Another Moratorium on Cumbrian News from both Mainstream NW England’s Regional TV Providers

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17th February 2023

Dear Readers

We are into one of those periods- lasting a week or more- during which both BBC1 North West Tonight and ITV1 Granada Reports together seem to draw a red line from east to west across North West England, roughly from Fleetwood to Barnoldswick: It would seem that they agree, between themselves, that they will not provide news-coverage north of that line for a specified period.

VIEW NEAR LITTLEDALE, EAST OF LANCASTER IN MARCH 2003. FOLK WHO LIVE IN THIS PART OF THE WORLD WANT THEIR REGIONAL TV TO BE ABOUT LANCASHIRE AND CUMBRIA, RATHER THAN MAINLY GREATER MANCHESTER, MERSEYSIDE AND CHESHIRE. THEY DO NOT TAKE KINDLY TO BOTH THE MAINSTREAM REGIONAL TV NEWS-SERVICES SERVING NORTH WEST ENGLAND DECIDING TOGETHER NOT TO COVER THE 50% OF GEOGRAPHICAL NORTH WEST ENGLAND THAT IS NORTH OF LANCASTER FOR A WHOLE WEEK!

Quite why this happens at times is a mystery, though I have a suspicion that a couple of factors may come in to play. Firstly, there may be a desire among broadcasters to provide “Pure Greater Manchester, Merseyside and South Lancastria“- So that the 80% of viewers in the North West Regional TV transmission areas who live in those areas in the South of North West England get unadulterated really local news. After all, it’s important to keep the Great Majority of Viewers pleased and on-side, even if this is at the expense of the almost one million folk who live northwards of Preston (who have to put up with several episodes a year lasting a week or more with especially geographically- inappropriate Regional TV- even more so than usual). Perhaps they just have to put up with it! That sort of attitude is quite unacceptable to viewers who live North of Preston.

Viewers do, however, have a simple recourse to sway the considerations of North West Regional TV programmers who determine to side with the Urban Majority against the more Northerly Minority- for fear of losing viewers (and thus money): It’s called the threat of being boycotted by the smaller northern number who- if they are organised together- can pack a punch. Firstly viewers should write to BBC1 North West Tonight and ITV1 Granada Reports to demand better coverage of Lancashire and Cumbria- on the grounds, for instance, that viewers from Carnforth or Knott-End-on-Sea have little interest in goings-on in Birkenhead or Stockport but want to know about Morecambe Bay and the Lake District. This demand should be backed up by the promise to seek out alternative news-sources for geographic-appropriate news-coverage. If the demands are not met then viewers in the northern North West of England should switch over to That’s TV Lancashire (Freeview Channel 7 at 6.pm), ITV Border’s Lookaround or LancsLive (detals here: https://www.lancs.live/)- or whatever combination of these local websites or Regional TV news-services that are best for all-round coverage. Viewers should then deliver on their threat to boycott the mainstream North West England Regional TV News-services and shop around for a mix of these alternatives that provides best local news-coverage. If enough North Lancastrians and South Cumbrians do this, the mainstream North West Regional TV News- producers would change their mind about which side their bread is buttered and discover that is the viewers in the north of their transmission area that have more choice over what different Regional TV services that they can find!

It is viewers in the urban South of North West England that have much more limited options compared to the very good coverage that they have now with regards Regional TV: Is any significant portion of the five million Mancunians/ Liverpudlians and Chestonians really going to switch over to BBC1 Look North (Yorkshire) and ITV1 News Calendar -North (covering West and South Yorkshire and southern Yorkshire Dales and never getting west of the Pennines) if they just get 60% coverage of Greater Manchester/ Merseyside/ Cheshire rather than 80% coverage of Greater Manchester/ Merseyside/ Cheshire? Of course they won’t, why would they totally denude themselves of good local news- coverage just to make a point?

