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Met Office loses BBC contract


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Posted
  • Location: Aviemore
  • Location: Aviemore

Its very early in the day yet, I reckon a deal will be struck

 

No, it's definitely a done deal in terms of the met office being out of the bidding, the winning bid won't have been chosen yet though.

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Posted
  • Location: Rotherhithe, 5.8M ASL
  • Location: Rotherhithe, 5.8M ASL

This is going to be a big blow for BBC I do admire Met Office for their consistency and professionalism. They are in a league of their own no weather organisation can really compare so I feel it's inevitable whoever takes over the weather forecasts are going to lose viewer ratings.

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Posted
  • Location: north west oxforshire
  • Weather Preferences: cold and snow, hurricanes
  • Location: north west oxforshire

as a pr bloke myself, this is a pr disaster for the bbc. i simply don't understand it. as ever it must be a financial decision. bad news either way

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Posted
  • Location: ipswich <east near the a14> east weather watch
  • Location: ipswich <east near the a14> east weather watch

I agree. It'd soften the blow though, if most of the current presenters were kept on. A decent bunch at the moment IMHO, despite some trollish comments bemoaning a certain weather bias by some of them - I've personally not noticed this. :)

I reckon you guys will be part of the tender process though. I'd be surprised if not. :)

lets  hope  itv  weather team domt get it  thats a comicact  at night

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Posted
  • Location: Leeds/Bradford border, 185 metres above sea level, around 600 feet
  • Location: Leeds/Bradford border, 185 metres above sea level, around 600 feet

Is the ECWMF not more accurate.

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Posted
  • Location: Alresford, Near Colchester, Essex
  • Weather Preferences: As long as it's not North Sea muck, I'll cope.
  • Location: Alresford, Near Colchester, Essex

lets  hope  itv  weather team domt get it  thats a comicact  at night

Yes, that's what worries me too. I don't know how TUPE works in this case, so maybe most of the current presenters would stay?

Worst case scenario would be a dumbed down and very short forecast, like ITV currently provide. Unfortunately the BBC is pretty good at dumbing down recently.

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Posted
  • Location: Torrington, Devon
  • Weather Preferences: storms - of the severe kind
  • Location: Torrington, Devon

Does this mean no more David Braine on Spotlight (who followed wonderfully on from Craig Rich)

Decent professional weather forecasts

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Posted
  • Location: St Albans, 95m asl
  • Location: St Albans, 95m asl

I would definitely suggest the front runners would be Metra or Meteogroup as they're about the biggest indie players in the market, though the mention of the ECMWF would be a good outside shout. As well as Dan Corbett we may even see Mr. Hugo playing more of a prominent role as I believe he also works for Metra. As one of the other commercial arms of the Met Service in New Zealand also provide the BBC graphics I would suggest from a logical perspective they would be the favourites. It was also rumoured they came close last time the tender was due for renewal.

However, as this is likely primarily cost driven there's no telling if the logical choice will prevail. Although even within this a word of caution - things have not been entirely rosey for the Met Service recently in NZ with a lot of scrutiny of their forecasting and the rise of a lot more independents there too in recent years.

A fascinating time for UK Meteorology and whilst I reinforce the message of sadness expressed on this thread already, what it will give us is a genuine alternative view on our weather, with the Met Office still likely retaining the ITV (and others) contract.

What will be interesting will be to see if the new organisation is able to gain access to some of the currently 'out of bounds' high-res UK modelling and whether perhaps this might even force the Met Office to open up commercial access as a means of a new revenue stream to make up for some of the shortfall - something a lot of independent forecasting organisations have been hoping for for a number of years.

All in all sad, but a lot of positives to be taken from it.

SK

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Posted
  • Location: Catchgate, Durham,705ft asl
  • Location: Catchgate, Durham,705ft asl

Is the ECWMF not more accurate.

 

I think the ECMWF would come in as one of the higher costing bidders!

 

The met-office are second to none for 0-72 hrs forecasting generally speaking.

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Posted
  • Location: Aviemore
  • Location: Aviemore

The ECMWF isn't a commercial organisation as such and as far as I'm aware wouldn't bid for this type of thing. It's actually state funded across a number of member states, which include the UK government.

 

http://www.ecmwf.int/en/about/news-centre/key-facts-and-figures

 

That's not to say that the winning bidder couldn't use ECMWF data though - Meteogroup for instance are big ECMWF users I believe. On the flipside, it's not out of the question that whoever wins the bid could end up using Met Office data within the forecasts, so you may end up with virtually the same data, and a lot of the same forecasters!

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Posted
  • Location: Cheddington, Buckinghamshire
  • Weather Preferences: Winter: Cold & Snowy, Summer: Just not hot
  • Location: Cheddington, Buckinghamshire

Is the ECWMF not more accurate.

 

As far as I'm aware, the ECMWF is not in the running.

 

MetraWeather and MeteoGroup are the front runners.

Edited by Nick L
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Posted
  • Location: South Norfolk, 44 m ASL.
  • Weather Preferences: Varied and not extreme.
  • Location: South Norfolk, 44 m ASL.

Monetarily broke?

Well okay, maybe not broke but money will have something to do with it.

