The cost-cutting was brought sharply into focus in the Brighton hotel bombing on the Conservative cabinet in October 1984 . The night before the terrorist attack , TV-am sent the production team home as it could not afford to pay for hotel rooms . When the blast occurred in the early hours , the BBC and ITN provided immediate coverage . TV-am 's response was limited to a caption of reporter John Stapleton reporting over the phone , while the BBC were showing graphic coverage of the attack . Trade union agreements at the time meant that technical staff at the local ITV station TVS could not provide cover for another commercial television company , and TV-am 's previous conflicts with ITN meant that the latter would not share its footage
Brighton hotel bombing
Brighton hotel bombing
TV-am