BBC South East
Encyclopedia
BBC South East is the BBC English Region
BBC English Regions
BBC English Regions is the division of the BBC responsible for local television, radio, web and teletext services in England. It is one of the BBC's four 'Nations' - the others being BBC Scotland, BBC Wales and BBC Northern Ireland....

 serving East Sussex
East Sussex
East Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex, and to the south by the English Channel.-History:...

, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

, and parts of Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...

 and West Sussex
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...

.

The BBC region was created in September 2001 by the joining of the Heathfield transmitter (formerly part of the BBC South region), with the Bluebell Hill and Dover transmitters (from the former BBC London and South East region) to form a new regional TV service. Unlike ITV Meridian
Meridian Broadcasting
Meridian Broadcasting is the holder of the ITV franchise for the South and South East of England. The station is owned and operated by ITV plc, under the licensee of ITV Broadcasting Limited....

, it does not serve South Essex (received from a Bluebell Hill overlap), this area being part of the BBC London
BBC London
BBC London is the BBC English Region producing local radio, television, teletext and online services in London and parts of the surrounding area. Its output includes the daily BBC London News and the weekly Politics Show on television, the BBC London 94.9 radio station and local coverage of the...

 region instead.

Television

BBC South Easts television output consists of the flagship regional news service South East Today
South East Today
BBC South East Today is the BBC South East regional television news programme, serving Kent, East Sussex and the eastern fringes of Surrey. Prior to its launch on 3 September 2001, most of the viewers in the region received Newsroom South East, though some had been receiving South Today.South East...

 and the topical magazine programme Inside Out. A 20-minute opt-out during The Politics Show
The Politics Show
The Politics Show is an hour long BBC One television political programme broadcast in the United Kingdom on Sundays. The programme usually starts at midday, but is often earlier or later when sporting events clash in the schedules. It was launched in 2003 and was originally presented by Jeremy...

 on Sunday lunchtimes is produced by an independent production company from an office in Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...

. A late night football magazine show Late Kick Off
Late Kick Off
Late Kick Off was a BBC One regional television football programme which was launched on 18 January 2010 and ran up to and including the 2010-2011 football season...

 is co-produced with BBC London
BBC London
BBC London is the BBC English Region producing local radio, television, teletext and online services in London and parts of the surrounding area. Its output includes the daily BBC London News and the weekly Politics Show on television, the BBC London 94.9 radio station and local coverage of the...

.

Radio

The region is the controlling centre for BBC Radio Kent
BBC Radio Kent
BBC Radio Kent is the BBC Local Radio service for the English county of Kent.It broadcasts on FM on 96.7 , 97.6 and 104.2 also 774 and 1602 MW and DAB.- History :The radio station was launched in 1970 under the name of BBC Radio Medway, originally only serving the...

, BBC Surrey
BBC Surrey
BBC Surrey is the BBC Local Radio service covering the English county of Surrey, along with North-East Hampshire and the northern fringes of West Sussex including Crawley, East Grinstead and Gatwick Airport...

 and BBC Sussex
BBC Sussex
BBC Sussex is the BBC Local Radio service for the English county of Sussex. It began on 14 February 1968 as BBC Radio Brighton, later becoming BBC Radio Sussex and then part of BBC Southern Counties Radio, before adopting its present name on 30 March 2009...

.

Radio Kent carries local programming between 6am and 7pm from the Tunbridge Wells studio, then simulcasts networked programming along with stations in the BBC South
BBC South
BBC South is the BBC English Region serving West Sussex, Hampshire, Dorset, western Berkshire, Oxfordshire, south east Wiltshire and the Isle of Wight.-Television:...

 and South East regions until 1am every night. BBC Sussex and BBC Surrey each carry three hours a day of local programming for each county from 6am to 9am, sharing the remainder of their output between 9am and 7pm, then joining with other stations in the BBC South
BBC South
BBC South is the BBC English Region serving West Sussex, Hampshire, Dorset, western Berkshire, Oxfordshire, south east Wiltshire and the Isle of Wight.-Television:...

 and BBC South East regions at 7pm.

Online and Interactive

BBC South East also produces regional news & local radio pages for Ceefax
Ceefax
Ceefax is the BBC's teletext information service transmitted via the analogue signal, started in 1974 and will run until April 2012 for Pages from Ceefax, while the actual interactive service will run until 24 October 2012, in-line with the digital switchover.-History:During the late 60s, engineer...

