years ago 1992 as the parliamentary channel owned by bbc picture format 576i 16 9 sdtv audience share 0.05 % september 2015 2015 09 barb formerly called the parliamentary channel 1992 1998 sister channel s bbc one bbc two bbc four bbc news cbbc cbeebies website www.bbc.co.uk parliament availability terrestrial freeview channel 131 satellite freesat channel 201 sky uk only channel 504 astra 2e 10788 v 22000 5 6 cable virgin media channel 605 wightfibre channel 26 streaming media bbc iplayer watch live uk only tvplayer watch live uk only bbc parliament is a british television channel which broadcasts live and recorded coverage of the house of commons house of lords and select committees of the parliament of the united kingdom the scottish parliament the london assembly the northern ireland assembly and the welsh assembly . the channel also broadcasts reports from the european parliament and the annual conferences of the main political parties and the trades union congress . on average 1.2 % of the uk s total population watch the channel for more than three minutes at least once per week ; these viewers watch for an average of just over two hours each over the course of the week . 1 on 14 october 2014 the channel received a new look and new idents its first revamp since 2009 . contents 1 history 2 programming 2.1 regular programming 2.1.1 election night 2.1.2 original programmes 2.2 archive and special programming 2.2.1 general election and referendum repeats 2.2.2 special programming 2.2.2.1 2005 2006 2.2.2.2 2007 2008 2.2.2.3 2009 2.2.2.4 2011 2.2.2.5 2013 2.2.2.6 2015 2.2.2.7 2016 2.3 former programming 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit before being taken over by the bbc the channel was known as the parliamentary channel operated by united artists cable and funded by a consortium of british cable operators . 2 the parliamentary channel launched as a cable exclusive channel in 1992 . the channel was purchased by the bbc in 1998 retitled bbc parliament and relaunched on 23 september 1998 . it now broadcasts on cable satellite and freeview . the channel ran as an audio service via dab from launch until 14 november 2000 . due to capacity limitations on the digital terrestrial television platform now known as freeview from launch until 30 october 2002 the channel ran as audio only . then on freeview from october 2002 until 13 november 2006 the channel was only able to broadcast a quarter screen picture . after receiving thousands of angry and perplexed emails and letters 3 not to mention questions asked by mps in the house itself the bbc eventually found the bandwidth to make the channel full screen . 4 until 2008 bbc parliament was unique amongst the bbc channels in being broadcast using non bbc facilities with itv s millbank studios in westminster supplying the engineering and playout facilities . production editorial and journalism were however maintained by the bbc . the channel s current identity went live on monday 10 october 2016 with refreshed music and idents based on clock workings with colours and images derived from the flags and assemblies of the british home countries and the europeand parliament . 5 the previous idents also based on a big ben clock motif ran from 2009 2016 . 6 this replaced the channel s previous identity which was first introduced in 2002 . 7 bbc parliament was taken off the air during the 2012 summer olympics on freeview in post digital switchover areas to enable bbc three to broadcast 24 hours a day . the bbc had done the same during the 2008 summer olympics as it used the space to provide an additional bbc red button option for freeview users . on 5 september 2016 bbc two began broadcasting bbc parliament during bbc two s overnight downtime . 8 programming edit regular programming edit whenever the house of commons is sitting bbc parliament carries the chamber live without interruption with any simultaneous house of lords sitting being shown in full later the same day and the following morning often in sections that fit around the sittings of the commons . the house of lords is broadcast live only on days when there is no house of commons sitting scheduled . bbc parliament also provides full recorded coverage of the house of commons second chamber westminster hall during weekends when they will also broadcast selected evidence sessions from different select committees of the house of commons . whenever both westminster chambers are in recess but a devolved assembly is constituted the channel will provide live coverage of its work while during westminster sessions coverage of the devolved assemblies usually takes the form of highlights at the weekend of the previous week s main debates and business . thus when taken together with both live and recorded coverage from the other bodies it covers bbc parliament s schedule is dominated by direct broadcasts of the legislative and political institutions whether they be plenary quasi plenary such as westminster hall or in committees that affect british public life . bbc parliament also shows a variety of other recorded programmes taken from across the bbc s national and international channels including booktalk face to face discussion with authors about recently released political books presented by mark d arcy . a summer special is also produced featuring several beach books . briefings a strand of programmes usually broadcast weekend evenings containing recorded coverage of major press briefings and conferences given by politicians in the previous week . daily politics a daily political programme broadcast weekdays on bbc two during parliamentary sessions and presented by andrew neil and jo coburn . daily politics discusses the latest political news from across the united kingdom and is repeated on bbc parliament every night at midnight . the sunday politics from bbc one including the london region opt out section is also repeated at midnight on the day of broadcast . dragon s eye produced by bbc wales presented by adrian masters or rhun ap iorwerth providing a weekly roundup of welsh political developments since replaced by the welsh section of sunday politics . e rpa produced by bbc g idhlig current affairs series which covers political and social developments covering europe transmitted in gaelic with english subtitles . hearts and minds produced by bbc northern ireland weekly programme covering the latest issues in the politics of northern ireland since replaced by the northern irish section of sunday politics . lords questions recorded coverage of the most recent session of questions in the house of lords . mayor s question time recorded coverage of the monthly question period in the london assembly to the mayor of london . prime minister s questions recorded coverage of the most recent session of prime minister s questions in the house of commons . live coverage is also provided on the channel without comment or interruption as part of the channel s live coverage of the house of commons sittings . question time repeated from bbc one a topical debate programme based on any questions which typically features politicians from at least the three major political parties as well as other public figures who answer questions put to them by the audience . repeated every sunday at 6pm . scottish first minister s questions recorded coverage of the most recent session of questions to the first minister of scotland in the scottish parliament . scottish first minister s questions is always broadcast on thursday evenings at 11 30pm and is repeated throughout the week . sunday politics scotland produced by bbc scotland the scottish section of the sunday politics presented by isabel frazer and transmitted on bbc one scotland . ten minute rule bill recorded coverage of a backbench mp seeking the leave of the house of commons to introduce a piece of legislation on a specific topic under the rules of standing order 23 . the day in parliament nightly programme broadcast at 11pm or following the adjournment of the house of commons if it sits after that time that rounds up the day s headlines from across all of the uk s legislative chambers . the record is usually presented by keith mcdougall alicia mccarthy joanna shinn or kristina cooper . the week in parliament a weekly 30 minute long analysis and discussion of major events in the uk s legislative chambers . special editions of the record are produced during westminster recesses reviewing the preceding session and at the end of the calendar year reviewing the previous 12 months . the weekly edition is presented by either keith mcdougall or alicia mccarthy and the special editions are often presented jointly by mcdougall and mccarthy . this week repeated from bbc one and presented by andrew neil . an often witty look at developments on the uk and international political scene with a variety of guest contributions and discussions . repeated at 10.15 pm every friday . the world debate part of a selection of programmes originally transmitted on bbc world news that are broadcast exclusively on bbc parliament to uk audiences such as the 2009 london intelligence squared debates . washington journal from c span providing a lookback at the week in american politics and providing the opportunity for uk viewers to contribute to a phone in debate . welsh first minister s questions recorded coverage of the most recent session of questions to the first minister of wales in the national assembly for wales . welsh first minister s questions is always broadcast on tuesday evenings at 11 30pm and is then repeated throughout the week . bbc parliament also broadcasts the annual party conferences of the uk s major political parties in full highlights of the smaller party conferences highlights of the general synod of the church of england live coverage of the annual chamber sitting of the uk youth parliament in the house of commons oral evidence sessions from the british youth council s youth select committee and the annual house of lords chamber event . election night edit in the event of one of the devolved nations producing their own results programme on election night normally the first thursday in may bbc parliament will usually broadcast this service to the whole of the united kingdom . on election night for the 2005 2010 and the 2015 general elections bbc parliament broadcast bbc scotland s result night coverage . it also took bbc scotland s coverage of the 2011 devolved assembly elections and in march 2011 bbc parliament simulcast bbc wales s results coverage of the nation s devolution referendum . original programmes edit bbc parliament often broadcasts its own original programmes . these can either be scheduled or used to fill any gaps in the billed programmes especially when live coverage of a legislative chamber ends before the next programme is due to start . the programmes cover a variety of political and parliamentary subjects including a to z of westminster a series of short programmes presented by bbc parliament researchers that seek to explain some of the more common aspects of parliamentary protocol . britain s best buildings only the episode that features the palace of westminster is broadcast usually edited down into short segments that focus on one specific feature of the palace . election file short summaries of previous general election results including short bursts of the bbc s original television coverage . these files are now rarely shown . in house a new strand of programmes that replaced a z of westminster in 2011 . the programmes are similar in function to their predecessor series seeking to explain some of the strange procedures that occur in parliament . laying down the law a standalone programme that explains the parliamentary stages a bill must go through to become an act of parliament . mp too a series of short programmes that look back at some eighteenth and nineteenth