PRESS RELEASE
Sky News Decision Time will challenge the traditional election night format as it launches in HD at 9pm on Thursday May 6th. Sky News' groundbreaking election night coverage kicks off with Sky's top presenters reporting live from the field in picture-sharp HD. Kay Burley will be tracking Gordon Brown, Jeremy Thompson will be tracking David Cameron and Anna Botting will be tracking Nick Clegg in the leaders' respective constituencies of Kirkcaldy, Witney, and Sheffield Hallam. On Friday, Eamonn Holmes and Dermot Murnaghan take over as the counts finish and the story gravitates towards Westminster. An election this close is made for a 24-hour news channel, and Sky News will stay with the action until the result is clear.
Sky News will have more reporters and presenters at more counts than ever before. Their sole job is to make sure that every news-line, every result, every story and every picture gets to Sky News TV, http://www.skynews.com/ and commercial radio clients first. Sky News presenters and correspondents will be blogging, tweeting and filing their stories and tips across all Sky News platforms.
Back in the Sky News Centre in West London, Sky's Political Editor Adam Boulton will be crunching the results, conducting the major interviews, and will be joined by a variety of experts and pundits debating the key issues and discussing how the night is playing out.
John Ryley, Head of Sky News said: "On election night, Sky News will offer live coverage in HD to bring you all the results, excitement and reactions in our special programme Decision Time. The outcome will be determined in the constituencies and that's where we'll be. Sharp HD pictures and even sharper journalism will keep us out in front."
Information-rich onscreen HD graphics, delivered with high energy and impact, will show results as they happen, simultaneously updating the count, the state of the parties and giving viewers more updated live information than in any previous election. In the studio, Sky News will use its distinctive News Wall to tell the story of the night in terms of the Sky 100 (the 100 seats identified by Sky News as being the most crucial in this election), the parliamentary projections and the key personalities.
At 10pm Sky News will deliver the results of its major exit poll - for the first time a joint venture with ITV News and the BBC. Sky News will get the result only 10 minutes before its release, and Executive Producer of Decision Time, John McAndrew has vowed not to tell Adam Boulton in advance, because Adam wants to be surprised.
John McAndrew said: "It's likely to be close - so every result, every major speech, every interview, every breaking line will count. Once we're under way, there's no plan, no running order and no ‘off-air' time."