If the truth be known, viewers who live in the north of Greater Manchester- in towns like Rochdale, Bolton and Wigan- consider themselves Lancastrian rather than Mancunian and they expect from their North West Regional TV a bit more than just news about Manchester, Salford, Warrington and Merseyside: These areas are just an hour by car from the southern end of the Lake District and folk from northern Greater Manchester visit the Lake District in the summer, thus they are more likely to welcome some coverage of Cumbria and Lancashire! If, for instance BBC1 North West Tonight programmers decided that from now on that there will be at least one news-feature about Cumbria and at least one news-feature about northern Lancashire in every major bulletin it is very unlikely that a mass turning-off of BBC1 North West Tonight will ensue- rather something of the opposite with more viewers tuning in is more likely.

A second reason why programmers at both ITV1 Granada Reports and BBC1 North West Tonight may synchronise a retreat from any coverage of happenings northwards of Preston for a week or more might be the fear of “Certain Consequences” for encroaching on, or merely of being suspected of encroaching on, the neighbouring counterpart Regional TV transmission areas to the North, namely those of ITV1 Border Lookaround and BBC1 Look North (NE/Cumbria) Regional TV News-services respectively. These are transmitted to all of Cumbria but the southern coastal areas, and the northern two-thirds of Cumbria respectively. Do Programmers at BBC1 North West Tonight and ITV1 Granada Reports fear being slapped with massive fines to pay to their more northerly counterparts if they cover just a couple of items in Cumbria (perhaps for the benefit of their more northerly viewers)? And so do Programmers for BBC1 North West Tonight and ITV1 Granada Reports feel they have to back off and play “Very Safe” by not covering anything North of Preston for a week or more?

Surely it is the Courts only who have the power to impose fines, and surely the judges dealing with such cases realise that viewers in South Cumbria and North Lancashire wish to know about significant happenings just an hour’s drive to the north in places that are still part of North West England: If any judges dealing with complaints by BBC1 Look North (NE/ Cumbria) against BBC1 North West Tonight over the latter covering Cumbria ever happen to read this, I would sincerely urge you, Your Honours, to rule in the interests of viewers who live in North Lancashire and South Cumbria (and who really can only readily get BBC1 North West Tonight or ITV1 Granada Reports), who want to know what is happening in northern Cumbria, less than an hour’s drive away! Should BBC and ITV.Plc bosses withhold funds from BBC North West and/ or ITV1 Granada Reports respectively (i.e., impose an effective fine) on the basis of their covering Cumbria, then then the North West Regional TV producers should have legal recourse to make the respective BBC and ITV.Plc headquarters in London pay up on the grounds of the Public interest of viewers of Regional TV who live in northern North West England.

For the record, if this Website ever finds out anything like Roger Johnson, the main reporter for BBC1 North West Tonight, being told by Mark McAlindon (the BBC1 Reporter for Cumbria who normally reports for BBC1 Look North (NE/ Cumbria)) something like “Stay off our Patch!” I will encourage viewers in South Cumbria and northern Lancashire to write to the Department of Digital Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) to get them to make BBC1 NE/ Cumbria back off in the interest of viewers of BBC1 North West Tonight who live in northern North West England, and who might be rather more interested in what is happening in Cumbria! For the record, BBC1 Look North (NE/ Cumbria) provides a reasonable news-service for viewers in the urban North East of England and close to the Durham/ Northumberland and Cumbria borders, but neighbouring TV Regions should not complain and get threatening if a Regional TV News-service reports on something just over the transmission boundary for the benefit of viewers living near the edge of that transmission boundary: That really is not acceptable!

