Met Office loses BBC contract

[Rustynailer]

Given the BBC is our national broadcaster and the Met Office our national met agency - both funded by the taxpayer - why on earth should one pay for access to the other's services?

The Met office and the BBC are institutions, we grew up with them, passion for change all the time and modern austerity are removing our way of life so fast these days, glad I saw it all before they ruined the place.

[Nick L]

Do you think me might see the old graphics brought back in? I still prefer the ppn maps they used to display especially in winter.

 

They have also definitely been dumbed down over the years although I find Ian F goes into quite a lot of detail with our regional forecasts.

 

No. The graphics have nothing to do with the Met Office, they were created by MetraWeather, who are one of the front-runners to take the contract.

The Met office and the BBC are institutions, we grew up with them, passion for change all the time and modern austerity are removing our way of life so fast these days, glad I saw it all before they ruined the place.

 

How do you know this decision was based on cost?

[Methuselah]

 

 

How do you know this decision was based on cost?

Well, as everything else, under Tory governments, is based on cost (anti-cancer drugs for example) why would this decision be the result of different thinking? However much it gets dressed-up as 'efficiency savings', 'competitive edge' -  or any other components of Tory Party ideology?

 

Excuse me for being cynical, but the Tory Party has always hated the Met Office, the BBC and every other Public-Service organization; dismantling these bodies is what they stand for...

[Evening thunder]

I'm not that surprised considering there have been a few 'nowcasts' like this in recent times:

 

20150719 Mystery Rain - Regional Forecast & Actual.png

 

The question is would any other provider that gets the contract and the models it uses have done any better? 

 

[Blessed Weather]

 

How do you know this decision was based on cost?

 

The BBC's explanation for the change does include a mention of cost. The following extracts are from the blog of the BBC's Project Director for Weather Procurement (Nigel Charters). It starts with their noble intentions, but goes on to mention the "c" word.

 

"The overarching aim for us is to maintain and enhance our position as the leading destination for weather information, whilst improving the service available to global audiences.

 

All publicly funded organisations in this country are considered something called a ‘contracting authority’ under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 introduced by the Government. Those regulations implement the EU's 2014 Public Sector Procurement Directive and state a contract must be awarded to the ‘Most Economically Advantageous Tender’, which is the optimum combination of both quality of the services offered and the cost.

 

Under this law we are duty bound to consider and treat equally all the bids we receive from companies across Europe. We then take forward the strongest bid to make sure we secure both the best possible service and value for money for the licence fee payer."

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/aboutthebbc/entries/3d035f6d-0ae7-4a9d-81dd-665bb57b27f6

[Methuselah]

"The overarching aim for us is to maintain and enhance our position as the leading destination for weather information[...]"

 

What the fook is that load of corporate BS supposed to mean?  

Edited September 9, 2015 by Ed Stone

[The Enforcer]

The question is would any other provider that gets the contract and the models it uses have done any better? 

 

On that particular occasion, looking out of the window would have given a more accurate picture of the current situation than that portrayed by the BBC.

Edited September 9, 2015 by The Enforcer

[Rustynailer]

No. The graphics have nothing to do with the Met Office, they were created by MetraWeather, who are one of the front-runners to take the contract.

 

How do you know this decision was based on cost?

I don't I also said "Passion for change"

[Jax]

 

"The overarching aim for us is to maintain and enhance our position as the leading destination for weather information[...]"

 

What the fook is that load of corporate BS supposed to mean?  

 

If you see the BBC online I see at work (which is the global version) it is now very similar to the UK version, it never used to be, my guess is they are merging into just one single entity, this includes source information at a guess.

 

Also regular viewers of BBC news channel can not have noticed the extra global content now being shown, it used to be UK version and the RotW, Open Source for example.  The global version used to be blocked by them in the UK, it is not any more so WWW.BBC.COM/capital WWW.BBC.COM/future WWW.BBC.COM/culture WWW.BBC.COM/autos etc all now work in the UK.

 

They are changing their model and going global IMHO with a single thrust.

[> mark]

They've predicted some very rarely heard of "Glaes" into next week!

[RhysWales]

They've predicted some very rarely heard of "Glaes" into next week!

 

Welsh for gales........ (It's not.)

