Channel 4 plans E4 election day shut-down

Channel 4 has announced plans to shut down its youth-skewing network E4 on May 7, the day of the UK general election, to encourage its viewers to “stop watching TV and get out and vote.”

Channel 4 said that E4 will switch off its regular schedule, commercials and promos for the day, instead airing footage of “Darren – the guy in charge of making sure E4 is on” who will be seen manning the ‘on’ and ‘off’ switch in the channel’s fictional control room.

“Less than half of under-25s voted at the last election so we’ve engaged the most powerful weapon that we have at our disposal to try and boost that number – switching off their favourite TV channel for the day,” said Channel 4’s chief marketing and communications officer, Dan Brooke.

Channel 4 said the move marks the first time that a UK channel will shut down to encourage people to vote.