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BBC Technical Glitch Leaves TV Presenter In Silence (theguardian.com)

Posted by msmash on from the call-IT dept.

Viewers of BBC's News at Ten were entranced last night when a glitch in its system produced over four minutes of surreal beauty. Two readers share a report: Huw Edwards was left sitting in silence for four minutes at the start of BBC News at Ten on Tuesday night after a technical fault delayed the start of the programme and bemused viewers. Viewers on some devices and channels were left watching the presenter sitting in silence as he waited for his cue to start. The BBC News Channel showed Edwards sitting mute for the entirety of the delay, while BBC1 put up a message apologising for the fault and played saxophone music. On BBC iPlayer an announcer apologised for the glitch and breaking news alerts also appeared during the delay. When the programme started at 22:04, Edwards apologised for what he described as a "few technical problems." The presenter said on Wednesday that nobody had told him he was on air until two minutes into the delay. However, Edwards told Radio 4's The Media Show that he "sensed I might be on" so took "the most conservative approach possible" and sat at his desk reading his notes before the bulletin started. BBC hasn't shared more about those "technical glitches." You can watch the clip here.

56 comments

  1. Missed opportunity by damn_registrars · · Score: 1

    This is how it should have been played out

    --
    Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
    1. Re:Missed opportunity by Mats+Svensson · · Score: 1

      The uploader has not made this video available in your country.
      Sorry about that.

    2. Re:Missed opportunity by Big+Hairy+Ian · · Score: 1

      I think the only missed opportunity here was for a "News @ 11" gag

      --

      Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.

  2. WTH by Holi · · Score: -1, Troll

    How the fuck is a news program's minor technical glitch worthy of the front page?

    --
    Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
    1. Re:WTH by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      Heat wave in California. The editors are exhausted from the heat. Plus the cat is in heat. So this is Really Big News for today.

    2. Re:WTH by fabriciom · · Score: 1

      Hello, we are starting a class action suit and where wondering if you are interested in joining. We are planning to sue BBC for our valuable 10 minutes loss from our lives.

    3. Re:WTH by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How the fuck is a news program's minor technical glitch worthy of the front page?

      Thank you for beating me to this post, as I couldn't have said it better. I was going to mention that the news stations around me fuck up probably once a night. Maybe not for 4 minutes, but who cares.

    4. Re:WTH by kwbauer · · Score: 0

      That is almost as bad as people trying to get a class action suit going against Lowes and Home Depot for selling 2x4s that are actually 1.5 x 3.5, etc.

    5. Re:WTH by fabriciom · · Score: 1

      Dam right! where do I sight up for this law suit?

    6. Re:WTH by aevan · · Score: 1

      It's the first time the BBC has had four minutes of honesty in years?

    7. Re:WTH by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      u voted for trump, right?

    8. Re:WTH by meadow · · Score: 1

      A technical glitch in the presentation of news is more interesting than actual news.

      New network is being syndicated: Technical Glitch News Network (TGNN), coming soon to your cable provider.

  3. Performance art by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Really, the Beeb with its limited budget is just experimenting with performance art. Subtly ironic and it was actually a huge success.

    1. Re:Performance art by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's "limited" 5 billion pound/year budget isn't enough to provide working audio....

      k

  4. Maybe BBC needs a backup plan by OffTheLip · · Score: 3

    If this story is real or somehow relevant to Slashdot then the network should be criticized for not preparing for this sort of event.

    1. Re:Maybe BBC needs a backup plan by omnichad · · Score: 0

      That's exactly right. If something like this happens, there should be a contingency to switch to full manual control (even if "manual" still belongs in quotation marks). They spent way too long trying to fix it on the spot when they should have just bypassed the whole thing.

    2. Re:Maybe BBC needs a backup plan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      what about switching over to playalong get in the top 10 for your chance to win in bonus ball bonanza

    3. Re:Maybe BBC needs a backup plan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      big deal. 4 minutes.

      "technical glitches" have grounded entire airlines for hours or days, even. a fiber cut can take out all communications in a city or region for days. 4 minutes. 4 minutes of a television program. man, that's nothing. it's so fucking insignificant, it's not even noteworthy.

      they should be commended, not criticized. at least they didn't do the american thing and squeeze a few more minutes of commercials into the broadcast.

