24 redirects here . for the bbc department of the same name see bbc news . for other uses see bbc news disambiguation . bbc news launched 9 november 1997 ; 18 years ago 1997 11 09 network bbc television owned by bbc picture format 576i 16 9 sdtv 1080i hdtv audience share 1.04 % september 2015 2015 09 barb slogan britain s most watched news channel whenever you need to know live the story the world s newsroom breaking news developing stories country united kingdom language english broadcast area united kingdom and ireland headquarters bbc television centre 1997 2013 broadcasting house 2013 present formerly called bbc news 24 1997 2008 sister channel s bbc one bbc two bbc four bbc parliament cbbc cbeebies website www.bbc.co.uk tv bbcnews availability terrestrial freeview channel 107 hd channel 130 satellite freesat channel 200 sd hd channel 212 sd sky channel 503 sd hd channel 570 sd hd astra 2e 10818 v 22000 5 6 astra 2f 11024 h 23000 2 3 hd cable virgin media channel 601 channel 604 hd virgin media ireland channel 201 naxoo channel 216 wightfibre channel 25 iptv bt tv channel 107 hd swisscomtv switzerland channel arbitrary meo portugal channel 204 streaming media bbc iplayer watch live uk only bbc news online watch live uk only tvplayer watch live uk only filmon watch live worldwide access is available bbc news also referred to as the bbc news channel is the bbc s 24 hour rolling news television network in the united kingdom . the channel launched as bbc news 24 on 9 november 1997 at 17 30 as part of the bbc s foray into digital domestic television channels becoming the first competitor to sky news which had been running since 1989 . 1 for a time looped news sport and weather bulletins were available to view via bbc red button . on 22 february 2006 the channel was named news channel of the year at the royal television society television journalism awards for the first time in its history . 2 the judges remarked that this was the year that the channel had really come into its own . 3 from may 2007 uk viewers could watch the channel via the bbc news website . in april 2008 the channel was renamed bbc news as part of a 550 000 rebranding of the bbc s news output complete with a new studio and presentation . its sister service bbc world was also renamed bbc world news while the national news bulletins became bbc news at one bbc news at six and bbc news at ten . across the day the channel averages about twice the audience of sky news . as a major part of the bbc news department the channel is based at and broadcast from broadcasting house in central london . it was named rts news channel of the year again in 2009 . contents 1 history 1.1 2008 rebranding 1.2 move to broadcasting house 2 bbc news hd 3 programming 3.1 news 3.1.1 breaking news 3.1.2 overnight and bbc world news simulcasts 3.1.3 bbc one and bbc two daytime simulcasts 3.1.4 exclusive programmes 3.1.5 2015 schedule changes 3.1.6 bbc world news shared programming 3.2 sport coverage 3.3 business 4 news presenters 4.1 relief 5 presentation 5.1 graphics 5.2 the lambert report 5.3 countdown sequence 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit bbc news 24 was originally available to digital terrestrial satellite and cable television subscribers . to this day it and bbc parliament remain the only bbc digital channels which are made available to analogue cable subscribers . this coverage was improved in 1998 with the advent of digital television in the united kingdom allowing satellite and digital terrestrial television viewers to also view the service . initially it was difficult to obtain a digital satellite or terrestrial receiver without a subscription to sky or ondigital respectively but now the channel forms an important part of the freeview and freesat channel packages . the bbc had run the international news channel bbc world for two and a half years prior to the launch of bbc news 24 on 9 november 1997 . sky news had had a free hand with domestic news for over eight years since 5 february 1989 and being owned by news corporation their papers were used to criticise the bbc for extending its news output . 4 sky news objected to the breaking of its monopoly complaining about the costs associated with running a channel that only a minority could view from the licence fee . sky news claimed that a number of british cable operators had been incentivised to carry news 24 which as a licence fee funded channel was made available to such operators for free in preference to the commercial sky news . however in september 1999 the european commission ruled against a complaint made by sky news that the publicly funded channel was unfair and illegal under eu law . the commission ruled that the licence fee should be considered state aid but that such aid was justified due to the public service remit of the bbc and that it did not exceed actual costs . 5 the channel s journalistic output has been overseen by controller of the channel kevin bakhurst since 16 december 2005 . this was a return to having a dedicated controller for the channel in the same way as the rest of the bbc s domestic television channels . at launch tim orchard was controller of news 24 from 1997 until 2000 . editorial decisions were then overseen by rachel atwell in her capacity as deputy head of television news . her deputy mark popescu became responsible for editorial content in 2004 a role he continued in until the appointment of bakhurst as controller in 2005 . 