UK Today
| UK Today | |
|---|---|
UK Today titles
|
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| Genre | National News |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | BBC News |
| Location(s) | Studio N6/N8, BBC Television Centre, London |
| Running time | 30 minutes (main bulletin) |
| Release | |
| Original network |
BBC One (in England Digital only) BBC Two (short bulletins) BBC News 24 |
| Picture format | PAL (576i, 16:9) |
| Original release | 1998 – 2002 |
UK Today was a BBC television news programme shown on most digital satellite and digital terrestrial versions of BBC One and BBC Two. It consisted of a round up of stories from the BBC's various local news programmes where it had not initially been possible to show regional variations. The programme was eventually replaced by digital feeds of each regional news service, finishing in 2002.
When the BBC started digital broadcasts, the various English regional versions of BBC One and Two were not available. BBC One carried variants only for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, whilst no variations were broadcast for BBC2; instead it had been decided to carry four variants of the new BBC Choice.
Lack of English variations on Satellite was due to a single broadcast feed being able to cover the entirety of England (in reality it could cover much of north and western Europe) whilst on digital terrestrial it was due to the regional broadcast centres in England not yet being equipped to 'opt in and out' of the digital network when digital terrestrial broadcasts began in 1998.
This presented a problem with two obvious solutions - either just show the BBC South East version of the channels (already used as a 'sustaining feed' in case of failure at the regional centres), or create new programming to fill the gaps. The decision was taken to go with the second option, although any non-news programming (such as the regional political slot) was filled by the South East region.
Despite the name, UK Today very rarely broadcast to the whole of the UK as BBC One Scotland, BBC One Northern Ireland, and BBC One Wales were available with their own news programming from the very start of digital enjoying their own satellite feeds and being fully equipped for digital terrestrial. Only BBC Two would carry UK Today to the whole of the UK.
In 2000, BBC Breakfast, a simulcast programme between BBC One and BBC News 24 was launched. Regional opt-outs on BBC News 24 carried UK Today across the UK.
Main bulletins at 1.30pm and 6.30pm were originally broadcast from within the BBC News 24 studio (N8), and simulcast on that channel though the set was later moved to the same studio as the BBC One news bulletins (N6).
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