Opt-out is a term used in broadcasting when a nation or region splits from the main national output. In the United Kingdom, BBC One Scotland, BBC One Northern Ireland and BBC One Wales often opt out of the main BBC One schedule in favour of locally relevant programming.
In a similar manner, local television newsrooms present regional news following national news bulletins—the practise having been popularised by current affairs programme Nationwide and Sixty Minutes (TV series)—after which they would opt into the national programme again. Opting out was also common throughout telethons, such as Children in Need, where regions separate to transmit local coverage.
The term "opt-out" is a peculiarly British idiom when applied to broadcasting, whilst used to describe the occurrence of regional events in an otherwise national stream the term has fallen into technical mis-use. Of the British broadcasters, really only the BBC ever opts out within the proper technical meaning of the term and only then in its English regions.
Read more about this topic: Regional Variation