[James2001]

DVRs weren't really much of a thing for a LONG time. TIVO was around in the late 90s/early 00s, but wasn't that common, and they left the UK afrer a few years (until they came back with Virgin in the 2010s). SKY+ launched in 2001, but it was a premium product at first, not a standard subscription item, and not many people had it for a fair few years. You probably had to wait until over a decade after Diana died until DVRs were truly that common.

[Omnipresent]

I remember going to bed on Saturday night having watched the initial coverage on CNN where first reports said that Diana had broken her arm and the main discussion, with Tom Cruise on the phone, was whether news magazines should buy paparazzi photos of the accident.

I woke up on Sunday morning, turned on Radio 1 to hear solemn music.  It was only when I then turned on BBC1 to see Martin Lewis presenting with the onscreen graphic 1961-1997 did it register what had happened. 

I had just finished my summer job before going back to university so spent a lot of time watching and listening to coverage in the week after Diana's death.  Radio 1 handled it well, particularly Kevin Greening at Breakfast. 

I'm not sure if it's urban legend or not, but it was claimed that on Sunday morning a presenter on Kiss 100 remarked "Shame about Di copping it" over Roni Size.  Atlantic 252 didn't suspend programming on the Sunday, but did for the day of the funeral.

There was a brief compilation on YouTube, now deleted, of Good Morning America and Today on the Monday after Diana's death.  ABC sent Charles Gibson to present on location from Kensington Palace.  NBC sent Katie Couric and Tom Brokaw, with Katie presenting from outside Buckingham Palace for Today and Tom near Tower Bridge for Nightly News.  This style of presentation live on location from the "scene" (even if nothing is happening there in actuality) was of course to come to the UK. 

The cult of the news anchor was very much in evidence with Matt Lauer going on how this was Katie's first day back from holiday and how sad it was for them to welcome her back in such circumstances.

On DVR recording, I purchased my first Panasonic HD/DVD recorder in 2003 - it was relatively expensive at the time at £650.  I do look back and wonder why I didn't record more TV onto VHS when I had my own video recorder.  I think it was partly due to the space VHS tapes took up, and not anticipating they could eventually be shared online. 

It was also generally a very clunky medium with timer recordings not always working, other members of the household accidentally taping over stuff, tapes getting chewed by the VCR etc.

[denton]

This brings back a lot of memories.

I was the newsreader on Downtown Radio and Cool FM that morning and afternoon. A Sunday morning, so just me and the duty editor first thing.

Our terrible newsroom computer system had broken down a day or so before, and we had a couple of printers lashed up printing out the news wires.

That would be kind of acceptable as a temporary solution on any other weekend, but that day the paper was endlessly shooting out of the printers. It was almost impossible to find the copy you wanted or cues you needed to go with the endless clips being fed from IRN in London.

I had to present specially extended news bulletins throughout the day. It was a mad day.

[James2001]

It was the first time I can remember the news being on channels 1-5 all at the same time, when that happens, you know it's something major. The only other times I can remember it happening was September 11th and July 7th as well as the deaths of the Queen Mother and Prince Philip. I guess it could have happened with events like Lockerbie and the Gulf War as well, though I would have been too young to be aware.

[Larry the Loafer]

I've only just noticed something. For a long time, before Tim Wilcox's newsflash surfaced online, I assumed the newsflash during The Chart Show was the first that ITV viewers were told of the incident. Obviously, that wasn't the case, but it's making me wonder why they broke into The Chart Show in the first place when they (seemingly) weren't reporting anything new? Did someone behind the scenes know that the news of her death was imminent? I know Dermot didn't hear of it until he actually reported it (highlighted by his rapid blinking as he's told of the news) so it's making me wonder why the newsflash happened. Or was it just ITN's decision to start rolling coverage instead of airing scheduled programmes?

[James2001]

I might be wrong, but would The Chart Show have been on everywhere during that time? As there were still several different night time services at that point with different schedules, it's possible that newsflash interrupted different programmes in different parts of the country.

[Omnipresent]

This reminds me that there was a lot of criticism about GMTV’s coverage on the Sunday morning with Fiona Phillips, I think, presenting solo and interviewing a pre-booked Dannii Minogue about Diana’s death.

[TWO ident]

It was the first time I can remember the news being on channels 1-5 all at the same time, when that happens, you know it's something major. The only other times I can remember it happening was September 11th and July 7th as well as the deaths of the Queen Mother and Prince Philip. I guess it could have happened with events like Lockerbie and the Gulf War as well, though I would have been too young to be aware.

I can remember a couple of occasions that particularly stick out because they happened one day after another - London winning the Olympic bid, and Blair’s speech after the 7/7 attacks. On both occasions the BBC were running a News Special on BBC1 and the Daily Politics on BBC2. It seemed quite surprising all the commercial channels covered the Olympic announcement given London wasn’t expected to win, but I definitely remember it happening. 

I’m not sure if all five channels covered 9/11 live? Although it is possible as BBC2 were supposed to be showing the TUC conference so could have broken away to show live pictures.

[Frances]

It was the first time I can remember the news being on channels 1-5 all at the same time, when that happens, you know it's something major. The only other times I can remember it happening was September 11th and July 7th as well as the deaths of the Queen Mother and Prince Philip. I guess it could have happened with events like Lockerbie and the Gulf War as well, though I would have been too young to be aware.

I can remember a couple of occasions that particularly stick out because they happened one day after another - London winning the Olympic bid, and Blair’s speech after the 7/7 attacks. On both occasions the BBC were running a News Special on BBC1 and the Daily Politics on BBC2. It seemed quite surprising all the commercial channels covered the Olympic announcement given London wasn’t expected to win, but I definitely remember it happening. 

I’m not sure if all five channels covered 9/11 live? Although it is possible as BBC2 were supposed to be showing the TUC conference so could have broken away to show live pictures.

I remember BBC Two showed parts of the rolling coverage when BBC One left for soaps in prime time.
Last time BBC Two broke into the news before the Duke of Edinburgh was in 2015, due to a terror attack in Paris. BBC One was showing CiN.

[Andrew]

That MHP summary of events is totally wrong about ITN.

A very young Tim Wilcox broke the news of the accident at around 1.30am

youtu.be 

Dermot Murnaghan and Nicholas Owen were on way before 5.35am because I was channel hopping. I can recall at least 2 hours of ITN coverage before they handed over to Fiona Phillips and GMTV.

Yes that summary falls into the trap that you often get of feeling they have to be dismissive/critical of ITV at all times. Channel 5 showing not just a game show but a 'cheap game show' also doesn't come off unscathed.

There was also another report that is less known in between the Tim Wilcox fronted one, and when ITN famously broke into The Chart Show

youtu.be 

It had clearly just replaced a regular news bulletin and therefore had normal Night Time continuity around it