ITNs Jenny King and Jon Roberts talk to TVBEurope about the work thats gone into readying ITVs election night programme, as well as some of the technology that will ensure viewers are kept up to date throughout the night
By Jenny Priestley
Published: July 3, 2024 Updated: July 4, 2024
ITN's Jenny King and Jon Roberts talk to TVBEurope about the work that's gone into readying ITV's election night programme, as well as some of the technology that will ensure viewers are kept up to date throughout the night
target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin> ITN's Jenny King and Jon Roberts talk to TVBEurope about the work that's gone into readying ITV's election night programme, as well as some of the technology that will ensure viewers are kept up to date throughout the night
https://www.tvbeurope.com/live-production/the-news-never-stops-behind-the-scenes-of-itns-preparations-for-election-2024-live-the-results title=Share via Email class=share-email>
On the night of July 4th, ITN will be producing ITV's Election 2024 Live: The Results, which will be on air from 9.55pm until 6am the following morning.
TVBEurope spoke to Jenny King, head of technical production at ITN and Jon Roberts, director of technology, production and innovation at ITN, to find out more about the technology that will keep the marathon show on air.
How long has ITN been planning for the election? For a very small number of people at ITN, the planning never really stops. There is a running thread of keeping the results and graphics system up to date for example, developing that where we can, while colleagues in the newsroom the Special Events team will always be exploring potential key guests or contributors, maintaining contacts lists etc. But those conversations started to broaden out through the end of last year and I think we all came back in the New Year with Election prep pretty near the top on our to do lists.
The General Election has always been a major event for ITN, and we had ramped up planning for it since the beginning of the year. We always knew there would be an election in 2024, but we were never sure when exactly it would be. We had regular planning meetings to discuss different scenarios and potential dates. We thought it would be held in autumn, so we were preparing our coverage for then. July was a surprise!
How ready were you when the election was called? When the election was called in June, we had to quickly adjust our plans and resources. We were as ready as we could be, given the short notice. ITN is used to working on major live productions where we often get no notice, so six weeks is a luxury for us providing all teams across the company pull together!
Jenny King (image courtesy Peter Searle/ITN) But while that six weeks is welcome prep for the overnight programmes, in other ways, the challenges start much more quickly and run alongside those build plans and rehearsal schedules. The campaign brings its own ramping up of demands across ITN, with special debate and interview programmes being commissioned, new digital strands quickly launched and daily news programmes being presented from location on a regular basis.
How many studios at Grays Inn Road will you use on the night? For ITV, we will use two studios at Gray's Inn Road and two associated galleries for the overnight coverage. One studio will host the main presenter and guests while the other will be used for some analysis and graphic explainers. The galleries will control the live feeds, graphics, and sound for each studio. We will also be operating a third gallery which will produce a world feed' for our International clients.
ITV News' virtual reality setup in their main studio really comes into its own on elections. We do not have the luxury of a dedicated space for the overnight results programme, either on the night or through the rehearsal period, but we are still able to give it a special look and layout designed to support the special storytelling requirements of that show. Studio 1 will produce the evening news programme on the night and then be reimagined as the election special look in plenty of time for rehearsals less than an hour later.
ITN is also producing the overnight coverage for Channel 4, though we will be producing that show from an external studio.
How big will the production team be? The production team will consist of approximately 200 people at Gray's Inn Road which includes both the editorial and technical teams. We will also be deploying large teams of people in the field who will be spread across the country at different counts.
How many people will be working in each gallery, what are their roles, and what technology will they be using? We operate a scalable crewing model for our news customers, with integrated live production technology supporting our ability to adapt crewing through the day depending on the requirements of each show. The same gallery used to produce the overnight results special can be operated by a single technical operator for small daily bulletins, but on election night will be fully crewed with: programme editor, gallery PA, director, 2 x technical directors (one of them controlling graphics playout across 10 Viz engines), lighting director (also responsible for vision engineering and Ultimatte chroma compositing in addition to lighting), sound supervisor, comms engineer.
Gallery 2 will be controlling one of our other studios and that will include a gallery PA, director, 1 x technical director, lighting director and sound supervisor. The third gallery, which is used for the world feed will house a TD and a producer.
Gallery technology includes:
2110 IP backbone
Cerebrum control
GV Kayenne vision mixers
GV multiviewers
Vizrt Director and Rendering
Vizrt virtual studio
Calrec Artemis soun
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
20/01/2026
SVG Sit-Down: BitFire's Jim Akimchuk on the Future of Cloud, Remote, Softwar...
20/01/2026
From architecture to reality: What CBC's Milano Cortina 2026 workflows tell ...
20/01/2026
Milano Cortina 2026: Making the Winter Olympics and Paralympics workflow work fo...
20/01/2026
Countdown to Milano Cortina 2026: SVG Launches SportsTechLive Blog in Lead-up to...
20/01/2026
Grand finale: Rally Saudi Arabia pushes WRC to make the most of cameras and dron...
20/01/2026
State of Change: What's Happening in the Remote-Production Business?NEP Group, Game Creek Video, Dome Productions, Mobile TV Group, Program Productions exec...