, BBC Red Button and BBC Local websites for each county.

History

Prior to 2001, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 and the South East had been considered part of the same editorial region by the BBC, and as a result a single regional service, including news programmes London Plus
London Plus
London Plus was the name of the BBC's regional news programme for southeastern England. Launched in 1984, the programme represented the BBC's attempt to boost regional news service for the South East...

 (1984-1989) and Newsroom South East
Newsroom South East
Newsroom South East was the name of the BBC's regional news programme for southeastern England. It was launched in March 1989 as the successor to London Plus, the South East's previous news programme...

 (1989-2001), had covered the larger editorial area. London had not been afforded the same 'regional' status as the other BBC regions as the bulk of the national content was produced in the capital. This was reflected in the fact that for many years there were no specialist presenters for the region, with national presenters being used. As a result, the region had fewer local bulletins, with local news being read from the Nationwide studio during the regional opt-outs. This was slightly addressed with the creation of London Plus
London Plus
London Plus was the name of the BBC's regional news programme for southeastern England. Launched in 1984, the programme represented the BBC's attempt to boost regional news service for the South East...

, but the large region and fewer regional operatives meant the service was still far from ideal.

The size of the region was scaled back in stages, starting in 1993 when the Heathfield transmitter serving East Sussex was switched from BBC South East to BBC South
BBC South
BBC South is the BBC English Region serving West Sussex, Hampshire, Dorset, western Berkshire, Oxfordshire, south east Wiltshire and the Isle of Wight.-Television:...

, reducing the region to just London, Kent and the surrounding area. On 16 October 2000, the areas around Oxford were transferred from BBC South East to a new, special opt out from BBC South's South Today
South Today
South Today is the BBC's regional television news programme for East Dorset, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Berkshire, West Sussex and the western fringes of Surrey...

.

Following the BBC's South East Review of 2001, the London and South East arrangements changed, with BBC London
BBC London
BBC London is the BBC English Region producing local radio, television, teletext and online services in London and parts of the surrounding area. Its output includes the daily BBC London News and the weekly Politics Show on television, the BBC London 94.9 radio station and local coverage of the...

 split off as a separate entity and Heathfield viewers rejoining Bluebell Hill
Blue Bell Hill
Blue Bell Hill is a chalk hill between Maidstone and Rochester in the English county of Kent. It overlooks the River Medway and is part of the North Downs. Settlements on the hill include Walderslade; and Blue Bell Hill and Kit's Coty villages...

 and Dover in a new smaller BBC South East region, launched on 3 September 2001.

Studios

The regional broadcasting centre is based in Tunbridge Wells
Royal Tunbridge Wells
Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in west Kent, England, about south-east of central London by road, by rail. The town is close to the border of the county of East Sussex...

, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

 with local radio studios and television bureaux located in Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...

 and Guildford
Guildford
Guildford is the county town of Surrey. England, as well as the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region...

 and smaller offices in Hastings
Hastings
Hastings is a town and borough in the county of East Sussex on the south coast of England. The town is located east of the county town of Lewes and south east of London, and has an estimated population of 86,900....

, Chatham and Dover
Dover
Dover is a town and major ferry port in the home county of Kent, in South East England. It faces France across the narrowest part of the English Channel, and lies south-east of Canterbury; east of Kent's administrative capital Maidstone; and north-east along the coastline from Dungeness and Hastings...

. BBC South East is the only one of the BBC regions not based in a major city.

The Tunbridge Wells studios are located within The Great Hall within the town, an historic building which was previously used as public rooms, photography studios, a performance venue, a cinema, a dancing school and until 1980, a nightclub called Carriages. In 1980, the building was severely damaged by fire which nearly caused irreparable damage. It was renovated and bought and now contains an arcade of shops, a hidden car park and the headquarters of BBC South East and BBC Radio Kent
BBC Radio Kent
BBC Radio Kent is the BBC Local Radio service for the English county of Kent.It broadcasts on FM on 96.7 , 97.6 and 104.2 also 774 and 1602 MW and DAB.- History :The radio station was launched in 1970 under the name of BBC Radio Medway, originally only serving the...

. The studios, as is now the trend with most modern developments, can be viewed by the public through tours or through the display windows into the offices from the public areas. The complex also contains a BBC Shop alongside the operations.
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