 1967, Bruce Parker joined BBC South and went on to become its longest-serving presenter, anchoring South Today for over 30 years. In 1969, South Today became part of Nationwide , with its own opt-out section of
1421-423: The centre of the line separating the programme name. The look was changed again on 4 January 1999 with the new titles featuring a vibrant purple background being changed into yellows and reds to form the Meridian logo. The music remained the same, but was enhanced to be more dramatic with a voiceover at the beginning declaring "This is Meridian Tonight". The programme name now featured the Meridian logo above, or to
1470-420: The current affairs programme Inside Out and a weekly half-hour Sunday Politics show dedicated to the region. The region covers television services for Hampshire , Isle of Wight , Berkshire , Oxfordshire , most of Dorset and West Sussex and parts of Buckinghamshire , Wiltshire , Surrey , Northamptonshire and Gloucestershire . Due to the size of Surrey , the listenership of BBC Radio Surrey
1519-576: The division produces over 70% of the BBC's domestic television and radio output hours, for about 7% of the licence fee. Since April 2009, the English Regions division has been aligned with the BBC News department to "maximise co-operation in the BBC's news operations". The current BBC English Regions division was the product of the controversial Broadcasting in the Seventies report –
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1568-422: The early 1970s led to a major reconstruction of the building, which had a main studio (used largely for South Today ) and a small presentation studio for news bulletins and continuity – unusually, the camera for the small studio was situated in the outside corridor and looking into the room. In 1991, BBC South moved into new, purpose-built facilities at Havelock Road in Southampton. The new studios were built on to
1617-541: The end of 2008, in light of a restructuring through the ITV regional news network, around 100 staff across the three sub-regional news services in South East England were made redundant. A single edition of Meridian Tonight for the entire region was launched on 9 February 2009. Within this, two sub-regions created – South/Thames Valley and South East . The then remaining sub-regional elements were: Sangeeta Bhabra and Fred Dinenage were lead presenters of
1666-451: The main programme for local news. In 1984, following the end of the short-lived Nationwide replacement Sixty Minutes , South Today became a standalone programme, competing heavily ever since with the long-defunct Southern Television 's news programme Day by Day, TVS 's Coast to Coast and the present incumbent ITV News Meridian . The region itself has changed in size and shape on a few occasions. On 16 October 2000, areas served by
1715-487: The more locally based ITV franchises in 1955 and the development of smaller BBC Local Radio stations (made possible by the development of FM radio ) were making the structure look increasingly anachronistic. The effect of Broadcasting in the Seventies was to separate the two different roles of regional BBC offices into different organisations: Each of the production centres also had network radio studios ( BBC Birmingham , for instance, producing The Archers ) plus
1764-604: The newly created region based in Leeds ; and the existing Newcastle -based BBC North East separated from the old BBC North Region in this process. In addition, London and the surrounding area was finally recognised as a region with the creation of BBC South East although the region was not to get a dedicated regional programme of its own until 1982 and regional news bulletins for the area did not launch until September 1985. These new regions produced local news programmes and opt-outs on television, but regional radio programming on
1813-559: The region for news purposes. The former ITV Central South sub-region headquarters at Abingdon was retained as the main news gathering base for ITV Thames Valley, but the studio presentation facility was mothballed. Bulletins during GMTV became pan-regional across the ITV Meridian and ITV Thames Valley areas, and branded as GMTV News . Weekend bulletins continued to be separate Meridian News (pan-regional for South Coast and South East) and Thames Valley Today/Tonight services. At
1862-404: The same titles, music and name. From launch until 5 May 1996, the programme titles featured a large translucent Meridian logo flipping over to reveal and yellow and blue map of the region. Accompanied by a trumpeted fanfare, the region lights up with several dots marking Meridian's news-gathering centres, and three pulses marking Southampton, Maidstone and Newbury – the locations of each of
1911-543: The scaled back service. Both sub-regional editions use the same presenter(s) and studio/set, therefore one of the two opt-outs – depending on the day's news – is pre-recorded 'as live' shortly before broadcast. In February 2010, the programme won the Royal Television Society 's Award for Best Nations & Regions News Coverage. On Monday 14 January 2013, the news service was relaunched and rebranded as ITV News Meridian . On 23 July 2013, proposals for
1960-417: The side of the hill at the top of the city with the railway tunnel running directly underneath. This slope meant that the new television studios were far larger than the previous ones, as they could take up vast amounts of space on a lower level. The new facilities also included brand new equipment and technology, radio studios for BBC Radio Solent and editing suites. The extra space was because BBC South, at
2009-431: The side of the programme name and appearing as a digital on-screen graphic in the bottom left corner of the screen throughout the programme. The last Meridian individual look was introduced on 4 February 2002 and featured two translucent halves of Meridian's logo merging and moving together against a purple backdrop. The end board of the sequence saw to two-halves move closer against a stripe of red and yellow colour against
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2058-431: The three programmes. Each respective region would then zoom into their area, before the flipping logo reveals the programme name, separated by a horizontal line, at the end of the sequence. The title sequence and music was changed on 6 May 1996 to a blue and gold background variant, featuring a partly obscured circle displaying news related imagery, before flipping to reveal the centre of the Meridian logo falling back into
2107-556: The time, was one of the new regional production centres. Previously production centres had been in the large regions with studio facilities, these being the nations, BBC Midlands , BBC North West and BBC West . However, some smaller production centres were being trialled in the South and the North East . As a result, the new studio was made slightly larger so that it could accommodate a network production. The complex has two studios. A small studio at Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth
2156-489: The two stations in the BBC South East region every evening. The stations also simulcast overnight programming from BBC Radio 5 Live each night after closedown . BBC South produces online articles and video for Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Oxfordshire, Dorset and Berkshire which featured on BBC News Online, as well as producing content for the region's social media accounts. Text-based red button services come from
2205-411: The weather for Thames Valley and South and Ron Lobeck was also retained for the South East forecasts. Robin Britton recruited programme producer Paul Erlam and transport correspondent Mike Pearse ( Thames News ), along with Alison Black ( Channel 4 Daily ) and Peter Brookes ( TV-am ). Andy Cooper hired Nick Myers from TV-am, and moved Steve McDonnell from current affairs at TVS back into the newsroom as
2254-405: The whole series gets a national repeat on either BBC Two or BBC Four . In 2022, a new regional documentary strand titled We Are England was launched, as a replacement for the current affairs show Inside Out . A notable change is that episodes represent large, new, combinations of English regions, based in six main bases (Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, London, Newcastle and Norwich); each week
2303-516: Was broadcast in January 2013 with a second series in March 2014. The region is home to local radio stations BBC Radio Oxford , BBC Radio Berkshire and BBC Radio Solent . Radio Solent, BBC Radio Oxford and Radio Berkshire broadcast between 5 am and 1 am with local programming broadcast between 5 am and 7 pm on weekdays. The three stations carry networked programming with
2352-732: Was closed in June 2020, as part of a wider programme of cost reduction across BBC English Regions . BBC English Regions BBC English Regions is the division of the BBC responsible for local and regional television, radio, web , and teletext services in England , the Isle of Man , and the Channel Islands . It is one of the BBC's four "nations" – the others being BBC Cymru Wales , BBC Northern Ireland , and BBC Scotland . The division
2401-460: Was launched as Meridian Tonight on 4 January 1993 – three days after Meridian replaced Television South . Three sub-regional editions of the programme were broadcast simultaneously, from studios in Southampton, Maidstone, and Newbury. The three original sub-regional services for Meridian News/Tonight were: Meridian's first Controller of News was Jim Raven, who had previously been the Editor for
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