Last week's terrorist attacks on London resulted in broadcasters dropping commercial breaks and increasing their news output to cover the horrific events.
ITV removed more than 拢1 million-worth of commercial airtime from its schedule, as it switched to rolling news coverage from 10am, shortly after the terrorists struck, until 7pm. The broadcaster also ran an extended news special programme later in the evening.
Ads containing potentially offensive images, such as explosions or violence, were also removed from the schedules.
The TV companies are now working with Ofcom to reschedule the dropped ads by increasing the length of some of their ad breaks over the next few weeks.
GCap Media suspended its normal programming and its ads to switch to news, which was simulcast across its Capital FM, Capital Gold, XFM and Choice FM networks.
Viewing of the dedicated news channels rocketed, with Sky News reporting a 4.21 per cent share of viewing, while traffic to news websites surged.
BBC News Online recorded the highest number of page impressions in its history - 115.7 million.
- Opinion, page 21.
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