20/01/2026
CFP National Championship 2026: A Look Back at SVG's Complete CoverageGo behind the scenes with ESPN, Game Creek Video, Van Wagner, and the champion Indiana...
20/01/2026
The Gotham, Film Independent, and Creators Coalition on AI Join Alliance
by Michelle Satter, Founding Senior Director, Sundance Institute's Artist Programs...
20/01/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
20/01/2026
December, the first month of winter and the holiday season, has traditionally encouraged families to spend time together in front of the television. During this...
20/01/2026
During December, streaming's share of TV viewing in Mexico settled at 24.3%, an increase of 0.1 share points from the previous month.
Disclaimer: YUMI TV,...
20/01/2026
Christmas Day is Most-Streamed Day Ever with 55 Billion Viewing Minutes, led by...
20/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/01/2026
Disguise and ASB GlassFloor today announced a strategic partnership that turns the arena floor into a fully customizable interactive digital surface. This will ...
20/01/2026
Last summer, ITV celebrated the tenth anniversary of its popular reality dating show, Love Island. To ramp up the excitement of series 12 (launched in the UK on...
20/01/2026
Berklee's Mark Ethier Named One of SPIN's Most Influential People in Mus...
20/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/01/2026
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/01/2026
Emergent, a provider of AI-powered media production solutions, today announced its presence at ISE 2026 in Barcelona, taking place February 3 6, where it will u...
20/01/2026
Back to All News
Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery Amend Agreement to All-Cash Transaction
Business
20 January 2026
Global
Link copied to clipboard
All-C...
20/01/2026
Back to All News
Now You Can Play a Role in Our Live Events With Real-Time Voting
Elmar Nubbemeyer
VP, Member Product
Product
20 January 2026
Global
Link...
19/01/2026
CFP National Championship 2026: Indiana Football's Digital Crew Generate Hyp...
19/01/2026
CFP National Championship 2026: Van Wagner Relies on Experience for Indiana-Miam...
19/01/2026
CFP National Championship 2026: Game Creek Video Fields Premiere IP Compound for...
19/01/2026
CFP National Championship 2026: For a Slew of Studio Shows, ESPN Turns Hard Rock...
19/01/2026
CFP National Championship 2026: ESPN's Sweeping Live Game Production Leverag...
19/01/2026
The new L3Harris NOVA binocular system is the every-soldier goggle' - and the beginning of a new era for night-vison capability....
19/01/2026
The Majority of Those Surveyed Prefer to Buy Brands Who Advertise in Content Tha...
19/01/2026
Back to All News
Straight to Hell' Sets April 27 Premiere: Teaser Trailer,...
19/01/2026
New Workflow Enhancements for All Broadcast Pix Systems, Plus 4-Channel ISO Recording for Hybrid and Roadie Tyngsboro, Mass. - January 2025 - Broadcast Pix ann...
19/01/2026
Monday 19 January 2026
Sky News reinvents News at Ten for the modern audience with The Wrap
Sky News today announces The Wrap, a bold evolution of its 10pm ou...
19/01/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Announces the Series Nights & Days, Directed by Kamila...
19/01/2026
DPA Microphones is striking a new chord in piano miking with the debut of its DPK2015 Piano Stereo Kit, an out-of-the-box, plug-and-play miking solution that ta...
19/01/2026
DPA Microphones will present its 4099 CORE Instrument Microphone and redesigned...
19/01/2026
Trianel relies on Arvato Systems for future-proof data center operations
Moving to the cloud: Arvato Systems implements extensive IT migration project
Migrat...
19/01/2026
Celebrating 21 Years of the RT Choice Music Prize
RT Choice Music Prize
In association with IMRO and IRMA
Irish Album of the Year 2025 - Shortlist Announce...
18/01/2026
January 18 2026, 21:30 (PST) Dolby Cinema Arrives in Bengaluru: Dolby Laborator...
17/01/2026
Lightware, an industry leader in signal management, is helping to elevate the Google Meet experience with the introduction of an integration with Taurus UCX. Th...
17/01/2026
Clear-Com announced a strategic partnership with NETGEAR AV to offer four high-performance networking switches as original equipment manufacturer (OEM) solutio...
17/01/2026
QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest contribution solutions, today announced a new U.S. distribution partnership wit...
17/01/2026
NUGEN Audio announces the latest evolution of MasterCheck, its industry-trusted optimization plug-in for cross-platform mastering and loudness verification. Des...
17/01/2026
BHV has announced that it will highlight its new SportsBox remote vision mixer and picture processor at ISE in Booth #4H900 marking its official introduction in...
17/01/2026
Clear-Com will return to ISE 2026 to demonstrate its latest intercom solutions for broadcast, live production, and AV professionals. Exhibiting at Stand #4P700...
17/01/2026
Grass Valley, a leading provider in live production solutions, will exhibit at ISE 2026 in Barcelona from February 3 6, presenting its vision for how modern Bro...
17/01/2026
Utelogy Corporation, the global leader in connected workplace management, monitoring, control, automation and analytics closes out a record-breaking 2025. The c...
ITNs Jenny King and Jon Roberts talk to TVBEurope about the work thats gone into readying ITVs election night programme, as well as some of the technology that will ensure viewers are kept up to date throughout the night
