 .svg) BBC South West's area within the UK | |
| TV transmitters | Beacon Hill Caradon Hill Frémont Point Huntshaw Cross Redruth Stockland Hill |
|---|---|
| Radio stations | BBC Radio Guernsey BBC Radio Cornwall BBC Radio Devon BBC Radio Somerset BBC Radio Solent BBC Radio Jersey |
| Headquarters | Plymouth |
| Area | Cornwall Devon Isles of Scilly West Somerset parts ofTaunton Deane West Dorset Channel Islands |
| Nation | BBC English Regions |
Key people | Leo Devine (Head of Regional & Local Programmes) |
Official website | https://news.bbc.co.uk/local/hi/default.stm |
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Commercial subsidiaries |
Key properties in London |
Birmingham |
BBC South West is theBBC English Region servingCornwall,Devon,Isles of Scilly,West Somerset,West Dorset andChannel Islands.
BBC South West's television service (broadcast onBBC One South West) consists of the flagship regional news serviceSpotlight, the opt-out serviceBBC Channel Islands, and a 20-minute opt-out duringSunday Politics.
BBC South West coversCornwall,Channel Islands,Devon,West Dorset andWest Somerset.
Due to the size ofWest Dorset, the listenership ofBBC Radio Solent is covered by bothBBC South and BBC South West.
The region is the controlling centre forBBC Radio Devon,BBC Radio Cornwall,BBC Radio Somerset,BBC Radio Jersey andBBC Radio Guernsey.
On weekdays, the five stations carry local programming between 5 am and 7 pm before joining together for networked programming between 7 pm andclosedown at 1 am. Weekend evening programmes are also simulcast with stations in theBBC West region.
BBC South West also produces regional news & local radio pages forBBC Red Button andBBC Local websites for each county.
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BBC South West began a regional television service on 20 April 1961 (nine days before the first broadcast of the rivalITV station,Westward Television) with ten-minute news bulletins on weekdays, originally presented by Tom Salmon. A year later, the bulletin was expanded and relaunched as the news magazine programmeSouth West at Six (hosted bySheila Tracy) before being renamed again on 30 September 1963 asSpotlight South West.
An opt-out for the Channel Islands was introduced during the 1990s, beginning with short bulletins after theNine O'Clock News on weeknights, presented from a small studio at theFrémont Point transmitter. The service was expanded on 16 October 2000 and now incorporates the first half ofSpotlight's main 6:30pm programme (under the nameBBC Channel Islands News) and the full late bulletin after theBBC News at Ten on weeknights. The service is now based at the studios ofBBC Radio Jersey in St Helier.
Following the merger ofWestcountry andHTV West to become ITV West & Westcountry in February 2009 (later becoming "ITV West Country" on 1 January 2014),Spotlight is now the only regional TV news service dedicated entirely to, and produced in, the South West, as the ITV service (ITV News West Country) is based in Bristol with bulletins and opt-outs for the region.ITV Channel Television continues to produce and broadcast its own dedicated local news service for the Channel Islands from its studios near St Helier in Jersey.
The regional headquarters and television centre is at Broadcasting House in the Mannamead area ofPlymouth, with offices and television studios also inSt Helier,Saint Peter Port,Dorchester,Taunton,Truro andExeter.[citation needed]
The Plymouth studios were originally a Victorian villa on Seymour Road calledIngledene before being bought by the BBC following theSecond World War and subsequently fitted out with technical facilities. A new colour television studio was added to the complex in 1974, allowingSpotlight to broadcast in colour for the first time. The studios were due to close in late 2011, with BBC South West moving to a new purpose-built broadcasting centre on the banks ofSutton Harbour, opposite theBarbican in Plymouth city centre.[1] The move stalled, however, due to a developer pulling out of the project and the effect of the recession on the construction industry. In late 2012, the owner of the harbour expressed fears the move may never happen and admitted other parties had expressed an interest in moving to the site earmarked for the BBC.[2] In 2013, the BBC confirmed it would not be moving to Sutton Harbour, but instead be refurbishing its existing Plymouth headquarters.[3] The studios in St Helier, Jersey are used for the opt out Channel Islands news bulletins.