    4. Re:Maybe BBC needs a backup plan by Strider- · · Score: 4, Interesting

      BBC Radio actually does have a backup system (or used to) that involved DAT players, and a system that would run them should it detect more than 2 minutes of silence. This became an issue when they wanted to broadcast a performance of John Cage's 4'33". The subtle sounds of the orchestra turning the pages and the crowd noise was not sufficient to reset the watchdog, so it had to be temporarily disabled for the duration of the broadcast.

      --
      ...si hoc legere nimium eruditionis habes...
    5. Re:Maybe BBC needs a backup plan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >If this story is real

      It's not just real..It's surreal

    6. Re:Maybe BBC needs a backup plan by mrbester · · Score: 3, Interesting

      It's part of the licence to broadcast radio 24hrs a day that there be no more than *20s* of dead air. Nearly every commercial radio station in UK has had incidents where a crossover didn't happen or a track didn't play and after total silence suddenly unannounced music will start.

      Also because of these regulations, the two minutes silence on Armistice Day has the gain turned up to eleven so you can hear traffic from six streets away and the slightest breeze rustling leaves on the trees.

      --
      "Wait. Something's happening. It's opening up! My God, it's full of apricots!"
    7. Re:Maybe BBC needs a backup plan by Strider- · · Score: 1

      Also, BBC 4 used to be part of the UK Nuclear deterrence system. If a submarine commander thought that the UK had been attacked, one of the tests was to check whether BBC Radio 4 was still broadcasting.

      --
      ...si hoc legere nimium eruditionis habes...
    8. Re:Maybe BBC needs a backup plan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If this story is real or somehow relevant to Slashdot

      bbc and npr are really important to hipsters

    9. Re:Maybe BBC needs a backup plan by newcastlejon · · Score: 1

      Also, BBC 4 used to be part of the UK Nuclear deterrence system. If a submarine commander thought that the UK had been attacked, one of the tests was to check whether BBC Radio 4 was still broadcasting.

      Ah, so that's why Just a Minute has been going as long as it has. Nicholas Parsons, the dead man's switch for the free world!

      --
      If God forks the Universe every time you roll a die, he'd better have a damned good memory.
    10. Re:Maybe BBC needs a backup plan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I recall tv going offline (offair) for minutes at a time a few times a month back in the 70's. I've even seen parodies of "Please stand by, we are experiencing technical difficulties" in Pixar movies.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbwFBiOmvyo

  5. not first by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...and nothing of value was lost.

  6. Good thing too by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

    A refreshing change. He's normally a right Welsh windbag.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  7. Saxophone Music? by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 0

    BBC1 put up a message apologising for the fault and played saxophone music.

    Let me guess...

  8. Perhaps the saxophone music was "Yackety Sax"? by pj2541 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Otherwise known as the theme song to the Benny Hill Program.

  9. Shocked. by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 1

    OH. MY. GOD!

    BBC1 put up a message apologising for the fault and played saxophone music.

    It had better have been the Smooth Jazz Pink Floyd Greatest Hits...

    --
    If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
    1. Re:Shocked. by ColaMan · · Score: 1

      It was Yakkety Sax, as is tradition.

      --

      You are in a twisty maze of processor lines, all alike.
      There is a lot of hype here.
    2. Re:Shocked. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I was expecting Portal smooth jazz.

  10. Come on Slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    getting closer and closer to yahoo news.

  11. Wut? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No one in the Studio was able to yell at him, yo, you're on air?! and the guy is sitting there for 4 minutes?? No, "hey, are we on?" or something? Keep calm and stay british?? Or was the Glitch in his programing?

    1. Re: Wut? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The 10pm news is the flagship news program on BBC 1. They went to continuity there; however they also show it on the rolling news channel and they didn't have a fallback there.

      Pulling figures out of my ass, I would guess 95% of viewers would be watching on BBC1.

    2. Re:Wut? by Megane · · Score: 1

      The more important question is, were those responsible sacked?

