BBC West is one of
BBC's English Regions serving
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
, the majority of
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
and
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of Gl ...
; northern and eastern
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
, locator_map =
, coordinates =
, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
, origin =
, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
and northeastern
Dorset
Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...
.
Services
Television
BBC West's television service (broadcast on
BBC One
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...
) consists of the flagship regional news service ''
BBC Points West
''BBC Points West'' (known as ''News West'' from June 1991 until May 2000) is the BBC's regional TV news programme for the West of England, covering Bristol, the majority of Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, northern, eastern and parts of western ...
'', the topical magazine programme ''Inside Out West'' and a 30 minute political programme ''
Sunday Politics
''Daily Politics'' was a BBC Television programme which aired between 6 January, 2003 and 24 July, 2018, presented by Andrew Neil and Jo Coburn. ''Daily Politics'' took an in-depth review of the daily events in both Westminster and other areas a ...
''.
Radio
The region is the controlling centre for
BBC Radio Bristol
BBC Radio Bristol is the BBC's local radio station serving Bristol, Bath and North & North East Somerset.
It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at Broadcasting House in Bristol.
According to RAJAR, the stati ...
,
BBC Radio Gloucestershire
BBC Radio Gloucestershire is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Gloucestershire.
It broadcasts on FM, DAB, AM, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at Portland Court in Gloucester.
According to RAJAR, the station has ...
&
BBC Radio Wiltshire
BBC Radio Wiltshire is the BBC's local radio station serving the English county of Wiltshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at Prospect Place in Swindon.
According to RAJAR, the station had a weekly a ...
Radio Bristol, Radio Gloucestershire and Radio Wiltshire broadcast local programming every day between 5am and 7pm, while BBC Somerset was broadcast by
BBC South West local programming at breakfast from Monday to Saturday, weekday drivetime and Saturday afternoons, simulcasting Radio Bristol at all other times. The three stations simulcast networked programming each evening, joined by stations in the
BBC South West region at weekends. Radio Bristol also broadcasts through the night on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
Online and interactive
BBC West also produces regional news and local radio pages for the
BBC Red Button
BBC Red Button is a brand used for digital interactive television services provided by the BBC, and broadcast in the United Kingdom. The services replaced Ceefax, the BBC's analogue teletext service. BBC Red Button's text services were due to cl ...
and ''BBC Local'' websites for each county.
History
BBC West launched a regional television service from Bristol in September 1957. Initially broadcast from the
Wenvoe transmitter
The Wenvoe transmitting station, officially known as Arqiva Wenvoe, is the main facility for broadcasting and telecommunications for South Wales and the West Country. It is situated close to the village of Wenvoe in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, i ...
on the outskirts of Cardiff, the geographical nature of the Wenvoe signal meant the first regional news bulletins were broadcast to both Wales and the West of England, sharing a ten-minute timeslot with ''News from Wales''.
Until December 1960, news bulletins from Bristol also served the south coast of England, which latterly received its own
regional programme. The weekday timeslot for regional news extended to 25 minutes in September 1962 – around this time, the West of England bulletin became known as ''Points West'' while the Welsh bulletins received a more comprehensive relaunch as ''
BBC Wales Today
''BBC Wales Today'' is the BBC's national television news programme for Wales, broadcast on BBC One Wales from the headquarters of BBC Cymru Wales in Central Square, Cardiff. According to the BBC, it is the world's longest-running television ne ...
''.
The opening of a second signal from Wenvoe in February 1964 finally allowed the split of BBC television in Wales and the West. A separate
BBC Wales
BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Wales.
It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, BBC Cymru Wales is ...
channel was launched while BBC West became a full regional opt-out service to the extent seen in other English regions, with ''Points West'' becoming a full-length programme.
''Points West'' continued until 1991, when the service was renamed ''BBC News West''. The ''Points West'' brand was revived on Monday 22 May 2000 with the launch of the BBC's generic regional news graphics and presentation.
Studios
BBC West's
regional broadcasting centre is located on Whiteladies Road in the
Clifton
Clifton may refer to:
People
*Clifton (surname)
*Clifton (given name)
Places
Australia
* Clifton, Queensland, a town
**Shire of Clifton
*Clifton, New South Wales, a suburb of Wollongong
*Clifton, Western Australia
Canada
*Clifton, Nova Scotia ...
area of
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
with local radio studios and television bureaux also in
Bath,
Gloucester
Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...
,
Swindon
Swindon () is a town and unitary authority with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Wiltshire, England. As of the 2021 Census, the population of Swindon was 201,669, making it the largest town in the county. The Swindon un ...
and
Taunton
Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...
.
The Bristol studios are the main base for ''
Points West'',
BBC Radio Bristol
BBC Radio Bristol is the BBC's local radio station serving Bristol, Bath and North & North East Somerset.
It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at Broadcasting House in Bristol.
According to RAJAR, the stati ...
and various regional and, previously, network programmes. Network output is now made at other specially built facilities or does not use a studio. The site originally had two studios, A and B, which catered for all output - network programming was produced from Studio A and ''Points West'' and other regional output from Studio B. Studio A was closed in 1991 as a cost-saving measure, and in 1996 the site was altered so that new gallery facilities were inserted into part of Studio A. The now smaller Studio A is now used for ''Points West'', while Studio B has been demolished.
See also
*
BBC English Regions
BBC English Regions is the division of the BBC responsible for local and regional television, radio, World Wide Web, web, and teletext services in England, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands. It is one of the BBC's four "nations" – the o ...
*
BBC Radio Bristol
BBC Radio Bristol is the BBC's local radio station serving Bristol, Bath and North & North East Somerset.
It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at Broadcasting House in Bristol.
According to RAJAR, the stati ...
*
BBC Radio Gloucestershire
BBC Radio Gloucestershire is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Gloucestershire.
It broadcasts on FM, DAB, AM, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at Portland Court in Gloucester.
According to RAJAR, the station has ...
*
BBC Wiltshire
BBC Radio Wiltshire is the Local BBC Radio, BBC's local radio station serving the English county of Wiltshire. It broadcasts on frequency modulation, FM, Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at Prospect Pla ...
*
BBC Somerset
BBC Radio Somerset is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Somerset.
It broadcasts on FM, AM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios in the Blackbrook area of Taunton.
According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly a ...
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bbc West
West
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic languages, German ...
Television channels and stations established in 1952