Farewell to John Angeli, Director of Parliamentary Audio and Visual Broadcasting

John Angeli, Director of Parliamentary Audio and Visual Broadcasting is leaving Parliament after more two decades working in Westminster. We caught up with John for a farewell interview gathering some of his proudest moments and achievements. 

Hi John, please tell us a little about yourself and your role here  

I am John Angeli, Director of Parliamentary Broadcasting. My team and our contractors provide a range of services including televised coverage of Chamber and Committee proceedings in both Houses. This coverage is distributed to national and international media organisations for use in their news coverage. The Broadcasting Unit also runs the parliamentlive.tv website where all public proceedings are streamed live and made available on demand. To add, my team also oversees the microphone operation in the Chambers and committee rooms, provides a live subtitling service for both main Chambers and British Sign Language interpretation service. 

Tell us a little about your background and how you came to work here at Parliament 

I began working for the BBC at Westminster in 1988. Televising was already underway in the House of Lords and a year or so after I joined, televising proceedings began in the House of Commons. As part of the BBC's local radio and regional TV team, my primary role was to ensure that contributions by backbenchers made their way into news coverage across the country. In 1998 I joined BBC News Online shortly after its launch and headed up its video service. I returned to Westminster for a few years before spending 5 years at the Press Association . Having worked across radio, television, print and online I applied for the Director's role and joined Parliament in 2011.  

How has the broadcast service changed over these years? 

Parliament's broadcasting service was originally designed and operated by the UK's main domestic broadcasters. The technical infrastructure and operation were focused on a limited number of proceedings which might be of news interest. In short televising was something which was "done to" Parliament rather than something Parliament "did". In the early 2000's Members in both Houses pushed for Parliament to have its own online video service so that the public had access to all proceedings - this then led to a full launch of parliamentlive.tv in 2007. Over the years we have developed a single digital platform underpinned by changes in camera and microphone technology, content management and significant changes to workflow for staff - this has led to improvements in access and distribution.  

What are some key achievements and highlights? 

The work carried out by the broadcasting team to implement and operate hybrid technology and allow Parliament to sit during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020/2021 was a stunning effort by all those involved. I am also very proud of the efforts of the broadcasting team on the two occasions President Zelensky addressed both Houses, especially given the time constraints!  

 Giving Members and the public direct access to video coverage on parliamentlive.tv via a download tool has also been a big step forward - in March 2023 we had over 10,000 video downloads in a single month for the first time. The upgrading of sound and vision technology across committee rooms has led to improved facilities for Members and made virtual contributions to committee hearings much easier. 

 Furthermore, the introduction of live subtitling and British Sign Language (BSL) have been important steps forward. The preservation through digitisation of 50,000 video tapes dating back to the 1980's was also a big piece of work and holds open the prospect of great access for schools and universities. And ultimately the establishment of a 20 channel parliamentlive.tv service as an access point for all of the above is the chief highlight.  

Why have you and the broadcasting team focused so much on improving accessibility? 

Frankly because it's an area where we have been behind and (in relation to subtitling in particular) where we still have some way to go. It's been challenging given the range of pressures on the team. Even the preparatory work to get the technical infrastructure right has been hard-going, however we are in a better position now than ever before to push on and in the autumn BSL interpretation will be available on all Commons questions, urgent questions and statements.

What are some future developments on the horizon? 

The upgrade of more committee rooms will complete the work of the AV Programme which began in 2017. New software will be introduced this year which will help the broadcast and committee teams to better manage remote contributions. The new technology will also support self-service video conferencing in committee rooms which will make running hybrid private committee meetings far more straightforward. We are also currently trialling improved access for all media and non-media organisations to high quality coverage via the cloud. Capacity will expand to meet demand in future and we hope as a result that more material will be accessed by external organisations. We also have new portable broadcast equipment on order for committees sitting away from base and for rapid deployment on the Estate in an emergency.

Any final reflections or closing remarks?  

It has been a huge privilege working with a brilliant broadcasting team who, like many other teams, stepped up to the plate during the pandemic. It has also been an honour to work with colleagues from both Houses of Parliament and I hope to stay in touch with as many people as possible.  

Thank you, John, for your time and services here at Parliament.