
The results of UK general elections are always eagerly anticipated and can make for compelling television. Kevin Hilton talks to the BBCs head of media operations, Morwen Williams, about how such an involved broadcast is put together and the technologies being used to get those all important declarations on air
By Contributor
Published: July 4, 2024 Updated: July 5, 2024
The results of UK general elections are always eagerly anticipated and can make for compelling television. Kevin Hilton talks to the BBC's head of media operations, Morwen Williams, about how such an involved broadcast is put together and the technologies being used to get those all important declarations on air
target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin> The results of UK general elections are always eagerly anticipated and can make for compelling television. Kevin Hilton talks to the BBC's head of media operations, Morwen Williams, about how such an involved broadcast is put together and the technologies being used to get those all important declarations on air
https://www.tvbeurope.com/features/election-night-connections-how-ip-bonded-cellular-and-satellite-will-be-in-play-for-the-bbcs-election-2024 title=Share via Email class=share-email>
Elections are major broadcast events in the UK, both for the viewing and listening audiences they draw in and the sheer logistics involved in covering the build-up and polling day itself, While there is now considerable focus on the debates between party leaders although British TV did not stage its first until 2010 along with gauging the mood of the nation by talking to potential voters in key constituencies, the real focus will be on election night after the polls close and the vote count begins.
For this year's election, the BBC is aiming to cover as many of the 650 parliamentary seats as possible, or at least have a presence at the ones most under scrutiny. We have an ambition to be at an awful lot of those, if not every one, in vision, comments Morwen Williams, head of BBC media operations. If not, we will definitely have someone editorially at every one. We are trying to get a significant amount of extra cameras out and that will range from mobile phones to full OB trucks.
BBC TV's first live broadcast of election results was in 1950, since then the coverage has grown considerably, with increasing numbers of live declarations from constituencies and ever more analysis in the studio of what they mean for the country. The obvious example of the latter is the Swingometer, a graphical representation of the shift in voting for the main parties. During the late 1960s and through the '70s this was presided over by Canadian politics professor and statistical analyst Robert McKenzie; a virtual version, with a background of the House of Commons chamber, is now in the charge of Jeremy Vine.
Morwen Williams Over the last ten years, the UK has had three general elections (2015, 2017 and 2019). Williams says incremental developments have been made in the technology used to get the results from the constituencies on air during this time. There's been a significant change since 2015 and some change since 2019, she comments. The big technical one has been in connectivity from the different locations. The places where the counts are held and announced are leisure centres and town halls, which all have good Wi-Fi these days. We can tap into that with a cellular bonded backpack and we'll be doing that at quite a number of places using different products because we know it will be rock solid with no contested bandwidth.
This year's election was called for 4th July, a snap announcement that set the date much earlier than many political commentators predicted. But in terms of the broadcast coverage, preparations were already underway before the date was known. It would have been too late to start planning things when the election was called, explains Williams. We knew there had to be an election this year and knowing that our preparations have been going on [for some time]. Originally the thinking was that it would be an autumn or November election and I'd been involved in talks about the debates and potential locations for them. You can't do something as complex as a presenter plus seven leaders being interviewed from scratch. Discussions about what we might want these to look and feel like started months ago.
The same pre-planning applied to covering the declarations of results on election night, whenever it should happen to be. It doesn't even matter when the election is, Williams says. As soon as it's announced that the count for a particular seat will be at a certain location, you try to see if it's a known place, whether we've broadcast from there before and can our colleagues who work or live nearby go and look at it for us? If not and it's a big one, we have to go and recce. You take decisions like that throughout the year.
Clive Myrie and Laura Kuenssberg will host the BBC's Election 2024 An example of this is where the count for Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer's Holborn and St Pancreas seat would be held, which has been moved from its previous location. We found out about that in 2023 and started to talk about what the IT and connectivity would look like, Williams explains. There are brilliant people who look at the 650 seats and rank the really key ones [to cover]. We absolutely have to be at the leaders' constituencies and there are certain other ones, like Sunderland, which was always the first to declare [rival northeast city Newcastle took over this position in both 2017 and 2019]. That gives you something to talk about while you're waiting for all the other results to come in.
While some constituencies are logistically difficult to cover Williams
Most recent headlines
13/03/2025
(L-R) Stephanie Suganami, Tatanka Means, John Malkovich, Ayo Edebiri, and Juliette Lewis attend the premiere of Opus at Eccles Theatre in Park City. (Photo by...
13/03/2025
Spotify took center stage at the London Book Fair this week, reaffirming our commitment to the audiobook market and showcasing our impact on the publishing indu...
13/03/2025
At Spotify, we work every day to lift up new voices, giving creators the opportunity to live off their art. Through Spotify Audiobooks, our in-house publishing ...
13/03/2025
Every time airborne law enforcement (ALE) teams fly, they expect their equipment to perform. Whether airborne units are conducting support for ground teams, bor...
13/03/2025
Sunday February 9 saw the annual return of the US' biggest television event, the Super Bowl LIX. Jamie McCombs, Fox Sports Audio Consultant / Sr. Audio capt...
13/03/2025
On Sunday March 2, stars across the film industry gathered at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles for the 97th Academy Awards. Production Sound Mixer Paul Sandweis...
13/03/2025
WUPPERTAL, Germany Riedel Communications will feature its new StageLink family of smart edge devices, Smart Audio and Mixing Engine (SAME) and Virtual Smart Pan...
13/03/2025
TAG Video Systems and Harmonic Partner to Deliver Enhanced Real-Time Monitoring ...
