Those of us who have the misfortune to watch ITV at the extremes of the day – mainly when the local news bulletins kick in – are used to a level of ineptitude that is often breathtaking. Crashed links, broken autocues, presenters obviously well-refreshed from the night before or from the previous afternoon; to be honest, it’s often shambolic. But last night the channel surpassed itself.
Already under attack from football fans for piss-poor highlights packages of its expensive FA Cup coverage (a recent match at Portsmouth looked like it was filmed by a man in the crowd with a camera phone), last night they committed the ultimate sin. After 117 minutes of a Merseyside derby, with Liverpool and Everton deadlocked in extra time, some fool pressed the wrong button and took us to an accidental ad break … just as Everton scored the winning goal.
To add insult to injury, the channel then went off air until well into the 10 o’clock news. Does anyone know what the fuck is going on? Anyone?
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