Channel sends top team to NatWest Island Games XI

Channel Television is sending a team of experienced sports journalists and production staff to one of the remotest locations in the British Isles for this year's NatWest Island Games.
Presenters Murray Dron from Jersey and Katherine Spencer from Guernsey will be joined this month in Shetland by a team which has covered every Games in the history of the competition. Murray will also be competing in the Games as a member of the Jersey volleyball team. The 11-strong unit will be led and co-ordinated by Kevin Banner who has produced Channel Television's coverage of the Games since the inaugural event in the Isle of Man in 1985. Channel’s coverage of the 2003 Games in Guernsey was short-listed for both regional and national Royal Television Society Awards.
Channel Television will once again be the strongest broadcast media team from the Channel Islands at the Games. The team producing more than 15 minutes of peak time coverage every weekday night at 6.10pm. There will also be updates during the lunchtime and late evening news bulletins.
In addition the team will present a half hour special on Sunday July 10. Exclusively for residents of Guernsey the opening ceremony will be shown live via satellite on big screens positioned around the Island. Coverage begins with a live preview broadcast during Channel’s flagship news programme Channel Report on Friday July 8.
Highlights from the Games will be featured in a further half-hour special to be shown later in July.
Kevin Banner said: "As usual meticulous planning and preparation has gone into our Games coverage, ensuring that friends and family remaining behind in the Islands will be able to stay completely up to date with the competitors, and see them in action every night."
Channel Television will be working closely with its ITV1 stablemate Scottish Television to ensure the widest possible coverage.
Managing Director Michael Lucas said: "Between them, the Channel Islands - Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney and Sark - the islands we serve, have provided one of the biggest teams at every Games. That's why we've been there from the beginning. Our broadcasts from each event have helped the Games to grow in stature. The sporting standards continue to improve. And so does our coverage.
"This year, despite the remoteness of the Shetlands we are harnessing satellite technology to ensure we bring our viewers not only the best of the action, but the latest of the action too. Channel Television will be both comprehensive and right up to date.”
(GB)