[NickyS]

Agree to an extent, thiugh will still want to have something like that.

What we really need is something like the Andrew Neil interviews (a one-on-one long interview). Not sure who would be appropriate from the current BBC roster to succeed Neil, but Laura Kuennessberg probably the favourite internally.

www.telegraph.co.uk 

Nick Robinson to grill party leaders for BBC general election coverage
Corporation’s former political editor will be taking on the role held by Andrew …
  Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Telegraph reporting Nick Robinson will do those half hour sit down interviews for the BBC this time.

[Brekkie]

Will it be a bit overkill if Kuennesberg is both the interviewer and the main election night host. Plus will they will feel as special as the Sunday 9am show normally has lots of significant interviews as well.

Would anyone have said that about David Dimbleby, Huw Edwards or Andrew Neil?

[Newshound47]

Would anyone have said that about David Dimbleby, Huw Edwards or Andrew Neil?

But none of those did that. Normally in recent elections the majority of leaders have appeared on the Sunday morning show, a special question time and an interview - all hosted by different people. It would feel less special and repetitive if the same person hosted two of those so one would have to go.

[Stooky Bill]

This week's Media Podcast talks about broadcasters plans for the General Election...
youtu.be 

[interestednovice]

Telegraph reporting Nick Robinson will do those half hour sit down interviews for the BBC this time.

Interesting choice, given that Nick is now more known for the Today programme on R4 than for TV programming, but probably a solid choice.

Personally, I still think it might have been good if the interviews were presented by either Victoria Derbyshire or Kirsty Walk - both excellent interviewers and both excellent on Newsnight.

I see why they’ve gone for Nick though, as somebody completely outside of the team that would appear on election night.

[Milkshake]

The talk has reappeared of a June election. Again the broadcasters must have stuff in place already? It does feel like 1993 Grand national with all those false starts being made?

[JMT1985]

It is getting boring now and tedious - the point of the Fixed Parliament Act 2011 was to stop this nonsense. Sadly that act was consigned to the scrap heap and the Prime Minister of the day once again has the power to call an election when they want.

[Andrew]

The talk has reappeared of a June election. Again the broadcasters must have stuff in place already? It does feel like 1993 Grand national with all those false starts being made?

Isn’t this suggestion that general elections are usually fixed dates that can be planned months in advance being overplayed?

Weren’t both the last two general elections called out of step with the the fixed term act, in those cases there wasn’t even an expectation there would be one at all

[Brekkie]

I think the first Thursday May is seen as the traditional date but it is actually surprisingly rare - although both Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair came into power with an early May election so perhaps that is why it's considered traditional, but they were the only two elections to fall in that week in the 20th century, with the 1955 election being the only other since the war to fall in May. However since then the planned elections in 2005, 2010 and 2015 all fell on that weekend, and IIRC 2001 was only delayed till June due to Foot and Mouth.

Also politically I think often any changes which may see the electorate feeling like they've more money in their pocket happens in April, so is some logic in going to the polls in the weeks that follow.

[DTV]

Isn’t this suggestion that general elections are usually fixed dates that can be planned months in advance being overplayed?

Weren’t both the last two general elections called out of step with the the fixed term act, in those cases there wasn’t even an expectation there would be one at all

2017 was a bit of a surprise, but there was a general assumption where things were going in 2019 from about June onwards. Broadcasters will have general election plans on stand-by at all times, revised from pretty much the day after the previous vote, so there's no real chance of them being caught out. Even if they were, they would just largely repeat what they did the previous time. Graphics are designed and sets built ahead of time, second-order elections are used as opportunities to try out new things and, after a few years, there will be periodic full rehearsals for GEs.

The only things that really aren't in place are scheduling related, but the GE will take priority for studio bookings (not such an issue anymore), resource allocation and staff schedules, with the campaign providing more than enough time for everything to be clear by election night. External venues for things like debates are probably the thing least in the broadcasters' control, but even then there will be multiple options planned in advance.

Ultimately, as news events go, there are few with the level of planning and prioritisation of general elections, so risks of brodcasters being unprepared or unhelpfully surprised are not the case.