[Slinky]

To be fair this year for my area the Beeb forecasts have been absolutely rubbish being 9 times out of 10 completely wrong, so much so that on a few occasions I have had to stop myself from being a grumpy old so and so and writing in to complain! Half the time the morning forecast is completely different from the night before and is still utter tosh!

This goes for both the national forecast and the regionals, with only the countryside forecast being at least half decent some of the time.

My feeling at the moment is that the forecasts can't get any worse......

[johnholmes]

There is of course a difference between the BBC outputs, both model and spoken compared to the official Met O site.

Don;'t ask me why but I have posted about this time and again.

[Slinky]

There is of course a difference between the BBC outputs, both model and spoken compared to the official Met O site.

Don;'t ask me why but I have posted about this time and again.

Didn't realise that John, will check out the met o site from now on and see if their forecasts are any better!

Cheers for the info

[The PIT]

I'm pretty sure today I'm going too see a huge contrast between the forecast just now and the one Carol but then perhaps not. Latest radar shows no sign of the heavy rain bar whats leaving in the SE so could be a interesting day forecast wise.

Looks like my memory is going and itwas forecast to be much later.

Edited September 16, 2015 by The PIT

[Buzzard]

To me it looks like the main rain band has just gone walkies into the North Sea!! Shouldn't it be in the channel??

[The Enforcer]

Here's another very inaccurate short range forecast, particularly if you live in the swathe of the country from Anglesey to East Anglia. No wonder the BBC wanted to try elsewhere:

 

 

 

 

[Costa Del Fal]

Here's another very inaccurate short range forecast, particularly if you live in the swathe of the country from Anglesey to East Anglia. No wonder the BBC wanted to try elsewhere:

 

20151119 Forecast.png

 

20151119 Actual.png

Yes I certainly wasn't expecting not such a wet day. Shame that doesn't happen with snow!

[Nick L]

Yep not a great forecast there. ECM had quite a soggy day for the aforementioned areas southwards.

[Captain Shortwave]

Heh, I'm not sure how it has happened but it has been completely dry in the Fens all day. So it was "correct" for me. 

Edited November 19, 2015 by Captain shortwave

[chrisbell-nottheweatherman]

There is of course a difference between the BBC outputs, both model and spoken compared to the official Met O site.

Don;'t ask me why but I have posted about this time and again.

 

Thanks John/  That information confirms my suspicions, as, very often, I consider the region forecast on the Met Office site to be more accurate than the regional BBC forecasts supposedly provided by the same organisation!  Our regional BBC lunchtime forecast today, for example, told us that some had enjoyed a nice morning weather-wise.  It appeared that this statement was based on one photo sent to the new BBC weather thing they've set-up which was taken at Cromer showing sunshine - I think the person who submitted it must have taken it shortly after dawn and ignored the looming clouds behind them!

[The PIT]

Got to admit the recent forecasts on beeb are getting my goat. Forecast for this weekend a cold unsettled one. Err well Saturdays is going to be by day cool to rather cold fine but Sunday will be mild so why say it's cold? The other morning temps a good four degrees above normal presented as a chilly start. We seem to be slipping back to old bad standards when the Carol Kirkwoods of the world say it's freezing when it was 10C on Jan morning.

Changing providers won't solve this but I wish they would reflect the actual weather rather than someone whos got the heating set at 50C and wonders why it's chilly when they go out into 30C

[Evening thunder]

I did have to make a little comment the other day when the local BBC forecast said 7C was 'quite a cold start', but then compared to this November.. 

 

The forecast was not very good today with some people commenting on it, but it was only a local effect due to Dartmoor eating all the showers and rain before 5pm, not always detail you can easily pick up or go into during a forecast that covers the whole country in a couple of minutes.

[The PIT]

It's been a bit sloppy of late and at times rushed due to lack of air time. Presenters still have to detached themselves from what they feel cold just because I feel cold it it doesn't mean it is cold. I once walked back from a footie match chucking down with rain my hands went numb windy and although the air temp was 11c the windchill was 4C. It was Jan so if I went on air saying it was freezing that would have been unprofessional. 

I suspect the new providers will be even more sloppy unfortunately and the Met Office will get the blame even though it isn't them.

[Summer Sun]

Wonder if we'll get an announcement on the new provider before the end of this year as mentioned here

Edited December 25, 2015 by Summer Sun