Whatever the reasons, it is the almost one million inhabitants who live in South Cumbria and northern Lancashire who suffer poor all-round or local coverage whenever both BBC North West and ITV1 Granada have a moratorium on news-coverage northwards of Preston (the extensive coverage of Nicola Bulley being the sole Lancashire exception). This will keep happening until a sufficient number of viewers who live northwards of Preston stand up to say “This is unacceptable as a Regional TV News-service for our Communities!“, and then put pressure upon the North West’s Regional TV News- producers for major improvement. This requires more than just writing e-mails to BBC1 North West Tonight or ITV1 Granada Reports. It will require writing to MPs, to the DCMS to put pressure on BBC1 North West Tonight and ITV1 Granada Reports and it will need viewers in northern North West England to campaign effectively for better Regional TV and to boycott both mainstream North West Regional TV News-providers in lieu of other local news sources that are credible (or at least tolerable for long enough) so as to put pressure on the mainstream Regional TV News- providers in North West England. It will probably involve political pressure- with pressure especially upon the BBC to stop cutting Regional TV budgets!

I am not a Socialist and I do not think tax-payers should be taxed more to pay for better Regional TV services (News- providers do need to be able to report on Local and National Government issues without fear or favour, and they cannot do this if they depend on Government money). However, there is a strong need to give the BBC- and ITV.Plc- other local fund-raising freedoms (i.e., product placement, local lotteries, etc.) so that both the BBC and ITV.Plc can be mandated to put more money into funding more, and better resourced, Regional TV services covering more areas more locally. If the TV Licence-fee is to be phased out, it is essential that legislation is passed by the Conservative Government (or Labour, if they get in within the next two years) that provides both BBC1 and ITV.Plc with revenue-raising measures to help plug the shortfall, and even provide extra funds to pay for more local Regional TV services. Subscriptions will certainly need to be part of the mix but providing the BBC with a totally tax-free status (and enshrining this in the BBC Charter in a way that cannot be undone by future Governments), then allowing product placement, local business sponsoring and local Lotteries to fund BBC Regional TV programming only could also be measures to achieve this aim.

The ultimate aim of this Website is for there to be a bespoke BBC1 North West Tonight for northern Lancashire and for South (and probably also West) Cumbria that provides much more geographic-appropriate news-coverage for all those parts of northern North West England. The Isle of Man also needs its own bespoke Isle of Man news-service as it is a small country in its own right.

Published by northwestisnorthwest

My name is Ian Pennell and I am a freelance Book-keeper: I live near Alston, in the North Pennines in north-east Cumbria. I have friends who live in northern North West England - near Lancaster (which is where I went to University and used to live until 17 years ago) and in other parts of Cumbria. I have two Website Campaigns that seek to promote more localised Regional TV coverage for large rural areas across the North of North West England and North East England. . A big problem is that the Regional Television Bulletins for the North West covers the southern third of the Region about 90% (plus a part of Derbyshire which is NOT the North West of England), covers the middle third of North West England poorly and covers the northern third of North West England not at all! When I was studying at Lancaster University, I used to watch BBC1 North West Tonight because it covered areas up around where I was brought up- in northern Cumbria as well as more immediately locally around Lancaster. Then I came home one day, turned on BBC1 North West Tonight wondering why they were silent on Cumbria and discovered why: Most of Cumbria had been chopped off the weather-map! . People living in the westernmost part of North West England (around St. Bees Head) have local BBC news on their televisions which is 90% about North East England! In rural and northern Northumberland too, Regional TV, as is received by viewers, tends too often to be Tyneside/ Wearside/ Teesside- focussed with little news locally. Communities in North Northumberland have strong links across the Border into south-east Scotland and towards Edinburgh but none of the Regional TV News- services serving Northumberland today ever goes across the Scottish Border for significant happenings of interest to North Northumbrians. I have also done walking in the area, including around the Cheviots in the past- and the Northumberland/ Scottish Borders/ East and Mid Lothian area is vast- but it is largely overlooked by mainstream Regional TV! . North Yorkshire, the largest county in England also falls in the gaps between coverage from BBC Look North (NE/ Cumbria) or ITV1 News Tyne Tees in the north of the county, and the Leeds-based BBC1 and ITV1 Regional TV- services in the south of the county: North Yorkshire is a huge, yet beautiful county, which I have visited and explored in the past, yet is poorly covered in Regional TV. . Based near Alston, near the Cumbria/ Northumberland boundary I am well-placed to discuss Regional TV in all these large rural areas, in which collectively some two million folk live, yet they are poorly covered by the Regional TV News- services set up to serve them. These huge areas are an hour to two hours' drive from where I live: North Lancashire and South/ West Cumbria are to the south-west, Northumberland and the Scottish Borders and Lothian are to the north and north-east, and North Yorkshire is to the south-east of my home near Alston. I am well-placed to draw attention to deficiencies in Regional TV coverage for folk in all these areas. The North Pennines, where I live, is arguably another large area that touches on the other three where Regional TV coverage falls through the gaps completely (and that is despite the North Pennines running north to south down the middle of the BBC1 NE/ Cumbria Region). . In two websites, one for northern North West England and the Isle of Man (a country in it's own right that does not have it's own TV service!), and another Website focussing on Northumberland, North Yorkshire and the North Pennines I make the point that Regional TV that informs viewers of important things in their local area is a Public Service, funding for which should be given a higher priority (and if necessary via statute through the BBC's Charter), than funding for Soaps, Films or Sport- which are for leisure. I also give viewers the tools to fight effectively for better- and more geographic-appropriate Regional TV where they live- and to seek it through alternative (often little-known) local TV services, some of which may only be available on the Internet.

