[leewilliams]

As a couple of people have alluded to, there are rumours pretty much every week at the moment that an election will be called imminently and some of the political commentariat being drawn into this chatter should know better.

You can argue back and forth (just not on this forum) about when the moment of minimum political danger is for Sunak to go to the country - all I know is the senior people I speak to at the main broadcasters are expecting autumn/early winter and aren’t currently racing to put plans together (one doesn’t have a plan at all at the moment).

[Milkshake]

There is definitely a growing chitter chatter about June. Holyrood will be interesting. Logic would suggest an election on the same day, but while this isn’t illegal, it’s very much frowned upon. This happened once and it was a disaster, leading to a full inquiry which advised against it ever happening again. The basic thrust of the issue is that the voting systems are different for various forms of government in Scotland and the one time we tried it we had A LOT of spoiled ballots. I still remember the baffling lecture at the polling station about which way to vote on which coloured sheet!

Just to point out that was 2007 and was due to the fact Scottish Council elections used "1.2.3" voting system. However its believed if they were held on the same days it could muddy the waters. Either way No way election if that happened would take place in July as that Scottish school holidays

You can argue back and forth (just not on this forum) about when the moment of minimum political danger is for Sunak to go to the country - all I know is the senior people I speak to at the main broadcasters are expecting autumn/early winter and aren’t currently racing to put plans together (one doesn’t have a plan at all at the moment).

Its rather curious then why a number of high profile political people have been doing the rounds saying there good chance fo summer elections.

[Brekkie]

Bringing it back to broadcasting how resource intensive is covering an election now?

We saw how around the Queens death and funeral that sporting events were cancelled as much due to resources (broadcast trucks etc.) being diverted to covering the event rather than just out of respect, so if an election ended up falling around the same time as Glastonbury or Wimbledon could that be problematic, or just force the increasing switch to using fibre connections to cover such events?

[RhysJR]

Bringing it back to broadcasting how resource intensive is covering an election now?

We saw how around the Queens death and funeral that sporting events were cancelled as much due to resources (broadcast trucks etc.) being diverted to covering the event rather than just out of respect, so if an election ended up falling around the same time as Glastonbury or Wimbledon could that be problematic, or just force the increasing switch to using fibre connections to cover such events?

Well, the Brexit Referendum and Glastonbury was in the same week in 2016, with Wimbledon starting the following Monday. So, presumably if there's enough notice, everything can run smoothly at the same time.

[Stooky Bill]

Bringing it back to broadcasting how resource intensive is covering an election now?

We saw how around the Queens death and funeral that sporting events were cancelled as much due to resources (broadcast trucks etc.) being diverted to covering the event rather than just out of respect, so if an election ended up falling around the same time as Glastonbury or Wimbledon could that be problematic, or just force the increasing switch to using fibre connections to cover such events?

Big non news OBs like sport or Glastonbury are massive operations, but there's very little overlap with what will be used for a news event like an election. Events use big scanners (mobile galleries) and high spec cameras. If there's satellite being used then they're large well resourced uplink trucks, often two dish. Events like Wimbledon will have fibre connections because they're regular locations, Glastonbury uses mainly IP, but of course that will be installed for that location.

News uses smaller simpler SNG kit, it has to as its unpredictable and quality isn't as much of a priority.

The only time an OB company is used for something newsy is for say the Coronation or Royal wedding/funeral, then there could be a tussle with regular events. This difference is seen at the BBC where the election will be a BBC News production using lots of in house resources whereas the Coronation will be BBC events production using almost all hired in OB resources.... from companies like NEP.

That said, last election a lot of SNG trucks were hired from other countries for the night as there weren't enough.


Resources back at the broadcaster can be limited however, all those feeds have to be decoded, processed, edited and sent places. Often stuff will be hired in for the night. The election hub at Elstree at ie election had its own satellite downlink and bank of receivers as there wasn't the capacity to send everything there from their usual downlink site.

Doesn't mean that IP will solve that problem, there are limits as to how many can be received on a system like LiveU - broadcasters don't buy/license more receive capacity than they need normally. They'll probably have to expand that capacity, buy in for the night or borrow someone elses.

General elections do push the limits somewhat

[Stooky Bill]

Sorry for replying to my own post, but just remembered a good point....

The big difference with resourcing a General Election compared with regular news isn't just the quantity of outside sources but the duration.

With news there will usually be something like as many as 5 live sources in a news programme. Some will only be needed and active for 40 minutes, enough time to line them up, do the live and that's it. Though some will stay at a location all day.

Each live will need some sort of capacity to get to the broadcasters MCR (satellite space or IP bandwidth) , it'll need some thing there to turn it into video and then a circuit or tie line to get it to the studio. Then it needs a similar amount of resources to do the reverse clean-feed to the reporter. The live will also be recorded on a server port

Those are booked/reserved for that hour, used and then go back into the pool for something else

For a general election that's not the case. Every live source is booked and needs to be available from early evening until after all the counts at that site have finished. So that entire chain, in both directions needs to be booked/reserved and active for possibly up to 9 hours. The broadcasters have a rough idea of when places are likely to declare but they're not often that accurate and there are recounts. The reporters and guests at the location will appear on the programme at least once before the declaration. The running order is a lot more fluid than a normal news programme - they can't give precise times a report will be on air

So there's probably 30 or 40 live sources, all up concurrently, for hours. Very very resource heavy and logistically takes a lot of planning

[bbctvtechop]

Each live will need some sort of capacity to get to the broadcasters MCR (satellite space or IP bandwidth) , it'll need some thing there to turn it into video and then a circuit or tie line to get it to the studio. Then it needs a similar amount of resources to do the reverse clean-feed to the reporter.

Generally for satellite links and other traditional circuits, the clean feed will be audio only, usually provided via a phone call.

Many IP based solutions also only provide clean fees via audio, as it's difficult to feed an isolated camera from the correct studio down the line, and if 6ou use studio output the guest will see themselves delayed. It also saves bandwidth and therefore potentially improves incoming video quality.

[Keith]

I think a general election being announced on the Monday *after* the local elections is more likely than this coming Monday, which would be just days before. Certainly if the local elections are deemed a disaster then pressure will mount, as more Tory MPs may start looking for a replacement leader.

Up in Scotland with two motions of no confidence looming there's the potential of an election being called for the Scottish Parliament.

Certainly interesting times ahead politically.

[Radio_man]

I think a general election being announced on the Monday *after* the local elections is more likely than this coming Monday, which would be just days before. Certainly if the local elections are deemed a disaster then pressure will mount, as more Tory MPs may start looking for a replacement leader.

Up in Scotland with two motions of no confidence looming there's the potential of an election being called for the Scottish Parliament.

Certainly interesting times ahead politically.

Just a reminder that the Monday after the locals, 6 May, is a Bank Holiday. Has a PM ever come out into Downing St and called a GE on a Bank Holiday?
But certainly the week after the local and mayoral elections is the week of maximum danger for the Prime Minister, especially if the local and mayoral results are disastrous for the Conservatives.

[Milkshake]

Just a reminder that the Monday after the locals, 6 May, is a Bank Holiday. Has a PM ever come out into Downing St and called a GE on a Bank Holiday?
But certainly the week after the local and mayoral elections is the week of maximum danger for the Prime Minister, especially if the local and mayoral results are disastrous for the Conservatives.

There is nothing in the rules saying he can't call it on a Bank holiday but it would give him alot of breathing space since House of commons wouldn't be sitting and 1922 committee wouldn't be able to strike there blow.