The BBC will shorten the News at Ten from 45 minutes to 35 minutes next month to create a new regular slot for youth programming on BBC One and avoid the current overlap with Newsnight.
The nightly bulletin’s national news section runs at 31.5 minutes, followed by 11 minutes of “nations and regions” news and weather and another 2.5 minutes of UK weather for viewers in England.
From 4 March, however, the schedule will change as follows:
- National news will be cut by five minutes to 26.5 minutes
- Regional news and weather will be cut by four minutes to seven minutes
- National weather will be cut by a minute to 1.5 minutes for viewers in England.
On Mondays to Wednesdays each week the news will now be followed by BBC Three online shows in a “new, regular destination” youth programming slot on BBC One at 10.35pm.
On Thursdays Question Time will air after the news, but at this earlier time. The News at Ten already finishes at 10.35pm on Fridays to lead into the Graham Norton Show.
The BBC said: “The current Monday-Thursday schedule has only been in place since 2015 and we believe this change will better serve all our audiences.
“The award-winning BBC News at Ten will continue to bring high-quality reporting of the day’s events to its audiences.”
Newsnight begins nightly at 10.30pm on BBC Two, causing a 15-minute overlap in news and current affairs programming for four days each week. This will now be cut down to a five-minute overlap.
The BBC said the longer News at Ten package in place since the 2015 general election has made scheduling programmes after the news and weather more difficult.
The corporation said the new schedule “more closely mirrors what the BBC has historically done and what the BBC already does on a Friday”.
“We believe this will be better for audiences as those that want more in-depth news and analysis can move over to Newsnight on BBC Two and it will allow for a slightly earlier and more consistent start time for viewers to watch the programmes that follow.
“Clearly news and weather events will, on occasion, require the need for longer news and weather but this will be for moments of national or local significance.”
ITV News at Ten runs for half an hour followed by 15 minutes of regional news and weather during the week, in line with the BBC’s current offering.
Picture: BBC
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