BBC1's 10 O'Clock News and BBC2's Newsnight scaled back their live reporting last night following the start of a 24-hour strike by technicians.
Both shows had to manage instead with more packaged reports and studio guests following the walk-out from 10pm of around 100 members of broadcasting union Bectu over the imposition of new shift patterns.
The 10 O'Clock News managed just one live two-way with political correspondent James Landale outside 10 Downing Street while Newsnight had a notable absence of any satellite reports.
Both had more studio guests, with Newsnight taking up nearly 20 minutes with an investigation into Islamic extremism.
The technicians who walked out normally deal with live news feeds as well as providing technical support.
This morning, BBC Breakfast and News 24 is managing live reporting.
The main test is to come later today, when news coverage of the state opening of parliament could be affected.
The main coverage of the event, which is scheduled to air live on BBC1 between 10.30am and 12.15pm, is not expected to be distrupted as it is produced by BBC events, whose staff are not part of the strike action.
However, live two-ways for BBC news programmes and BBC News 24 could be scaled back.
News 24 is expected to be most at risk, as its production and technical system is mostly automated and if anything goes wrong there will be few engineers to attend to it.
"If one of the IT systems falls over, which is very likely, then they might find there is no-one around to put it back up again," one Bectu member said.
The BBC had put contingency plans into action to protect its news programming, which were thought to have included the stock-piling of pre-prepared bulletins and the re-routing of some news feeds.
It is thought managers with technical skills were also put on stand-by.
A BBC spokeswoman denied broadcasts had been affected by the strike. "The output so far has gone out pretty much as expected," she said. "Both last night's 10 O'Clock News and Newsnight did what they planned to do."
She added no further talks were so far planned with the unions in a bid to end further strikes.
Bectu members last night picketed BBC Television Centre in west London, while more pickets are expected outside the London news centre today.
The strike is due to end at 10pm tonight although Bectu has informed the BBC it also plans action on 23 and 24 November if the dispute is not resolved by then.
Bectu members voted for strike action by 95% following the imposition of the new work patterns which they say will see them working more shifts.
The new rotas see shifts cut back from 12 hours to between eight and 10 hours, although total working hours will not be reduced.
The National Union of Journalists, which is not involved in the strike, said it would back any of its members who chose not to cross picket lines.
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