Am I the only person around here to have come across that saying before? :unknw::rolleyes:

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Posted
  • Location: Cheddington, Buckinghamshire
  • Weather Preferences: Winter: Cold & Snowy, Summer: Just not hot
  • Location: Cheddington, Buckinghamshire

The ECMWF isn't a commercial organisation as such and as far as I'm aware wouldn't bid for this type of thing. It's actually state funded across a number of member states, which include the UK government.

 

http://www.ecmwf.int/en/about/news-centre/key-facts-and-figures

 

That's not to say that the winning bidder couldn't use ECMWF data though - Meteogroup for instance are big ECMWF users I believe. On the flipside, it's not out of the question that whoever wins the bid could end up using Met Office data within the forecasts, so you may end up with virtually the same data, and a lot of the same forecasters!

 

Agreed. I don't see a great deal changing on the face of it to be honest.

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Posted
  • Location: South Norfolk, 44 m ASL.
  • Weather Preferences: Varied and not extreme.
  • Location: South Norfolk, 44 m ASL.

Which is just what's wrong with today's, carefully orchestrated, 'economic reality': the bids may well be lower (on paper and in the short-term) but who foots the bill for all the redundancies, here in the UK? The UK taxpayers, that's who!

 

Absolutely.  So many of us in this country seem to embrace our peculiar UK approach to globalization which is to sell everything in sight to the first group of foreigners who turn up with cash. 

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Posted
  • Location: East Lothian
  • Weather Preferences: Not too hot, excitement of snow, a hoolie
  • Location: East Lothian

People like David Braine (SW) and other BBC presenters in the nations and regions already have been through this transistion and are already employed by the BBC, this will make no difference to who you see on your regional output, but the graphics may change, the data will. This process of tendering happens every 5 years. met Office are out in the first round, the final result won't be until next year probably

The main effects will be for the UK people at W1A, where MO forecasters have a bench and most (not all) of the presenters are employed by the Met O and have been for decades. The BBC may decide to employ (some of) these presenters (as they did in the nations and regions) and so who you see won't change much

 

It is a massive production, BBC 1, BBCnews 24, BBC world ,online etc Radio4,

The Met Office do still have their service for ITV (and so STV) and the contract comes up every 5 years

The BBC will continue to take the UK warnings from the Met Office

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Posted
  • Location: East Lothian
  • Weather Preferences: Not too hot, excitement of snow, a hoolie
  • Location: East Lothian

and the minimum qualification to train to become a Met Office forecaster (not a meteorologist) is A-level physics, then a degree with some maths in it

 

The ability to tell a weather story in 1:30mins, engaging your television audience, getting across key points quickly and clearly does not always fit with academic weather qualifications. There is a wide variety of backgrounds on BBC and ITV, often the choice of presenter is up to Head of News in that area. 

 

The Met office daily video at the bottom of the homepage is done by the duty forecaster, so the presentation may not always be so polished but they know their weather. It is that role that I started in and so did many of the UK/regional presenters you see today back when it was based at SouthBank then Millbank, so keep an eye on them.

This is a very uncertain time for the Met Office staff in W1, especially as most other forecasting jobs are in Exeter

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Posted
  • Location: just south of Doncaster, Sth Yorks
  • Location: just south of Doncaster, Sth Yorks

As a matter of interest will UK Met still do the Shipping Forecast do you know Jo? Or is that also part of the loss of Met outputs?

ta

John

ps will pm you about something totally different

Edited by johnholmes
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Posted
  • Location: Cheddington, Buckinghamshire
  • Weather Preferences: Winter: Cold & Snowy, Summer: Just not hot
  • Location: Cheddington, Buckinghamshire

Thanks for the input, Jo. This is unprecedented territory!

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Posted
  • Location: Truro, Cornwall
  • Weather Preferences: Winter - Heavy Snow Summer - Hot with Night time Thunderstorms
  • Location: Truro, Cornwall

Does this mean no more David Braine on Spotlight (who followed wonderfully on from Craig Rich)

Decent professional weather forecasts

I will miss the brain wave should he end up going. :( Edited by Costa Del Fal
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Posted
  • Location: Ski Amade / Pongau Region. Somtimes Skipton UK
  • Weather Preferences: Northeasterly Blizzard and sub zero temperatures.
  • Location: Ski Amade / Pongau Region. Somtimes Skipton UK

It all seems a cost cutting exercise to me from the BBC. Hope they don't dumb down the presentation as currently seen on other commercial channels. BBC World Weather presentation is excellent and is seen globally. The Met Office forecasters certainly show a enlightening knowledge in their vision slots. The great British folk, I think would not like to loose the quality and frequency of the current excellent service . Austrian and German television forecasts are poor in presentation compared to viewed on the BBC broadcasts. Italian forecasts are presented still by the Air Ministry by a military guy wearing a cap and holding a big stick ! The best visual forecasts I have seen are by the Canadian Broadcasting Services, particularly in depth forecasts for British Columbia channels. I hope BBC don't go down the crap SKY/ITV forecast presentations.

C

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Posted
  • Location: South Norfolk, 44 m ASL.
  • Weather Preferences: Varied and not extreme.
  • Location: South Norfolk, 44 m ASL.

Am I alone in hoping the beeb agree the contract with the provider the Daily Express use?

Weekly blizzards. Monthly ice ages. Glorious.

 

Entertaining for those of us with the ability and knowledge (albeit rudimentary in my case) to find and understand high-quality forecasts and some model outputs, but unfair on the average punter who wouldn't know a shortwave trough from a blocking High.

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