6 a further announcement by head of television news peter horrocks came at the same time as bakhurst s appointment in which he outlined his plan to provide more funding and resources for the channel and shift the corporation s emphasis regarding news away from the traditional bbc one bulletins and across to the rolling news channel . the introduction of simulcasts of the main bulletins on the channel was to allow the news bulletins to pool resources rather than work against each other at key times in the face of competition particularly from sky news . 7 the bbc governors annual report for 2005 2006 reported that average audience figures for fifteen minute periods had reached 8.6 % in multichannel homes up from 7.8 % in 2004 2005 . 8 the 2004 report claimed that the channel outperformed sky news in both weekly and monthly reach in multichannel homes for the january 2004 period and for the first time in two years moved ahead of sky news in being perceived as the channel best for news . 9 2008 rebranding edit on 21 april 2008 bbc news 24 was renamed bbc news on the channel itself but is referred to as the bbc news channel on other bbc services . 10 this is part of the creative futures plan launched in 2006 to bring all bbc news output under the single brand name . 11 the bbc news channel moved from the studio n8 set which became home to bbc world news to what was the home of the national news in studio n6 allowing the channel to share its set with the bbc news at one and the bbc news at ten with other bulletins moving to studio tc7 . 12 move to broadcasting house edit the channel relocated along with the remaining bbc news services at television centre to the newly refurbished broadcasting house on 18 march 2013 at 13 00 gmt . presentation and on screen graphics were refreshed with new full hd studios and a live newsroom backdrop . moving cameras in the newsroom form part of the top of the hour title sequence and are used at the start of weather bulletins . 13 bbc news hd edit bbc news hd logo . on 16 july 2013 the bbc announced that a high definition hd simulcast of bbc news would be launched by early 2014 . 14 15 the channel broadcasts on the bbc s new hd multiplex on freeview . hd output from bbc news has been simulcast on bbc one hd and bbc two hd since the move to broadcasting house in march 2013 . the channel launched on 10 december 2013 at an early date though will roll out nationwide up to june 2014 as will bbc four hd and cbeebies hd . 16 programming edit this section does not cite any sources . please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . september 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message news edit bbc news at broadcasting house in march 2013 . each hour consists of headlines on each quarter hour extended at the top of the hour to form the main part of the daily schedule though these are interspaced with other programmes generally at weekends . this will be often be displaced by rolling news coverage including reports and live interviews . this channel also provides half hourly weather summaries by forecasters from the bbc weather centre and the sports news from the bbc sport centre at mediacityuk . at 21 25 a global weather forecast is broadcast and 21 55 weather for the week ahead is broadcast . breaking news edit the bbc maintains guidelines for procedures to be taken for breaking news . 17 with domestic news the correspondent first recorded a generic minute summary for use by all stations and channels and then priority was to report on bbc radio 5 live then on the bbc news channel and any other programmes that are on air . since 5 live s move to manchester this has been reversed . for foreign news first a generic minute is recorded then reports are to world service radio then the reporter talks to any other programmes that are on air . a key claim made by lord lambert in his report had been that the channel was slower to react to breaking news compared with its main rival sky news . 18 to counteract this a new feature introduced with the 2003 relaunch was a breaking news sting a globe shown briefly onscreen to direct a viewer s attention to the breaking news . the graphics relaunch in january 2007 has since seen the globe sting replaced by a red strapline to highlight the breaking story immediately . to complement this a permanent live news ticker had earlier been introduced in 2006 this had previously been in use only sporadically . news statements are shown as continuously scrolling upper case text located at the bottom of the screen ; some past ambiguities noted have included spelling the plural of mps as mps together with other occasional spelling and grammatical errors . the design of this ticker was slightly altered with the 2007 graphics redesign and from june turned red to indicate breaking news as newswatch reported viewers confusion . the ticker is removed during trails and weather forecasts . overnight and bbc world news simulcasts edit the bbc began simulcasting the channel overnight on terrestrial channel bbc one with the launch of the channel ending the tradition of a closedown but at the same time effectively making the service available to many more viewers . in the early 2000s bbc two also started simulcasting the channel although the weekend morning show weekend 24 had been simulcast on the channel in the early days . during major breaking news events the bbc news channel has been broadcast on bbc one ; examples of special broadcasts include the 11 september 2001 attacks 7 july 2005 london bombings the capture