      --
      #naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
  12. It was most excellent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Between this and the jounalist with the kids that charge the room, the BBC has had some of the most enjoyable moments on television this year

    1. Re:It was most excellent by ausekilis · · Score: 1

      I think they should have sent that other guys daughter to strut on in like she owns the place. That would have been a much more entertaining 4 minutes.

  13. What? Why?! by freeze128 · · Score: 1

    "You can watch the clip here."

    With every bit of entertainment available to everyone around the world at a moment's notice, why would anyone in this ADHD age want to watch a man sitting at a desk, doing nothing, and saying nothing, for FOUR MINUTES?

    1. Re:What? Why?! by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 1

      It's kind of funny to watch the "Breaking News" glitches. Besides, years ago they invented this thing called "Fast Forward", so you can kind of scan the video for anything that looks amusing.

    2. Re:What? Why?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "You can watch the clip here."

      With every bit of entertainment available to everyone around the world at a moment's notice, why would anyone in this ADHD age want to watch a man sitting at a desk, doing nothing, and saying nothing, for FOUR MINUTES?

      Because in this day and age it's refreshing and exciting to see someone with a camera pointed at them that can shut the fuck up for a couple minutes.

      I don't think I've ever seen the BBC TV news broadcast, but if it's anything like the BBC World Service on the radio, I'd certainly welcome someone not talking.

    3. Re:What? Why?! by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 0

      why would anyone in this ADHD age want to watch a man sitting at a desk, doing nothing, and saying nothing, for FOUR MINUTES?

      This would have been the appropriate background music:

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

      --
      Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    4. Re:What? Why?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Some of his facial expressions were gold and I'm pretty sure you can see the point where someone told him he was on air for 2 minutes already.

    5. Re: What? Why?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "if it's anything like the BBC World Service on the radio, I'd certainly welcome someone not talking."

      I can understand it for TV where they could for instance show footage of a potter's wheel but you'd welcome someone not talking on the radio?

    6. Re:What? Why?! by james_gnz · · Score: 1

      With every bit of entertainment available to everyone around the world at a moment's notice, why would anyone in this ADHD age want to watch a man sitting at a desk, doing nothing, and saying nothing, for FOUR MINUTES?

      I watched it while listening to Yakety Sax, as suggested elsewhere, and the experience compared favourably to sitting through Rogue One for over 2 hours (the last movie I went to). The best part of that was when Darth Vader said "Be careful not to choke on your aspirations", while using the force to choke someone, because I took the opportunity to laugh very loudly and say "Oh, that's good. I wonder if anyone else got that."

  14. Wild Feeds on Satellite. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sounds like none of you are familiar with wild feeds on C-band satellite. Use to see all the time reporters and newscasters waiting for their cues.

    1. Re:Wild Feeds on Satellite. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is this still a thing? One would think terrestrial land lines would be a lot cheaper today.

  15. surreal beauty by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Live video of a guy sitting quietly at desk is Slashdot's idea of "surreal beauty". No doubt, it'll be featured in a MOMA exhibition any day now.

  16. New Record! by wisnoskij · · Score: 1, Funny

    News station manages to go 4 whole minutes without lying.

    --
    Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
    1. Re:New Record! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Trump voter fails to go four minutes without lying.

  17. Most boring Slashdot story of all time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And I honestly mean it. He's playing a joke on us.

  18. us radio stions have an weather altry by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    us radio station have an weather alert automation if some does not hit the button when reading it out live.

  19. I work in Master Control, this made no sense. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If there was a technical issue in the control room, the producer should have just asked the MC Op to run promos until the issue is rectified. That's what WE do when the Ross OverDrive decides to start pitching a fit.

  20. Really??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This makes news on Slashdot? This happens every day on local news. Why is this worthy of coverage?

    1. Re: Really??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because it illustrates the difference in professionalism between local news and the BBC just as BA illustrates the difference between a competent or incompetent IT installation. We all care about professionalism, don't we?

  21. They do have a backup plan. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The same first option backup plan EVERY newscast has available: ask Master Conttol to run promos until the issue is rectified.