CNN has added the finishing touches to its Millennium coverage, emphasising that it will be covering the passing of 1,000 years as a news event rather than a firework display. CNN International will be sharing its coverage with CNN’s domestic service.

The two networks will be together for some 100 hours providing some other news story, specific to the United States or Europe, does not displace the schedule. "We want to treat it as a very large Y2K story, and I don’t mean in an alarmist sense even though there I people worried about it, we want it to chart the sort of four day period between New Year’s Eve and the markets opening," said Chris Cramer, president, CNN International. Twenty-three newsgathering satellites will be used in addition to CNN’s regular feeds to garner the information.

"There’s only so many sunrises and sunsets you can fit in 100 hours, but for many months we’ve been producing a complete array of programmes and feature material reflecting on the Millennium," said Cramer, who believes that this approach will gain CNN a greater audience against that of the domestic channels.