Forum for former BBC staff

Forum for former BBC staff
http://www.ex-bbc.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl >> News and Comment >> Razor-Blades ready? http://www.ex-bbc.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1365716760 Message started by Administrator on Apr 11^th, 2013, 9:47pm

Title: Razor-Blades ready?
Post by Administrator on Apr 11^th, 2013, 9:47pm

According to "The Guardian":-

"Huge demand for archive footage of the late Lady Thatcher has exposed problems with plans to make the BBC's New Broadcasting House "tapeless'.

BBC News staff are having to ferry tapes across London in taxis or pay thousands of pounds to get outside companies to get videos converted to digital.

According to BBC sources, footage for Tuesday's TV news bulletins had to be physically brought from the corporation's archive storage in Perivale in north-west London to New Broadcasting House by a member of staff on the tube.

.....According to one BBC insider, after the death of Thatcher on Monday at one point there were four producers in the bulletins area queuing up to use the one tape machine that had been provided and in Newsnight's area "there are tapes all over the place"."

Full story here.

Title: Re: Razor-Blades ready?
Post by Administrator on May 3^rd, 2013, 8:22am

According to a later report in the same newspaper, here, there are problems with the new systems.

"A £133m digital video archive designed to ensure the redeveloped New Broadcasting House is "tapeless" is not working according to programme-makers, with old-fashioned tape editing machines having to be installed as a result.

However, because the corporation's central London headquarters was not designed to accommodate the heat from the tape editing machines, plans are being discussed to put them in a specially constructed, refrigerated area."