SKY NEWS AWARDED CHANNEL 5 SIMULCAST CONTRACT

Channel 5 have announced that they have awarded their early breakfast news contract to Sky News, one of Britain's most popular 24 hour news broadcasters.
The contract means that from January 7, 2002, Sky News Sunrise, Sky News' morning news programme, will be simulcast on Channel 5 between 6.00am and 6.30am each weekday and from 7am until 8am on Saturdays; the first time Sky News will be seen on British terrestrial television.
Sky News Sunrise, which takes over from Channel 5's current early breakfast supplier the ITN News Channel, will continue to be presented by its current anchor, Simon McCoy. From February 2002, Simon will co-present the show with Julie Etchingham – who joins Sky News from BBC Breakfast News.
The new deal also includes an option for Channel 5 to simulcast with Sky News when big stories break, live. And Sky News is contracted to produce a number of short turnaround documentaries, to be shown on Channel 5 during 2002 – commissioned when major national or international stories warrant more in-depth investigation.
This year for example, it brought the first, dramatic pictures of John Prescott's altercation with a protester during the General Election campaign. It was the first British broadcasters to break the news of the September 11 terrorist attacks against the US, and it secured a world exclusive with their reporting of the first bombing raid on Afghanistan on October 7. (CD)