Election 2005 -Pre-Election discussion here

Channel 4's continual ignorance of election night has always confused me.

Considering they offer some of the best coverage in the run up to the poll, it seems extraordinary that they go and ignore the night itself.

If Five and Sky simulcast these Blair and Howard question sessions, it wouldn't surprise me to see the two joining up for the night itself. Nothing to say that Kirsty Young and Andy Bell wouldn't have a role, and as Julie Etchingham is guaranteed a place in the line up it's not as if there will be unfamiliar faces to regular Five viewers.

RELIEF: Robert Kilroy-Silk's not standing in my constituency of Boston & Skegness.

WARNING: People of the Erewash constituency, be afraid - he's standing there instead!

maybe it will be duel branded, with the occasional hello to viewers on skynews, five and across the globe.

minus the sky news dog, or a covered up one, they could use the same graphics (heres hoping for the 2001 graphics re-appearing, or at least new election focused graphics)

At the beginning of Sky's 1997 election coverage, they welcomed viewers in the US and said they were "live coast to coast on the Fox News Channel". This was at 9pm UK time (so 4pm in the US) so I'm not sure exactly how much of their coverage was simulcast.

This in the Sunday Times today:

Could you provide the URL please, I've searched the site and cant find the article.

It's a bullet point at the end of the piece about Mark Austin replacing Trevor McDonald:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1472392,00.html

EDIT: it's on the second page.

Channel 4 and its lack of election coverage is odd. But the argument in years gone by is that a main ITN programme would air on ITV - and indeed many Channel 4 bods were involved. Jon Snow fronted the decidely mediocre 92 election - but better than nothing!

But it's now very odd in this day and age when Channel 4 News has become an excellent programme in its own right and ITN don't do any cross promotion between channels anymore. What was wrong with advertising the Channel 4 Daily at the end of News at Ten? I suppose the demise came about through Channel 4 having its own sales house and the ruining of the ITN brand from ITV.

Doesn't it work out more productive in terms of viewers and the amount that a large-scale election programme could cost for them not to make such a fuss about it. Let's face it, who's going to sit up overnight and watch the whole programme? Isn't it a waste of all the time and effort. Why can't they just have an early news bulletin with all the results and a late one with the predicted results?

Back in 1992, the coverage was actually split across ITV and Channel 4. ITV had the main overnight programme. Then (if I remember rightly), when ITV went to TV-AM at 6am, the election programme continued on Channel 4, with coverage switching back to ITV later in the morning.

I can't remember exactly if that's how it worked, but it was something along those lines anyway.

That would explain why he's doing the rehersal then.

TV-AM ITN Election 1982

from the tv-ark
it has a clip of the 1982 election, before the birth of channel4, but this is when ITN links up with TV-am, for the elction coverage