BBC Parliament
BBC Parliament is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel from the BBC that showcases parliamentary content from across the United Kingdom. It broadcasts live and recorded coverage of the House of Commons, House of Lords and Select Committees of the British Parliament, the Scottish Parliament, the London Assembly, the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Welsh Senedd. When none of these chambers are sitting, the channel does not broadcast, and its feed is given over to a simulcast of the BBC News channel.[1]
Country
United Kingdom
United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe
English
23 September 1998
Channel 232 (SD)
Watch live (UK only)
As of January 2022, the channel had a typical weekly peak of approximately 120,000 viewers, during Prime Minister's Questions,[2] representing a monthly reach of 5.41% of UK TV households and 0.06% overall share.[3] When the channel is not broadcasting parliamentary content, it simulcasts the BBC News channel.[4]
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.