3 thoughts on “Another Moratorium on Cumbrian News from both Mainstream NW England’s Regional TV Providers”

  1. Yes time Isle of Man have own bbc, itv / channel 3 license

    pay by the tv license or itv other company get a Chanel 3 license
    or some own local tv channel 7 /8

    Maybe time Manx government or local company sponsor
    Pay for a Isle of Man tv service.

    Maybe we northern west is northwest / Isle of Man people should make start fund raise campaign start up a local tv channel One for Cambria & Lancaster and one for Isle of Man like if bbc & itv not doing anything mybe time we take up in own hands sort out tv service by fundraising for local tv channel pay by fundraising & ween channel up running pay with advertise / sponsors

    What think if bbc / itv not do anything maybe it’s time to start up fundraising to start up a local tv channels ?

    Reply

    1. I completely agree that until the BBC stumps up the funding for new BBC1 Regions for Cumbria and Northern Lancashire and another for the Isle of Man that viewers in northern NW England and also Manx viewers will continue to suffer from irrelevant and geographically- inappropriate Regional TV News- services. Another solution could be for the Isle of Man to be returned to ITV Border Lookaround where, sharing news with just a million other viewers across the transmission area (as opposed for over seven million in the ITV Granada transmission area), the Isle of Man stands a better chance of getting better news-coverage. That said, the Isle of Man should have it’s own TV- service being a country in its own right- after all the Faeroe Islands, which half the population of the Isle of Man, have their own TV News-service!

      Certainly there is a case for everywhere north of Preston being moved from the ITV Granada transmission area to ITV Border, so that all northern North West England gets Lookaround: This means South Cumbria and northern Lancashire would get much better coverage. Northern Lancashire has stronger ties to the Lakes than to Manchester and Merseyside, ITV Border covers Cumbria very well so this would be the logical option.

      However, as you point out, none of this will happen without communities coming together to campaign for better, and more local Regional TV services. This will involve political pressure as well as viewers writing to the broadcasters concerned to get better coverage. It will probably require legislative changes to make broadcasters fund both BBC1 and ITV1 Regional news- services better and pay for more of them before we do see bespoke Regional TV services both for northern North West England and for the Isle of Man.

      Ian Pennell
      (Proprietor, NorthWest Is NorthWest)

    2. Well do Koan Manx public and Manx government try save itv borders, for isle of man but big boss of itv did not listen To be honest I think the option should be ITV Isle of Man. Yes think Isle of Man more chance to get the politicians on our side, then in the UK as the politician, more local in Isle of Man and more whant local service also if we get mostly half of the voting public to sign for it a petition for a itv or bbc / tv channel we can give the petition on tynwald day and it is by law they have to take that petition on that day think time soon if bbc not do anything some ele will

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