[Stooky Bill]

It would have been the first time they could do the whole thing end to end for the reasons you mention, but I guess it was a unique opportunity as the ITV networking moved from BT to NTL, they could put the remotely controlled switching kit (that let GMTV's gallery put the regional studios on air) on the new outgoing NTL circuit (that wasn't being fed to transmitters yet) and test it to their heart's content while normal output continued on the old BT circuit to the transmitters.

As far as I'm aware the only ITV region that changed it's distribution was Westcountry, and that was just between Plymouth, Cardiff, their small studios and transmitters. Network programmes coming into Cardiff would have been still via BT. Remember from 1/1/93 (or maybe a couple of years earlier when the IBA was abolished) the companies became broadcasters for the first time so Westcountry could contract anyone they wanted to get them on air.

The other big change that night was Channel 4 which was detached from ITV and went it alone with a new distribution network