13/03/2025
DigitalGlue Invites NAB Visitors to Experience New Features in Managed Storage P...
13/03/2025
FOR-A America Theme - Connecting the Present, Building the Future - Comes to Lif...
13/03/2025
CTIA, the wireless industry association, has named former FCC Chairman Aji Pai as its President and Chief Executive Officer, effective April 1. He replaces Mere...
13/03/2025
he National Association of Broadcasters is urging the FCC to end its investigation of that controversial CBS interview with Kamala Harris stating there is no ...
13/03/2025
MIAMI CBS News & Stations continues to expand its use of augmented and virtual reality technologies with the planned launch of an augmented reality/virtual real...
13/03/2025
Srividhya Srinivasan, co-founder and chief customer success & innovation Officer at Amagi, tells TVBEurope how staying ahead of the latest trends is essential f...
13/03/2025
WASHINGTON FCC Chairman Brendan Carr announced that the agency has launched a massive, new deregulatory initiative that could potentially subject virtually all ...
13/03/2025
SUNNYVALE, Calif. SDVI has announced that it has integrated its Rally media supply chain management platform with the Spectra Vail multi-cloud data management s...
13/03/2025
ATLANTA Gray Media has announced that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has granted a waiver of its local ownership rules to permit Gray Media to acqu...
13/03/2025
TV Tech: What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trends at the 2025 NAB Show?...
13/03/2025
Watch Student Naomi Soleils Folk Pop Performance on The Voice The songwriting major sang Stars by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals during the blind auditions.
...
13/03/2025
Roku Debuts NWSL Zone' Within Roku Sports to Spotlight Live Games, Content Feature marks Rokus first women's league-branded zone within service By Bra...
13/03/2025
Pixels, Images, Video, AI - and Us: A Perspective on AI from NDI Inventor Andrew...
13/03/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Lighting Design Group's Steve Brill, Dennis Size ...
13/03/2025
IOC, Comcast NBCU Ink $3B Media-Rights Extension for Olympic Games Through 2036;...
13/03/2025
NCAA March Madness Live Returns with Expanded Availability of MultiView Vertical...
13/03/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Cosm's Devin Poolman on What It Takes To Deliver the Immersive...
13/03/2025
Sky Business, Sky's B2B division, providing connectivity and content to busi...
13/03/2025
Rohde & Schwarz launches R&S NRP140TWG(N) thermal power sensor: A new benchmark ...
13/03/2025
We asked the questions, analysed the answers and now we're excited to share the results of the fifth edition of the ICG Marketing Survey.
Our 2025 survey p...
13/03/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. - March 13, 2025 Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced a breakthrough in video streaming innovation with the launch of new origin capabilitie...
13/03/2025
Haivision Showcases Mission-Critical Video Solutions at SOF Week 2025
Haivision's video wall systems, ISR technology, and DoDIN APL-certified video distri...
13/03/2025
Company Leads the Way with New Software-Based Production Platform, 12G Switcher,...
13/03/2025
A new Apple Immersive concert experience, Metallica, is coming to Apple Vision Pro this Friday, March 14. Filmed in Mexico City during the sold-out second-year ...
13/03/2025
Here is your host, Patrick Kielty!
Shake your Shamrocks, Patrick Kielty will be...
13/03/2025
This St. Patrick's weekend, RT invites you to celebrate all things Irish, showcasing the very best of Irish sport, entertainment and live coverage from the...
13/03/2025
What's next in AI is at GTC 2025. Not only the technology, but the people and ideas that are pushing AI forward - creating new opportunities, novel solution...
13/03/2025
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
By combining T-Mobile's robust network, Thal...
13/03/2025
Bundle up - GeForce NOW is bringing a flurry of Blizzard titles to its ever-expanding library.
Prepare to weather epic gameplay in the cloud, tackling the genr...
13/03/2025
AI is leveling up the world's most beloved games, as the latest advancements...
13/03/2025
PC game modding is massive, with over 5 billion mods downloaded annually. Mods p...
12/03/2025
O Spotify acaba de lan ar o relat rio Loud & Clear deste ano, uma vis o transpar...
12/03/2025
Spotify acaba de presentar el informe Loud & Clear de este a o, una mirada trans...
12/03/2025
Ramadan, a period of profound spiritual significance for Muslims worldwide, is a time for fasting, prayer, reflection, and community. Enrich your experience thi...
12/03/2025
Spotify has just unveiled this year's Loud & Clear report, a transparent loo...
12/03/2025
More than 70% of FAST programming has been produced since 2010, according to new Gracenote report
NEW YORK March 12, 2025 Gracenote, the content data busin...
12/03/2025
GEONA, Nev. Independent digital and linear advertising rep firm Viamedia will adopt cloud-based ShowSeeker Pilot as its primary ad campaign and order management...
12/03/2025
BRUSSELS Mediagenix has announced that Wael Yasin has joined the company as sales director Central Europe....
12/03/2025
LONDON A new study highlights opportunities for shoppable TV and the massive impact online consumer spending is having on the economy, with Omdia predicting tha...
12/03/2025
CUPERTINO, Calif. Interra Systems has announced that Comcast Technology Solutions has integrated recent updates to BATON Version 9 into its operations....
12/03/2025
Nevion announces new 400G addition to its eMerge SDN media fabric offering
Brie Clayton March 12, 2025
0 Comments
High-capacity switch enhances existi...
12/03/2025
DaVinci Resolve Studio Delivers Cinematic Sound for Adam Bol
Brie Clayton March 12, 2025
0 Comments
Feature film relies on DaVinci Resolve Studio for ...