BBC West Midlands schedule - and "Midlands Today" in 1964, one of the UK's first daily regional news programmes. Regional television had been established in 1957 with the launch of local evening news bulletins. Although it fared better than the struggling BBC North or BBC West (which was threatened for a while with being absorbed by the Midlands Region), it was clear that if BBC Midlands was too large to be truly local in the radio market, it was equally too small to be as self-sufficient across the full range of television programming as it had been in radio. The result was the
BBC Choice and Two programming as well as original programming such as "Backstage", which took viewers on a tour of the BBC every episode. The channel also provided exclusive coverage of music festivals such as Glastonbury and extended live coverage of sport, for when either BBC One or Two have to end their coverage early or their schedules are unable to provide live sport action. BBC Choice also introduced an innovative programme format known as 'Hotlink', which expanded on popular shows. Examples included "Watchdog Extra", where viewers could contact the show by phone or e-mail with either questions or feedback on the